Visiting the Bundestag

I confess that I did almost no research for our time in Berlin. I think I figured I'd do it while I had downtime in Amsterdam . . . which never happened. About the only thing I managed to do was book a couple of tours and find the hotel. Mind you, Nancy did nothing but but three tour books so I guess I shouldn't feel so badly. LOL

There was one other thing that I did - I read online that you could arrange free tours of the Bundestag (the more proper term Reichstag having gone out of favour with the Nazi connotations). It was free so we figured 'why not'. I wrote away and received a confirmation and a long document explaining what I needed to do and bring in order to get through the security.

We spend a great few hours yesterday wandering about the building, exploring the history, the architecture, and the way the two intersect with politics in this buiding. . . once we got through the rather intense security to get in and meet our guide.

I was surprised at how young a building it was - about 120 years old. Sure that may seem ancient by North American standards but remember in Europe it is pretty cmmon to find byildings which are 100s of years old.

During the short time the Bundestag has seem some incredibly traumatic history. On 9 June 1884, Kaiser Wilhelm I needed three attempts to lay the foundation-stone. It is said that, while he was using the tool, it cracked. The Kaiser did not like the Reichstag. He only reluctantly agreed to the plans of architect Paul Wallot and barely approved of his plans for a heavy stone dome. Because the Reichstag would then be even higher than the City Castle. Of course, MOST of all, he did NOT approve of the rabble trying to tell him how he should be leading the new republic.

Nonetheless, in 1894, after ten years of construction, the Reichstag was completed and its dome towered above the City Castle after all. Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was now in power and who was Kaiser Wilhelm’s grandson raged against this “pinnacle of bad taste." But what could he do? It's simple: He ended up discrediting the architect, referring to the Reichstag as the "Reich’s monkey house" and preventing the inscription "To the German people"(“Dem Deutschen Volke”) from being inscribed on it- which was added only in 1916.

Yet the Parliament building remained and, from that point onwards, it has reflected the turbulence of German history. On 9 November 1918, Deputy Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed from the window the creation of a republic. Things were fairly quiet for about 15 years and then not long after Hitler was elected disaster struck . . . disaster for the building and the world.

On 27 February 1933 under mysterious circumstances that still have yet to be explained, the Reichstag caught on fire, destroying the chamber and the dome. The Reichstag fire served as a pretext for the Nazi regime to persecute their political opponents. Hitler blamed the fire on the communists. The President was more worried about the communists than the Naxis so in a colossal boneheaded move he gave Hitler and the Nazis complete and unfettered power to act as they wished. This lead to the formation of the Third Reich.

This is the tunnel through which the individuals who set fire to the Reichstag gained access to the building

Unusually, during a period where the Naxis were building massive buildings throughout the city they left the Reichstag sit in its fire gutted state. Our guide explained that they used it as a prop - many of the pictures you see from the era show it with soldiers goosestepping past it, flags and banners waving in the wind. It may not have had for formal role but it had great symbolic purpose.

After being destroyed in the war the building was left to sit - an almost barely recognizable pile of rubble. Plans were made to demolish what was left until the Berlin Wall went up mere feet from the back of the building. Once again the structure had symbolic significance - this time for the allies who had defeated Hitler and were now engaged in the cold war against the USSR. There was enormous symbolism in the German Parliament building rises from the ashes within spitting distance of the Berlin Wall so rise from the ashes it did!

The former path of the Berlin Wall. Mere feet from the Bundestag.

It was rebuilt between 1961 and 1971 in a simplified form without the dome (which had been blown up in 1945 by the Russians), according to plans by Paul Baumgarten. It was used mainly as a museum and served no political purpose.

After German reunification, the German Bundestag decided to use the building as a seat of Parliament again. Between 1994 and 1999, the Reichstag was redesigned and expanded by the British architect Sir Norman Foster as a modern Parliament building while retaining its extensive, historical dimensions. The accessible glass dome, which initially generated a lot of controversy, has since become one of the landmarks of Berlin. Since 1999, the German Bundestag has been convening in the Reichstag building.

The plenary hall where the government meets. It is open to the east, west, north, and south, through large glass walls. It is also open to the cosmos through a giant glass dome.

During the tour we learned that there were three goals to this construction: to keep the building open and accessible to the outside to demonstrate the openness of the new government, art must be featured throughout the building, and the history must be shown. These pics will show how that has been done.

This memorial identifies those members of the Reichstag who were murdered by the Nazis. Each has their own piece of the sculpture inscribed with their name, where they were from, and the date they were murdered by the Nazis.

 

The Plenary Hall - open on four sides and to the skies.

 

This art installation has a box for every democratically elected representative of the Rechistag (up until the late 90s when they ran out of room).

This black box represents the Nazi era where there were no democratic elections.

 

Graffiti left by Soviet soldiers after the fall of Berlin. It was covered up during the first post-war restoration. Uncovered and preserved during the last restoration, the Germans went so far as to track down 5 of the soldiers and to invite them to the grand opening of the Bundestag.

 

The glass dome of the Bundestag - open to the elements. A gentle ramp allows you to walk to the top - stunning views of Berlin.