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The Reichstag building may look like a fortress, but there are few parliaments that are as easily accessible as the Bundestag. Around 2.5 million people visit Parliament each year. Unless the rules of the Crown restrict operations, it is not a problem for citizens to closely observe the representatives of the people. The security measures around the Reichstag building aren’t particularly unpleasant either: a couple of barriers, a couple of bollards, a couple of policemen, that’s usually it. But since last weekend it has been debated whether everything can continue like this. The fact that right-wing extremists, conspiracy theorists, and other protesters could only stop directly in front of the front door of the main portal should scare all Democrats. And that’s exactly why some now want to accelerate the long-planned construction of a trench in front of this main portal.
“Aha-Graben”, they call the building in the Bundestag administration. The name is not derived from distance, hand washing, respiratory protection mask, but from the fact that the well should only be visible when you stand directly in front of it. And that the astonished viewer then says “Aha”. The construction commission of the Council of Elders of the Bundestag has already decided to build the trench. It should cover the entire west side of the building. There is the flight of stairs that the protesters wanted to use to enter parliament on the weekend. 55 meter long fences will be installed to the right and left of the exterior staircase. The intermediate trench should be 2.5 meters deep and ten meters wide. This would secure the entire west side, and therefore also the main portal of the Reichstag building.
The future station building should be more dignified than the previous containers.
This solution also has the advantage that the view of the building is not restricted. There is already a similar moat in front of the Bellevue Palace, the seat of the federal president.
The moat is actually planned in connection with the new Bundestag visitor center. Until now, there are temporary containers in front of the Reichstag building, through which visitors must pass. Instead, a dignified reception building will be built on Scheidemannstrasse, diagonally across from the Reichstag building. In the future, visitors will be screened there and then they can tunnel through to the main portal. And that is exactly the reason why the area in front of the main portal must be reliably cordoned off; otherwise, uncontrolled and already controlled visitors could blend in there.
The chairman of the construction commission, Vice President of the Bundestag Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP), said that Süddeutsche Zeitung, I would prefer that the construction of the trench could begin immediately. But it also depends on the permits of the Berlin authorities. In addition, a new underground cooling center for the Bundestag should be built in the area. That complicates things even more.
Then it won’t be so fast. But many MPs are impatient for what happened over the weekend. Carsten Schneider, parliamentary managing director of the SPD parliamentary group, stated, for example, that he would request a special meeting of the council of elders “to review the plans to establish a buffer zone and make sure they are implemented quickly.” This meeting will take place on Thursday. But not much should come of it, at least in relation to the aha-pit.
On Monday it was said that it could even take as long as 2025 for the bulldozers to open. This is not just due to the planned cooling system. A subway line and a long-distance train line would also pass under the area, and an S-Bahn tunnel is planned. There are also geothermal wells there. The trench and the tunnel to the visitor center are therefore not an easy undertaking. So it will be a long time before the first one says “Aha” in front of the Reichstag building, and a ditch protects the Bundestag.
