Bonn-upon-Spree: a photo exhibition documenting the early years oft he German Bundestag

Window 1

Political new beginning – the Parliamentary Council
Bonn, 1 September 1948, nine years after the German invasion of Poland: among the moral and material debris of dictatorship and world war, Germans were vying for the future of their state in a divided and occupied country.
The Western victorious powers had mandated the Minister Presidents of the eleven newly established Länder in their respective zones of occupation to convene a constituent assembly. Within two weeks, a constitutional convention comprising delegates from the Länder, meeting on the island Herrenchiemsee, had agreed on a draft constitution. Very soon, before the end of August 1948, the Land parliaments elected the 65 Members of the Parliamentary Council. The College of Education (Pädagogische Akademie) in Bonn was chosen as its meeting place.
In the unflustered university city on the Rhine, from 1 September 1948 until May 1949, the foundations of a new free and democratic order were set down in the form of the Basic Law. Its preamble stated explicitly that the Parliamentary Council had also acted on behalf of those Germans “to whom participation was denied”, for on the east of the Elbe the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was being created on the Soviet model. “The entire German people are called upon to achieve in free self-determination the unity and freedom of Germany”: that claim which was staked in the Basic Law could not be settled until the peaceful revolution of 1989/90 in the GDR.
Photo No and caption (top left to bottom right):
Photo 1: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
Ceremonial opening of the Parliamentary Council in the central atrium of the Alexander Koenig Museum of Natural History. In view of the ravages of the Second World War, there was no other hall left in Bonn with a comparable capacity.
Photo 2: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
Following the opening ceremony, the Parliamentary Council constituted itself in the graduation hall of the Pädagogische Akademie. Konrad Adenauer (CDU), former Mayor of the City of Cologne, was elected to serve as its President (Speaker). More information at https://www.parlamentarischerrat.de/ (QR code)
Photo 3: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
In the chamber: Council Member Ernst Reuter (SPD) from Berlin alongside Max Becker (FDP) from Hesse. Because of the special status of the city, the Berlin representatives had no voting rights in the Parliamentary Council and were not listed as Members either.
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Window 2

Work on the Basic Law
Until the unity of Germany was restored, a common system of government was to be created for the Länder in the western occupation zones as a temporary arrangement only. For that reason, the term “constitution” was avoided.
The work on the “Basic Law” was performed in a country still reeling from the effects of the National Socialist dictatorship and the collapse of the Weimar Republic. The chairman of the Main Committee of the Parliamentary Council, Carlo Schmid (SPD), would later recall that “The section on fundamental rights became the main piece of the Basic Law. The Basic Law placed it at the beginning to show that the purpose of the subsequent provisions on the organisation of the machinery of state was to guarantee Germans a life in freedom and dignity in their country.”
Compared with the “Fathers”, it took rather longer for attention to focus on the four “Mothers” of the Basic Law. In particular, legal scholar Elisabeth Selbert is only now receiving due credit for her commitment to the clear wording of Article 3 – “Men and women shall have equal rights”. In 1949, photographer Erna Wagner-Hehmke had already taken portrait photographs of the women, who represented various political parties.
On 8 May 1949 – four years after the unconditional capitulation – the Parliamentary Council adopted the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany. Following its approval by the Allied military governors, it was signed and promulgated on 23 May 1949.
Photo No and caption:
Photo 1: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
Photographer Erna Wagner-Hehmke gives pride of place to the “Mothers of the Basic Law”: (left to right) Frieda Nadig (SPD), Helene Wessel (German Centre Party), Helene Weber (CDU) and Elisabeth Selbert (SPD).
Photo 2: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
Carlo Schmid, chairman of the SPD group in the Parliamentary Council, in conversation with his party colleague Elisabeth Selbert and a member of staff.
Photo 3: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
Council Members from all political groups shared the use of the Parliamentary Council Members’ lounge.
Photo 4: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
Communist Member Heinz Renner in conversation with two staff members in the office of the KPD group.
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Window 3

The first German Bundestag
To participate in the first Bundestag election on 14 August 1949, political parties required a licence from their respective occupying powers and had to obtain at least five per cent of the vote in order to enter Parliament; at that time, the 5% threshold still applied to each Land.
A total of 78.5% of the electorate – men and women aged 21 or over who were resident in any of the three western zones of occupation – turned out to vote. The population of the western sectors of Berlin, however, were not eligible to vote. The Land Parliament of Berlin sent eight representatives to the Bundestag. Until the first all-German election in 1990, they possessed limited voting rights.
The first Bundestag had 410 Members, from whom nine parliamentary groups were formed. One of the delegated Berlin Members was the former President of the Reichstag, Paul Löbe. As President by Age, he opened the constituent sitting in Bonn on 7 September 1949.
Among the Members of the Bundestag were 28 women. Although ten more women took the place of deceased and departing Members in the course of the electoral term, the proportion of women in Parliament had risen to only 9% by 1953.
Photo No and caption:
Photo 1: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
View from the new plenary chamber showing interested observers watching the constituent sitting of the first Bundestag from the outside.
Photo 2: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
As President by Age, Paul Löbe opened the constituent sitting. Apart from a brief interlude, Löbe had been President of the Reichstag from 1920 to 1932. During the National Socialist dictatorship he was repeatedly imprisoned.
Photo 3: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
Members sat close together in the chamber; Erna Wagner-Hehmke managed to make a woman Member, Lisa Korspeter (SPD), the centrepiece of this photograph, thereby also highlighting the predominance of men in the chamber. More information on women in the first Bundestag can be obtained at: https://www.bundestag.de/parlament/geschichte/75jahre/buch-956138 (QR code)
Photo 4: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
The visitors’ gallery and the press gallery were both full to capacity for the constituent sitting of the Bundestag. A temporary stand for visitors was erected in front of the large glazed facade, enabling numerous interested spectators to follow the course of events from the outside.
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Window 4

Parliamentary business by the Rhine
The reconstruction of the war-torn old town and of main traffic arteries such as the bridges over the Rhine had only just begun in Bonn when the city was elevated to the status of temporary seat of the federal institutions. But most Members of the Bundestag needed overnight accommodation for sitting weeks. Many of them subleased premises or shared a flat. They used the ferry if their lodgings were on the opposite bank of the Rhine.
In the Bundeshaus, as the Parliament building was called, only a few Members had their own office. For this reason the plenary chamber was also used for fringe discussions and written work. Erna Wagner-Hehmkes’ photographs provide a vivid impression of the lively exchanges that took place between male and female, young and experienced Members – and of the active involvement of all Members in the work of Parliament.
Article 42 of the Basic Law stipulates that sittings of the Bundestag shall be public. Press representatives and visitors were able to watch the proceedings from the galleries and seek to engage in conversation with Members in the spacious-looking lobby. Photographers moving about the chamber among the Members when the first Bundestag was constituted, however, remained the exception.
Photo No and caption:
Photo 1: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
Young CDU Member Aenne Brauksiepe alongside seasoned parliamentarian Helene Weber, who had already been politically active in the Weimar Republic. In 1968, Aenne Brauskiepe became the first female Federal Minister for Women and Youth.
Photo 2: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
SPD Member Käte Strobel in conversation with her fellow Member for Nuremberg, Willy Fischer (also SPD). In 1966, Käte Strobel became Federal Minister of Health, and from 1969 her remit was extended to include the women and youth portfolios.
Photo 3: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
Before the start of the constituent sitting; Bundestag Member Otto Suhr (SPD), Governing Mayor of Berlin from 1955, pictured in the plenary chamber; behind him is Ludwig Bergsträsser (SPD). On the far right of the image, a photographer records the historic moment for the public.
Photo 4: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
View into the Bundestag lobby, where guests and Members cross paths.
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Window 5 (Exhibition title)

Bonn upon Spree.
A photo exhibition documenting the early years of the German Bundestag, 1948/49
Photo: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
Topping-out ceremony for the Bundeshaus, 5 May 1949. Construction workers with beer mugs standing on the steel frame of the new plenary chamber.
Background photo: Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, German Archive of Art, Hans Schwippert Bequest. Bundeshaus, Bonn, riverside front, c. 1949. Photo by Karl-Hugo Schmölz, Cologne.
Seventy-five years ago, the first German Bundestag held its constituent sitting in Bonn. For a long time, where the seat of parliament and government would be located was a controversial issue. In a divided country, the claim to unified German nationhood had to be upheld, even in the context of the East-West conflict. That was reflected in the retention of Berlin as the capital.
Nevertheless, Bonn, the “stopgap”, became synonymous with the parliamentary democracy of the Federal Republic, until the peaceful revolution of 1989 in the GDR paved the way for reunification. When government and parliament were relocated 25 years ago, the Bonn Republic grew both physically and symbolically into the “Berlin Republic” encompassing the whole of Germany.
Photographer Erna Wagner-Hehmke documented the political new beginning with her camera. From 1949, the federal buildings in Bonn bore the stamp of Werkbund architect Hans Schwippert. This exhibition honours both artists and documents the launch of democracy on the Rhine.
Publication details
Edited by: German Bundestag, Research Services, Research Section WD 1 (History, Politics and Culture), Platz der Republik 1, 11011 Berlin
in cooperation with the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland Foundation (HdG, Bonn)
Concept and text: Heike Erlbeck, Florian Dierl and Dr°Hilmar Sack (WD 1), Dr Manfred Wichmann (HdG, Bonn)
Organisation: Monique Jajo (WD 1)
Design: REDPEAR, Potsdam
Exhibition building: mediapool Agency for Productions, Events and Exhibitions, Berlin
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The Bundestag has endeavoured to trace and contact all proprietors of rights. Should we have been unable to do so, we ask proprietors of any relevant rights to get in touch with us.
Exhibition texts in English: (QR code)
For more background information on the parliamentary beginnings, see the Bundestag anniversary website at https://www.bundestag.de/75-jahre (QR code)
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Window 5a

Erna Wagner-Hehmke
Erna Wagner-Hehmke (1905-1992) was one of the most widely talented German women photographers of the 20th century. Born as Erna Hehmke in Breslau (Wrocław) in 1905, she was trained as a photographer by Anne Winterer in Düsseldorf in the early 1920s. From 1925, the two women jointly ran the Hehmke-Winterer Photographic Workshop – a rare phenomenon in that era. Their portfolio covered theatre photography, portraiture, fine-art photography and even industrial images. From 1935, Erna Wagner-Hehmke, now married, ran the photographic studio alone for more than fifty years.
In 1948 the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia commissioned the experienced photographer to document the building work which the Land was undertaking for the federal authorities. The aim was to strengthen the case for Bonn to become the new seat of government and parliament rather than its rival, Frankfurt am Main, the more fancied candidate. Those photographs testify to her practised eye for space and architecture and to a special understanding of Hans Schwippert’s parliamentary architecture. That she also had a keen eye for political developments is demonstrated by the images she captured from the time when the Parliamentary Council began its work until the constituent sitting of the Bundestag on 7 September 1949.
This legacy of some 4,500 photographs is now part of the collection held by the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland Foundation in Bonn.
Photo: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive, Photographic portrait of Erna Wagner-Hehmke.
A volume containing Erna Wagner-Hehmke’s photographs of the Parliamentary Council and more information (in German) on its proceedings can be ordered at https://www.bpb.de/shop/buecher/schriftenreihe/510919/fuer-immer-recht-und-freiheit/ (QR code)
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Window 5b

Hans Schwippert
Leading German architect and designer Hans Schwippert (1899-1973) contributed significantly to the post-war architecture of Germany. Schwippert was strongly influenced by the reformist ideas of the Deutscher Werkbund and was committed to functionalist and social architecture.
After the Second World War, Schwippert played a key role in the reconstruction of Western Germany. In 1949, he was appointed to a professorial post at Düsseldorf Academy of Art, where he taught until 1966. During that period, he designed numerous landmark buildings, including the Bundeshaus in Bonn, the seat of the Bundestag. His Bundeshaus design was characterised by a clear, modern use of forms and a purposeful use of materials to symbolise transparency and openness.
Schwippert was also active as a designer and designed furniture of striking simplicity and functionality. He died in Düsseldorf in 1973. His legacy lives on in numerous design objects and in buildings that are still regarded today as examples of the innovative power of post-war architecture.
Photo: Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, German Archive of Art, Hans Schwippert Bequest.
Hans Schwippert in his office in Goltzheim, Düsseldorf, in 1953. Photo by Brigitte Uhrmeister, Düsseldorf
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Showcase
Object description:
Rolleiflex f2.8 single-lens reflex camera for 60x60mm-format roll films, Francke and Heidecke Rollei Works, Brunswick, 1960s. Privately owned.
Erna Wagner-Hehmke used a similar camera for her photographic work.
Object description:
Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
The Parliamentary Council, photo album, 1949
The photographer produced a personal photo album for each Member of the Parliamentary Council with images of that body at work. This copy was evidently produced for Council Member Helene Wessel, who was subsequently elected to the first Bundestag.
Object description:
Museum of Architecture, Munich Technical University, schwi-92-11 / schwi-92-25
Hans Schwippert, drawings of the plenary chamber for the Bundestag with various seating arrangements for Members, 1948/49, reproductions.
According to Hans Schwippert, the democratic new beginning was also to be expressed in spatial terms by means of a circular seating arrangement in the chamber, in which all Members of parliament, including government ministers, would speak from their seats. In the end, in accordance with Konrad Adenauer’s wishes, a traditional hemispheric seating plan was adopted. That focused the Members’ eyes on the rostrum and emphasised state authority by means of a raised podium for the Federal Government and the Bundesrat.
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Window 6

The “stopgap” in Bonn: from Pädagogische Akademie to Bundeshaus
In the spring of 1949, work was begun on converting the former College of Education (Pädagogische Akademie) in Bonn into the “Bundeshaus”, the seat of the Bundestag and Bundesrat, even before the Parliamentary Council had taken its decision that Bonn should be the “temporary seat of the federal institutions”. The aim was to establish a fait accompli in the tussle over the “capital question”, especially in order to fend off competition from Frankfurt, which was reconstructing St Paul’s Church, steeped in parliamentary tradition. Bonn’s trump cards were its central location and its relative intactness after the war. In particular, the choice of Bonn underlined the provisional nature of the arrangement.
Under the direction of architect Hans Schwippert, the building was restructured into a serviceable parliament within a matter of months. Material shortages and the damaged national infrastructure severely complicated the construction work. Nevertheless, the construction team managed to erect the impressive skeleton for the plenary chamber in March, to hold the topping-out ceremony at the beginning of May and to complete the building on schedule, enabling the first Bundestag to convene there for its inaugural sitting on 7 September 1949.
In the early 1930s, the Pädagogische Akademie was regarded as a prime example of Neues Bauen architecture. With the extensions he designed to create the Bundeshaus, Hans Schwippert embraced that aesthetic tradition while signalling that the young Republic was striking out into the modern world, into the age of democracy.
Photo No and caption (top left to bottom right):
Photo 1: Museum of Architecture, Munich Technical University, inventory No F 8117. Photo by Hugo Schmölz
Pädagogische Akademie, Bonn, 1930-1933. The building, in the Neues Bauen style, was designed by Martin Witte, architect and Prussian Government Building Officer, and was regarded as the only work of the Dessau-based Bauhaus in the Bonn area.
Photo 2: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
On the Bundeshaus construction site, concrete pouring is carried out in the middle of the night in the spring of 1949. By the start of September, the restructuring work had already been completed. To be ready in time for the scheduled opening of the Bundestag, the work had been carried out in two shifts.
Photo 3: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
The topping-out ceremony for the Bundeshaus took place on 5 May 1949. A construction worker speaks during the ceremony against the backdrop of the steel framework of the future plenary chamber.
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Window 7

“Open to the world”: the plenary chamber and the extension buildings
The chief architect, Hans Schwippert, combined his design with a strategic goal, namely to create a building for “beginning again with new political life in Germany” – “a simple building, a building of today […] which is open to the world”.
Few extensions were added to the structure of the Pädagogische Akademie, a low, elongated building integrated into the Rhenish riverside landscape. They were intended to accentuate the impression of brightness and lightness . The architectural heart of the parliament was the new plenary chamber, which was added as an extension to the former gymnasium. The striking glazed facades, more than 20 metres long and 8 metres high, on the sides of the cubic building were intended to stress the desire for fully transparent political activity. At the top end of the chamber there was initially a textile hanging with the coats of arms of the federal states, but in 1953 that was replaced with the monumental plaster relief of the federal eagle designed by Ludwig Gies.
The other rooms of the former college of education were also restructured for parliamentary business. Further administrative and office premises were added to the northern and southern ends of the original building.
Photo No and caption (top left to bottom right):
Photo 1: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
This view of the Bundeshaus from the Rhine side is a wide-angle image composited from three photographs. The future shape of the building with the plenary chamber and the extension structures is already recognisable from the photomontage.
Sketch a: Museum of Architecture, Munich Technical University, schwi-92-6
Hans Schwippert, 1949, Site plan of the Bundeshaus with the projected extensions.
Sketch b: Museum of Architecture, Munich Technical University, schwi-92-22
Hans Schwippert, 1949, floor plan of the Bundeshaus, ground floor.
Photo 2: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
Bathed in light and acoustically optimised, the plenary chamber was also equipped with state-of-the-art technology for the transmission of Bundestag sittings. The rows of Members’ seats, with desks arranged in pairs, formed a shallow crescent facing the rostrum.
Photo 3: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
The patio of the Bundestag restaurant was well filled between the two voting rounds at the first Federal Convention on 12 September 1949. The courtyard-like area between the plenary chamber and the restaurant was designed to ensure that the old and new buildings complemented each other harmoniously, creating an atmosphere conducive to relaxed conversation between Members and the visiting public.
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Window 8

An unassuming setting: meeting rooms and “work cells” in the Bundeshaus
The functional and restrained use of architectural forms was continued in the interior of the Bundeshaus.
The two-storeyed lobby served as a foyer connecting the various parts of the building and provided space for informal talks and relaxation. Colourful floor coverings and curtains contrasted with the plain white walls.
The plenary chamber emphasised the serious nature of the activity conducted there with its black-stained, brass-studded oak horizontal panelling beams and the rows of heavy dark-green Members’ seats.
Schwippert’s design for the numerous meeting rooms and Members’ offices was functional, with light wooden furniture and subdued colours setting the tone. The spaces were designed to promote both concentration and communication.
Very soon after the Bundeshaus became operational, the need for additional spaces became clear, and so the Bundeshaus was to remain a building site in the years that followed.
Photo No and caption (top left to bottom right):
Photo 1: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
The lobby in the Bundeshaus was planned as a showpiece in the centre of the building complex and was adorned with furniture of understated elegance in the New Objectivity style in accordance with Hans Schwippert’s designs.
Photo 2: Landesmuseum Württemberg, Stuttgart, Inventory No 2001-350-32
Decorative textile, “Cologne” pattern, c. 1949. The design for the colourful cotton curtain in the lobby was created by textile designer Margret Hildebrand.
Photo 3: Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, German Archive of Art, Hans Schwippert Bequest. Photo by Karl-Hugo Schmölz, Cologne
An anteroom adjoining Members’ offices in the Bundeshaus. The furnishings were designed by Hans Schwippert and the chair by Johannes Krahn.
Photo 4: Haus der Geschichte Foundation, Erna Wagner-Hehmke archive
Bundestag Member Rudolf-Ernst Heiland (SPD) and his family in the La Roche Bundestag restaurant. Equipped with modern interior furniture and fittings designed by Marcel Breuer, Johannes Krahn and Margret Hildebrand, the restaurant could provide several hundred diners with high-quality service.
Photo 5: Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, German Archive of Art, Hans Schwippert Bequest. Photo by Atelier Stuckmann, Bonn
Refurbishment of the plenary chamber in the Bundeshaus, undated.
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Window 9

From Rhine to Spree: the “capital debate” and relocation of Parliament
The peaceful revolution of 1989 and the end of the dictatorial Socialist Unity Party regime paved the way for reunification in 1990. The Unification Treaty negotiated by the Federal Republic and the GDR specified that Berlin was to be the capital of reunited Germany. What remained at issue was where the political centre would be. Bonn’s claim to remain the seat of parliament and government was based on the city’s renown as a symbol of political moderation and a successful democracy. The expansion of the government precinct, moreover, including the construction of a new plenary chamber, was already far advanced. The advocates of Berlin recalled the decades-long adherence to the status of Berlin as the capital city. They pointed to the city’s function as the meeting point of East and West and saw a relocation from the Rhine to the Spree as a source of impetus for the process of social unification of the nation. On 20 June 1991, following an impassioned 12-hour debate, the Bundestag voted by a slim majority that the seat of parliament and government be moved to Berlin.
To provide “adequate compensation” for the “federal city” of Bonn, many ministries remained based in Bonn. At the same time, numerous new buildings were erected in the Mitte district of Berlin. With the opening on 19 April 1999 of the Reichstag Building, reconstructed by British architect Sir Norman Foster, a new era of German parliamentary democracy began. The “Bonn Republic” was now history. The “Berlin Republic” was yet to forge its own future.
Photo No and caption (top left to bottom right):
Photo 1: German Bundestag / Image Service, image No 211563
18 August 1998: Plenary chamber under construction in the Reichstag building.
Photo 2: German Bundestag / Image Service
19. April 1999: Formal handover of the keys to the reconstructed Reichstag building in the presence of Bundestag President Wolfgang Thierse, architect Sir Norman Foster and Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.