The old Ständehaus, before 1914
That the Karlsruher Ständehaus was one of the most important institutions in which the democratic ideals of the 19th century came to fruition is evidenced by names such as Karl v. Rotteck and Karl Theodor Welker, and later Ludwig Frank, Wilhelm Kolb and Oskar Muser. The scene of many debates, among them the creation of a national justice system, abolition of forced labour and recognition of press freedom, made the Ständehaus the "Preschool of Parliament". The tribune of the 2nd Chamber was often a proxy for the non-existent German parliament.
Here visitors can research in accordance with their own sphere of interest. The program includes biographical data and profiles of all members of the Baden Parliament as of 1820. In 370 entries, the Chronicle relates the history of Baden and that of the parliament building from the founding of the Duchy to the opening of the new Ständehaus. From A to Z, visitors can access key historical terms from the index. The bibliography provides book titles for more information on persons and subjects associated with the history of Baden. Visitors can view election results between 1919 and 1933 in animated graphic style.
The information system allows the visitor of this memorial to browse assorted historical texts and illustrations such as political caricatures, speeches and debates. Film archives as well as revolutionary songs accompanied by period illustrations will also be presented on video. The geographic location of 154 sites of interest in Baden can be called up on the system. Each site has a selection of the biographical data of all parliamentarians elected for or who resided in the area. And finally press articles from 1945 onwards give an extensive overview of the debate surrounding the demolition and rebuilding of the Ständehaus.
Entries and notes in the Chronicle are complemented with a rich array of pictures and drawings. For easy and unimpeded access to this vast resource of information, files are currently connected by more than 8 000 links (Hypertext). If, for example, a visitor would like to find out more about an important debate in the Ständehaus, aside from the respective entry in the Chronicle, the visitor may on demand continue directly to the speech transcript. Likewise, it is also possible to access the biography of the speaker, gain more details on the subject or view other documents related to the subject.
This way visitors to the memorial display are given the opportunity to acquire a wealth of historical contexts and co-relations through rapid cross-references. For example, when perusing a specific biography, document or press article, appearing at the top of the file is a summary of direct links to all other information sources. This open structure enables the inter-connection of the roughly 3 000 information file units currently available with any of the numerous other program contents.
Stadt Karlsruhe, Stadtarchiv & Historische Museen 02.11.2005 - Impressum