On March 21, 1871, the German parliament convened in the Reichstag for the first time, exactly 150 years ago. It was an important step to democracy, though the chamber did not hold the German Empire's real power.
Through its legislative activity and its resonance with the public, the Reichstag became increasingly emancipatedImage: bundesarchiv/wikimedia
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The Bundestag today is the calling card of German democracy. Housed in Berlin's Reichstag building, topped with a glass dome symbolizing political transparency, 709 elected members decide on laws and, amongst other things, the foreign deployments of the German military. They elect the German chancellor, keep tabs on the government's work and publicly debate the right political path. This is everyday democratic life today.
When the Reichstag met for its first session in Berlin on March 21, 1871, it was hard to imagine a representative body with such far-reaching powers. Power was primarily held in the hands of two men: Emperor Wilhelm I, also King of Prussia, and the Reich Chancellor he appointed, Otto von Bismarck.
Wilhelm became emperor with the founding of the German Empire on January 18, 1871. As Reich Chancellor, Bismarck directed the political affairs of the first German nation-state, which had emerged from a confederation of states under Prussian leadership.
The real power lay with Emperor Wilhelm I (right) and Reich Chancellor Bismarck who directed the political affairs rather than the parliamentImage: picture-alliance
The imperial constitution, which was largely designed by Bismarck, granted far-reaching prerogatives to the monarchical executive: "The military, foreign policy, and the imperial administration remained largely removed from the influence of parliament and, above all, the appointment of the government depended (...) solely on the confidence of the emperor, not on the majority conditions in parliament," according to the Bundestag's explanation of the history of German parliamentarism. In this aristocratic world, citizens had one role above all: That of imperial subjects.
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The apprenticeship of democracy
Nevertheless, the emperor and the imperial chancellor could not simply rule unchecked. "There had already been a parliament in Prussia since 1850, and they simply didn't dare ignore it," historian Christoph Nonn of Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf told DW. The German Revolution of 1848/49, which fought to democratize the German Confederation, was already "a clear signal that it was not possible without the population participating in politics."
Although the Reichstag was conceived as a kind of fig leaf for popular participation, "it never really was from the beginning, because the parliamentarians were very self-confident," Nonn explained. After all, parliament had a say in the implementation of laws and had budgetary authority.
"A government that did not get majorities in the Reichstag was practically incapable of acting because, with the exception of foreign and military policy, it could not legislate in any central policy area," Andreas Biefang of the Commission for the History of Parliamentarianism and Political Parties, a Bundestag research institute, told DW.
The Proclamation of the German Empire, 150 years ago
In 1871, Emperor Wilhelm I proclaimed the German Reich in Versailles. The event heralded the beginning of a new political, economic and cultural era.
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images
The Kaiser's proclamation
On January 18, 1871, Otto von Bismarck read out the proclamation of the Emperor of Prussia in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. The German Reich was founded after Germany won the 1870-1871 war against France. The painter Anton von Werner was an eyewitness to the event and documented it in this painting made in 1885. Wilhelm I is standing on a stage surrounded by princes.
Image: picture alliance / akg-images
The Reichstag in Berlin
Berlin was the first capital of the German Reich. The Reichstag's foundation stone was laid on June 9, 1884, in a ceremony led by Emperor Wilhelm I and Otto von Bismarck, the first chancellor of the Reich. However, the Reichstag's construction took 10 years, and Wilhelm II put the final stone in the new building. Parliament was called to session a day after.
Image: picture-alliance/Heritage Images
The Kyffhausen Castle
This monument with a statue of Emperor Wilhelm I on horseback and Emperor Friedrick I (1112-1190) was built upon the remains of the Kyffhausen Castle from around the 11th century. Today, the castle is one of the main tourist attractions in Thuringia.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Living as the Wilhelminians did
The Gründerzeit ("Founder Epoch") Museum in Berlin takes the visitor back to the era between 1871 and 1914. The valuable furnishings of the time aimed to reflect prestige. With angular forms, elaborate decorations, curved legs with ball-like bases, chairs, grandfather clocks and mirrors often had crown-like decorations.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Stache
A Bismarck made of stone
Globally, there are around 10,000 places with a reference to Otto von Bismarck. Bismarck monuments were made between 1868 and 1934 and include statues of the chancellor riding a horse or depicting him as a warrior. Former colonies of Germany also have some leftover monuments to the German statesman. There is a Bismarck square in Dar es-Salaam and Bismarck mountains in Papua New Guinea.
Image: picture-alliance/akg
A towering chancellor
Otto von Bismarck was the founder of the German Reich in 1871. As the first chancellor, he was conservative but also modern. The Bismarck monument in the Old Elbe park in Hamburg was constructed in the years between 1901 to 1906, following plans by the architect Emil Schaudt and the sculptor Hugo Lederer.
Image: imago
The Franco-Prussian war
Scenes from the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871, with Germany's victory over the French, was one of the favorite themes of painters in the Wilhelminian period. This painting is also by Anton von Werner. It shows a French soldier taking leave from his wife, while a German musketeer holds the baby.
Image: picture-alliance / akg-images
The Berlin Cathedral
The new German Reich also needed a representative church. As the King of Prussia, Wilhelm II ordered the demolition of the Schinkel Cathedral and the construction of a new cathedral according to the plans of the architect Julius Raschdorf. Its form is reminiscent of Italian renaissance and Baroque styles. The cathedral was inaugurated on February 27, 1905.
Image: picture-alliance/imagebroker/A.S. Gilmour
The Bode museum
In memory of his father, Wilhelm II ordered the construction of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum, now known as the Bode Museum, in Berlin. With its stucco-decorated domed hall and the twin stairways, it became known as the "museum palace." It served as a hall of fame for the Hohenzollern dynasty and for renaissance art. It was renovated and reopened in 2006.
Image: picture alliance / imageBROKER
Heinrich Mann's "Der Untertan"
In his novel "Der Untertan" (translated into English under the titles "Man of Straw," "The Patrioteer," and "The Loyal Subject"), Heinrich Mann analyzed power relations in the Reich under Wilhelm II. Mann wrote the novel between 1906 and 1914. It was released as a book in 1918. The story is about the moral cowardice and opportunism of Diederich Hessling, who elbows his way up the social ladder.
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More power for the bourgeoisie
At first, the power of the Reichstag was still limited by the Bundesrat, which decided on laws alongside parliament. This assembly of imperial princes, largely controlled by Prussia, was intended as a kind of conservative bulwark to prevent democratic tendencies emerging from the Reichstag. To weaken the parliament's position, the emperor could dissolve the Reichstag with the consent of the Bundesrat.
But economic and social developments gave bourgeois co-determination a boost. "Industrialization, with the mass movements of labor, weakened the old rural aristocratic elites and strengthened the new industrial bourgeois elites," explained Nonn. "This led to the population becoming increasingly self-confident and demanding much more influence through their parties."
Through its legislative activity and its resonance with the public, the Reichstag became increasingly emancipated. Both the population and the government eventually accepted its political roles as an expression of popular opinion. To the same extent that the parliament became a symbol of the young nation-state, the Bundesrat became less important.
Voice recording of 19th-century German chancellor Bismarck found in US
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Weighted against urban centers
Despite their increased importance, however, the lives of Reichstag deputies were hardly enviable: For a long time, they received no parliamentary allowances, had neither staff nor their own offices.
The electoral system for the Reichstag also repeatedly fueled criticism. Due to the majority voting system and the division of constituencies, urban areas, where there had been a large increase in population, were significantly underrepresented. The conservatives benefited from this, while left-wing parties in the urban centers suffered. Moreover, in the early years, elections did not always have official ballots, voting booths or ballot boxes.
And there was a demographic and social imbalance. Only men who had reached the age of 25 were allowed to vote. Women and soldiers in active military service were excluded from voting for the Reichstag. So were recipients of poverty relief. "The reasons for this lie in the idea of the political maturity of male electoral citizens," explained Biefang.
Part of the idea was that one should have been economically self-sufficient, "while soldiers were forbidden civic rights so they wouldn't carry political conflicts into the army."
Reichstag in Berlin: Landmark and home to democracy
The accessible roof terrace and dome of the Reichstag Building are world famous. The building is associated with the lighter and darker sides of German history, from the Nazi era's Reichstag fire to reunification.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Spata
Glass dome
The Reichstag dome, created by celebrated architect Sir Norman Foster, is a must-see for Berlin tourists. At the top, the view from a height of 40 meters (about 130 feet) stretches over the government quarter and Brandenburg Gate. The glass dome was the express wish of the Bundestag. The plenary hall sits just below, symbolically allowing the people to monitor their members of parliament.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/D. Kalker
Reichstag lawn
Whether relaxing, demonstrating or guerrilla knitting (photo), the lawn in front of the Reichstag provides plenty of room for ideas and signals to the elected members of parliament who shape German politics. Since 1999, the Reichstag Building in the center of Berlin has been the seat of the German Bundestag.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/T. Brakemeier
A magnificent building for parliament
The Reichstag has stood on the banks of the Spree since 1894. Architect Paul Wallot created this first German parliament building when there was still a monarchy: the emperor ruled, and deputies in parliament — the Reichstag — debated. At the behest of parliamentarians, the inscription "Dem deutschen Volke" ("For the German People") was emblazoned on the side of the building in 1916.
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images
Democracy from the balcony
The second window balcony to the left of the main portal became the real cradle of parliamentary democracy on November 9, 1918: it was here that Social Democrat politician Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed the republic when the German Empire collapsed.
Image: picture-alliance/imageBROKER/M. Weber
Reichstag fire of 1933
The Reichstag Building burned down on February 27-28, 1933. Then Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler instrumentalized the fire to impose the Nazi dictatorship with terror and violence. Communist politician Marinus van der Lubbe was convicted of arson. From then on, the Reichstag Building stood empty. Only parts of the cellar were used by the Charite Clinic during World War II as a maternity ward.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Memorial to murdered deputies
From afar, the row of upright, black cast-iron slabs in front of the Reichstag Building are reminiscent of the narrow grave slabs of Jewish cemeteries. If you take a closer look, Dieter Appelt's artwork reveals the names, dates and places of death of those Reichstag deputies who were murdered by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945.
Image: picture-alliance/imageBROKER/H. Hattendorf
Graffiti by Russians
The Reichstag is not only a symbol for the beginning, but also for the end of Nazi rule. Autographs and messages from Soviet soldiers who occupied the Reichstag on May 2, 1945 are still on the walls. As a sign of victory, they hoisted the red flag on the roof of the Reichstag. This marked the end of World War II in Berlin.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/D. Kalker
'People of this world, look at this city'
This speech by Berlin Mayor Ernst Reuter in front of the ruins of the Reichstag Building, destroyed in the war, moved people. In 1948, Reuter appealed to the world not to surrender West Berlin to the Soviet Union. And he impressed the occupying Allied powers US, Great Britain and France. The result: the Berlin Airlift, which supplied West Berlin by plane for over a year.
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images
In the shadow of the Berlin Wall
When the Berlin Wall went up in 1961, the Reichstag was located in West Berlin, right on the border. Just behind, a tarmac strip now marks the course of the wall. To the south, the Spree River formed the second border to East Berlin. People repeatedly used the river to try to flee to the West. Since the 1970s, white crosses near the Reichstag have been a reminder of those who died in the attempt.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Kunigkeit
Fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification
Following the opening of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, the parliament building was once again in the center of Berlin. Four months later, excavators arrived to demolish the wall at the Reichstag. From October 2 to 3, 1990, hundreds of thousands of people euphorically celebrated German reunification in front of the Reichstag Building.
Image: picture-alliance/360-Berlin
'Wrapped Reichstag'
Ninety climbers, 100,000 square meters of silvery tarpaulins and 5 million enchanted visitors — the wrapping of the Reichstag Building in the summer of 1995 is considered the most spectacular work by artist couple Christo and Jeanne-Claude. From then on everything seemed possible, including the choice to once again make the Reichstag the seat of a democratically elected German parliament.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/W. Kumm
Looking to the future
During a four-year conversion period, architect Norman Foster gave the Reichstag Building not only a modern interior, but also its spectacular dome. The Reichstag has been Germany's official seat of parliament since September 1999. Here, members of parliament discuss and decide on the political future of Germany in the presence of thousands of visitors in the upper galleries.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Jensen
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As a result, only about 20% of the population of the newly founded empire had the right to vote in the first Reichstag election on March 3, 1871, Biefang said. Turnout was 50%. By the German Empire's last Reichstag election before World War I in 1912, that had increased to more than 84%.
According to Biefang, voting became increasingly important to people. "They felt that participation in the Reichstag election mattered to them personally. And that was because many of the decisions made by the Reichstag affected their lives," says the historian.
Today's Bundestag can only dream of such interest. In any case, historian Nonn wishes the Reichstag's descendants more of the public attention and appreciation that the parliament of the empire received: "What was debated there was the talk of the day. At the barbers, at markets, in laundries — everywhere people talked about what was the issue at the Reichstag."
Today, he says, debates in modern parliament receive far less attention. In some respects, this leads to "members of the Bundestag doing things that they might not do if they were watched more closely," says the history professor, alluding to the recent lobbying scandal involving representatives of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
This article was translated from German.
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