In a few days, demolition work could actually begin on the so-called General Hotel on the grounds of Berlin-Schoenefeld Airport to make room for government aircraft there. Although those who are in favor of saving the listed building have not yet finally given up hope, time is running out for the federal government to change its mind. At an event in the “GDR Museum” on Tuesday, all the good arguments for this were put forward once again.
First and foremost there would be the sheer monument value, because the construction of the General Hotel was ordered by the Soviet military administration in 1947, even before the founding of the GDR, and was therefore an extremely early example of what would later be called “Eastern Modernism”, but still here visibly struggling with the traditionalism of both the Stalin and Nazi eras. The splendor of the interior design alone is remarkable and gives an idea of the aesthetic upgrade during the Cold War.
Only buildings that are aesthetically and functionally unsatisfactory
But the complaint that GDR history is being carelessly abandoned to the excavator has been raised often enough, but so far it has not brought about any relent in either the Defense Ministry, the Finance Ministry or the Construction Ministry, and certainly not in the Chancellery. Whether the government’s willingness to fly – whose willingness to fly seemed generally questionable when Foreign Minister Baerbock attempted a trip to Australia – needs parking space here of all places is now also disputed. However, the government is likely to continue to take the view that the hotel is not needed in the security area of an airport, has been allowed to be demolished for years and is not open to the public anyway.
After the cancellation of the planned construction of a new government terminal for cost reasons and the demolition of the hotel, only buildings that are aesthetically and functionally unsatisfactory would remain at BER, as every take-off and every landing here emphasizes anew. A government that doesn’t want to be embarrassed in front of guests shouldn’t really want that either. But apparently she does.