Raising the Soviet Flag over the Reichstag.

The Reichstag is a historic building in Berlin, Germany, constructed to house the 'Imperial Diet' (the Parliament of Germany) of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 and housed the Diet until 1933, when it was severely damaged after being set on fire.

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The building caught fire on the 27th February 1933, under circumstances still not entirely known the Nazis the opportunity to suspend most rights provided for by the 1919 Weimar Constitution in the Reichstag Fire Decree, allowing them to arrest Communists and other enemies, and increase police action throughout Germany.

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During the 12 years of Nazi rule, the Reichstag building was not used for parliamentary sessions. Instead, the few times that the Reichstag convened at all, it did so in the Kroll Opera House, opposite the Reichstag building. This applied particularly to the session of the 22nd March 1934, in which the Reichstag surrendered its powers to Adolf Hitler in the Enabling Act. The main meeting hall of the building (which was unusable after the fire) was instead used for propaganda presentations and, during World War II, for military purposes. It was also considered for conversion to a flak tower but was found to be structurally unsuitable.

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The building, never fully repaired after the fire, was further damaged by air raids. During the Battle of Berlin in 1945, it became one of the central targets for the Red Army to capture, due to its perceived symbolic significance. Today, visitors to the building can still see Soviet graffiti on smoky walls inside as well as on part of the roof, which was preserved during the reconstructions after reunification.

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After World War II, the building fell into disuse; the parliament of the German Democratic Republic (the Volkskammer) met in the Palast der Republik in East Berlin, while the parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany (the Bundestag) met in the Bundeshaus in Bonn.

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The ruined building was made safe against the elements and partially refurbished in the 1960s, but no attempt at full restoration was made until after German reunification on the 3rd October 1990, when it underwent a reconstruction led by British architect Norman Foster. After its completion in 1999, it once again became the meeting place of the German parliament: the modern Bundestag.

Source: Wikipedia

The rebuilt Reichstag in 2010.