So much about the Weimar Republic's constitution seems highly topical and pertinent for today. Yet looking at it still irritates because the image that has been handed down to us is quite different from the reality. The national assembly's aim was a democratic-parliamentary republic, and although it supported the Reichstag where possible and restricted the rights of possible "counterweights", its concept gradually turned into a presidential republic and ultimately perished as such. Christoph Gusy's retrospective follows the historical and legal path leading to the constitution and reveals its actual lessons, opportunities and risks. Above all though, he points to the achievements - such as new concepts of pluralism and awareness of the need for an assured and robust democracy - that the young Federal Republic of Germany was able to take advantage of.