the british forces had seized the former airfield from the wehrmacht in 1945. they then had ceded most of it to the german authorities for use as the dp camp, barring those areas used by the gliding club. however, by 1949 there was increasing interest in establishing a training camp for ground forces in the area. in august, the former kdf-hall, used for church services, as a school and cinema by the refugees had to be vacated within three days — it was wanted as a cinema for the training troops. in late september, the british issued an eviction order to the german authorities, stating that the whole dp camp should be vacated within eight weeks. offered alternative accommodations in munster were deemed even worse than the facilities at reinsehlen and rejected. after an intervention by heinrich albertz, the lower saxony minister for refugee affairs, the closure of the camp was postponed until the end of 1950. this would allow time for the construction of new and appropriate housing, using funds supplied by the "landesregierung" (regional government) of lower saxony.