The City Of Tempelhof In Berlin, Germany

History of Tempelhof, Berlin

In 1247, Tempelhove was first mentioned as a deed issued at the Walkenried Abbey as a Komturhof (commander's court, the smallest holding entity of a military order) of the Knights Templar.
In 1291, the knights had been expelled from the Kingdom of Jerusalem after its downfall. The heart of the old settlement, consisting of the church and the original estate, was fortified and originally completely surrounded by water. The Templars were joined by fifteen families of landless farmers' sons from the Rhine, who could not inherit any estate from their parents because of the over-fragmentation of those estates.
In 1312, after Pope Clement V officially abolished the Order of the Temple. The Knights of Saint John (the Johanniter), backed by Margrave Waldemar of Brandenburg, took over the villages of Tempelhof, Mariendorf, and Marienfelde.
In 1435, they sold their estates to the city of Berlin
In 1800, Tempelhof was still a village outside Berlin proper and was the site of country excursions for the citizens of Berlin.
In 1861, The northern parts of Tempelhof were incorporated as Berlin's Tempelhofer suburb.
In 1912, the Tempelhof Studios functioned as film and later television studios.
In 1920, became part of Kreuzberg county.
On October 08, 1923, the Tempelhof Center Airport open
On March 3, 1943, the church received its first bomb damage from an Allied air assault.
On January 29, 1944, the church was fired bomb by an Allied air assault. The roof and inside of the church were totally destroyed. Only the walls were standing after the firebombing.
On 26 April 1945, Berlin Tempelhof Airport came under the control of Soviet combat troops led by General Vasily Chuikov.
In July 1945, U.S. Army took control of the Tempelhof from the Soviets Army. Tempelhof was located in the American Sector.
On September 18, 1947, U.S. Army Air Corp was changed to the United States Air Force.
On June 24, 1948, the Berlin Airlift began.
On May 12, 1949, the Berlin Airlift ended
On October 03, 1990, Tempelhof was no longer controlled by the Americans.
On June 31, 1993, the United States Air Force turn the Tempelhof Air Base Over to the German Government.
On October 30, 2008, Tempelhof Center Airport Close down and turned into a City Park.
Today, Tempelhof has a chain of parks, called Bose Park, Kleiner Park, Alter Park, and Francke Park. Some of them still have ponds that were part of the artificial moat surrounding the village's Center. One, the Krummer Pfuhl, located in Francke Park, after being turned into a public swimming bath in the nineteenth century, has completely dried out.