Portal:Germany
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Welcome to the Germany Portal!
Willkommen im Deutschland-Portal!
Germany (German: Deutschland German pronunciation: [ˈdɔʏtʃlant]), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland,
listen (help·info)), is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North seas to the north, and the Alps to the south. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, and France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west. Germany includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,386 square kilometres (137,988 sq mi), and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With nearly 83 million inhabitants, it is the second most populous state of Europe after Russia, the most populous state lying entirely in Europe, as well as the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany's capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, with its main centres of Dortmund and Essen. The country's other major cities are Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Leipzig, Bremen, Dresden, Hannover, and Nuremberg.
Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity. A region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period, the Germanic tribes expanded southward. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. After the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire, the German Confederation was formed in 1815. The German revolutions of 1848–49 resulted in the Frankfurt Parliament establishing major democratic rights.
In 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states (most notably excluding Switzerland and Austria) unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the revolution of 1918–19, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic. The Nazi seizure of power in 1933 led to the establishment of a dictatorship, World War II and the Holocaust. After the end of World War II in Europe and a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded: West Germany, formed from the American, British, and French occupation zones, and East Germany, formed from the Soviet occupation zone. Following the Revolutions of 1989 that ended communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe, the country was reunified on 3 October 1990. Today, the sovereign state of Germany is a federal parliamentary republic with an elected president.
In the 21st century, Germany is a great power with a strong economy; it has the world's fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP, and the fifth-largest by PPP. As a global leader in several industrial and technological sectors, it is both the world's third-largest exporter and importer of goods. A developed country with a very high standard of living, it upholds a social security and universal health care system, environmental protection, and a tuition-free university education.
The Federal Republic of Germany was a founding member of the European Economic Community in 1957 and the European Union in 1993. It is part of the Schengen Area and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999. Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G7, the G20, and the OECD. Known for its rich cultural history, Germany has been continuously the home of influential and successful artists, philosophers, musicians, sportspeople, entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers, and inventors. Read more...
Selected general articles
The view from Frankfurt Cathedral, showing the diversity of German architecture. Landmarks include the reconstructed Gothic Römer city hall and old town, the Neoclassical Paulskirche and the Modernist and Postmodernist skyscrapers of the Frankfurt skyline.
The architecture of Germany has a long, rich and diverse history. Every major European style from Roman to Post Modern is demonstrated, including renowned examples of Carolingian, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Modern architectural style.
Centuries of fragmentation of Germany into principalities and kingdoms caused a great regional diversity and favoured vernacular architecture. This made for a heterogeneous and diverse architectural style, with architecture differing from town to town. While this diversity may still be witnessed in small towns, the devastation of architectural heritage in the larger cities during World War II resulted in extensive rebuilding characterized by simple modernist architecture. Read more...
Germany has a universal multi-payer health care system paid for by a combination of statutory health insurance (Gesetzliche Krankenversicherung) officially called "sickness funds" (Krankenkassen) and private health insurance (Private Krankenversicherung), colloquially also called "(private) sickness funds".
The turnover of the health sector was about US$368.78 billion (€287.3 billion) in 2010, equivalent to 11.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and about US$4,505 (€3,510) per capita. According to the World Health Organization, Germany's health care system was 77% government-funded and 23% privately funded as of 2004. In 2004 Germany ranked thirtieth in the world in life expectancy (78 years for men). It had a very low infant mortality rate (4.7 per 1,000 live births), and it was tied for eighth place in the number of practicing physicians, at 3.3 per 1,000 persons. In 2001 total spending on health amounted to 10.8 percent of gross domestic product.
According to the Euro health consumer index, which placed it in 7th position in its 2015 survey, Germany has long had the most restriction-free and consumer-oriented healthcare system in Europe. Patients are allowed to seek almost any type of care they wish whenever they want it. Read more...- Social security in Germany is codified on the Sozialgesetzbuch (SGB), or the "Social Code", contains 12 main parts, including the following,
- Unemployment insurance and public employment agencies (SGB II and III)
- Health insurance (SGB V)
- Old age pension insurance (SGB VI)
- Invalidity insurance (SGB VII and IX)
- Child support (SGB VIII)
- Social care (SGB XI)
- Human rights in Germany enjoy a high level of protection, both in theory and in practice, and are enshrined in the Grundgesetz. The country has ratified most international human rights treaties. Reports from independent organizations such as Amnesty International certify a high level of compliance with human rights, while still pointing out several issues, in particular police brutality and mistreatment of refugees. The 2008 Freedom in the World report by US-funded Freedom House gives Germany a score of "1" (the best possible) for both political rights and civil liberties. Read more...
Predominant confessions in Germany as revealed by the 2011 census
Purple: Protestant plurality
Yellow: Catholic plurality
Blue: Non-religious/other plurality
Darker shades indicate an absolute majority (greater than 50%).
Christianity is the largest religion in Germany, comprising an estimated 57% of the country's population in 2017. The two largest churches of the country are the Roman Catholic Church and the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), a Protestant confederation of United Protestant (Lutheran and Reformed) churches. The two churches together comprised 54% of the population in 2017, of whom 28.2% belonged to the Catholic Church and 26.1% to the Evangelical Church. In 2016, Orthodox Christianity constituted ~2% of the population and other minor Christian churches (including other Protestants, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons and others), formed 1–1.5%.
About 36–37% of the country's population are not affiliated with any church or religion, and a minority adhere to other religions. The second largest religion in Germany is Islam, with around 4 million adherents in 2016 (5% of the population). Smaller religious groups include Buddhism (0.2%), Judaism (0.1%), Hinduism (0.1%) and others (0.4%).
Demographics of religion in Germany vary greatly by region and age. A majority of Germans under 25 years-old claim to not believe in any religion. Non-religious people (including atheists and agnostics) represent the majority in some of Germany's major cities, including Berlin and Hamburg, and the absolute majority of 70–80% of the population in all the eastern states of what between 1949 and 1990 used to be the German Democratic Republic; by contrast, rural areas of the western states of what in the same period used to be the Federal Republic of Germany are more religious, and some are highly religious. Read more...- The historiography of Germany deals with the manner in which historians have depicted, analyzed and debated the History of Germany. It also covers the popular memory of critical historical events, ideas and leaders, as well as the depiction of those events in museums, monuments, reenactments, pageants and historic sites, and the editing of historical documents. Read more...
- This list of cultural icons of Germany is a list of people and things from any period which are independently considered to be cultural icons characteristic of Germany. [1].This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.Read more...
- Taxes in Germany are levied by the federal government (Bund), the states (Länder) as well as the municipalities (Städte/Gemeinden). Many direct and indirect taxes exist in Germany; income tax and VAT are the most significant. The German word for tax is die Steuer which originates from the Old High German word stiura meaning help. The Financial Secrecy Index ranks Germany as the 8th safest tax haven in the world, ahead of Jersey but behind Lebanon. Read more...
Earthquakes in Germany are relatively weak but occur several times a year, some of them in coal mining areas where blasting sets them off. Following a 4.0 quake, attributed to mining and centered in Saarwellingen, around 1,000 demonstrators protested on 24 February 2008, demanding an end to mining work. Reportedly, the tremor knocked over chimneys and caused power outages.
Most of the quakes occur in a seismically active zone associated with the Rhine Rift Valley that extends from Basel, Switzerland, into the Benelux countries, in particular in the "Cologne Bight". There are also earthquake zones on the northern edge of the Alps, around Lake Constance, in the Vogtland, around Gera and in the Leipzig plain. Read more...- Germany's achievements in science and technology have been very significant and research and development efforts form an integral part of the country's economy. Germany has been the home of some of the most prominent researchers in various scientific disciplines, notably physics, mathematics, chemistry and engineering. Before World War II, Germany had generated more Nobel laureates in scientific fields than any other nation. It compelled as best country in the natural sciences.
Scientific research in the country is supported by industry, by the network of German universities and by scientific state-institutions such as the Max Planck Society and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. The raw output of scientific research from Germany consistently ranks among the world's best. Germany was named the second most innovative country in the world in the 2015 Bloomberg Innovation Index, and consistently manages to be in the top three. Read more...
The Germanic peoples (also called Teutonic, Suebian, or Gothic in older literature) are an Indo-European ethnolinguistic group of Northern European origin identified by their use of the Germanic languages. Their history stretches from the 2nd millennium BCE up to the present day.
Proto-Germanic peoples are believed to have emerged during the Nordic Bronze Age, which developed out of the Battle Axe culture in southern Scandinavia. During the Iron Age various Germanic tribes began a southward expansion at the expense of Celtic peoples, which led to centuries of sporadic violent conflict with ancient Rome. It is from Roman authors that the term "Germanic" originated. The decisive victory of Arminius at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 CE is believed to have prevented the eventual Romanization of the Germanic peoples, and has therefore been considered a turning point in world history. Germanic tribes settled the entire Roman frontier along the Rhine and the Danube, and some established close relations with the Romans, often serving as royal tutors and mercenaries, sometimes even rising to the highest offices in the Roman military. Meanwhile, Germanic tribes expanded into Eastern Europe, where the Goths subdued the local Iranian nomads and came to dominate the Pontic Steppe, simultaneously launching sea expeditions into the Balkans and Anatolia as far as Cyprus.
The westward expansion of the Huns into Europe in the late 4th century CE pushed many Germanic tribes into the Western Roman Empire. Their vacated lands were filled by Slavs. Much of these territories were reclaimed in following centuries. Other tribes settled Great Britain and became known as the Anglo-Saxons. With the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, a series of Germanic kingdoms emerged, of which, Francia gained a dominant position. This kingdom formed the Holy Roman Empire under the leadership of Charlemagne, who was officially recognized by Pope Leo III in 800 CE. Meanwhile, North Germanic seafarers, commonly referred to as Vikings, embarked on a massive expansion which led to the establishment of the Duchy of Normandy, Kievan Rus' and their settlement of the British Isles and the North Atlantic Ocean as far as North America. With the North Germanic abandonment of their native religion in the 11th century, nearly all Germanic peoples had been converted to Christianity. With the Reformation initiated by Martin Luther in the 16th century, many Germanic nations embraced Protestantism. The resulting religious division resulted in the political fragmentation of much of Germanic Europe. Read more...
Insignia of the Bundeswehr (the Iron Cross)
The Bundeswehr (German: [ˈbʊndəsˌveːɐ̯] (
listen), Federal Defence) is the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities. The States of Germany are not allowed to maintain armed forces of their own, since the German Constitution states that matters of defense fall into the sole responsibility of the federal government.
The Bundeswehr is divided into a military part (armed forces or Streitkräfte) and a civil part with the armed forces administration (Wehrverwaltung). The military part of the federal defense force consists of the German Army, the German Navy, the German Air Force, the Joint Support Service, the Joint Medical Service, and the Cyber and Information Space Command.
As of 28 February 2018[update], the Bundeswehr has a strength of 179,753 active soldiers, placing it among the 30 largest military forces in the world and making it the second largest in the European Union behind France in terms of personnel. In addition the Bundeswehr has approximately 27,900 reserve personnel (2017). With German military expenditures at €38.93 billion, the Bundeswehr is among the top ten best-funded forces in the world, even if in terms of share of German GDP, military expenditures remain average at 1.13% and below the NATO target of 2%. Germany aims to expand the Bundeswehr to around 198,000 soldiers by 2024 to better cope with increasing responsibilities. Read more...- During World War I, the German Empire was one of the Central Powers that lost the war. It began participation in the conflict after the declaration of war against Serbia by its ally, Austria-Hungary. German forces fought the Allies on both the eastern and western fronts, although German territory itself remained relatively safe from widespread invasion for most of the war, except for a brief period in 1914 when East Prussia was invaded. A tight blockade imposed by the Royal Navy caused severe food shortages in the cities, especially in the winter of 1916–17, known as the Turnip Winter. At the end of the war, Germany's defeat and widespread popular discontent triggered the German Revolution of 1918–19 which overthrew the monarchy and established the Weimar Republic. Read more...
The German Bundesrat (literally "Federal Council"; pronounced [ˈbʊndəsʁaːt]) is a legislative body that represents the sixteen Länder (federated states) of Germany at the national level. The Bundesrat meets at the former Prussian House of Lords in Berlin. Its second seat is located in the former West German capital of Bonn.
The Bundesrat participates in legislation, alongside the Bundestag, the directly elected representation of the people of Germany, with laws affecting state competences and all constitutional changes requiring the consent of the body. For its similar function, it is sometimes described as an upper house of parliament along the lines of the US Senate, the Canadian Senate or the British House of Lords.
Bundesrath (from 1901 on: Bundesrat, according to a general spelling reform) was the name of similar bodies in the North German Confederation (1867) and the German Empire (1871). Its predecessor in the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) was the Reichsrat. Read more...
The coat of arms of Germany displays a black eagle with a red beak, a red tongue and red feet on a golden field, which is blazoned: Or, an eagle displayed sable beaked langued and membered gules. This is the Bundesadler (German for "Federal Eagle"), formerly known as the Reichsadler (German for "Imperial Eagle").
It is a re-introduction of the coat of arms of the Weimar Republic (in use 1919–1935), which was adopted by the Federal Republic of Germany in 1950. The current official design is due to Karl-Tobias Schwab (1887–1967) and was originally introduced in 1928.
The German Empire of 1871–1918 had re-introduced the medieval coat of arms of the Holy Roman Emperors, in use during the 13th and 14th centuries (a black single-headed eagle on a golden background), before the emperors adopted the double-headed eagle, beginning with Sigismund of Luxemburg in 1433. The single-headed Prussian Eagle (on a white background; blazoned: Argent, an eagle displayed sable) was used as an escutcheon to represent the Prussian kings as dynasts of the German Empire. The Weimar Republic introduced a version in which the escutcheon and other monarchical symbols were removed. Read more...
The North German Confederation (German: Norddeutscher Bund) was the German federal state which existed from July 1867 to December 1870. Some historians also use the name for the alliance of 22 German states formed on 18 August 1866 (Augustbündnis). In 1870–1871, the south German states of Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Württemberg and Bavaria joined the country. On 1 January 1871, the country adopted a new constitution, which was written under the title of a new "German Confederation" but already gave it the name "German Empire" in the preamble and article 11. As the state system largely remained the same in the German Empire, the North German Confederation continues as the German nation state which still exists.
The federal constitution established a constitutional monarchy with the Prussian king as the bearer of the Bundespräsidium, or head of state. Laws could only be enabled with the consent of the Reichstag (a parliament based on universal male suffrage) and the Federal Council (a representation of the states). During the four years of the North German Confederation, a conservative-liberal cooperation undertook important steps to unify (Northern) Germany with regard to law and infrastructure. The political system (and the political parties) remained essentially the same in the years after 1870.
The North German Confederation had nearly 30 million inhabitants, of whom eighty percent lived in Prussia. Three quarters of the people of the 1871 Empire had already been "North German"'. Read more...- Germany is a federal republic consisting of sixteen states (German: Land, plural Länder; informally and very commonly Bundesland, plural Bundesländer). Since today's Germany was formed from an earlier collection of several states, it has a federal constitution, and the constituent states retain a measure of sovereignty.
With an emphasis on geographical conditions, Berlin and Hamburg are frequently called Stadtstaaten (city-states), as is the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, which in fact includes the cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven. The remaining 13 states are called Flächenländer (literally: "area states").
The creation of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 was through the unification of the western states (which were previously under American, British, and French administration) created in the aftermath of World War II. Initially, in 1949, the states of the Federal Republic were Baden (until 1952), Bavaria (in German: Bayern), Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse (Hessen), Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen), Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz), Schleswig-Holstein, Württemberg-Baden (until 1952), and Württemberg-Hohenzollern (until 1952). West Berlin, while officially not part of the Federal Republic, was largely integrated and considered as a de facto state.
In 1952, following a referendum, Baden, Württemberg-Baden, and Württemberg-Hohenzollern merged into Baden-Württemberg. In 1957, the Saar Protectorate rejoined the Federal Republic as the Saarland. German reunification in 1990, in which the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) ascended into the Federal Republic, resulted in the addition of the re-established eastern states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), Saxony (Sachsen), Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt), and Thuringia (Thüringen), as well as the reunification of West and East Berlin into Berlin and its establishment as a full and equal state. A regional referendum in 1996 to merge Berlin with surrounding Brandenburg as "Berlin-Brandenburg" failed to reach the necessary majority vote in Brandenburg, while a majority of Berliners voted in favour of the merger. Read more...
King Frederick William I of Prussia, the "Soldier-King", first named the Prussian virtues (which were supposedly present since the State of the Teutonic Order). Painting by Antoine Pesne, about 1733.
Prussian virtues (German: preußische Tugenden) refers to the virtues associated with the historical Kingdom of Prussia, especially its militarism and the ethical code of the Prussian army, but also bourgeois values as influenced by Lutheranism and Calvinism. It has also significantly influenced wider German culture, such as the contemporary German stereotypes of efficiency, austerity and discipline. Read more...
General map of Germany
This is a complete list of the 2,058 towns and cities in Germany (as of July 6, 2018). Only municipalities with independent administration and that have the Stadtrecht (town or city rights) are included, and only names are given. For more restricted lists with more details, see:- List of cities in Germany by population (only Großstädte, i.e. cities over 100,000 population)
- Metropolitan Regions in Germany
Numbers of cities and towns in the German states:- Bavaria: 317 towns and cities
- Baden-Württemberg: 313 towns and cities
- North Rhine-Westphalia: 271 towns and cities
- Hesse: 191 towns and cities
- Saxony: 169 towns and cities
- Lower Saxony: 159 towns and cities
- Rhineland-Palatinate: 129 towns and cities
- Thuringia: 124 towns and cities
- Brandenburg: 113 towns and cities
- Saxony-Anhalt: 104 towns and cities
- Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: 84 towns and cities, see list
- Schleswig-Holstein: 63 towns and cities
- Saarland: 17 towns and cities
- Bremen: 2 cities
- Berlin: 1 city
- Hamburg: 1 city
Frankfurt Airport, the fourth-busiest Airport in Europe
As a densely populated country in a central location in Europe and with a developed economy, Germany has a dense and modern transport infrastructure.
The first highway system to have been built, the extensive German Autobahn network famously has no general speed limit for light vehicles (although posted speed limits are in force in most sections today, and there is a blanket 80 km/h limit for trucks). The country's most important waterway is the river Rhine. The largest port is that of Hamburg. Frankfurt Airport is a major international airport and European transport hub. Air travel is used for greater distances within Germany but faces competition from the state-owned Deutsche Bahn's rail network. High-speed trains called ICE connect cities for passenger travel with speeds up to 300 km/h. Many German cities have rapid transit systems and public transport is available in most areas. Buses have historically only played a marginal role in long distance passenger service, as all routes directly competing with rail services were technically outlawed by a law dating to 1935. Only in 2012 was this law officially amended and thus; a long distance bus market has also emerged in Germany since then.
Since German reunification substantial effort has been made to improve and expand transport infrastructure in what was formerly East Germany. Read more...
The term German model is most often used in economics to describe post-World War II West Germany's means of using (according to University College London Professor Wendy Carlin) innovative industrial relations, vocational training, and closer relationships between the financial and industrial sectors to cultivate economic prosperity. Read more...
Basic view of second- to fifth-century migrations (see also map of the world in 820)
The Migration Period, also known as Barbarian invasions in Mediterranean countries, was a period began as early as 300 AD in which there were widespread migrations of peoples within or into Europe during the decline of the Roman Empire, mostly into Roman territory, notably the Germanic tribes and the Huns. It has also been termed in English by the German loanword Völkerwanderung and—from the Mediterranean perspective—the Barbarian Invasions. Many of the migrations were movements of Germanic, Hunnic, Slavic and other peoples into the territory of the then declining Roman Empire, with or without accompanying invasions or war.
Historians give differing dates, but the Migration Period is typically regarded as beginning with the invasion of Europe by the Huns from Asia in 375 and ending either with the conquest of Italy by the Lombards in 568, or at some point between 700 and 800. Various factors contributed to this phenomenon, and the role and significance of each one is still very much discussed among experts on the subject. Starting in 382, the Roman Empire and individual tribes made treaties regarding their settlement in its territory. The Franks, a Germanic tribe that would later found Francia—a predecessor of modern France and Germany—settled in the Roman Empire and were given a task of securing the northeastern Gaul border. Western Roman rule was first violated with the Crossing of the Rhine and the following invasions of the Vandals and Suebi. With wars ensuing between various tribes, as well as local populations in the Western Roman Empire, more and more power was transferred to Germanic and Roman militaries.
There are contradicting opinions whether the fall of the Western Roman Empire was a result or cause of these migrations, or both. The Eastern Roman Empire was less affected by migrations and survived until the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453. In the modern period, the Migration Period was increasingly described with a rather negative connotation, and seen as contributing to the fall of the empire. In place of the fallen Western Rome, Barbarian kingdoms arose in the 5th and 6th centuries and decisively shaped the European Early Middle Ages. Read more...
The Holy Roman Empire (Latin: Sacrum Romanum Imperium; German: Heiliges Römisches Reich) was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in Central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. The largest territory of the empire after 962 was the Kingdom of Germany, though it also came to include the neighboring Kingdom of Bohemia, the Kingdom of Burgundy, the Kingdom of Italy, and numerous other territories.
On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the earlier ancient Western Roman Empire in 476. The title continued in the Carolingian family until 888 and from 896 to 899, after which it was contested by the rulers of Italy in a series of civil wars until the death of the last Italian claimant, Berengar I, in 924. The title was revived again in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne and beginning a continuous existence of the empire for over eight centuries. Some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire, while others prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning. Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, describing a gradual assumption of the imperial title and role.
The exact term "Holy Roman Empire" was not used until the 13th century, but the concept of translatio imperii, the notion that he—the sovereign ruler—held supreme power inherited from the ancient emperors of Rome, was fundamental to the prestige of the emperor. The office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently controlled by dynasties. The mostly German prince-electors, the highest-ranking noblemen of the empire, usually elected one of their peers as "King of the Romans", and he would later be crowned emperor by the Pope; the tradition of papal coronations was discontinued in the 16th century. Read more...
Upon the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, the victorious Allies asserted their joint authority and sovereignty over 'Germany as a whole', defined as all territories of the former German Reich which lay west of the Oder–Neisse line, having declared the destruction of Nazi Germany at the death of Adolf Hitler (see 1945 Berlin Declaration). The four powers divided 'Germany as a whole' into four occupation zones for administrative purposes, under the United States, United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union respectively; creating what became collectively known as Allied-occupied Germany (German: Alliierten-besetztes Deutschland). This division was ratified at the Potsdam Conference (17 July to 2 August 1945).[not verified in body] The four zones were as agreed in February 1945 by the United States, United Kingdom and Soviet Union meeting at the Yalta Conference; setting aside an earlier division into three zones (excluding France) proposed by the London Protocol.
At Potsdam, the United States, United Kingdom and the Soviet Union approved the detachment from 'Germany as a whole' of the German eastern territories east of the Oder–Neisse line; with the exact line of the boundary to be determined at a final German Peace Treaty. This treaty was expected to confirm the "shifting westward" of Poland's borders, as the United Kingdom and the United States committed themselves to support in any future peace treaty the permanent incorporation of former eastern German territories into Poland and the Soviet Union. From March 1945 to July 1945, these former eastern territories of Germany had been administered under Soviet military occupation authorities, but following the Potsdam Conference they were handed over to Soviet and Polish civilian administrations and ceased to constitute part of Allied-occupied Germany.
In the closing weeks of fighting in Europe, United States forces had pushed beyond the agreed boundaries for the future zones of occupation, in some places by as much as 320 kilometres (200 mi). The so-called line of contact between Soviet and American forces at the end of hostilities, mostly lying eastward of the July 1945-established inner German border, was temporary. After two months in which they had held areas that had been assigned to the Soviet zone, U.S. forces withdrew in the first days of July 1945. Some have concluded that this was a crucial move that persuaded the Soviet Union to allow American, British and French forces into their designated sectors in Berlin, which occurred at roughly the same time (July 1945), although the need for intelligence gathering (see Operation Paperclip) may also have been a factor. Read more...- Mass media of Germany includes a variety of online, print, and broadcast formats, such as radio, television, newspapers, and magazines. Read more...
- The prevalent means of connecting to the Internet in Germany is DSL, introduced by Deutsche Telekom in 1999. Other technologies such as Cable, FTTH and FTTB (fiber), Satellite, UMTS/HSDPA (mobile) and LTE are available as alternatives. Read more...
The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The Basic Law was approved on 8 May 1949 in Bonn, and, with the signature of the occupying western Allies of World War II on 12 May, came into effect on 23 May. Its original field of application (German: Geltungsbereich) — that is, the states that were initially included in the Federal Republic of Germany — consisted of the three Western Allies' zones of occupation, but at the insistence of the Western Allies, formally excluded West Berlin. In 1990, the Two Plus Four Agreement between the two parts of Germany and all four Allied Powers stipulated the implementation of a number of amendments. In the subsequent Unification Treaty of 1990, this amended Basic Law was adopted as the constitution of a united Germany.
The German word Grundgesetz may be translated as either Basic Law or Fundamental Law (Grund- is cognate with the English word ground). The term Verfassung (constitution) was deliberately avoided as the drafters regarded the Grundgesetz as an interim arrangement for a provisional West German state, expecting that an eventual reunified Germany would adopt a proper constitution, enacted under the provisions of Article 146 of the Basic Law, which stipulates that such a constitution must be "freely adopted by the German people". Nevertheless, although the amended Basic Law would finally be approved in 1990 by all four Allied Powers (who thereby relinquished their continued reserved constitutional rights), it was never submitted to a popular vote, neither in 1949 nor in 1990. Read more...
Because of Germany's geographic position in the centre of Europe, as well as its long history as a non-united region of distinct tribes and states, there are many widely varying names of Germany in different languages, perhaps more so than for any other European nation. For example, the German language, the country is known as Deutschland, in Spanish as Alemania, in French as Allemagne, in Italian as Germania (although Germans are called tedeschi), in Polish as Niemcy, and in Finnish as Saksa. Read more...
Francia, also called the Kingdom of the Franks (Latin: Regnum Francorum), or Frankish Empire was the largest post-Roman Barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. It is the predecessor of the modern states of France and Germany. After the Treaty of Verdun in 843, West Francia became the predecessor of France, and East Francia became that of Germany. Francia was among the last surviving Germanic kingdoms from the Migration Period era until its partitioning in 843.
The core Frankish territories inside the former Western Roman Empire were close to the Rhine and Maas rivers in the north. After a period where small kingdoms inter-acted with the remaining Gallo-Roman institutions to their south, a single kingdom uniting them was founded by Clovis I who was crowned King of the Franks in 496. His dynasty, the Merovingian dynasty was eventually replaced by the Carolingian dynasty. Under the nearly continuous campaigns of Pepin of Herstal, Charles Martel, Pepin the Short, Charlemagne, and Louis the Pious—father, son, grandson, great-grandson and great-great-grandson—the greatest expansion of the Frankish empire was secured by the early 9th century, by this point dubbed as the Carolingian Empire.
During the Carolingian and Merovingian dynasties the Frankish realm was one large kingdom polity subdivided into several smaller kingdoms, often effectively independent. The geography and number of subkingdoms varied over time, but a basic split between eastern and western domains persisted. The eastern kingdom was initially called Austrasia, centred on the Rhine and Meuse, and expanding eastwards into central Europe. It evolved into a German kingdom, the Holy Roman Empire. The western kingdom Neustria was founded in Northern Roman Gaul, and as the original kingdom of the Merovingians it came over time to be referred to as Francia, now France, although in other contexts western Europe generally could still be described as "Frankish". In Germany there are prominent other places named after the Franks such as the region of Franconia, the city of Frankfurt, and Frankenstein Castle. Read more...- Agriculture in Germany is a small sector of the German economy, and it has declined in importance during the 20th century and by 1989 amounted to only 1.6 percent of the West German GDP. Although agriculture's share of East German GDP was twice as high as in the west, even after the two economies are completely united, agriculture's share of GDP is expected to amount to only about two percent. However, despite the sector's small size, it remains politically important. Potatoes and grain were their main agricultural product. Read more...
The Weimar Republic (German: Weimarer Republik [ˈvaɪmaʁɐ ʁepuˈbliːk] (
listen)) is an unofficial historical designation for the German state from 1918 to 1933. The name derives from the city of Weimar, where its constitutional assembly first took place. The official name of the state remained Deutsches Reich unchanged from 1871. Although commonly translated as "German Empire", the word Reich here better translates as "realm", in that the term does not in itself have monarchical connotations per se. In English, the country was usually known simply as Germany.
Germany became a de facto republic on 9 November 1918 when Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated the German and Prussian thrones with no agreement made on a succession by his son Crown Prince Wilhelm, and became a de jure republic in February 1919 when the position of President of Germany was created. A national assembly was convened in Weimar, where a new constitution for Germany was written and adopted on 11 August 1919. In its fourteen years, the Weimar Republic faced numerous problems, including hyperinflation, political extremism (with paramilitaries—both left- and right-wing) as well as contentious relationships with the victors of the First World War. Resentment in Germany towards the Treaty of Versailles was strong especially on the political right where there was great anger towards those who had signed the Treaty and submitted to fulfill the terms of it. The Weimar Republic fulfilled most of the requirements of the Treaty of Versailles although it never completely met its disarmament requirements and eventually paid only a small portion of the war reparations (by twice restructuring its debt through the Dawes Plan and the Young Plan). Under the Locarno Treaties, Germany accepted the western borders of the country by abandoning irredentist claims on France and Belgium, but continued to dispute the eastern borders and sought to persuade German-speaking Austria to join Germany as one of Germany's states.
From 1930 onwards President Hindenburg used emergency powers to back Chancellors Heinrich Brüning, Franz von Papen and General Kurt von Schleicher. The Great Depression, exacerbated by Brüning's policy of deflation, led to a surge in unemployment. In 1933, Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor with the Nazi Party being part of a coalition government. The Nazis held two out of the remaining ten cabinet seats. Von Papen as Vice Chancellor was intended to be the "éminence grise" who would keep Hitler under control, using his close personal connection to Hindenburg. Within months, the Reichstag Fire Decree and the Enabling Act of 1933 had brought about a state of emergency: it wiped out constitutional governance and civil liberties. Hitler's seizure of power (Machtergreifung) was permissive of government by decree without legislative participation. These events brought the republic to an end — as democracy collapsed, the founding of a single-party state began the Nazi era. Read more...
West Germany is the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland) in the period between its creation on 23 May 1949 and German reunification on 3 October 1990. During this Cold War era, NATO-aligned West Germany and Warsaw Pact-aligned East Germany were divided by the Inner German border. After 1961 West Berlin was physically separated from East Berlin as well as from East Germany by the Berlin Wall. This situation ended when East Germany was dissolved and split into five states, which then joined the ten states of the Federal Republic of Germany along with the reunified city-state of Berlin. With the reunification of West and East Germany, the Federal Republic of Germany, enlarged now to sixteen states, became known simply as "Germany". This period is referred to as the Bonn Republic (Bonner Republik) by historians, alluding to the interwar Weimar Republic and the post-reunification Berlin Republic.
The Federal Republic of Germany was established from eleven states formed in the three Allied Zones of occupation held by the United States, the United Kingdom and France (the "Western Zones"). US and British forces remained in the country throughout the Cold War. Its population grew from roughly 51 million in 1950 to more than 63 million in 1990. The city of Bonn was its (provisional) capital. The fourth Allied occupation zone (the East Zone, or Ostzone) was held by the Soviet Union, bounded to the east by the Oder-Neisse line; and in 1949 this became the socialist German Democratic Republic (abbreviated GDR; in German Deutsche Demokratische Republik or DDR) with its de facto capital in East Berlin. The former parts of Germany east of the Oder-Neisse were separated from 'Germany as a whole' by the Potsdam Agreement of 1945, and then annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union. As a result, West Germany had a territory about half the size of the interwar period democratic Weimar Republic.
At the onset of the Cold War, Europe was divided among the Western and Eastern blocs. Germany was de facto divided into two countries and two special territories, the Saarland and divided Berlin. Initially the Federal Republic of Germany claimed an exclusive mandate for all of Germany, considering itself to be the democratically reorganised continuation of the 1871–1945 German Reich. It took the line that the GDR was an illegally constituted puppet state. Though the GDR did hold regular elections, these were not free and fair. From the West German perspective, the GDR was therefore illegitimate. Read more...- Trade unions in Germany have a history reaching back to the German revolution in 1848, and still play an important role in the German economy and society.
The most important labor organization is the German Confederation of Trade Unions (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, or DGB), which is the umbrella association of eight single trade unions for individual economic sectors, representing more than 6 million people . The largest single trade union is the IG Metall, which organizes about 2.3 million members in metal (including automobile and machine building), electronics, steel, textile, wood and synthetics industries. Read more...
Germany is the seventh most visited country in the world, with a total of 407.26 million overnights during 2012. This number includes 68.83 million nights by foreign visitors, the majority of foreign tourists in 2009 coming from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland (see table). Additionally, more than 30% of Germans spend their holiday in their own country.
According to Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Reports, Germany is rated as one of the safest travel destinations worldwide.
The official body for tourism in Germany is the German National Tourist Board (GNTB), represented worldwide by National Tourist Offices in 29 countries. Surveys by the GNTB include perceptions and reasons for holidaying in Germany, which are as follows: culture (75%), outdoors/countryside (59%), cities (59%), cleanliness (47%), security (41%), modernity (36%), good hotels (35%), good gastronomy/cuisine (34%), good accessibility (30%), cosmopolitanism/hospitality (27%), good shopping opportunities (21%), exciting nightlife (17%) and good price/performance ratio (10%) (multiple answers were possible).
In 2012, over 30.4 million international tourists arrived in Germany, bringing over US$38 billion in international tourism receipts to the country. Domestic and international travel and tourism combined directly to contribute over EUR43.2 billion to the German GDP. Including indirect and induced impacts, the industry contributes 4.5% of German GDP and supports 2 million jobs (4.8% of total employment). The ITB Berlin is the world's leading tourism trade fair. Read more...- Transgender rights in the Federal Republic of Germany are regulated in the Transsexuellengesetz ("Transsexual law"), since 1980. The law initially required them to undergo surgical alteration of their genitals in order to have key identity documents changed. This has since been declared unconstitutional. Discrimination protections on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation vary across Germany, but discrimination in employment and the provision of goods and services is in principle banned countrywide. Read more...
The automotive industry in Germany is one of the largest employers in the world, with a labor force of over 747,000 (2009) working in the industry.
Being home to the modern car, the German automobile industry is regarded as the most competitive and innovative in the world, and has the third highest car production in the world, and fourth highest total motor vehicle production. With an annual output close to six million and a 35.6% share of the European Union (2008),
German-designed cars won in the European Car of the Year, the International Car of the Year, the World Car of the Year annual awards the most times among all countries. The Volkswagen Beetle and Porsche 911 took 4th and 5th places in the Car of the Century award. Read more...
The geology of Germany is heavily influenced by several phases of orogeny in the Paleozoic and the Cenozoic, by sedimentation in shelf seas and epicontinental seas and on plains in the Permian and Mesozoic as well as by the Quaternary glaciations. Read more...
Refugees moving westwards in 1945. Courtesy of the German Federal Archives (Deutsches Bundesarchiv).
During the later stages of World War II and the post-war period, German citizens and people of German ancestry fled or were expelled from various Eastern and Central European countries and sent to the remaining territory of Germany and Austria. After 1950, some emigrated to the United States, Australia, and other countries from there. The areas affected included the former eastern territories of Germany, which were annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union after the war, as well as Germans who were living within the prewar borders of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, and the Baltic States. The Nazis had made plans—only partially completed before the Nazi defeat—to remove many Slavic and Jewish people from Eastern Europe and settle the area with Germans. The post-war expulsion of the Germans formed a major part of the geopolitical and ethnic reconfiguration of Eastern Europe in the aftermath of World War II, that attempted to create ethnically homogeneous nations within redefined borders. Between 1944 and 1948 about 31 million people, including ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche) as well as German citizens (Reichsdeutsche), were permanently or temporarily moved from Central and Eastern Europe.
By 1950, a total of approximately 12 million Germans had fled or been expelled from east-central Europe into Allied-occupied Germany and Austria. The West German government put the total at 14 million, including ethnic German migrants to Germany after 1950 and the children born to expelled parents. The largest numbers came from preexisting German territories ceded to Poland and the Soviet Union (about 7 million), and from Czechoslovakia (about 3 million). During the Cold War, the West German government also counted as expellees 1 million foreign colonists settled in territories conquered by Nazi Germany during World War II.
The death toll attributable to the flight and expulsions is disputed, with estimates ranging from 500,000, up to a West German demographic estimate from the 1950s of over 2 million. More recent estimates by some historians put the total at 500-600,000 attested deaths; they maintain that the West German government figures lack adequate support and that during the Cold War the higher figures were used for political propaganda. The German Historical Museum puts the figure at 600,000, maintaining that the figure of 2 million deaths in the previous government studies cannot be supported. The current official position of the German government is that the death toll resulting from the flight and expulsions ranged from 2 to 2.5 million civilians. Read more...
German literature comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, South Tyrol in Italy and to a lesser extent works of the German diaspora. German literature of the modern period is mostly in Standard German, but there are some currents of literature influenced to a greater or lesser degree by dialects (e.g. Alemannic).
Medieval German literature is literature written in Germany, stretching from the Carolingian dynasty; various dates have been given for the end of the German literary Middle Ages, the Reformation (1517) being the last possible cut-off point. The Old High German period is reckoned to run until about the mid-11th century; the most famous works are the Hildebrandslied and a heroic epic known as the Heliand. Middle High German starts in the 12th century; the key works include The Ring (ca. 1410) and the poems of Oswald von Wolkenstein and Johannes von Tepl. The Baroque period (1600 to 1720) was one of the most fertile times in German literature. Modern literature in German begins with the authors of the Enlightenment (such as Herder). The Sensibility movement of the 1750s–1770s ended with Goethe's best-selling Die Leiden des jungen Werther (1774). The Sturm und Drang and Weimar Classicism movements were led by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller. German Romanticism was the dominant movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Biedermeier refers to the literature, music, the visual arts and interior design in the period between the years 1815 (Vienna Congress), the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and 1848, the year of the European revolutions. Under the Nazi regime, some authors went into exile (Exilliteratur) and others submitted to censorship ("internal emigration", Innere Emigration). The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to German language authors thirteen times (as of 2009), or the third most often after English and French language authors (with 27 and 14 laureates, respectively), with winners including Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, and Günter Grass. Read more...
Nazi Germany is the common English name for Germany between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party (NSDAP) controlled the country through a dictatorship. Under Hitler's rule, Germany was transformed into a totalitarian state that controlled nearly all aspects of life via the Gleichschaltung legal process. The official name of the state was Deutsches Reich ("German Reich") until 1943 and Großdeutsches Reich ("Greater German Reich") from 1943 to 1945. Nazi Germany is also known as the Third Reich, from German Drittes Reich, meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", the first two being the Holy Roman Empire and the German Empire. The Nazi regime ended after the Allies defeated Germany in May 1945, ending World War II in Europe.
Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by the President of the Weimar Republic, Paul von Hindenburg, on 30 January 1933. The NSDAP then began to eliminate all political opposition and consolidate its power. Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934 and Hitler became dictator of Germany by merging the offices and powers of the Chancellery and Presidency. A national referendum held 19 August 1934 confirmed Hitler as sole Führer (leader) of Germany. All power was centralised in Hitler's person and his word became the highest law. The government was not a coordinated, co-operating body, but a collection of factions struggling for power and Hitler's favour. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending and a mixed economy. Extensive public works were undertaken, including the construction of Autobahnen (motorways). The return to economic stability boosted the regime's popularity.
Racism, especially antisemitism, was a central feature of the regime. The Germanic peoples were considered by the Nazis to be the master race, the purest branch of the Aryan race. Discrimination and persecution against Jews and Romani or Gypsy people began in earnest after the seizure of power. The first concentration camps were established in March 1933. Jews and others deemed undesirable were imprisoned, and liberals, socialists, and communists were killed, imprisoned, or exiled. Christian churches and citizens that opposed Hitler's rule were oppressed, and many leaders imprisoned. Education focused on racial biology, population policy, and fitness for military service. Career and educational opportunities for women were curtailed. Recreation and tourism were organised via the Strength Through Joy program, and the 1936 Summer Olympics showcased Germany on the international stage. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels made effective use of film, mass rallies, and Hitler's hypnotic oratory to influence public opinion. The government controlled artistic expression, promoting specific art forms and banning or discouraging others. Read more...- Germany before 1800 was heavily rural, with some urban trade centers. In the 19th century it began a stage of rapid economic growth and modernisation, led by heavy industry. By 1900 it had the largest economy in Europe, a factor that played a major role in its entry into World War I and World War II. Devastated by World War II, West Germany became an "economic miracle" in the 1950s and 1960s with the Wirtschaftswunder, triggered by a newly modernized economy under the strict guidance of Germany's then Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and his Minister of Economics Ludwig Erhard and aided by the Marshall Plan, among other factors. Currently it is the largest individual economy in the EU with GDP of roughly 3 trillion USD. Read more...
The President of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland), is the head of state of Germany.
Germany has a parliamentary system of government in which the chancellor is the nation's leading political figure and de facto chief executive. The president has mainly a ceremonial role, but he can give direction to general political and societal debates and has some important "reserve powers" in case of political instability (such as those provided for by Article 81 of the Basic Law). The German presidents have wide discretion about how they exercise their official duties.
Under Article 59 (1) of the Basic Law (German Constitution), the president represents the Federal Republic of Germany in matters of international law, concludes treaties with foreign states on its behalf and accredits diplomats. Furthermore, all federal laws must be signed by the president before they can come into effect, but usually they only veto a law if they believe it to violate the constitution. Read more...- The Cabinet of Germany (German: Bundeskabinett or Bundesregierung) is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany. It consists of the Chancellor and the cabinet ministers. The fundamentals of the cabinet's organization as well as the method of its election and appointment as well as the procedure for its dismissal are set down in articles 62 through 69 of the Grundgesetz (the Basic Law).
In contrast to the system under the Weimar Republic, the Bundestag may only dismiss the Chancellor with constructive vote of no-confidence (electing a new Chancellor at the same time) and can thereby only choose to dismiss the Chancellor with his or her entire cabinet and not simply individual ministers. These procedures and mechanisms were put in place by the authors of the Basic Law to both prevent another dictatorship and to ensure that there will not be a political vacuum left by the removal of Chancellor through a vote of confidence and the failure to elect a new one in his or her place, as had happened during the Weimar period with the Reichstag removing Chancellors but failing to agree on the election of a new one.
If the Chancellor loses a simple confidence motion (without the election of a new Chancellor by the Bundestag), this does not force him or her out of office, but allows the Chancellor, if he wishes to do so, to ask the President of Germany for the dissolution of the Bundestag, triggering a snap election within 60 days (this happened in 1972, 1983 and 2005), or to ask the President to declare a legislative state of emergency, which allows the cabinet to use a simplified legislative procedure, in which bills proposed by the cabinet only need the consent of the Bundesrat (as yet, this has never been applied). The President is however not bound to follow the Chancellor's request in both cases. Read more...
Sport in Germany is an important part of German culture and society.
In 2006 about 27.5 million people were members of the more than 91,000 sport clubs in Germany. Almost all sports clubs are represented by the Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund (DOSB, German Olympic Sports Federation). Read more...
Germany is a leading country in the fashion industry, along with France, Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan. German fashion is known for its elegant lines, unconventional young designs, and manufacturers of sports and outdoor clothing.
Berlin is the center of young and creative fashion in Germany, prominently displayed at Berlin Fashion Week. Düsseldorf is an important fashion trade center with Igedo. Other important centers of the scene are Munich, Hamburg and Cologne. Smaller places are also important design and production hubs of the German fashion industry, such as Herford, Metzingen, Herzogenaurach, Schorndorf, Chemnitz, Albstadt and Detmold.
German fashion is popular as ready-to-wear and custom-made creations. Read more...- Elections in Germany include elections to the Bundestag (Germany's federal parliament), the Landtags of the various states, and local elections.
Several articles in several parts of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany govern elections and establish constitutional requirements such as the secret ballot, and requirement that all elections be conducted in a free and fair manner. The Basic Law also requires that the federal legislature enact detailed federal laws to govern elections; electoral law(s). One such article is Article 38 which is regarding the election of deputies in the federal Bundestag. Article 38.2 of the Basic Law establishes universal suffrage: "Any person who has attained the age of eighteen shall be entitled to vote; any person who has attained the age of majority may be elected."
German federal elections are for all members of the Bundestag, which in turn determines who is the Chancellor of Germany. Federal elections were held in 2009, 2013 and in 2017. Read more... - The judiciary of Germany is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in Germany.
The German legal system is a civil law mostly based on a comprehensive compendium of statutes, as compared to the common law systems. In criminal and administrative law, Germany uses an inquisitorial system where the judges are actively involved in investigating the facts of the case, as compared to an adversarial system where the role of the judge is primarily that of an impartial referee between the prosecutor or plaintiff and the defendant.
In Germany, the independence of the judiciary is historically older than democracy. The organisation of courts is traditionally strong, and almost all federal and state actions are subject to judicial review. Read more... - Energy in Germany is sourced predominantly by fossil fuels, followed by nuclear power, biomass (wood and biofuels), wind, hydro and solar.
The German economy is large and developed, ranking fourth in the world by GDP. Because of this, Germany ranked sixth in global energy consumption between 2004 and 2007. Germany was Europe's largest consumer of electricity in 2002; electricity consumption that year totaled 512.9 terawatt-hours. In 2013 Germany's electricity production reached 631.4 TWh.
Key to Germany's energy policies and politics is the "Energiewende", meaning "energy turnaround" or "energy transformation". Germany intends to eliminate current use of nuclear power by 2022. Some plants have already been closed ahead of their intended retirement dates. It is presumed that fossil fuels, wind power, solar power, biofuels, and energy conservation will be enough to replace the existing capacity from nuclear power. The policy includes phasing out nuclear power, and progressive replacement of fossil fuels by renewables. Read more... - Germany is the second most popular migration destination in the world, after the United States. Of all the 27 European Union states, Germany has the second highest percentage of immigrants in its population after the United Kingdom. By UN estimates, as of 2017, 12,165,083 people living in Germany are immigrants, or about 14.8% of the German population.
The German Government has been keen to encourage immigration over the past 50 years, to address the low birth rate in the country.
On 1 January 2005, a new immigration law came into effect. The political background to this new law was that Germany, for the first time ever, acknowledged to be an "immigration country". The practical changes to immigration procedures were relatively minor. New immigration categories, such as "highly skilled professional" and "scientist" were introduced to attract valuable professionals to the German labour market. The development within German immigration law shows that immigration of skilled employees and academics has eased while the labour market remains closed for unskilled workers. Read more...
Did you know ...
Did you know ...
- ... that the main statue of Martin Luther in the 1868 Luther Monument (pictured) in Worms appears in several copies in the United States, including in Washington, D.C.?
- ... that Leo Holzer led a resistance group inside the Theresienstadt concentration camp?
- ... that historian Felix Römer found that 116 of 137 German World War II combat divisions he researched implemented the Commissar Order, contrary to post-war denials?
- ... that, after Schafkopf and Watten, Wallachen is probably the most widely played card game in Old Bavaria and an indispensable part of Bavarian pub culture?
- ... that the first official baseball game in Germany took place under the Nazi regime at the 1936 Summer Olympics?
- ... that the novella Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts was translated as Memoirs of a Good-for-Nothing several times, the first in 1866 by Charles Godfrey Leland?
- ... that Barbara P. McCarthy disagreed with philologist Rudolf Helm about whether or not Lucian originated a particular form of satiric dialog?
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Selected images
The Nebra sky disk, c. 1700 BC
European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt
A typical German Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) in Jena
Germany hosted the G20 summit in Hamburg, 7–8 July 2017
The Allianz Arena is home to the football club Bayern Munich and was a venue for the 2006 FIFA World Cup
German unity was established on 3 October 1990. Since 1999, the Reichstag building in Berlin has been the meeting place of the Bundestag, the German parliament.
The Holy Roman Empire in 1648, after the Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years' War
Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria
The Hospice of the Holy Spirit in Lübeck, established in 1286, is a precursor to modern hospitals.
Mercedes-Benz F800. Germany maintains a large automotive industry, and is the world's third largest exporter of goods.
Germany became a co-founder of the European Union (1993), introduced the Euro currency (2002), and signed the Lisbon Treaty in 2007 (pictured).
Martin Luther (1483–1546) initiated the Protestant Reformation.
Johannes Gutenberg started the Printing Revolution
Frankish Realm and its expansion. As it was partitioned in 843, West Francia (blue) and East Francia (red) became predecessors of France and Germany, respectively
The Frankfurt Book Fair in 2016
Albert Einstein, physicist. The Nobel Prize has been awarded to 107 German laureates.
Bratwurst, one of the most popular foods in Germany
The Goethe Institut, a German language academy, in São Paulo, Brazil
Adolf Hitler, leader of Nazi Germany (1933–1945)
Portrait of Martin Luther
Adidas shoes
Christmas market in Thuringia
The Babelsberg Studio near Berlin is one of Europe´s large-scale film locations.
A German Navy Brandenburg-class frigate (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)
The German national football team after winning the FIFA World Cup for the fourth time in 2014. Football is the most popular sport in Germany.
Old Town of Regensburg (UNESCO world heritage)
Deutsche Welle headquarters in Bonn (centre).
The Königsstuhl within the Jasmund National Park.
Philipp Scheidemann proclaims the German Republic from the Reichskanzlei window, on 9 November 1918.
The ICE 3 in Cologne railway station
WWII, German-occupied Europe in 1942
Foundation of the German Empire in Versailles, 1871. Bismarck is at the centre in a white uniform.
A map showing the German Confederation (1815–1836) with its 39 member states.
Claudia Schiffer, German supermodel
Ludwig van Beethoven was an influential German composer and pianist
Babelsberg Studio near Berlin, the world's first large-scale film studio
Karl Marx was a German philosopher and economist who developed the Marxist communism philosophy.
A Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (Black Forest cake)
Michael Schumacher has won seven Formula One championships
Germany is part of a monetary union, the eurozone (dark blue), and of the EU single market.
Germany is home to the second-highest number of international migrants.
The Berlin Wall during its fall in 1989, with the Brandenburg Gate in the background.
The German Empire (1871–1918), with the Kingdom of Prussia in blue
The Brothers Grimm collected and published popular German folk tales.
The Oktoberfest in Munich is the world's largest fair
American, Soviet, British and French occupation zones in Germany, and the French controlled Saar Protectorate, 1947. Territories east of the Oder-Neisse line transferred to Poland and the Soviet Union under the terms of the Potsdam Conference.
Rhine valley in summer at Lorelei.
In the news
- 11 November 2018 – Killing of Jamal Khashoggi, Foreign relations of Saudi Arabia
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says that recordings related to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi were issued to Saudi Arabia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France. (CNN)
- 7 November 2018 – Premiership of Justin Trudeau, History of the Jews in Canada
- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issues an apology for the country's role in turning away the MS St. Louis, a ship carrying over 900 Jewish refugees fleeing persecution in Nazi Germany. (BBC) (Washington Post)
- 30 October 2018 – List of serial killers by number of victims
- German convicted serial killer and former nurse Niels Högel begins his third trial (previous convictions were in 2008 and 2015), this time in Oldenburg, for additional patient murders by administering fatal doses of medication between 1999–2005 which may include his assignment as one of Germany's worst serial killers since World War II. At the beginning of the trial, Högel confesses to the murder of 100 of his patients. (BBC), (Deutsche Welle)
- 29 October 2018 – Politics of Germany, Hessian state election, 2018
- Following a disappointing state election on Sunday, German chancellor Angela Merkel announces that she will not seek re-election as party head at a conference in early December and as German chancellor in 2021. (CNBC)
- 28 October 2018 – Hessian state election, 2018
- Voters in the German state of Hesse go to the polls to elect a new legislature. The election is widely considered a test for Angela Merkel's ruling CDU–SPD coalition. (BBC)
- Both the CDU's and the SDP's swing drop by a little over 10%, while The Greens surge to second place with 19.5% of the vote and the AfD place fourth with 12% of the vote. (BBC)
- 26 October 2018 – 2018 Freiburg gang rape
- Authorities arrest eight men after a gang rape in Freiburg, Germany on 14 October, with police seeking more men. (The New York Times)
- 17 October 2018 – 2016 German terror plot
- German media uncover a large ISIL terrorism plot which had been foiled in 2016. (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
Anniversaries for November 19
- 1833 – Birth of philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey
- 1900 – Birth of author Anna Seghers, who wrote The Seventh Cross
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Wikidata
Database
- What are portals?
- List of portals
