Reichstag

Reichstag, Berlin - darkometer rating : 1 - The seat of Germany ’s parliament right in the centre of its capital city, Berlin . It’s also a building with a very chequered history, which is the reason it’s featured here as a dark tourism sight at all. As such it is perhaps only mildly dark, as very little of its dark history legacy is actually visible today. In the main, the building is a tourist magnet for very different reasons: in particular its spectacular glass dome that visitors can climb via two spiralling walkways inside the dome itself. Below the dome is the plenary hall of the German parliament, the Bundestag. So in a way tourists are “on top of” the politicians when they visit the glass dome … This rather cheerful approach of implying openness, and its immense popularity (the Reichstag is the most visited parliamentary building in the world), almost obscure the dark sides of its past – notably in connection with the Nazi era, but also during the years of the Cold War division of Berlin. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: The original Reichstag building was erected towards the end of the 19th century, i.e. during imperial Prussian times. After World War One it housed the democratic parliament of the new Weimar Republic. The downfall of the Weimar Republic and the Nazis ’ rise to power in 1933 are both closely connected to events at the Reichstag: On the night of 27-28 February – only four weeks after Hitler had become Reich’s Chancellor – a fire destroyed much of the interior of the Reichstag. It was quickly presumed to have been arson – but who was to blame remains controversial to this day. The Nazis convicted a Dutch communist for the crime (and in predictable Nazi style executed him).