German politicians debate how to exorcise the Reichstag's ghosts

Soaring above the lush foliage of the Tiergarten and dwarfing the nearby Brandenburg Gate, the giant, glass dome of Sir Norman Foster's renovated Reichstag building has become the trademark of Berlin's new skyline.

The architect hopes it will also become a symbol of the openness and transparency of a new Germany when parliament moves into the building later this year.

But the past is never far away when Germany is planning for the future and leading politicians are debating how best to exorcise the Reichstag's ghosts before they move into the grey stone building by the Spree.

The president of the Bundestag, Mr Wolfgang Thierse, wants to change the building's name to the German Bundestag - or possibly the German Bundestag in the Reichstag. Others argue that the new Germany needs a new name for its parliament building but few have come up with anything more inspiring than Plenary Building or Assembly Hall.

The Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, barged into the debate at the weekend in his customary straight-talking manner. Any attempts to change the building's name were a waste of time, he said, because the public would carry on calling it the Reichstag in any case. "In general conversation it is referred to as the Reichstag and that is what it should remain," he said.

Taking a swipe at his Social Democratic party colleague, Mr Thierse, the Chancellor added that the party should shed its "old, bad habit" of telling people what to do.

Another senior Social Democrat, Mr Franz Muntefering, said the building's name should remain unchanged. "The Bundestag will meet in the Reichstag. I have no problem with that," he said.

Many Germans do have a problem, however, with what they see as a sign that the new Germany sees itself as being as much in tune with the discredited, imperial age as the democratic era that followed the second World War.

Built under Bismarck in 1894, the Reichstag was destroyed by a suspicious fire a few weeks before Hitler came to power in 1933 and again destroyed by Allied bombs in the last days of the war. Hitler set foot in the building only three times during the 12 years of Nazi rule but it remains a symbol of militaristic imperialism.

Sir Norman's solution to the problem of the Reichstag's history is not to conceal it but to lay it bare on the building's walls. Obscene, anti-German graffiti scrawled by soldiers from the Red Army in 1945 have been exposed.

The architect wanted to replace the dumpy eagle that presides over the Bundestag with a leaner, more dynamic version of the German national symbol. But this was a step too far for the country's parliamentarians, who ordered that a larger version of the "fat hen", as the Bundestag eagle is known, should hang above them.

They may feel less comfortable about the fact that the public will be watching parliamentary proceedings from above, too, as they stroll around the huge glass dome.

Renovation work on the Reichstag began in the summer of 1995, immediately after the spectacular wrapping of the building by the conceptual artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

After almost four years and at a cost of more than DM600 million, the parliament will meet in the renovated building next month.

Although the Chancellor will move to Berlin for good next month, the rest of the Bundestag's 669 members will not make the final move from Bonn until September. Parliamentarians have been told to shred as much paper as possible before the packers move into the Bundestag on July 5th.

Government officials have been given a little longer to move to the new capital and 3000 civil servants are expected to commute between Bonn and Berlin for the first year after the big move.

To reduce the trauma of moving, parliamentarians will not only be allowed to take their potted plants and paintings to Berlin - they will even retain their old telephone numbers.

For now, Berliners are content to indulge the whims of their representatives as the city becomes a seat of government once again.