The Bundestag is the German federal

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, and the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It was established in 1949 by the

Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany () is the constitution of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The West German Constitution was approved in Bonn on 8 May 1949 and came into effect on 23 May after having been approved b ...

and is the historical successor to the Reichstag. The Second German Bundestag came into being in 1953 and ended in 1957.

Dates of Session

1953-1957 *The 2nd Bundestag convened in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

on 6 October 1953. *The session ended on 6 October 1957.

Coalitions

* CDU/

CSU CSU may refer to: Universities and university systems United States * Columbia Southern University, in Orange Beach, Alabama * California State University system * Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, Colorado * Connecticut State Univers ...

and FDP form coalition (311 seats, 63.9%) to reelect

Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman and politician who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of West Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of th ...

Chancellor of Germany The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the head of the federal Cabinet of Germany, government of Germany. The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Government of Germany, ...

Major political events

*Bundestag reelects Hermann Ehlers as the second

President of the Bundestag The president of the Bundestag ( or ; Grammatical gender in German#Professions, when the office is held by a man) presides over the sessions of the Bundestag, the federal parliament of Germany, with functions similar to that of a speaker (poli ...

, 6 October 1953 *Bundestag reelects

Chancellor of Germany, 6 October 1953. *Upon Ehlers' death, Bundestag elects Eugen Gerstenmaier third President of the Bundestag, 16 November 1954 *Bundestag passes first reform of state-funded pension system *Bundestag ratifies

Treaty of Rome The Treaty of Rome, or EEC Treaty (officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community), brought about the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC), the best known of the European Communities (EC). The treaty was signe ...

*In 1955, constitution is amended to allow for defensive military and

conscription Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...

over the strong opposition of the SPD minority *Germany joins the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Officers

- Hermann Ehlers, Eugen Gerstenmaier

Seats by Party

References

Bundestag Election Results (German)
* Bundestag History from German Wikipedia {{sequence , prev = 1st Bundestag , list =

German Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the lower house of the German federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag was established by Title III of the Basic Law for ...

1949–1953 , next = 3rd Bundestag

002 002, 0O2, O02, OO2, or 002 may refer to: Airports *0O2, Baker Airport *O02, Nervino Airport Astronomy *1996 OO2, the minor planet 7499 L'Aquila *1990 OO2, the asteroid 9175 Graun Fiction *002, fictional British 00 Agent *''002 Operazione Luna'' ...

1953 establishments in West Germany 1957 disestablishments in West Germany