Palace of the Republic: The rise and fall of an East German landmark

Fifty years ago, many people in what was then communist East Germany could hardly believe their eyes as they walked through the newly opened Palace of the Republic, known locally as the Palast, in East Berlin.

In a country where luxury goods were scarce, the April 1976 opening featured marble floors, comfortable seating areas, plant arrangements, large paintings on the walls and a five-metre-high glass flower in the middle.

As their gaze turned upward, it was met by nearly 10,000 spherical lights providing illumination and inspiring the nickname "Erich’s lamp shop," named after East German leader Erich Honecker, who by that time had been in power for five years and would go on to rule for another 13 years until the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.

The Palast was built on the remains of the Hohenzollern city palace, which was blown up in 1950 under the orders of Honecker's predecessor - Walter Ulbricht - the first East German leader and a hard-line, pro-Soviet politician considered the architect of the Berlin Wall.

While that palace was heavily damaged in World War II, it was still considered repairable - but Ulbricht wanted to root out any vestiges of Prussian history and had it destroyed.

In its place, thousands of workers erected the Palast in just 32 months of construction - a kind of people’s house for meeting, culture, entertainment, eating and drinking.

The costs were immense. Yet, unlike for other construction sites in former East Germany, construction was not plagued by shortages of materials.

A cultural hub and political stage

And people flocked to the new building. After its opening on April 23, 1976, which was reserved for political dignitaries and the builders, visitors streamed in.

The new palace had a bowling alley and a theatre, as well as a large concert and events hall and a disco with a rotating dance floor.

There was space for art, plus 13 catering establishments. These included restaurants and the well-stocked foyer bar. In the stylish milk bar with a view of the Spree river, ice-cream sundaes were flambéed.

Anyone living in or visiting what was then the capital of former East Germany made the "Palast" a fixed destination. Concerts with top East German stars and appearances by Western ones such as Tangerine Dream or Carlos Santana were in demand.

The building also served as home to the former East German parliament, known as the peoples chamber or Volkskammer, and the jubilant congresses of the East German Communist Party, known as the Socialist Unity Germany party or SED.

"With the Palast, a kind of socialist affluent society was staged. You could leave everyday problems behind," says historian and former East Germany researcher Stefan Wolle.

Even the telephone booths always worked - something that was not taken for granted in former communist East Germany.

A slow decline

In the period of political change in 1989-90, the Palast became a place of historic change - even as its own decline began.

On October 7, 1989, the 40th anniversary of East Germany, leader Honecker raised a glass of sparkling wine with guests during an official ceremony inside the building.

Outside, demonstrators confronted the "people’s police" and the feared secret police, known as the Stasi, demanding freedom and political reform.

By March 18, 1990, the date of East Germany’s first and only free elections, the Palast had become an international media centre, with broadcasters from around the world reporting from within its walls.

The newly elected Volkskammer faced an unprecedented task: voting itself out of existence and paving the way for reunification.

On August 23, 1990, it was decided that East Germany will accede to the Federal Republic of Germany, effective October 3 - a date now celebrated as German Unity Day.

The former East German state emblems on the facade and in the plenary hall have long since been removed.

Asbestos in the marble palace

The East German parliamentary session planned for September 19, 1990 was not held in the Palast: the former East German council of ministers had ordered the entire building to be closed because of asbestos contamination.

More than 700 tons had been used during construction for fire protection to encase the steel beams.

"When the Palast was closed, it was clear to me that it would be demolished," waiter Roland Proeh recalls in a documentary by the RBB Berlin public television station.

And that's exactly what happened. After years of debate, including the costly asbestos removal that left the building as a shell of itself, and after art projects, protests and discussions about alternatives, the German parliament decided in 2002 to demolish the Palast and reconstruct the city palace.

In the end, although the Palast was only open for a bit more than 14 years, many people still associate personal memories with it today - and maybe with a dash of East German nostaglia to go with it.

Was the building meant to go?

To this day, some maintain that asbestos was not the sole reason for the demolition, and that there was also a desire to erase a symbol of East German history.

"That is nonsense," says Berlin’s former mayor Eberhard Diepgen. Renovating the Palast would have become more expensive than building a new one, he says.

"It is undisputed that the Palast der Republik was heavily contaminated with asbestos and that this was the reason for its closure before reunification," says Hartmut Dorgerloh, general director of the Humboldt Forum, a cultural and exhibition centre on the site of the former Palast.

The Humboldt Forum, which now offers exhibits on world history and says it promotes diversity, is located in a shell of the former Palast. A few originals from the former structure: a Stasi monitor, a wall relief and selected works of art.