Portal:Germany

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Welcome to the Germany Portal!
Willkommen im Deutschland-Portal!

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Germany is one of the world's most industrialised countries, located in central-western Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea, to the south by Austria and Switzerland, to the west by France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic.

Germany is a democratic federal parliamentary republic, containing 16 federal states (Bundesländer), which in certain spheres act independently of the Federation or "Bund".

Germany is a developed country with a very high standard of living, and it maintains a comprehensive social security, a universal health care system and diverse environmental protection laws. It is a global leader in several industrial and technological sectors.

The Federal Republic of Germany is a member state of the United Nations, NATO, the G8 nations, and a founding member of the European Union. More...

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A Zeppelin is a type of dirigible, more specifically a type of rigid airship pioneered by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century based in part on an earlier design by David Schwarz. Due to the outstanding success of the Zeppelin design, the term zeppelin in casual use came to refer to all rigid airships.

These giant aircraft were used for passenger transport as well as for military purposes. The DELAG (Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-AG), which can be considered the first commercial airline, served scheduled flights well before World War I, and after the outbreak of the conflict, the German military made extensive use of Zeppelins as bombers and scouts.

Under the guidance of Hugo Eckener, the successor of the deceased count, civilian Zeppelins experienced a renaissance in the 1920s. They reached their zenith in the 1930s, when the airships LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin and LZ129 Hindenburg operated regular transatlantic flights between Germany and both North and South America. The Hindenburg disaster in 1937 triggered the fall of the "giants of the air", though other factors, including political issues, contributed to the demise of the Zeppelin. More...

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The Hohenzollernbrücke bridge and Cologne Cathedral
Image credit: Thomas Robbin

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Germany news

7-8 July 2017: The 12th G20 summit is held in Hamburg.
30 June 2017: Germany's Bundestag passes bill on same-sex marriage.
28 June 2017: Daniel Günther become Minister-president of Schleswig-Holstein.
27 June 2017: Armin Laschet become Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia.

More Germany-related news in English can be found at Deutsche Welle, Tagesschau, and Der Spiegel.

Archive · 2017 in Germany

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Parents

Europe	EU	NATO

*Länder*
Baden- Württemberg	Bavaria	Berlin	Brandenburg	Bremen

Hamburg	Hesse	Lower Saxony	Mecklenburg- Vorpommern	North Rhine- Westphalia

Rhineland- Palatinate	Saarland	Saxony	Saxony- Anhalt	Schleswig- Holstein

Thuringia

Other

East Frisia	East Germany	Eifel	Elbe Sandstone Mountains	Elbe-Weser Triangle	Franconia

German Empire	German football	Harz Mountains	Holy Roman Empire	Lüneburg Heath	Military of Germany

Nazi Germany	Ore Mountains	Palatine Forest	Rhön	Silesia	Weimar Republic

Neighbouring countries

A	B	CZ	DK	FR

LUX	NL	PL	CH

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Anniversaries for July 20

1847 – Birth of impressionist painter Max Liebermann
1866 – Death of mathematician Bernhard Riemann
1932 – The cabinet of Prussia is dismissed in the Preußenschlag
1933 – The Reichskonkordat between Germany and the Vatican is signed
1934 – Birth of writer Uwe Johnson
1944 – 20 July plot by German military leaders to assassinate Adolf Hitler (Operation Valkyrie)

More July anniversaries

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Did you know...

Did you know ...

... that in the opera Don Quichotte auf der Hochzeit des Comacho, Georg Philipp Telemann (pictured) characterized the noble people by elements from the opera seria, and the peasants by Spanish folk music?
... that Wilhelm Ehmann, founder and director of a school of church music, toured internationally conducting his choir Westfälische Kantorei?
... that Martin Janus wrote the original lyrics of "Jesu, meiner Seelen Wonne", which Bach used in a cantata in a setting known as Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring?
... that Uwe Eric Laufenberg, General Manager of the Staatstheater Wiesbaden, presented his staging of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Internationale Maifestspiele in 2017?
... that Lioba Braun, who became known appearing as Brangäne in Bayreuth in 1994, was the first soloist to record Reger's Die Weihe der Nacht? 14 July 2017
... that Matthias von Stegmann made German voice-overs for The Simpsons, staged Wagner's Ring Cycle for children, and directed the first production of Wagner's Rienzi at the Bayreuth Festival?
... that the Baroque pipe organ of the Church of Reinhardtsgrimma was built by Gottfried Silbermann?
... that German footballer Lewis Holtby was eligible to represent England through his paternal lineage?