page_title: Kroll Opera House
section_title: 1933–1951: Seat of the Reichstag and destruction
hierarchical_section_title: Kroll Opera House / History / 1933–1951: Seat of the Reichstag and destruction
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Berlin, Reichstagssitzung, Rede Adolf Hitler Die vernichtende Rede des Führers über Roosevelt. Am Donnerstag nachmittag hielt der Führer vor den Männern des Deutschen Reichstags die grosse und mit fieberhafter Spannung erwartete Rede zu dem von dem Kriegshetzer Roosevelt heraufbeschworenen Krieg im Pazifik. Auf der Regierungsbank (von rechts nach links) sieht man den Führer, neben ihm Reichsaussenminister v. Ribbentrop, Grossadmiral Reader, Generalfeldmarschall v. Brauchitsch, Generalfeldmarschall Keitel und die Reichsminister Dr. Frick und Dr. Goebbels. - In der zweiten Reihe (von rechts): Die Reichsminister Graf Schwerin-Krosigk, Funk, Darré, Rust, Kerrl, Dr. Frank, Dr. Dorpmüller, Dr. Seyss-Inquart und Dr. Todt. - Dahinter (von rechts): Reichsminister Rosenberg und die Staatsminister Dr. Meissner und Dr. Popitz. AV 65979 [Berlin, Kroll-Oper.- Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler während seiner Rede vor dem Reichstag zur Kriegserklärung an die Vereinigten Staaten.] Abgebildete Personen: Hitler, Adolf: Reichskanzler, Deutschland Ribbentrop, Joachim von: Außenminister, NSDAP, Deutschland Frick, Wilhelm Dr.: NSDAP, MdR, Reichsinnenminister, 1924 Hitlerputsch-Prozeß vor dem Volksgericht München, 1946 hingerichtet, Deutschland (GND 119055201) Goebbels, Joseph: Reichsminister für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda, Gauleiter Berlin, Deutschland Schwerin von Krosigk, Lutz Graf: Reichsfinanzminister, Deutschland Rosenberg, Alfred: Außenpolitisches Amt, Ideologe, Reichsminister Ostgebiete, Deutschland Göring, Hermann: Reichsmarschall, Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe, Ministerpräsident von Preußen, Deutschland Information added by Wikimedia users.English: Adolf Hitler delivers a speech at the Kroll Opera House to the men of the Reichstag on the subject of Roosevelt and the war in the Pacific, declaring war on the United States. Next to Hitler in the government benches (from right to left) are Joachim von Ribbentrop, Erich Raeder, Walther von Brauchitsch, Wilhelm Keitel, Wilhelm Frick and Joseph Goebbels. In the second row (from right to left) are Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, Walther Funk, Richard Walther Darré, Bernhard Rust, Hanns Kerrl, Hans Frank, Julius Dorpmüller, Arthur Seyss-Inquart and Fritz Todt. In the third row (from right to left) are Alfred Rosenberg, Otto Meißner and Johannes Popitz.
context_page_description: The Kroll Opera House was an opera building in Berlin, Germany, located in the central Tiergarten district on the western edge of the Königsplatz square, facing the Reichstag building. It was built in 1844 as an entertainment venue for the restaurant owner Joseph Kroll. During its eventful history it was redeveloped as an opera house in 1851 and was used by various owners and directors for opera, operetta and drama. It was later operated by the Prussian state opera and drama companies and served as the assembly hall of the German Reichstag parliament from 1933 until 1942. On 19 July 1940, the opera house was used to host the 1940 Field Marshal Ceremony. Severely damaged by bombing and the Battle of Berlin in World War II, it was finally demolished in 1951.
context_section_description: The building stood empty for nearly two years, until the Reichstag fire on 27 February 1933 severely damaged the Reichstag building vis-à-vis. After the German federal election on 5 March 1933, the Krolloper became the seat of the Reichstag. It was chosen both because of its convenient location and for its seating capacity. On 23 March 1933, the majority of the Reichstag delegates in the Kroll Opera House disempowered themselves passing the "Enabling Act" that gave Adolf Hitler virtually unlimited authority. At this time the elected MPs of the Communist Party and several Social Democrats were already in hiding or arrested. After the election on 12 November 1933 the National Socialists occupied all seats.
  The main hall of the Krolloper was used for sittings of the Reichstag from 1933 to 1942. It was here on 30 January 1939, the sixth anniversary of the Machtergreifung (the appointment of Hitler as Reichskanzler), that Hitler warned: "If international finance Jewry in and outside Europe should again succeed in plunging the nations into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevization of the earth, and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe."
  The grandiose plans of Welthauptstadt Germania, prepared by Albert Speer for Hitler, included the demolition of the Kroll Opera House and its replacement by a sumptuous "Führer's Palace", which would have stood on the western side of a "Großer Platz" with an area of around 350,000 square metres (3,800,000 sq ft). The outbreak of war and Germany's eventual defeat prevented any of this from being implemented.
  The last session of the Reichstag was held in the Kroll Opera House on 26 April 1942, passing a decree proclaiming Hitler "Supreme Judge of the German People," allowing him to override the judiciary and administration in all matters. In those last days the building once again was the site of several performances of the Berlin State Opera after the house Unter den Linden had been damaged by air raids. However, the Krolloper itself was devastated by a RAF Bomber Command attack on 22 November 1943. It was further damaged in the last days of World War II in Europe when forces of the Red Army stormed the Reichstag ruin.
  However, already in the summer of 1945 a restaurant re-opened in the gardens of Kroll's establishment, keeping up business even after the remains of the building were demolished in 1951. The Kroll-Garten inn finally closed in 1956 and one year later the last premises were cleared. Today the site is nothing but a large lawn south of the Bundeskanzleramt, since 2007 marked by a memorial plaque.
caption: Hitler declares war on the United States in front of the Reichstag delegates on 11 December 1941
exif: {}