Reichstag

The Reichstag in Berlin is the home of the Bundestag, or German Parliament. The large classical building was constructed between 1884 and 1894 as the seat of the Reichstag, the Parliament of the German Empire. On 27 February 1933, shortly after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, a fire broke out in the Reichstag building. Although the origins of the fire remain shrouded in mystery - a young Dutch communist, Marinus van der Lubbe, was tried and executed for alleged arson - the Nazis exploited outrage at the incident as an excuse to impose emergency laws outlawing political opposition. The Nazis, who did not believe in parliamentary democracy, never rebuilt it and used the Kroll Opera House for occasional gatherings of the Nazi parliament.

In May 1945 during the Battle of Berlin, the Red Army fought its way to the Reichstag, rather then the Reich Chancellery where Hitler was dugout in the bunker. The Soviets used the symbol of "The Peoples House", the Reichstag, to plant the Soviet victory flag. The building was further damaged in heavy fighting. During the 40 years of the East German regime, the communists, like the Nazis, never bothered to rebuild the symbol pf German parliamentary democracy, either.

The building remained abandoned until reunifiction after the Fall of the Wall in 1976. It was finally restored in the 1990s by the British architect Sir Norman Foster. In 1999 it became the seat of the Bundestag.