The Bundestag or Hogwarts?

I have never been to a parliament building in any country, but always imagined it would be quite tedious and boring. Boy, was I ever wrong about Germany’s parliament (The Bundestag). If you ever have the chance to go to Berlin, do yourself a favour and make a reservation to tour this building and request Laura Tchorz as your tour guide (she is beyond incredible). Berlin is my absolute favourite European city to date, and the highlight of my weekend was this tour. No joke. It was THAT good. 

The Bundestag (the outer building looks historical, while the inner walls and the Dome reflect Germany’s new modern vision for the future)

Myself and our tour guide, Laura.

The tour began with security equivalent to that of an airport (if not more intense). We were then guided to the chamber of parliament. There are currently 631 members, representing 4 parties, who are all directly elected by the people. Because Adolf Hitler manipulated the political system so much in the 1930’s and 40’s, Germany’s political regime was completely revamped after the war. German citizens cannot directly vote for a person, but instead a party; the voting system is extremely complicated to ensure a person or party cannot attain dictatorship; there are plenty of checks and balances…etc. A lot of the procedures seem similar to Canadian politics. 

And now for a few fun facts! 

• The youngest elected member of parliament was a 19 year old girl, while the oldest elected member was 93 years old.
• In order to be a member, you must be a German citizen, over 18 years old, and cannot have a criminal record. Other than that criteria, anyone is fair game! Some members are actors, farmers, housewives and musicians by trade. 
• 37% of the members are female. 

The Chamber of Parliament. (The seats are covered for summer cleaning)

Inside the chamber of parliament, there are five balconies overlooking the members, where important figureheads such as Barack Obama or Queen Elizabeth II (as well as myself), photographers, as well as ordinary German citizens can sit and view parliament. When members cast votes, their names are shown on the ballots, and published to the public, ensuring complete transparency. If you look to the ceiling of the room, you can see a massive glass dome. Visitors can walk around the dome, as there is a climbing walkway that circles the dome all the way to the very top, and they are able to look inwards into the chamber of parliament; symbolizing the German people keeping an eye on their government. A reoccurring theme at the Bundestag is transparency, and ensuring the German people are in control of their country.

When you look up in the Chamber of Parliament, you can see the glass dome = the ceiling.

The balconies where we sat; looking over the Members’ seats

After the Berlin wall was destroyed in 1989, the German government wanted to redo the parliament, and in the summer of 1999, the ‘new’ building was opened. British architect Norman Foster was in charge of the operation, and “managed to preserve the historic shell of the Reichstag Building while creating the interior space for a modern, outward-looking Parliament” (according to the Bundestag pamphlets). The dome is one of the many features of the modern building. Other features include doors that seem to magically open with the help of sensors for persons in wheelchairs, very sleek and clean marble walls and floors, and a room for all members’ religious reflections (a neutral room for all). When designing the building, Mr. Foster decided to showcase and embrace the German parliament’s scars from the Cold War and WWII instead of hiding them, in order to show the public a true snapshot of Germany and its history. Soviet graffiti is elegantly shown on a few walls (mostly soldiers’ names, hometown and date) when the Soviet Union won the Battle of Berlin at the end of the war; bullet holes from WWII are still on the outer walls of the building; and an old tunnel from under the old building is showcased. Fun fact about this tunnel: Nobody knew it existed until the reconstruction of the parliament building; and many believe the Nazis snuck through this tunnel in 1933 and were the responsible party who set fire to the old Bundestag.

The Soviet graffiti from WWII

The chancellor of Germany’s office

The tunnel discovered underneath the basement.

Mr. Norman also wanted to incorporate a piece of art from each one of the Allies (Soviet Union, France, Britain, and America) within the updated parliament building. Personally, I believe the most impressive is the “Archive of German Members of Parliament” by the French artist Christian Boltanski. Empty metal boxes are labelled with the names of Members who were democratically elected from 1919-1999. The artist, a Jew, was struggling internally with the decision of adding or not adding Adolf Hitler’s name to the boxes – however, in the end, he decided he was better than the Nazis and Hitler, and added the name to the art piece. (The box has to be replaced every two weeks because visitors are constantly kicking and punching the box to the point where you can no longer see the label.) Additionally, a small label adorns the boxes of members who were exterminated by the Nazis, either for religious, sexual or political reasons. 

The French artwork

The black strip on some boxes indicates the Member was murdered by the Nazis

Hitler’s dented box.

At the end of our tour, we took an elevator 22 floors up to the roof of the building. The roof provided us with an amazing view of Berlin, and we proceeded to climb the dome to the very top, while listening to an audioguide along the way. The Bundestag is the most visited parliament in the world with 3 million visitors per year. It’s very easy to understand why! The history, the tour guide and the building seemed magical – literally like something dreamed up by JK Rowling. 

The dome atop the Bundestag.

Sunday morning, we packed up our bags and left Berlin (the current capital of Germany) for Potsdam (the old capital of Prussia – today Germany). We visited the New Palace in Sanssouci Park – a palace built for Frederick the Great in 1769. Amazingly, the palace was not harmed during WII, and almost all of the original silks, stones, furniture and jewels remain. As we walked through the palace, some pieces of art were missing from the walls – art stolen by the Nazi party and never again found. The palace remained in the royal family until 1918. 

In front of the beautiful New Palace.

The palace is absolutely stunning, and is much grander than the Palais of Versailles. Frederick the Great enjoyed Rococo and Italian style, as well as Greek art – this style is portrayed in the architecture and decor of the entire palace. He did not make the New Palace his main residence, as he found it too grand and more suitable for a guest house (so why it was built, I’m not really sure??). We were not allowed to take photos inside the palace, so I’ll add a few from my BFF Google for you to enjoy the opulence of the King’s residence!     

We toured Postdam, which was severely bombed during WWII, and is now a beautiful new city. The streets are lined with little shops and cafés, and is a very quaint and adorable place. I could have happily stayed and explored Potsdam for days on end. I didn’t want to leave!! Unfortunately, we all had to return to Giessen that afternoon and leave Potsdam and Berlin behind. 

Berlin is an outstanding city, with plenty of history, multiculturalism, greenery, and a young and vibrant culture. The city was surprisingly quiet and clean most of the time, considering it’s the capital of Germany, which I greatly enjoyed. I am very happy I will return in a few short weeks with my Topdeck group after my courses are finished!! Anyway, I best return to paying attention to my Intellectual Property Law class. Schönen Tag everyone!