Modest provisional arrangement

Two thirds of Bonn had been destroyed at the end of the Second World War. The city was still in ruins when its great moment of glory came. In the evening of the 5 July 1948 the city elders were asked whether Bonn could accommodate the preparatory Constitutional Convention. They gave their unconditional consent. Hermann Wandersleb, who was proposed as, and asked whether he wanted to become, the director of the state chancellery of Bonn was later given the nickname of "Bonnifacius" – the man who had "made” Bonn.

People worked day and night to ensure that the Pädagogische Akademie (teacher-training college) was prepared for the Parliamentary Council which assumed its work in the subsequent Bundeshaus (Bundestag building) on 1 September 1948 after the inaugural meeting in the Museum Koenig. Eight months later a vote was passed in favour of Bonn as the provisional federal capital and this was confirmed by the Bundestag on 3 November 1949. The official city history loses its chronicle detachment in view of this event and reports that the people of Bonn had celebrated this great day “with a lot of liquid.”

The small city on the Rhine had prevailed over Frankfurt. This may in part have been due to the fact that it had better spatial requirements to accommodate the federal government and the foreign embassies. However, the successful dress rehearsal as the convention venue of the Parliamentary Council and the vehement recommendation of
Konrad Adenauer who lived in nearby Rhöndorf formed the emotional backdrop to the decision. Of course one should not forget the fact that the city due to its modest proportions alone embodied the character of provisional federal capital better than the city of Frankfurt that was larger and was steeped in tradition more.