The Reichstag was a political institution of rule. Its set up, power and purpose has changed considerably over its
long history.
The Reichstag in the Holy Roman Empire
While the Holy Roman Empire lasted (formally until 1806), the Reichstag never was a parliament in today's sense.
Instead, it was the assembly of the various leaders that Empire was comprised of. More precisely, it was the
convention of the Reichsstände (imperial states), those legal entities that, according to Feudal law, had no
authority above them besides the Emperor himself.
The precise role and function changed over the centuries, as did the Empire itself, while the states gained more
and more control at the expense of the imperial power. Initially, there was neither a fixed time nor location for
the Reichstag. It started as a convention of the dukes of the old Germanic tribes that formed the Frankish kingdom
when important decisions had to be made, probably based on the old Germanic law that each leader relied on the
support of his leading men.
For example, already under Charlemagne, the Reichstag in Aachen in 802/803 officially
declared the laws of the Saxons and other tribes. The Reichstag of 919 in Fritzlar elected the first Saxon prince,
Henry the Fowler, king of the Germans (Henry I), thus overcoming the longstanding rivalry between Franks and Saxons
and laying the foundation for the German Empire.
In 1158, the Reichstag in Roncaglia finalized four laws that would
significantly alter the (never formally written) constitution of the Empire, marking the beginning of the steady
decline of the central power in favor of the local dukes. In 1356, the Golden Bull cemented the concept of
Landesherrschaft, the largely independent rule of the dukes over their respective territories.
However, until the late 15th century, the Reichstag was not actually formalized as an institution. Instead, the dukes
would irregularly convene at the court of the king. These assemblies were usually referred to as Hoftage (from German
Hof = "court"). Only beginning in 1489 was the Reichstag called as such, formally divided into several collegia,
initially being the Kurfürsten (Electors) and other dukes. Later, those cities that were reichsunmittelbar, that is,
oligarchic republics independent of a local ruler, formally only responsible to the Emperor himself, managed to be
accepted as a third party.
Several attempts to "reform" the Empire to end its slow disintegration, starting with the Reichstag in 1495, did not
have much effect. In contrast, this process was quite concluded with 1648's Peace of Westphalia, which formally bound
the Emperor to all decisions made by the Reichstag, in effect depriving him of his few remaining powers. From then to
its end in 1806, the Reich was merely a loose collection of largely independent states.
Only with the induction of the Immerwährender Reichstag in 1663 did the Reichstag permanently convene in a fixed
location, the city of Regensburg.
The Reichstag as the German Parliament
Opening of Reichstag parliamant, 1894 |
After the implosion of the Empire in 1806, the term was subsequently used for the Parliament of the 1849
Frankfurt
constitution draft that never came into effect, the Parliament of the Norddeutscher Bund from 1867-1871 and finally
that of the 1871 German Empire. In all three cases, it was a
parliament elected by the people, albeit with varying
degrees of power (the 1871 Empire was no democracy in any real sense).
In the 1919 Weimar Republic, the
Reichskanzler (Chancellor, head of government) was elected by
and responsible to the Reichstag, which was directly elected by the people. From 1930 on, however, the Reichstag
was practically circumvented with the use of the extensive powers that the constitution granted to the
President.
After Adolf Hitler was appointed Reichskanzler on 30. January 1933
the process of Gleichschaltung commenced with the Reichstag Fire Decree and the Enabling Act (Ermächtigungsgesetz),
in which the Reichstag formally dispensed of its legislative powers. From then on it only functioned as a body of
acclamation for the actions of the dictatorship. Even with this purpose, it had its last session in 1942.
The Reichstag building in Berlin was constructed as the seat of the Reichstag in the German Empire and, after a
major reconstruction, has been the seat of today's German parliament, the Bundestag, since 1999.
Reichstag Fire in 1933
Burning Reichstag, 1933 |
The Reichstag fire, a pivotal event in the establishment of Nazi Germany, began at 21:14 on the night of
27. February 1933, when a Berlin fire station received an alarm that the Reichstag building, assembly location of
the German Parliament, was ablaze. The fire seemed to have been started in several places, and by the time the
police and firemen arrived a huge explosion had set the main Chamber of Deputies in flames. Looking for clues,
the police quickly found Marinus van der Lubbe, half-naked, cowering behind the building.
Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring arrived soon after, and when they were shown Van der Lubbe, a known Communist
agitator, Göring immediately declared the fire was set by the Communists and had the party leaders arrested. Hitler
took advantage of the situation to declare a state of emergency and encouraged the aging president
Paul von Hindenburg to sign the Reichstag Fire Decree, abolishing
most of the human rights provisions of the 1919 Weimar Republic constitution.
The Nazi leaders were determined to demonstrate the Reichstag Fire was a deed of the International Communist
society, and in early March 1933, three men were arrested who were to play pivotal roles during the Leipzig Trial,
known also as "Reichstag Fire Trial," namely Georgi Dimitrov, Vasil Tanev and Blagoi Popov.
According to the police, Van der Lubbe claimed to have set the fire as a protest against the rising power of the
Nazis. Under torture, he confessed again and was brought to trial, along with the leaders of the opposition
Communist Party.
Reichstag fire trial in Leipzig
The Leipzig Trial took part from 21. September to 23. December 1933, and was presided over by the old German
Imperial Court. The Leipzig Trial was widely publicized and was broadcast on the radio. It was expected the court
would find the communists guilty on all counts and approve the repression and terror exercised by the Nazis against
all opposition forces in the country. It was clear the first time Georgi Dimitrov spoke that would not happen.
Dimitrov had given up his right to a court appointed lawyer and defended himself successfully. He proved his
innocence and the innocence of his communist comrades and was set free. In addition, he presented evidence that
the organizers of the fire were senior members of the Nazi Party.
With their leaders in jail and denied access to the press, the Communists were badly defeated in
the next election, and those Communist (and some Social Democratic) deputies that were elected to the Reichstag
were not permitted by the SA to take their seats. Hitler was swept to power with 44 percent of the vote and
coerced the remaining minor parties to give him the two-thirds majority for his Enabling Act, which gave him the
right to rule by decree and suspended many civil liberties.
At his trial, Van der Lubbe was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was beheaded on 10. January 1934, three
days before his 25th birthday.
On the other hand, in one of the last twitches of a constitutional state, the Reichsgericht court acquitted the
Communist Party leadership. This infuriated Hitler, who decreed that henceforth treason – among many other offenses –
would only be tried by a newly established Volksgerichtshof ("People's Court"), which became infamous for the
enormous number of death sentences it handed down while led by Roland Freisler.
Historians generally agree that Van der Lubbe, sometimes described as a half-wit, was involved in the Reichstag
fire. The extent of the damage, however, has led to considerable debate over whether he acted alone. Considering
the speed with which the fire engulfed the building, Van der Lubbe's reputation as a fool hungry for fame, and
cryptic comments by leading Nazi officials, it is generally believed the Nazi hierarchy was involved in order
to reap political gain — and it obviously did.
During the summer of 1933, a counter-trial was organized in London by a group of lawyers, democrats and other
anti-Nazi propagandists. The countertrial lasted one week and ended with the conclusion the defendants were
innocent, and the true initiators of the fire are found amid the leading NSDAP elite. The counter-trial served as
a workshop during which all possible scenarios were tested and all speeches of the defendants were prepared.
Reichstag building
Reichstag building, 2003 |
Construction of the building began only well after 1871. Previously, the parliament had assembled in several
other buildings in the Leipziger Straße in Berlin; but these were generally considered too small. In 1872 an
architectural contest with 103 participating architects was carried out to erect an all-new building. Work did
not start until ten years later though, due to various problems with purchasing property for the new building
and arguments between Wilhelm I, Otto von Bismarck, and the members
of the Reichstag about how the construction should be performed.
In 1882, another architectual contest was held, with 189 architects participating. This time the winner, the
Frankfurt architect Paul Wallot, would actually have his plan executed. On 9. June 1884, the foundation stone
was finally laid by Wilhelm I. Before construction was completed in 1894, Wilhelm I died (in 1888). His successor,
Wilhelm II, objected to parliament as an institution to a much
greater extent. The original building was most acclaimed for the construction of an original cupola of steel and
glass, a technical masterpiece of the time.
The building was set on fire on 27. February 1933. Contrary to popular belief, during the 12 years of the Nazi
rule, the Reichstag building was not used for parliamentary sessions at all. Instead, the few times where the
Reichstag convened at all, it did so in the Kroll Oper building, a former opera opposite the Reichstag building.
The building (which was unusable after the fire anyway) was instead used for propaganda presentations and,
during World War II, for military purposes. It was considered to be turned into a Flak Tower but was not found
to be structurally suitable.
The building was further damaged by air raids. During the Battle of Berlin in 1945, it became the central target
for the Red Army for reasons not entirely clear, since it served no political, military, or strategic purpose at all.
In fact, the Nazis had mostly ignored the building.
When the Cold War emerged, the building was within West Berlin,
but only a few meters from the border of East Berlin, which in 1961 was closed by the
Berlin Wall.
After the war, the building was pretty much a ruin. In addition, there was no real use for it, since the capital of
West Germany had been moved to Bonn in 1949. Still, in 1956, it was decided that the Reichstag should
not be taken down, but instead be restored. Another architectual contest was held, and the winner, Paul Baumgarten,
reconstructed the building from 1961-1964.
Until 1990, the building was thus used only for occasional representative meetings and for a widely lauded permanent
exhibition about German history.
The official German reunification ceremony on 3. October 1990, was held at the Reichstag building. One day later,
the parliament of the united Germany would assemble in an act of symbolism in the Reichstag building.
In 1992, Sir Norman Foster won yet another architectual contest for the reconstruction of the building.
Before reconstruction began, the Reichstag was wrapped by Bulgarian artist Christo in 1995, attracting millions of visitors.
During the reconstruction, the building was first completely caved in, taking out everything except the outer walls -
including all changes made by the Baumgarten work in the 1960s. The seat of parliament was transferred to the Reichstag
in April 1999. The reconstruction is widely regarded as a success; at least it is obvious that the Reichstag, most
importantly the huge glass cupola that was erected on the roof in memorance of the original 1894 cupola, is one of
the most attractive sights for visitors to Berlin.
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