During a RAF air raid in World War II on the night of 22/23 November 1943, the building burnt down and laid in ruins. After the war, the cleared premises were used only intermittently for more than a decade, according to need. Makeshift constructions were used variously by wrestlers, circus performers and missionaries, followed by food outlets and briefly a cinema hosting so-called "Sittenfilme" ("films of manners"). A local newspaper described the central site as a "stain on Berlin's calling card".