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| The Reichstag fire, 1933 |
Today, The Bonds are visiting The Reichstag. They participated in a great party in The Brandenburg Gate to welcome 2017 and they're tired. This is the reason because of they've decided to visit a quiet and comfortable place. Moreover, today the tickets are free and as you know The Bonds is a rich family but you haven't got a fortune if you aren't a great saver.
The Reichstag building is a historical edifice in Berlin, Germany, constructed to house the Imperial Diet of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 and housed the Diet until 1933, when it was severely damaged after it was set on fire. After World War II, the building fell into disuse; the parliament of the German Democratic Republic , the Volkskammer, met in the Palast der Republik in East Berlin, while the parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Bundestag, met in the Bundeshaus in Bonn.
More information: BBC
The ruined building was made safe against the elements and partially refurbished in the 1960s, but no attempt at full restoration was made until after German reunification on 3 October 1990.
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| The Reichstag covered in Russian graffiti. |
The term Reichstag, when used to connote a diet, dates back to the Holy Roman Empire. The building was built for the Diet of the German Empire, which was succeeded by the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic.
The latter would become the Reichstag of Nazi Germany, which left the building and ceased to act as a parliament after the 1933 fire and never returned; the term Reichstag has not been used by German parliaments since World War II.
In today's usage, the German word Reichstag, Imperial Diet Building, refers mainly to the building, while Bundestag, Federal Diet, refers to the institution.
The latter would become the Reichstag of Nazi Germany, which left the building and ceased to act as a parliament after the 1933 fire and never returned; the term Reichstag has not been used by German parliaments since World War II.
In today's usage, the German word Reichstag, Imperial Diet Building, refers mainly to the building, while Bundestag, Federal Diet, refers to the institution.
Construction of the building began well after the unification of Germany in 1871. Previously, the parliament had assembled in several other buildings in Leipziger Straße in Berlin but these were generally considered too small, so in 1872 an architectural contest with 103 participating architects was carried out to erect a new building. After a short survey of possible sites, a parliamentary committee recommended the east side of the Königsplatz, today Platz der Republik, which however was occupied by the palace of a Polish-Prussian aristocrat, Athanasius Raczyński.
More information: German Way
The building caught fire on 27 February 1933, under circumstances still not entirely known. This gave a pretext for the Nazis to suspend most rights provided for by the 1919 Weimar Constitution in the Reichstag Fire Decree in an effort to weed out communists and increase state security throughout Germany.
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| The Reichstag 1971-1995 |
During the 12 years of National Socialist rule, the Reichstag building was not used for parliamentary sessions. Instead, the few times that the Reichstag convened at all, it did so in the Kroll Opera House, opposite the Reichstag building. This applies particularly to the session of 23 March 1933, in which the Reichstag disposed of its powers in favour of the Nazi government in the Enabling Act, another step in the so-called Gleichschaltung, coordination. The main meeting hall of the building, which was unusable after the fire, was instead used for propaganda presentations and, during World War II, for military purposes. It was also considered for conversion to a flak tower but was found to be structurally unsuitable.
The building, having never been fully repaired since the fire, was further damaged by air raids. During the Battle of Berlin in 1945, it became one of the central targets for the Red Army to capture due to its perceived symbolic significance. Today, visitors to the building can still see Soviet graffiti on smoky walls inside as well as on part of the roof, which was preserved during the reconstructions after reunification.
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| The Reichstag Dome |
When the Cold War emerged, the building was physically within West Berlin, but only a few metres from the border of East Berlin, which ran around the back of the building and in 1961 was closed by the Berlin Wall.
After the war, the building was essentially a ruin. In addition, there was no real use for it, since the seat of government of West Germany had been established in Bonn in 1949.
The reconstruction was completed in 1999, with the Bundestag convening there officially for the first time on 19 April of that year. The Reichstag is now the second most visited attraction in Germany, not least because of the huge glass dome that was erected on the roof as a gesture to the original 1894 cupola, giving an impressive view over the city, especially at night.
The rise of the Dutch Republic must ever be regarded as one of the leading events of modern times.
John Lothrop Motley
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