End of an era: DDR government building finally removed.

Following last month's ruling from the German Bundestag, work on removal of the former East German Parliament building the 'Palast der Republik' in Berlin is now underway.

The Palast, which previously housed the DDR's Volkskammer and cultural event venues, is due to be completely levelled by Easter 2007.














It will be replaced by a re-worked model of the old Berliner Stadtschloss (city castle) which originally stood on the site - but was destroyed by the Soviets in 1950.

Protests about the removal of the Palast have been frequent in Berlin in the last six months, with many Berliners believing that the money being spent on pulling down the Palast could be better used elsewhere.

André Leslie
Photo: Author's own collection.

Germany's highest court deems Anti-Terrorism law 'unconstitutional'

Germany's new 'Luftsicherheitsgesetz' (try to say that in one breath!) had threatened to authorise the German government to shoot down civilian passenger planes that were suspected of being used by terrorists as airborne weapons.

In a reaction to the September 11 attacks and a similar event in the Frankfurt banking district in 2003, the law authorised the use of a pre-emptive military 'Abschuss' in order to avoid an attack on civilians on the ground.

However in November of last year, a pilot and four other business people (regular civilian airline users themselves) applied to Germany's Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe for the law to be deemed unconstitional.

The decision handed down on Wednesday of last week from the Erste Senat des Bundesverfassungsgerichts deemed the law to be a breach of Artikel 1 (right to human dignity) and Artikel 2 (right to life). al