Marienfelde refugee transit camp

The Marienfelde in Berlin- Marie Felde was one of three camps, which settled the emergency procedures for German from East Germany and East Berlin under the Federal Emergency Act.

History of emergency camp

Since 1948, increasingly attracted people from the former Soviet occupation zone in the western zones and West Berlin. Especially for Berlin this influx was a major problem in the face of catastrophic supply of housing. To her care to the emergency room location in the Kuno - Fischer-Straße was opened in Berlin- Charlottenburg on 18 January 1950. It was replaced in August 1953 by the newly built central refugee camp in Marie Felde.

With the takeover of the Federal Emergency Law in West Berlin with effect from February 4, 1952 the planning of a central warehouse of the Federal Emergency Department in the western part of the city came up to full speed.

As of May 1952, the refugee problem worsened dramatically for West Berlin. The border security decision of the GDR of 26 May 1952 led to the escape routes were closed quickly on the inner German border and the border between East Germany and West Berlin. Only the inner-city sector border between West and East Berlin was still relatively uncontrolled passable. The urban facilities to accommodate the refugees were crowded. The former Berlin Senator for Social Welfare Otto Friedrich Bach led by its own account a " two-front battle against refugee problem and Bonn bureaucracy " in coping with the influx of refugees.

On July 30, 1952, the foundation stone for the Marienfelde was laid. The terrain at the Marie Allee was owned by the federal government. The proximity to the Tempelhof Airport and the connection to the S-Bahn was co-determining factors for the choice of location.

The first section of the camp with ten residential blocks for about 2,000 refugees was inaugurated on 14 April 1953. The operation in the camp began in August 1953 at the height of a wave of refugees as an echo of June 17, 1953.

Until 1961, the camp was constantly expanded, but was nevertheless almost always overcrowded.

Abruptly, the number of refugees went to on 13 August 1961 by the construction of the inner city border fortifications to near zero back. Parts of the camp were released for residential purposes. The eastern part of the camp remained to accommodate more refugees and especially emigrants from the GDR and later emigrants from other states.

1989 swelled the stream of refugees back dramatically. The exit options from the GDR were better, reducing the number of refugees increased. After November 9, 1989, there was a great rush on the camp in Marie Felde. There factory buildings were rented in the area, to cope with the influx of refugees can.

As of 30 June 1990, it was quiet in the camp. 1993 left the last refugees and settlers, the Marienfelde. After the camp was operated as a central receiving point of Berlin for resettlers. In the summer of 2010 it was closed due to low immigration.

In December 2010, the reception camp was reactivated and has since been by the International Confederation (IB) Free support of youth, social work and education eV, used on behalf of the State Office of Health and Welfare as a transitional residence for refugees and asylum seekers / inside. The numerous children who are housed there with their families get from teachers and teachers of the Kiepert - school issued regular school lessons in the rooms of the transitional dormitory. The Kiepert - school is the responsible for the Marienfelde primary school for years.

The memorial

On the initiative of former refugees, staff of the emergency room warehouse, and interested scientists in 1993, the club memorial Marienfelde founded eV with the aim to explore the history of the emergency camp and the German - German refugee movement, to document and to a wide public. In the same year the club opened on the camp grounds, a small exhibition that provided information on the historic site, the admission process as well as the causes and course of flight and emigration. In 1998, the Enquete Commission of the German Bundestag downgraded the memorial Marienfelde as a memorial of national significance.

In April 2005, existing since 1993 exhibition was superseded " Flight in Divided Germany " by the content and design completely revised and expanded permanent exhibition. The project was made possible by the financial support of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media, the Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED dictatorship and the German Lottery Foundation.

The new exhibition features approximately 450 sqm with over 900 exhibits and numerous eyewitness reports, a comprehensive and nuanced picture of the German - German refugee movement and thus illuminates a central aspect of the division of Germany and its effects. Both sides of the border are taken here in the look and shown in relation to each other: the motives which induced the people to leave the GDR, illustrate the access of the dictatorial state to the everyday life of the individual; the further course of life after the escape - from emergency procedures to successful (or unsuccessful ) Integration - illustrates the opportunities and problems in the west and the importance that had the refugees from East Germany for the West German politics and society.

In addition to the permanent exhibition, the memorial regularly shows special exhibitions and works on the continuous expansion of their collection. The collections focus on the material tradition of the place and the life history testimonies of witnesses that provide information about the experience of persecution in the GDR as well as the reception and integration experience in the Federal Republic. In addition, building the memorial since 1996, a witness archive that already contains a stock of over one hundred audio and video interviews with former East German refugees and resettlers.

In October 2005, a monument with a suitcase was unveiled in memory of the refugees of the East with the then House of Representatives President Walter Momper.

On 11 September 2008, the Berlin House of Representatives decided the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 2008, the memorial Marienfelde and the Berlin Wall Memorial in the country's own Berlin Wall Foundation summarize.