March 3, 2006, Newsletter Issue #178: The Reichstag
Tip of the Week
The German Bundestag (parliament) is situated in the "Reichstag" in Berlin. On the 9th of June 1884, Emperor William I laid the foundation stone for the Reichstag building. With its creation, the German Reichstag - which previously had convened in temporary premises - was finally to have its own parliament building. After the collapse of the German Empire, Philipp Scheidemann, chairman of the Social Democratic parliamentary party proclaimed the German Republic from a balcony at the Reichstag on the 9th of November, 1918. On January 30th, 1933, Hitler was appointed Reich Chancellor. The Reichstag fire on the night of February 27th, 1933, signalled the end of parliamentary democracy. The Enabling Act cleared the
way for one-party rule. The National Socialist Regime drove Germany and Europe into World War II. In 1945, the raising of the Soviet flag over the Reichstag building ended the battle of Berlin and set the seal on the defeat of the German Reich. The Reichstag did not function as a parliamentary building until 1990. On the 4th of October, 1990, one day after unification, the first sitting of the all-German Bundestag took place at the Reichstag. In April 1999, a fully converted Reichstag building was formally presented to the German Bundestag. The new glass cupola, the most prominent feature of the building, is also open to the public.
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