The Reichstag is the German parliament and our memory

What does the word "Reichstag" mean for our people? It's the sky in smoke, the roar of Katyusha, the rumbling of machine-gun bursts and the soldiers running to the wide staircase, carrying a red banner under fire . This scene was reproduced many times by the directors of feature films about the war. With all the genius of many of them, the plausibility of the image, the excellent work of the operators and the skill of the actors, these episodes still yield in terms of expressiveness to the black and white documentaries of the 1945 chronicle.

Reichstag after the war

After the war, the fate of the majestic building was sad. It stood for a long time half-ruined, devoid of a dome, on which Soviet soldiers established a victorious flag. Reichstag, perhaps today no one could see, if not for the decision to restore, adopted by the German parliament. We had to hold referendums, there were as many as three of them. Nine years after the victory, the ruins of the old building were decided to blow up, although the debate about his fate was fierce. The proponents of the destruction of the monument of German imperial architecture especially pressed on the fact that it causes associations with the Nazi past, and their opponents objected, citing as an argument the well-known historical fact that Adolf Hitler never spoke at the parliamentary rostrum. At the same time all the deputies, either explicitly or privately, irritated the Soviet banner over the Reichstag, or rather, memories of it. The defeat of their country, even if it is historically justified and natural, is unpleasant.

This continued until the sixties. The author of the project on the revival of the symbol of German statehood was Paul Baumgarten, and Norman Foster continued this work .

History of creation

Germany - the state is young, it is far less than the United States, not to mention Russia. As a single country it exists since 1871. Equally short is the history of German democracy: the parliament began its work in 1884, during the reign of Bismarck. At the time of the formation of the collected from separate lands and principalities of the country, the idea arose to embody the future power of the state in the stone. It is interesting that in the competition of projects the architect from Russia initially won, but before the implementation of it did not live, for this reason the Germans preferred the well-being to Paul Vallot, compatriot. The delay was due to the irresponsibility of Count Radzinsky, who did not want to part with the land received as a gift from the monarch. His son was also not very compliant, he defended the principles of his late father, but by 1882 he had managed to convince him that the Reichstag was a matter of national importance, and the plot still needed to be sold. The first stone laid by William I. Built a magnificent structure for a decade.

Fire

Many events shook the world, but the World War, which began in 1914, eclipsed them. The consequences for Germany it brought the most deplorable, and the country began a turmoil. The influence of the German Communists on the political situation in the twenties and early in the next decade grew.

Adolf Hitler, who received a chancellery from the weakening hands of the aged Hindenburg, felt a threat from the left forces. He solved the problem simply - through a primitive provocation, however, the Reichstag suffered. It was a fire, the blame for which was attributed to four conspirators, three Germans and one Dutchman, Communists. The building was burned out, its load-bearing structures were seriously damaged. Presumably the arson was carried out by the Nazis, but no one listened to the defense's arguments, a new power operated in the country.

A full-fledged restoration of the architectural monument, Hitler decided not to conduct. His plans did not include the strengthening of democracy, which could become the bearer of the people's congress, namely, the meaning of the word "Reichstag".

Place for autographs

Fierce fighting during the assault on Berlin virtually completed the destruction that began in 1933. On the ruins of the building, walls and columns Soviet soldiers made many memorable inscriptions, noting their combat path (sometimes from Moscow and the Volga). Not all autographs of heroes can be published today due to the lexical content of some of them, but the Red Army soldiers scraped with something that boiled on the soul. To the credit of the German authorities, most of the letters from 1945 were still preserved as a reminder of the horrors of the war. There was even a proposal to keep everything as is, for the edification of the descendants.

The Reichstag was reconstructed four times. Since 1972, the German Institute of History worked there, the roof was flat, why the majesty in the guise was diminished. A new life began in 1992, after the reunification of the Eastern and Western parts of the newly united country. Now the Reichstag is a place where political issues are resolved, debates are taking place, state laws are adopted. Then it was crowned again with a dome symbolizing the German people. Designed by his British architect Norman Foster.

Reichstag and modern art

Citizens of modern Germany, brought up on European democratic traditions, do not raise questions about the advisability of happening, like the one presented by the American Christos Javoshev, for some reason in 1995, who wrapped the Reichstag with a silver-colored polypropylene film. Five million Berliners and guests of the city looked at this spectacle, expressing no special emotions, only marveling at the weight of the spent polymer (60 tons) and the area of its surface (100,000 square meters).

But there is still one section of the wall on the renovated parliament building , with which bold experiments are not carried out even by the most progressive artists. On it under a transparent layer all the same inscriptions of the soldier-winners are visible. Despite numerous objections, Foster retained them, the last reenactor of the Reichstag, in memory of the Great War.