In 1961, the Berlin Wall was built a few steps from the Reichstag’s rear entrance. The same year, however, its restoration began. Although its future use remained unclear, the interior was rebuilt with modem office space, meeting rooms, and an assembly chamber large enough for the Bundestag. Soviet objections blocked all proposals for the Bundestag or other West German government bodies to use the building. Beginning in 1971, it housed a permanent exhibition on German history. Tour guides informed foreign visitors, as they gazed out the window at the Wall, that this would be the meeting place
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