tl;dr: The IPS is a stipend that allows for around 120 young professionals from 41 countries across the world to go to Berlin, take a few courses at a German university — in my case the Humboldt University of Berlin — and be placed in a 15-week internship in the office of a Member of the Bundestag.
For those of you interested in more in-depth coverage of what it is exactly that I've gotten myself into, read on.
An Overview:
In this post, I tackle the following points:
- A history and overview of Berlin – many people know of Berlin, but what do they actually know about it?
- An overview of the Bundestag – who they are and what they're responsible for
- A description of the International Parliamentary Scholarship program – what I have been taken abroad for and what I can (hopefully) expect to experience
The order may seem illogical at first — or at least it does to me — but please bear with me here, I think it is best to know about the city of Berlin and Bundestag first before I can hope to describe the IPS. Be forewarned; this post is very pedantic.
The City-State of Berlin: A History and Overview
If you like history, read/skim this.
If we go back far enough, i.e. during the last glacial period that lasted from approximately from 110,000 BCE until 12,000 BCE, we find common (geological) history between the cities of Berlin (~52.5° N) and Buffalo (~42.9° N), namely that the current locations of both cities were lying under glaciers. This glaciation had an effect on both cities' hydrologies, in that both the Buffalo River and the Spree (pronounced shpray), upon which Berlin lies, were formed from meltwaters as the glaciers receded. The area in and around Berlin is still incredibly swampy to this very day.
Although there is evidence of human activity around the area of Berlin dating back to around 60,000 BCE, the first evidence of human settlement in the area of Berlin stems from around the 9th century BCE. Though there were influxes and outfluxes of various peoples, both Germanic and Slavic, I'm going to skip ahead a couple millennia, as I don't want to lose you this early in the post.
The year is 1237 CE, and a city located on the Spree is mentioned for the first time — Cölln. For you more seasoned German philologists out there, Cölln may seem quite similar to another German city of note, Köln (Eng: Cologne); the city of Cologne was originally a Roman settlement dating back to the 1st century CE. Berlin is mentioned for the first time seven years later in 1244. Cölln originally lay on the south side of the Spree, and Berlin lay directly across the river on the north side. There are, however, wooden beams in some of the oldest buildings of Berlin that date the buildings back to the beginning of the 13th century, some 35 years before the first mention of either city in any documents. Fires in Cölln in 1378 and Berlin in 1380 did ravage the cities, destroying the city hall and almost all the churches and with them any older documents that would have information to the original founders and exact dates of founding.
The twin cities, separated only by a river (history repeating itself, anyone?), were planned settlements, rather than places just arbitrarily chosen by a people passing through. Although the original founders of the cities are unknown, whether they were the same person, or even if one was founded in response to the other. There is evidence for Berlin having been founded by merchants, e.g. at the original city center stood (and stands still to this day) St. Nicholas's Church, St. Nicholas being patron saint of merchants. There is also evidence that Cölln was founded perhaps by the margrave (read: ruler) of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (a territory of the Holy Roman Empire), as the coat of arms of Cölln contain the Brandenburg eagle. Merchants from Cologne could have also founded the city, due to the similarities of the names of the two cities separated by nearly 300 miles, and that the first administrator of the city for which there is evidence came originally from the area of Cologne. What is clear, however, is that both cities were founded as trade cities.
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| Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1320 |
In their functions as trade cities, the twin cities Berlin and Cölln prospered. This prosperity was due in no small part to the Ascanian margraves, who led the trade route though the cities and built a bridge connecting the two. They also gave Berlin-Cölln the "staple right", which meant that merchants passing through had to remain for an allotted amount of time to offer their wares to the residents before they were allowed to continue on, as well as the right to levy tariffs to passing merchants. Originally, both cities had their own administrations, consisting of trade people and merchants, but were headed by the same Schultheiß (pronounced shool-tice), a position similar to mayor. In 1307, the cities formed a common union for defense purposes.
In 1415, the branch of the Ascanian family that had ruled the Margraviate of Brandenburg died out, and Frederick I became "prince-elector" (a prince, i.e. head of a principality and not son of a monarch, that is in the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, and thus casts a vote for the new emperor when the old one dies or abdicates, which in theory allows for anyone to be elected Emperor, but in practice, starting in the 14th century, the hereditary successor to the previous emperor was always elected). With the elevation of Frederick I to ruler of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, House Hohenzollern began its reign over the city of Berlin, which lasted until 1918 with the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the last Kaiser of Germany.
In 1451, Frederick II made his official residence Cölln, and Berlin had leave the Hanseatic League, a commerical and trade confederation stretching from the North Sea to the Baltic Sea. In 1527, the Tiergarten (Eng: animal garden), a park that still exists to this day, was established as the hunting grounds for the prince-electors, and in 1573 a bridlepath was created connecting the Tiergarten and palace. This pathway still exists as the boulevard Unter den Linden (Eng: Under the Lindens), where the Humboldt University is located.
In 1539, the prince-elector Joachim II Hector brought the Reformation to Brandenburg and, under the guise of secularization, seized the assets of the Church, using the money to build the Spandau Citadel, a fort which stands to this very day and is one of the best preserved in Europe, and the Kurfürstendamm (Eng: prince-elector dam [in this case corduroy road]), a corduroy road (a road made by placing logs down on a swampy area) connecting his hunting lodge in the Grunewald (Eng: green forest) to his palace in the city. The Kurfürstendamm is nowadays one of the most famous avenues in Berlin, lined with high-end shops, restaurants, hotels, and at the end stands the Kaufhaus des Westens (Eng: Department Store of the West), the largest department store in continental Europe.
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| A map of Berlin-Cölln from 1688 |
We're going to start skipping here a little because this has completely gotten away from me.
In 1701, Berlin is created out of the cities Berlin, Cölln, Friedrichswerder, Dorotheenstadt and Friedrichstadt after prince-elector Frederick III named himself King Frederick I of Prussia, of which the former Margraviate of Brandenburg was the heartland. The Kingdom of Prussia would go on to unite all the German states in 1871 under King Wilhelm I of Prussia, who then became Kaiser Wilhelm I, and his Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Berlin became the capital of a united Germany.
After unification of the German states, there was need of a building for the Reichstag (Eng: Diet of the Realm), the parliamentary body of the German Kaiserreich, to convene. It was decided to build such a building on the Königplatz (Eng: King's Square), where the Reichstag building stands to this very day (more on that later), although the square is now called the Platz der Republik (Eng: Square of the Republic).
War happened.
The Weimar Republic, although culturally and historically significant, was short lived.
Another war happened.
The city of Berlin and the country of Germany were separated and occupied by the four Allied Powers after the Second World War. The Soviet Union became increasingly more difficult to work with in the post-war years, eventually culminating in their departure from the Allied Control Council that governed occupied Germany and the emergence of two German states. While the West was rebuilt and began to prosper shortly after the war due to the Marshall Plan, the East languished as the Soviet Union dismantled factories and other means of production within their occupation zone and transported them back to the Soviet Union. Rebuilding in the East moved slowly, if at all.
Though the occupation zones became semi-autonomous countries in the 1950's, Berlin remained occupied by the Allies until German reunification in the 1990's. Overnight on August 12
th-13
th, barbed wire barricades appeared overnight separating West Berlin and East Berlin. These barricades are soon followed by a concrete wall. Depending on where you were standing, this wall was either an "anti-imperialistic protection wall" or a wall to stop the hemorrhaging of the East German population and workers into the West. The Berlin Wall became a symbol of the divide between the 1
st and 2
nd worlds during the Cold War. Reunification seemed impossible.
In 1963, John F. Kennedy delivers his famous "
Ich bin ein Berliner" speech by the Brandenburg Gate:
Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect. But we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in — to prevent them from leaving us. I want to say on behalf of my countrymen who live many miles away on the other side of the Atlantic, who are far distant from you, that they take the greatest pride, that they have been able to share with you, even from a distance, the story of the last 18 years. I know of no town, no city, that has been besieged for 18 years that still lives with the vitality and the force, and the hope, and the determination of the city of West Berlin.
While the wall is the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the failures of the Communist system — for all the world to see — we take no satisfaction in it; for it is, as your Mayor has said, an offense not only against history but an offense against humanity, separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothers and sisters, and dividing a people who wish to be joined together.
In the late 1980's, the Soviet Union was starting to crumble, suffering from economic and political stagnation. Glasnost and perestroika loosened the grip of the USSR on the puppet states in Poland and Hungary, which then had successful, peaceful democratic revolutions. East Germany announced relaxed border controls and that the border would be opened for East German traffic to the West. East German politician Günter Schabowski announced the opening of the border on a live press conference, not knowing that the change took effect the next day and when asked when this change would take place, he paused a few seconds, not knowing the answer, before finally improvising, "It's happening, to my knowledge... it's right away... immediately." Upon further pressing by the journalists, he confirmed that the West Berlin border would be open as well.
The news spread like wildfire. East Berliners began to gather at the checkpoints at the Wall leading to West Berlin. None of the border agents were willing to meet the gathering crowds with deadly force, so they opened the gates to the West. Thus ends the story of how a nation ceased to exist due to a man's gaff. After reunification and much debate, Berlin was again made the capital of Germany.
The modern city of Berlin is also one of the 16 German states, and as such is a city-state. In the city proper, there are nearly 3.5 million inhabitants, which makes Berlin the largest city in continental Europe by population. The climate of Berlin is on average less extreme than Buffalo, with milder winters and summers. Berlin receives less precipitation but also has fewer sunshine hours per month. Berlin's only sister city in the United States is Los Angeles.
Berlin has the most comprehensive zoo in the world, the Berlin Zoological Garden; countless tourist attractions; a vibrant nightlife; many institutes of higher education both public and private; galleries and museums; designer shops and shopping centers; sport and recreation; a startup scene which developed in the last decade; and the list goes on.
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| Berlin and its districts |
What is the Bundestag?
The Bundestag (Eng:
Federal Diet) is the German parliament, i.e. the legislative branch of the German government, similar — but not equivalent — to our Congress and its House of Representatives. The 18
th and current Bundestag consists of 630 Members, directly elected by voters within their districts. The duties and powers of the Bundestag consist in creating legislation, amending the Basic Law (cf our Constitution), approving treaties with other countries and international organisations, decides the budget, selects the head of government (i.e. the Chancellor, currently Angela Merkel), checks the Executive Branch, represents the people, and keeps them informed. In many of these functions, the Bundestag must work together with the Bundesrat (Eng:
Federal Council), which is comparable to our Senate, i.e. the members represent the entire state and not just electoral districts. A new Bundestag is elected every four years, with the next election taking place foreseeably in the fall of 2017. "Fun" fact: Due to its designation as a "large recipient", the Bundestag has its own postal code, 11011.
The Bundestag convenes in the Reichstag (Eng:
Diet of the Realm) building, which was originally built (completed in 1894) for the parliamentary body of the German Reich and was later used by the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic until a fire severely damaged the building on February 27
th, 1933. After the fire, the building sat in disuse and disrepair until the 1960's, when it was partially refurbished. Even then, it was only seldom used throughout the duration of the Cold War. The official reunification ceremony was held at the Reichstag building on October 3
rd, 1990, and on the next day, the parliament of the reunited Germany convened symbolically in the building. After Berlin was made the official capital of reunited Germany 1991, the federal government began their move from Bonn to Berlin, and the Reichstag building was closed for repairs. On April 19
th, 1999, the Bundestag convened in the newly-renovated building for the first time.
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| Reichstag building, 1 Platz der Republik |
What is the International Parliamentary Scholarship?
The IPS began in 1986 as the Bundestags-Internship-Programm, which was open only to 20 young Americans who wished to pursue an internship with the Bundestag. This year marks the 30th year of the program, and in the past three decades, it has grown to some 120 positions from 41 different countries.
The participants are enrolled at the Humboldt University of Berlin during their five-month stay in Berlin and have the chance to take up to two courses during the summer semester. There are also various events and seminars that take place and, of course, the 15-week internship in the office of a Member of the Bundestag. The internship consists in active collaboration including advisory reports, drafting speeches, articles and letters, preparation of meetings, and completion of general office work. There is also a probable visit to the Member's electoral district.
Of course this all takes place within the city of Berlin, so there should always be something going on, something to do, something to see. I'll try to keep this updated with information about official events as well as personal endeavors during my stay in Belrin.
All in all, I've got my work cut out for me during this trip, but it should at least be fun and interesting.
For readers interested in the program, you can find information about it (in German) on the Bundestag website:
bundestag.de/ips. Travel and insurance costs, as well as room and board and a stipend of €500 per month are included in the scholarship.
Questions/comments/concerns/corrections? Leave them below.
