Thursday, February 15, 2018

USA news on Youtube Feb 15 2018

This is the Field.

When they say "the Field" in Berlin,

you know it's Tempelhof Airport.

It's the largest open urban space in the world,

over 850 acres.

It used to be an airport.

It was one of the first airports in the world,

in the early days of aviation, when they were trying to...

There are many old photographs

with people trying to fly with weird planes.

Families came to watch.

First they were able to fly 100 yards, then 200,

and at some point they were crossing the Atlantic.

Everyone relates to it differently.

For some it has a historical significance as the site of the Airlift.

After the war, all supply routes to Berlin

were blockaded, to the French, British and American sectors, that is.

For over a year, the entire city

received food from the Western Allies solely via air.

That was a major, defining event for the people of Berlin.

The "raisin bombers," that's one over there,

were so named because there was a pilot

who dropped candy with little parachutes on them for the children.

The last two planes to take off from here

were two raisin bombers

in 2008.

They were also the last airport flights from here.

Now other things fly here, like kites.

People are the heart and soul of the Field. Berliners.

The grounds were closed for two years.

Then came the first protest movement, which campaigned

against simply fencing off this area.

Instead, the protesters said, it was important that it be accessible to Berliners.

Since then, in just a few years, it has become the most beloved park

in Berlin.

What's really special to me is that there's a place

in the middle of a major city

where you can watch the sunset with no obstructions on the horizon.

Where can you do that?

It's not just some little meadow in Berlin.

It's about issues that people all over world are concerned with.

How do we want to live? And how do we want to organize and structure our co-existence

in such a way as to achieve good co-operation?

Berliners love this Field.

That's the reason why

it has been preserved.

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