The Reichstag building (Germany)

The Reichstag building was constructed between 1884 and 1894 to house the Imperial Diet of the German Empire. It was later also used to house the parliament of the Weimar Republic. Between the 27th and 28th February 1933 the building was destroyed by a set fire. Adolf Hitler, who was in office for around four weeks, and his party used the fire for their purposes. Already on 27th February President Paul von Hindenburg issued the Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State, the Reichstag Fire Decree, which nullified many of the key civil liberties of German citizens and allowed the creation of an one-party state led by the Nazi Party. In 1945 the Red Army hoisted the Red Flag on the building. During the time of the German Division the building was not used by the parliament. On 3rd October 1990 the German reunification was celebrated on the place in front of the Reichstag building and one day later the first all-German parliament sat there. Since 1999 the German Bundestag sits again in the Reichstag building, after it moved back from the West-German capital Bonn.

"Long live the New! Long live the German Republic!"

With this historic words Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed the German Republic on 9th November 1918 from one of the balconies of the Reichstag building. The proclamation of the republic was needed after Emperor Wilhelm II abdicated after the end of World War I. Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed the republic just a few hours before a planned proclamation of a Soviet Republic by Karl Liebknecht. One day later an interim government was formed, which planned the elections for a constituent National Assembly. The Weimar Republic arose from this event, which was the first modern democratic republic in Germany.
To honour this important person of the German history a special stamp was issued on 1st July 2015 in commemoration of his 150th birthday.