The McNair Barracks was a US Army installation in Lichterfelde, a locality in southwest Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. The barracks were named after Lieutenant General

Lieutenant General

Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....

 Lesley J. McNair

Lesley J. McNair

General Lesley James McNair was an American Army officer who served during World War I and World War II. He was killed by friendly fire when a USAAF Eighth Air Force bomb landed in his foxhole near Saint-Lô during Operation Cobra as part of the Battle of Normandy.McNair, Frank Maxwell Andrews and...

, an American Army officer who served in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and was killed in an infamous friendly fire

Friendly fire

Friendly fire is inadvertent firing towards one's own or otherwise friendly forces while attempting to engage enemy forces, particularly where this results in injury or death. A death resulting from a negligent discharge is not considered friendly fire...

 incident on 25 July 1944 in the Battle of Normandy

Battle of Normandy

The Invasion of Normandy was the invasion and establishment of Allied forces in Normandy, France, during Operation Overlord in World War II. It was the largest amphibious operation in history...

. The barracks housed the Infantry and Artillery units of what was then known as the U.S. Army Berlin Brigade

Berlin Brigade

After the end of World War II, under the conditions of the Yalta and Potsdam agreements, Allied forces occupied West Berlin. This occupation lasted throughout the Cold War...

.

History

Built in the 1930s, the structure originally housed Berlin radio and television stations, a joint venture of Siemens & Halske

Siemens & Halske

Siemens & Halske AG was a German electrical engineering company that later became part of Siemens AG.It was founded on 12 October 1847 as Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske by Ernst Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske...

 (S & H) and the Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft

AEG

Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in 1883 by Emil Rathenau....

 known as Telefunken

Telefunken

Telefunken is a German radio and television apparatus company, founded in Berlin in 1903, as a joint venture of Siemens & Halske and the Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft...

. During the years of National Socialism, the building was used to test military equipment, and the radar

Radar

Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...

-guided flak system was perfected there. In 1945 the Telefunken plant was converted into barracks for occupation soldiers, for which the German government paid the owners of the site a yearly rental for its use as an army barracks.

Use as barracks

The US Army maintained four large military installations in Steglitz-Zehlendorf

Steglitz-Zehlendorf

Steglitz-Zehlendorf is the sixth borough of Berlin, formed in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform by merging the former boroughs of Steglitz and Zehlendorf.-Demographics:...

, Berlin: McNair, Andrews, Roosevelt and Turner. Members of the Berlin Brigade

Berlin Brigade

After the end of World War II, under the conditions of the Yalta and Potsdam agreements, Allied forces occupied West Berlin. This occupation lasted throughout the Cold War...

 were stationed there from 1945 until 1994, including more than 100,000 male and female GIs. In addition to three infantry battalions, these installations accommodated several other smaller units, such as motor pools. Many veterans from the Berlin Brigade view the McNair Barracks as the “nicest barracks” with spacious living quarters and public spaces.

In addition to housing for soldiers, the McNair Barracks had a church, barber shop, movie theater, service club, and a restaurant for soldiers' use. The barracks' mess hall walls had murals depicting military scenes and regimental insignia. American soldiers remembered eating at tables which the civilian waitresses had decorated with flowers. A former veteran of the Berlin Brigade commented that it as one of the "nicest" mess halls; "there were white walls and painted on them were the most beautiful murals I ever saw."

Closure

In the early 1990s, the Berlin Command “drew down” its presence in the city. Over the succeeding four years, different elements of the so-called Berlin Brigade were either reassigned or deactivated. In the four years between the deactivation of the air wing at Templehof and Fall 1994, 31  installations were closed, including the Andrews and McNair barracks, the American military hospital, and the General Lucius D. Clay

Lucius D. Clay

General Lucius Dubignon Clay was an American officer and military governor of the United States Army known for his administration of Germany immediately after World War II. Clay was deputy to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1945; deputy military governor, Germany 1946; commander in chief, U.S....

 Headquarters. The 27th "annual" Allied Forces Day Parade, held on 18 June 1994, which had been suspended in 1989, was re-instated for the occasion. The was the last parade of the "protecting powers"—France, the United States, and Great Britain—as the Berliners had called them.

On 12 July 1994, United States President Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

 visited Berlin; after a speech at the Brandenburg gate

Brandenburg Gate

The Brandenburg Gate is a former city gate and one of the most well-known landmarks of Berlin and Germany. It is located west of the city centre at the junction of Unter den Linden and Ebertstraße, immediately west of the Pariser Platz. It is the only remaining gate of a series through which...

 he attended a ceremony at the Barracks, where the 4,000 troops of the Berlin Brigade paraded and the Color Guard furled the Brigade colors, prior to closing the installation.

Repurposing

The barracks are being converted into upscale apartments, designed by the Berlin architects firm Tchoban, for eventual sale by S+P Real Estate GmbH, and named after the American movie actress Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....

. Upscale flats will range in size from 60 to 260 square meters in size, with designer kitchens, parquet floors, and other quality features. A portion of the complex has been converted into a shopping mall.

Another section of the McNair Barracks has been converted into a museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

, featuring soldiers' uniforms and signs from the borders of the different sectors of divided Berlin. Reunions for American veterans who served in Berlin are held every 4 July at the McNair Barracks.

Legacy

From telecommunications factory to testing center to barracks to condominiums, the building has seen many uses. Within the context of Germany's twentieth century, of all the buildings in Berlin, possibly this one reflects Berlin's many identities, the longest one being the western European city surrounded by the Eastern bloc

Eastern bloc

The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...

, and occupied by foreign armies. The men and women who lived there were entitled to the Army of Occupation Medal

Army of Occupation Medal

The Army of Occupation Medal is a military award of the United States military which was established by the United States War Department on 5 April 1946. The medal was created in the aftermath of the Second World War to recognize those who had performed occupation service in either Germany or Japan...

 with Germany clasp; technically, Berlin had remained occupied territory. (See Berlin Brigade

Berlin Brigade

After the end of World War II, under the conditions of the Yalta and Potsdam agreements, Allied forces occupied West Berlin. This occupation lasted throughout the Cold War...

.)

External links

• Western Allies Berlin Veterans. here
• Berlin Brigade master page with links to history, units, pictures, here
• Berlin Brigade History. here
• "Remarks by President Bill Clinton McNair Barracks. Berlin, Germany, July 12, 1994." here
• West Alliierte in Berlin e.V. here
• Views of today's apartments. (german, images and exact location) here