The former Schönefeld airport train station is now a listed building. The shops have long since closed Photo: Office for Monument Protection
By Michael Sauerbier
Brandenburg’s monument authority has placed the old Schönefeld train station under protection. The former GDR airport, on the other hand, may be demolished.
The S-Bahn station at Schönefeld Airport, where S-Bahn and regional trains stop today, exudes gloomy GDR charm. All the shops are closed, and there is a stench of urine in the twelve (!) meter wide pedestrian tunnel. The building was supposed to be demolished in 2014, but now it can stand forever.
In the orphaned platform waiting shelters, the preservationists recognize “a touch of luxury for long-distance travellers” Photo: Office for Monument Protection
State curator Thomas Drachenberg declared the concrete block a monument as “an important testimony to the history of the GDR, the history of the railways and the division of Germany”. But not the airport building. Due to numerous conversions and extensions, East Berlin’s former airport is not worth preserving.
An airport spokesman told BZ: “We have no plans to demolish, lease or sell the terminal.“