Jump to content

Germany

Coordinates: 51°N 9°E / 51°N 9°E / 51; 9
Page semi-protected
Listen to this article
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Federal Republic of Germany
Bundesrepublik Deutschland (German)
Anthem: "Das Lied der Deutschen"[a]
("The Song of the Germans")
Location of Germany (dark green)

– in Europe (light green & dark grey)
– in the European Union (light green)

Capital
and largest city
Berlin[b]
52°31′N 13°23′E / 52.517°N 13.383°E / 52.517; 13.383
Official languagesGerman[c]
Demonym(s)German
GovernmentFederal parliamentary republic[4]
• President
Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Olaf Scholz
LegislatureBundestag, Bundesrat[d]
Area
• Total
357,596 km2 (138,069 sq mi)[6] (63rd)
• Water (%)
1.27[5]
Population
• 2022 census
Neutral increase 82,719,540[7] (19th)
• Density
236/km2 (611.2/sq mi) (58th)
GDP (PPP)2024 estimate
• Total
Increase $6.017 trillion[8] (6th)
• Per capita
Increase $70,930[8] (22nd)
GDP (nominal)2024 estimate
• Total
Increase $4.710 trillion[8] (3rd)
• Per capita
Increase $55,521[8] (17th)
Gini (2023)Negative increase 29.4[9]
low inequality
HDI (2022)Increase 0.950[10]
very high (7th)
CurrencyEuro () (EUR)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)
UTC+2 (CEST)
Date format
  • Day, month, year
  • Year, month, day
Drives onright
Calling code+49
ISO 3166 codeDE
Internet TLD.de

Germany,[e] officially the Federal Republic of Germany,[f] is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 82 million in an area of 357,596 km2 (138,069 sq mi), making it the most populous member state of the European Union. 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. The nation's capital and most populous city is Berlin and its main financial centre is Frankfurt; the largest urban area is the Ruhr.

Settlement in the territory of modern Germany began in the Lower Paleolithic, with various tribes inhabiting it from the Neolithic onward, chiefly the Celts. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity. A region named Germania was documented before AD 100. In 962, the Kingdom of Germany formed the bulk of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. Following the Napoleonic Wars and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the German Confederation was formed in 1815.

Formal unification of Germany into the modern nation-state commenced on 18 August 1866 with the North German Confederation Treaty establishing the Prussia-led North German Confederation, which became the German Empire in 1871. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the Weimar Republic. The Nazi rise to power in 1933 led to the establishment of a totalitarian dictatorship, World War II, and the Holocaust. In 1949, after the war and a period of Allied occupation, Germany was organized into two separate polities with limited sovereignty: the Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany, and the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany. Berlin continued its de jure Four Power status. The Federal Republic of Germany was a founding member of the European Economic Community and the European Union, while the German Democratic Republic was a communist Eastern Bloc state and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the fall of the communist led-government in East Germany, German reunification saw the former East German states join the Federal Republic of Germany on 3 October 1990.

Germany has been described as a great power with a strong economy; it has the largest economy in Europe by nominal GDP. As a global power in industrial, scientific and technological sectors, it is both the world's third-largest exporter and importer. As a developed country, it offers social security, a universal health care system, and tuition-free university education. Germany is a member of the United Nations, Council of Europe, NATO and OECD, and a founding member of the European Union, G7 and G20. It has the third-highest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 54, of which 51 are cultural.

Etymology

The English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine.[12] The German term Deutschland, originally diutisciu land ('the German lands'), is derived from deutsch (cf. Dutch), descended from Old High German diutisc 'of the people' (from diot or diota 'people'), originally used to distinguish the language of the common people from Latin and its Romance descendants. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz 'of the people' (see also the Latinised form Theodiscus), derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- 'people', from which the word Teutons also originates.[13]

History

Prehistory

Pre-human ancestors, the Danuvius guggenmosi, who were present in Germany over 11 million years ago, are theorized to be among the earliest ones to walk on two legs.[14] Ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago.[15] The first non-modern human fossil (the Neanderthal) was discovered in the Neander Valley.[16] Similarly dated evidence of modern humans has been found in the Swabian Jura, including 42,000-year-old flutes which are the oldest musical instruments ever found,[17] the 40,000-year-old Lion Man,[18] and the 41,000-year-old Venus of Hohle Fels.[19][20] The Nebra sky disk, created during the European Bronze Age, has been attributed to a German site.[21]

Germanic tribes, Roman frontier and the Frankish Empire

Basilica of Constantine in Trier (Augusta Treverorum), built in the 4th century

The Germanic peoples are thought to have emerged from the Jastorf culture during the Nordic Bronze Age or early Iron Age.[22][23] From southern Scandinavia and northern Germany, they expanded south, east, and west, coming into contact with the Celtic, Iranian, Baltic, and Slavic tribes.[24][25] Southern Germany was inhabited by Celtic-speaking peoples, who belonged to the wider La Tène culture. They were later assimilated by the Germanic conquerors.[26]

Under Augustus, the Roman Empire began to invade lands inhabited by the Germanic tribes, creating a short-lived Roman province of Germania between the Rhine and Elbe rivers. In 9 AD, three Roman legions were defeated by Arminius in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.[27] The outcome of this battle dissuaded the Romans from their ambition of conquering Germania and is thus considered one of the most important events in European history.[28] By 100 AD, when Tacitus wrote Germania, Germanic tribes had settled along the Rhine and the Danube (the Limes Germanicus), occupying most of modern Germany. However, Baden-Württemberg, southern Bavaria, southern Hesse and the western Rhineland had been incorporated into Roman provinces.[29][30][31]

Around 260, Germanic peoples broke into Roman-controlled lands.[32] After the invasion of the Huns in 375, and with the decline of Rome from 395, Germanic tribes moved farther southwest: the Franks established the Frankish Kingdom and pushed east to subjugate Saxony and Bavaria. Areas of what is today eastern Germany were inhabited by Western Slavic tribes.[29]

East Francia and the Holy Roman Empire

East Francia in 843
Martin Luther, born in Eisleben in 1483, challenged the indulgences of the Catholic Church, giving rise to the Reformation and Protestantism.

Charlemagne founded the Carolingian Empire in 800; it was divided in 843.[33] The eastern successor kingdom of East Francia stretched from the Rhine in the west to the Elbe river in the east and from the North Sea to the Alps.[33] Subsequently, the Holy Roman Empire emerged from it. The Ottonian rulers (919–1024) consolidated several major duchies.[34] In 996, Gregory V became the first German Pope, appointed by his cousin Otto III, whom he shortly after crowned Holy Roman Emperor. The Holy Roman Empire absorbed northern Italy and Burgundy under the Salian emperors (1024–1125), although the emperors lost power through the Investiture controversy.[35]

Under the Hohenstaufen emperors (1138–1254), German princes encouraged German settlement to the south and east (Ostsiedlung).[36] Members of the Hanseatic League, mostly north German towns, prospered in the expansion of trade.[37] The population declined starting with the Great Famine in 1315, followed by the Black Death of 1348–1350.[38] The Golden Bull issued in 1356 provided the constitutional structure of the Empire and codified the election of the emperor by seven prince-electors.[39]

Johannes Gutenberg introduced moveable-type printing to Europe, laying the basis for the democratization of knowledge.[40] In 1517, Martin Luther incited the Protestant Reformation and his translation of the Bible began the standardization of the language; the 1555 Peace of Augsburg tolerated the "Evangelical" faith (Lutheranism), but also decreed that the faith of the prince was to be the faith of his subjects (cuius regio, eius religio).[41] From the Cologne War through the Thirty Years' Wars (1618–1648), religious conflict devastated German lands and significantly reduced the population.[42][43]

The Peace of Westphalia ended religious warfare among the Imperial Estates.[42] The legal system initiated by a series of Imperial Reforms (approximately 1495–1555) provided for considerable local autonomy and a stronger Imperial Diet.[44] The House of Habsburg held the imperial crown from 1438 until the death of Charles VI in 1740. Following the War of the Austrian Succession and the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, Charles VI's daughter Maria Theresa ruled as empress consort when her husband, Francis I, became emperor.[45][46]

From 1740, dualism between the Austrian Habsburg monarchy and the Kingdom of Prussia dominated German history. In 1772, 1793, and 1795, Prussia and Austria, along with the Russian Empire, agreed to the Partitions of Poland.[47][48] During the period of the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic era and the subsequent final meeting of the Imperial Diet, most of the Free Imperial Cities were annexed by dynastic territories; the ecclesiastical territories were secularised and annexed. In 1806 the Imperium was dissolved; France, Russia, Prussia, and the Habsburgs (Austria) competed for hegemony in the German states during the Napoleonic Wars.[49]

German Confederation and Empire

The German Confederation in 1815

Following the fall of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna founded the German Confederation, a loose league of 39 sovereign states. The appointment of the emperor of Austria as the permanent president reflected the Congress's rejection of Prussia's rising influence. Disagreement within restoration politics partly led to the rise of liberal movements, followed by new measures of repression by Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich.[50][51] The Zollverein, a tariff union, furthered economic unity.[52] In light of revolutionary movements in Europe, intellectuals and commoners started the revolutions of 1848 in the German states, raising the German question. King Frederick William IV of Prussia was offered the title of emperor, but with a loss of power; he rejected the crown and the proposed constitution, a temporary setback for the movement.[53]

Berlin Palace, the main residence of the House of Hohenzollern

King William I appointed Otto von Bismarck as the Minister President of Prussia in 1862. Bismarck successfully concluded the war with Denmark in 1864; the subsequent decisive Prussian victory in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 enabled him to create the North German Confederation which excluded Austria. After the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War, the German princes proclaimed the founding of the German Empire in 1871. Prussia was the dominant constituent state of the new empire; the King of Prussia ruled as its Kaiser, and Berlin became its capital.[54][55]

In the Gründerzeit period following the unification of Germany, Bismarck's foreign policy as chancellor of Germany secured Germany's position as a great nation by forging alliances and avoiding war.[55] However, under Wilhelm II, Germany took an imperialistic course, leading to friction with neighbouring countries.[56] A dual alliance was created with the multinational realm of Austria-Hungary; the Triple Alliance of 1882 included Italy. Britain, France and Russia also concluded alliances to protect against Habsburg interference with Russian interests in the Balkans or German interference against France.[57] At the Berlin Conference in 1884, Germany claimed several colonies including German East Africa, German South West Africa, Togoland, and Kamerun.[58] Later, Germany further expanded its colonial empire to include holdings in the Pacific and China.[59] The colonial government in South West Africa (present-day Namibia), from 1904 to 1907, carried out the annihilation of the local Herero and Namaqua peoples as punishment for an uprising;[60][61] this was the 20th century's first genocide.[61]

The assassination of Austria's crown prince on 28 June 1914 provided the pretext for Austria-Hungary to attack Serbia and trigger World War I. After four years of warfare, in which approximately two million German soldiers were killed,[62] a general armistice ended the fighting. In the German Revolution (November 1918), Wilhelm II and the ruling princes abdicated their positions, and Germany was declared a federal republic. Germany's new leadership signed the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, accepting defeat by the Allies. Germans perceived the treaty as humiliating, which was seen by historians as influential in the rise of Adolf Hitler.[63] Germany lost around 13% of its European territory and ceded all of its colonial possessions in Africa and the Pacific.[64]

Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany

Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945
A map of German-occupied Europe in 1942 during World War II with areas controlled by the German Reich shown in bold black

On 11 August 1919, President Friedrich Ebert signed the democratic Weimar Constitution.[65] In the subsequent struggle for power, communists seized power in Bavaria, but conservative elements elsewhere attempted to overthrow the Republic in the Kapp Putsch. Street fighting in the major industrial centres, the occupation of the Ruhr by Belgian and French troops, and a period of hyperinflation followed. A debt restructuring plan and the creation of a new currency in 1924 ushered in the Golden Twenties, an era of artistic innovation and liberal cultural life.[66][67][68]

The worldwide Great Depression hit Germany in 1929. Chancellor Heinrich Brüning's government pursued a policy of fiscal austerity and deflation which caused unemployment of nearly 30% by 1932.[69] The Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler became the largest party in the Reichstag after a special election in 1932 and Hindenburg appointed Hitler as chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933.[70] After the Reichstag fire, a decree abrogated basic civil rights and the first Nazi concentration camp opened.[71][72] On 23 March 1933, the Enabling Act gave Hitler unrestricted legislative power, overriding the constitution,[73] and marked the beginning of Nazi Germany. His government established a centralised totalitarian state, withdrew from the League of Nations, and dramatically increased the country's rearmament.[74] A government-sponsored programme for economic renewal focused on public works, the most famous of which was the Autobahn.[75]

In 1935, the regime withdrew from the Treaty of Versailles and introduced the Nuremberg Laws which targeted Jews and other minorities.[76] Germany also reacquired control of the Saarland in 1935,[77] remilitarised the Rhineland in 1936, annexed Austria in 1938, annexed the Sudetenland in 1938 with the Munich Agreement, and in violation of the agreement occupied Czechoslovakia in March 1939.[78] Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) saw the burning of synagogues, the destruction of Jewish businesses, and mass arrests of Jewish people.[79]

In August 1939, Hitler's government negotiated the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact that divided Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence.[80] On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, beginning World War II in Europe;[81] Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September.[82] In the spring of 1940, Germany conquered Denmark and Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France, forcing the French government to sign an armistice. The British repelled German air attacks in the Battle of Britain in the same year. In 1941, German troops invaded Yugoslavia, Greece and the Soviet Union. By 1942, Germany and its allies controlled most of continental Europe and North Africa, but following the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad, the Allied reconquest of North Africa and invasion of Italy in 1943, German forces suffered repeated military defeats. In 1944, the Soviets pushed into Eastern Europe; the Western allies landed in France and entered Germany despite a final German counteroffensive. Following Hitler's suicide during the Battle of Berlin, Germany signed the surrender document on 8 May 1945, ending World War II in Europe[81][83] and Nazi Germany. Following the end of the war, surviving Nazi officials were tried for war crimes at the Nuremberg trials.[84][85]

In what later became known as the Holocaust, the German government persecuted minorities, including interning them in concentration and death camps across Europe. The regime systematically murdered 6 million Jews, at least 130,000 Romani, 275,000 disabled, thousands of Jehovah's Witnesses, thousands of homosexuals, and hundreds of thousands of political and religious opponents.[86] Nazi policies in German-occupied countries resulted in the deaths of an estimated 2.7 million Poles,[87] 1.3 million Ukrainians, 1 million Belarusians and 3.5 million Soviet prisoners of war.[88][84] German military casualties have been estimated at 5.3 million,[89] and around 900,000 German civilians died.[90] Around 12 million ethnic Germans were expelled from across Eastern Europe, and Germany lost roughly one-quarter of its pre-war territory.[91]

East and West Germany

The Berlin Wall during its fall in 1989 and the Brandenburg Gate (background) was one of the first developments in the end of the Cold War, leading ultimately to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

After Nazi Germany surrendered, the Allies de jure abolished the German state and partitioned Berlin and Germany's remaining territory into four occupation zones. The western sectors, controlled by France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, were merged on 23 May 1949 to form the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland); on 7 October 1949, the Soviet Zone became the German Democratic Republic (GDR) (German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik; DDR). They were informally known as West Germany and East Germany.[92] East Germany selected East Berlin as its capital, while West Germany chose Bonn as a provisional capital, to emphasise its stance that the two-state solution was temporary.[93]

West Germany was established as a federal parliamentary republic with a "social market economy". Starting in 1948 West Germany became a major recipient of reconstruction aid under the American Marshall Plan.[94] Konrad Adenauer was elected the first federal chancellor of Germany in 1949. The country enjoyed prolonged economic growth (Wirtschaftswunder) beginning in the early 1950s.[95] West Germany joined NATO in 1955 and was a founding member of the European Economic Community.[96] On 1 January 1957, the Saarland joined West Germany.[97]

East Germany was an Eastern Bloc state under political and military control by the Soviet Union via occupation forces and the Warsaw Pact. Although East Germany claimed to be a democracy, political power was exercised solely by leading members (Politbüro) of the communist-controlled Socialist Unity Party of Germany, supported by the Stasi, an immense secret service.[98] While East German propaganda was based on the benefits of the GDR's social programmes and the alleged threat of a West German invasion, many of its citizens looked to the West for freedom and prosperity.[99] The Berlin Wall, built in 1961, prevented East German citizens from escaping to West Germany, becoming a symbol of the Cold War.[100]

Tensions between East and West Germany were reduced in the late 1960s by Chancellor Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik.[101] In 1989, Hungary decided to dismantle the Iron Curtain and open its border with Austria, causing the emigration of thousands of East Germans to West Germany via Hungary and Austria. This had devastating effects on the GDR, where regular mass demonstrations received increasing support. In an effort to help retain East Germany as a state, the East German authorities eased border restrictions, but this actually led to an acceleration of the Wende reform process culminating in the Two Plus Four Treaty under which Germany regained full sovereignty. This permitted German reunification on 3 October 1990, with the accession of the five re-established states of the former GDR.[102] The fall of the Wall in 1989 became a symbol of the Fall of Communism, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, German reunification and Die Wende ("the turning point").[103]

Reunified Germany and the European Union

United Germany was considered the enlarged continuation of West Germany so it retained its memberships in international organisations.[104] Based on the Berlin/Bonn Act (1994), Berlin again became the capital of Germany, while Bonn obtained the unique status of a Bundesstadt (federal city) retaining some federal ministries.[105] The relocation of the government was completed in 1999, and modernisation of the East German economy was scheduled to last until 2019.[106][107]

Since reunification, Germany has taken a more active role in the European Union, signing the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 and the Lisbon Treaty in 2007,[108] and co-founding the eurozone.[109] Germany sent a peacekeeping force to secure stability in the Balkans and sent German troops to Afghanistan as part of a NATO effort to provide security in that country after the ousting of the Taliban.[110][111]

In the 2005 elections, Angela Merkel became the first female chancellor. In 2009, the German government approved a €50 billion stimulus plan.[112] Among the major German political projects of the early 21st century are the advancement of European integration, the energy transition (Energiewende) for a sustainable energy supply, the debt brake for balanced budgets, measures to increase the fertility rate (pronatalism), and high-tech strategies for the transition of the German economy, summarised as Industry 4.0.[113] During the 2015 European migrant crisis, the country took in over a million refugees and migrants.[114]

Geography

A physical map of Germany

Germany is the seventh-largest country in Europe.[4] It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and Czechia to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, and France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands to the west. Germany is also bordered by the North Sea and, at the north-northeast, by the Baltic Sea. German territory covers 357,596 km2 (138,069 sq mi).[6] Elevation ranges from the mountains of the Alps (highest point: the Zugspitze at 2,963 metres or 9,721 feet) in the south to the shores of the North Sea (Nordsee) in the northwest and the Baltic Sea (Ostsee) in the northeast. The forested uplands of central Germany and the lowlands of northern Germany (lowest point: in the municipality Neuendorf-Sachsenbande, Wilstermarsch at 3.54 metres or 11.6 feet below sea level[115]) are traversed by such major rivers as the Rhine, Danube and Elbe. Significant natural resources include iron ore, coal, potash, timber, lignite, uranium, copper, natural gas, salt, and nickel.[4]

Climate

Most of Germany has a temperate climate, ranging from oceanic in the north and west to continental in the east and southeast. Winters range from the cold in the Southern Alps to cool and are generally overcast with limited precipitation, while summers can vary from hot and dry to cool and rainy. The northern regions have prevailing westerly winds that bring in moist air from the North Sea, moderating the temperature and increasing precipitation. Conversely, the southeast regions have more extreme temperatures.[116]

From February 2019 – 2020, average monthly temperatures in Germany ranged from a low of 3.3 °C (37.9 °F) in January 2020 to a high of 19.8 °C (67.6 °F) in June 2019.[117] Average monthly precipitation ranged from 30 litres per square metre in February and April 2019 to 125 litres per square metre in February 2020.[118] Average monthly hours of sunshine ranged from 45 in November 2019 to 300 in June 2019.[119]

Biodiversity

Berchtesgaden National Park in Bavaria

The territory of Germany can be divided into five terrestrial ecoregions: Atlantic mixed forests, Baltic mixed forests, Central European mixed forests, Western European broadleaf forests, and Alps conifer and mixed forests.[120] As of 2016, 51% of Germany's land area is devoted to agriculture, while 30% is forested and 14% is covered by settlements or infrastructure.[121]

Plants and animals include those generally common to Central Europe. According to the National Forest Inventory, beeches, oaks, and other deciduous trees constitute just over 40% of the forests; roughly 60% are conifers, particularly spruce and pine.[122] There are many species of ferns, flowers, fungi, and mosses. Wild animals include roe deer, wild boar, mouflon (a subspecies of wild sheep), fox, badger, hare, and small numbers of the Eurasian beaver.[123] The blue cornflower was once a German national symbol.[124]

The 16 national parks in Germany include the Jasmund National Park, the Vorpommern Lagoon Area National Park, the Müritz National Park, the Wadden Sea National Parks, the Harz National Park, the Hainich National Park, the Black Forest National Park, the Saxon Switzerland National Park, the Bavarian Forest National Park and the Berchtesgaden National Park.[125] In addition, there are 17 Biosphere Reserves,[126] and 105 nature parks.[127] More than 400 zoos and animal parks operate in Germany.[128] The Berlin Zoo, which opened in 1844, is the oldest in Germany, and claims the most comprehensive collection of species in the world.[129]

Politics

Germany is a federal, parliamentary, representative democratic republic. Federal legislative power is vested in the parliament consisting of the Bundestag (Federal Diet) and Bundesrat (Federal Council), which together form the legislative body. The Bundestag is elected through direct elections using the mixed-member proportional representation system. The members of the Bundesrat represent and are appointed by the governments of the sixteen federated states.[4] The German political system operates under a framework laid out in the 1949 constitution known as the Grundgesetz (Basic Law). Amendments generally require a two-thirds majority of both the Bundestag and the Bundesrat; the fundamental principles of the constitution, as expressed in the articles guaranteeing human dignity, the separation of powers, the federal structure, and the rule of law, are valid in perpetuity.[130]

The president, currently Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is the head of state and invested primarily with representative responsibilities and powers. He is elected by the Bundesversammlung (federal convention), an institution consisting of the members of the Bundestag and an equal number of state delegates.[4] The second-highest official in the German order of precedence is the Bundestagspräsident (President of the Bundestag), who is elected by the Bundestag and responsible for overseeing the daily sessions of the body.[131] The third-highest official and the head of government is the chancellor, who is appointed by the Bundespräsident after being elected by the party or coalition with the most seats in the Bundestag.[4] The chancellor, currently Olaf Scholz, is the head of government and exercises executive power through his Cabinet.[4]

Since 1949, the party system has been dominated by the Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party of Germany. So far every chancellor has been a member of one of these parties. However, the smaller liberal Free Democratic Party and the Alliance 90/The Greens have also been junior partners in coalition governments. Since 2007, the democratic socialist party The Left has been a staple in the German Bundestag, though they have never been part of the federal government. In the 2017 German federal election, the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany gained enough votes to attain representation in the parliament for the first time.[132][133]

Constituent states

Germany is a federation and comprises sixteen constituent states which are collectively referred to as Länder.[134] Each state (Land) has its own constitution,[135] and is largely autonomous in regard to its internal organisation.[134] As of 2017, Germany is divided into 401 districts (Kreise) at a municipal level; these consist of 294 rural districts and 107 urban districts.[136]

State Capital Area[137] Population
(Census 2022)[7]
Nominal GDP[138] Nominal GDP per capita EUR (2023)[139]
km2 mi2 Billions EUR (2023) Share of
GDP (%)
Baden-Württemberg Stuttgart 35,751 13,804
11,104,040
615.071
14.92
54,339
Bavaria Munich 70,550 27,240
13,038,724
768.469
18.65
57,343
Berlin Berlin 892 344
3,596,999
193.219
4.69
51,209
Brandenburg Potsdam 29,654 11,449
2,534,075
97.477
2.37
37,814
Bremen Bremen 420 162
693,204
39.252
0.95
56,981
Hamburg Hamburg 755 292
1,808,846
150.575
3.65
79,176
Hesse Wiesbaden 21,115 8,153
6,207,278
351.139
8.52
54,806
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Schwerin 23,214 8,963
1,570,817
59.217
1.44
36,335
Lower Saxony Hanover 47,593 18,376
7,943,265
363.109
8.81
44,531
North Rhine-Westphalia Düsseldorf 34,113 13,171
17,890,489
839.084
20.36
46,194
Rhineland-Palatinate Mainz 19,854 7,666
4,094,169
174.249
4.23
41,797
Saarland Saarbrücken 2,569 992
1,006,864
41.348
1.00
41,617
Saxony Dresden 18,416 7,110
4,038,131
155.982
3.78
38,143
Saxony-Anhalt Magdeburg 20,452 7,897
2,146,443
78.38
1.90
35,911
Schleswig-Holstein Kiel 15,802 6,101
2,927,542
118.68
2.88
40,090
Thuringia Erfurt 16,202 6,256
2,110,396
75.909
1.84
35,715
Germany Berlin 357,386 137,988 82,719,540 4,121.16 100 48,750

Law

Germany has a civil law system based on Roman law with some references to Germanic law.[140] The Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court) is the German Supreme Court responsible for constitutional matters, with power of judicial review.[141] Germany's specialized supreme court system includes the inquisitorial Federal Court of Justice for civil and criminal cases, along with the Federal Labour Court, Federal Social Court, Federal Fiscal Court, and Federal Administrative Court for other matters.[142]

Criminal and private laws are codified on the national level in the Strafgesetzbuch and the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch respectively. The German penal system seeks the rehabilitation of the criminal and the protection of the public.[143] With the exceptions of petty crimes, tried by a single professional judge, and of serious political crimes, all charges are adjudicated by mixed tribunals where lay judges (Schöffen) and professional judges preside together.[144][145]

As of 2016, Germany's murder rate stood at a low of 1.18 murders per 100,000.[146] In 2018, the overall crime rate fell to its lowest since 1992.[147]

Same-sex marriage has been legal in Germany since 2017, and LGBT rights are generally protected in the nation.[148]

Foreign relations

Germany hosted the 2022 G7 summit at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria.

Germany has a network of 227 diplomatic missions abroad[149] and maintains relations with more than 190 countries.[150] Germany is a member of NATO, the OECD, the G7, the G20, the World Bank and the IMF. It has played an influential role in the European Union since its inception and has maintained a strong alliance with France and all neighbouring countries since 1990. Germany promotes the creation of a more unified European political, economic and security apparatus.[151][152][153] The governments of Germany and the United States are close political allies.[154] Cultural ties and economic interests have crafted a bond between the two countries resulting in Atlanticism.

[155] After 1990, Germany and Russia worked together to establish a "strategic partnership" in which energy development became one of the most important factors. As a result of the cooperation, Germany imported most of its natural gas and crude oil from Russia.[156][157]

Germany's development policy functions as a distinct sector within its foreign policy framework. It is formulated by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and carried out by the implementing organisations. The German government sees development policy as a joint responsibility of the international community.[158] It was the world's second-biggest aid donor in 2019 after the United States.[159]

Military

A German TPz Fuchs armoured personnel carrier

Germany's military, the Bundeswehr (Federal Defence), is organised into the Heer (Army and special forces KSK), Marine (Navy), Luftwaffe (Air Force) and Cyber- und Informationsraum (Cyber and Information Domain Service) branches.[160] In absolute terms, German military spending in 2023 was the seventh-highest in the world.[161] In response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that German military expenditure would be increased past the NATO target of 2%, along with a one-time 2022 infusion of 100 billion euros, representing almost double the 53 billion euro military budget for 2021.[162][163] In 2023, military spending according to NATO criteria amounted to $73.1 billion, or 1.64% of the country's GDP, well below the NATO target of 2%. In 2024, Germany reported $97.7 billion to NATO, exceeding the NATO target of 2% at 2.12% of GDP.[164]

As of May 2024, the Bundeswehr has a strength of 180,215 active soldiers and 80,761 civilians.[165] Reservists are available to the armed forces and participate in defence exercises and deployments abroad.[166] Until 2011, military service was compulsory for men at age 18, but this has been officially suspended and replaced with a voluntary service.[167][168] Since 2001 women may serve in all functions of service without restriction.[169] According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Germany was the fifth-largest exporter of major arms in the world from 2019 to 2023.[170]

In peacetime, the Bundeswehr is commanded by the Minister of Defence. In state of defence, the Chancellor would become commander-in-chief of the Bundeswehr.[171] The role of the Bundeswehr is described in the Constitution of Germany as defensive only. But after a ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court in 1994, the term "defence" has been defined not only to include protection of the borders of Germany, but also crisis reaction and conflict prevention, or more broadly as guarding the security of Germany anywhere in the world. As of 2017, the German military has about 3,600 troops stationed in foreign countries as part of international peacekeeping forces, including about 1,200 supporting operations against Daesh, 980 in the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan, and 800 in Kosovo.[172][173]

Economy

Frankfurt, a leading business and financial centre in Europe and the seat of the European Central Bank[174]

Germany has a social market economy with a highly skilled labour force, a low level of corruption,[175] and a high level of innovation.[176] It is the world's third-largest exporter and third-largest importer,[4] and has the largest economy in Europe by nominal GDP, which is also the world's third-largest economy by nominal GDP[177] and sixth-largest by PPP-adjusted GDP.[178] Its GDP per capita measured in purchasing power standards amounts to 121% of the EU27 average.[179] The country's service sector contributes approximately 69% of the total GDP, industry 31%—with Germany having the largest manufacturing sector in Europe—and agriculture 1% as of 2017.[4] The unemployment rate published by Eurostat amounts to 3.2% as of January 2020, which is the fourth-lowest in the EU.[180]

Germany is part of the European single market which represents more than 450 million consumers.[181] In 2017, the country accounted for 28% of the eurozone economy according to the International Monetary Fund.[182] Germany introduced the common European currency, the euro, in 2002.[183] Its monetary policy is set by the European Central Bank, which is headquartered in Frankfurt.[184][174]

The automotive industry in Germany is regarded as one of the most competitive and innovative in the world,[185] and is the sixth-largest by production as of 2021. Germany is home to Volkswagen Group, the world's second-largest automotive manufacturer by vehicle production.[186]

Then-chancellor Angela Merkel at the 2013 Electromobility Summit in Berlin. All new cars sold in Germany must be zero-emission vehicles from 2035.[187]

The top ten exports of Germany are vehicles, machinery, chemical goods, electronic products, electrical equipments, pharmaceuticals, transport equipments, basic metals, food products, and rubber and plastics.[188]

Of the world's 500 largest stock-market-listed companies measured by revenue in 2023, the Fortune Global 500, 32 are headquartered in Germany.[189] 30 major Germany-based companies are included in the DAX, the German stock market index which is operated by Frankfurt Stock Exchange.[190] Well-known international brands include Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Opel, Siemens, Allianz, Adidas, Puma, Hugo Boss, SAP SE, Bosch and Deutsche Telekom.[191] Berlin is a hub for startup companies and has become the leading location for venture capital funded firms in the European Union.[192] Germany is recognised for its large portion of specialised small and medium enterprises, known as the Mittelstand model.[193] These companies represent 48% of the global market leaders in their segments, labelled hidden champions.[194]

Research and development efforts form an integral part of the German economy,[195] with the country ranking fourth in research and development expenditure since 2005.[196] In 2018, Germany ranked fourth globally in terms of number of science and engineering research papers published[197] and third in the quality-adjusted Nature Index in 2023.[198] Research institutions in Germany include the Max Planck Society, the Helmholtz Association, and the Fraunhofer Society and the Leibniz Association.[199] Germany is the largest contributor to the European Space Agency.[200] Germany was ranked 9th in the Global Innovation Index in 2024.[201]

Infrastructure

An ICE 3 train on the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line, with operating speed up to 300 km/h (190 mph)

With its central position in Europe, Germany is a transport hub for the continent.[202] Its road network is among the densest in Europe.[203] The motorway (Autobahn) is widely known for having no general federally mandated speed limit for some classes of vehicles.[204] The Intercity Express or ICE train network serves major German cities as well as destinations in neighbouring countries with speeds up to 300 km/h (190 mph).[205] The largest German airports are Frankfurt Airport, Munich Airport and Berlin Brandenburg Airport.[206] The Port of Hamburg is the third-busiest port in Europe and one of the twenty largest container ports in the world.[207]

Windmills behind Lisberg Castle

In 2019, Germany was the world's seventh-largest consumer of energy.[208] All nuclear power plants were phased out in 2023.[209] Germany meets its power demands using 40% renewable sources, and has been called an "early leader" in solar and offshore wind.[210][211] The country is committed to the Paris Agreement and several other treaties promoting biodiversity, low emission standards, and water management.[212][213][214] Germany's household recycling rate is among the highest in the world—at around 65%.[215] The country's greenhouse gas emissions per capita were the ninth-highest in the EU in 2018, but these numbers have been trending downward.[216][217] The German energy transition (Energiewende) is the recognised move to a sustainable economy by means of energy efficiency and renewable energy, with the country being called "the world's first major renewable energy economy".[218][219][211] Germany has reduced its primary energy consumption by 11% between 1990 and 2015[220] and set itself goals of reducing it by 30% by 2030 and by 50% by 2050.[221]

Tourism

Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria

Domestic and international travel and tourism combined directly contribute over €105.3 billion to German GDP. Including indirect and induced impacts, the industry supports 4.2 million jobs.[222] As of 2022, Germany is the eighth-most-visited country.[223] Its most popular landmarks include Cologne Cathedral, the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the Dresden Frauenkirche, Neuschwanstein Castle, Heidelberg Castle, the Wartburg, and Sanssouci Palace.[224] The Europa-Park near Freiburg is Europe's second-most popular theme park resort.[225]

Demographics

With a population of 84.7 million according to the 2023 German census,[226] Germany is the most populous country in the European Union, the second-most populous country in Europe after Russia,[4][g] and the nineteenth-most populous country in the world. Its population density stands at 227 inhabitants per square kilometre (590 inhabitants/sq mi). The fertility rate of 1.57 children born per woman (2022 estimates) is below the replacement rate of 2.1 and is one of the lowest fertility rates in the world.[4] Since the 1970s, Germany's death rate has exceeded its birth rate. However, Germany is witnessing increased birth rates and migration rates since the beginning of the 2010s. Germany has the third oldest population in the world, with an average age of 47.4 years.[4]

A bilingual street sign in both German and Lower Sorbian in Cottbus (Chóśebuz) in Brandenburg

Four sizeable groups of people are referred to as national minorities because their ancestors have lived in their respective regions for centuries:[228] There is a Danish minority in the northernmost state of Schleswig-Holstein;[228] the Sorbs, a Slavic population, are in the Lusatia region of Saxony and Brandenburg; the Roma and Sinti live throughout the country; and the Frisians are concentrated in Schleswig-Holstein's western coast and in the north-western part of Lower Saxony.[228]

After the United States, Germany is the second-most popular immigration destination in the world.[229] In 2015, following the 2015 refugee crisis, the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs listed Germany as host to the second-highest number of international migrants worldwide, about 5% or 12 million of all 244 million migrants.[230] Refugee crises have resulted in substantial population increases;[231] for example, the major influx of Ukrainian immigrants following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, meaning over 1.06 million refugees from Ukraine were recorded in Germany as of April 2023.[232] As of 2019, Germany ranks seventh among EU countries in terms of the percentage of migrants in the country's population, at 13.1%.[233] In 2022, there were 23.8 million people, 28.7 percent of the total population, who had a migration background.[234]

Germany has a number of large cities. There are 11 officially recognised metropolitan regions. The country's largest city is Berlin, while its largest urban area is the Ruhr.[235]

 
Largest cities or towns in Germany
Rank Name State Pop. Rank Name State Pop.
Berlin
Berlin
Hamburg
Hamburg
1 Berlin Berlin 3,596,999 11 Essen North Rhine-Westphalia 571,039 Munich
Munich
Cologne
Cologne
2 Hamburg Hamburg 1,808,846 12 Dresden Saxony 557,782
3 Munich Bavaria 1,478,638 13 Nuremberg Bavaria 522,554
4 Cologne North Rhine-Westphalia 1,017,355 14 Hanover Lower Saxony 513,291
5 Frankfurt Hesse 743,268 15 Duisburg North Rhine-Westphalia 501,415
6 Düsseldorf North Rhine-Westphalia 611,258 16 Wuppertal North Rhine-Westphalia 356,768
7 Stuttgart Baden-Württemberg 610,458 17 Bochum North Rhine-Westphalia 354,288
8 Leipzig Saxony 598,899 18 Bielefeld North Rhine-Westphalia 330,072
9 Dortmund North Rhine-Westphalia 598,246 19 Bonn North Rhine-Westphalia 321,544
10 Bremen Bremen 575,071 20 Mannheim Baden-Württemberg 313,693

Religion

Cologne Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

According to the 2022 census, Christianity is the largest religion at 49.7% of the population; 23.1% identified as Protestant and 25.1% as Catholic.[237]

Islam is the second-largest religion in the country.[238] In the 2011 census, 1.9% of respondents (1.52 million people) gave their religion as Islam, but this figure is deemed unreliable because a disproportionate number of adherents of this faith (and other religions, such as Judaism) are likely to have made use of their right not to answer the question.[239] In 2019, there were an estimated 5.3–5.6 million Muslims with a migrant background[h] (6.4–6.7% of the population), in addition to an unknown number of Muslims without a migrant background.[240] Most of the Muslims are Sunnis and Alevis from Turkey, but there are a small number of Shi'ites, Ahmadiyyas and other denominations. Other religions each comprise less than one percent of Germany's population.[238]

In 2011, formal members of the Jewish community represented no more than 0.2% of the total German population, and 60% of them resided in Berlin.[241] An estimated 80 to 90 percent of these Jews in Germany are Russian-speaking immigrants from the former Soviet Union, who came to Germany from the 1980s onwards.[242][243]

A study in 2023 estimated that 46.2% of the population are not members of any religious organization or denomination.[244] Irreligion in Germany is strongest in the former East Germany, which used to be predominantly Protestant before the enforcement of state atheism, and in major metropolitan areas.[245][246]

Languages

German is the official and predominantly spoken language in Germany.[247] It is one of 24 official and working languages of the European Union, and one of the three procedural languages of the European Commission, alongside English and French.[248] German is the most widely spoken first language in the European Union, with around 100 million native speakers.[249]

Recognised native minority languages in Germany are Danish, Low German, Low Rhenish, Sorbian, Romani, North Frisian and Saterland Frisian; they are officially protected by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The most used immigrant languages are Turkish, Arabic, Kurdish, Polish, Italian, Greek, Spanish, Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian and other Balkan languages, as well as Russian. Germans are typically multilingual: 67% of German citizens claim to be able to communicate in at least one foreign language and 27% in at least two.[247]

Education

Heidelberg University, Germany's oldest institution of higher learning and generally considered one of its most renowned

Responsibility for educational supervision in Germany is primarily organised within the individual states. Optional kindergarten education is provided for all children between three and six years old, after which school attendance is compulsory for at least nine years depending on the state. Primary education usually lasts for four to six years.[250] Secondary schooling is divided into tracks based on whether students pursue academic or vocational education.[251] A system of apprenticeship called Duale Ausbildung leads to a skilled qualification which is almost comparable to an academic degree. It allows students in vocational training to learn in a company as well as in a state-run trade school.[250] This model is well regarded and reproduced all around the world.[252]

Most of the German universities are public institutions, and students traditionally study without fee payment.[253] The general requirement for attending university is the Abitur. According to an OECD report in 2014, Germany is the world's third leading destination for international study.[254] The established universities in Germany include some of the oldest in the world, with Heidelberg University (established in 1386), Leipzig University (established in 1409) and the University of Rostock (established in 1419) being the oldest.[255] The Humboldt University of Berlin, founded in 1810 by the liberal educational reformer Wilhelm von Humboldt, became the academic model for many Western universities.[256][257] In the contemporary era Germany has developed eleven Universities of Excellence.

Health

The Hospital of the Holy Spirit in Lübeck, established in 1286, is a precursor to modern hospitals.[258]

Germany's system of hospitals, called Krankenhäuser, dates from medieval times, and today, Germany has the world's oldest universal health care system, dating from Bismarck's social legislation of the 1880s.[259] Since the 1880s, reforms and provisions have ensured a balanced health care system. The population is covered by a health insurance plan provided by statute, with criteria allowing some groups to opt for a private health insurance contract. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Germany's health care system was 77% government-funded and 23% privately funded as of 2013.[260] In 2014, Germany spent 11.3% of its GDP on health care.[261]

Germany ranked 21st in the world in 2019 in life expectancy with 78.7 years for men and 84.8 years for women according to the WHO, and it had a very low infant mortality rate (4 per 1,000 live births). In 2019, the principal cause of death was cardiovascular disease, at 37%.[262] Obesity in Germany has been increasingly cited as a major health issue. A 2014 study showed that 52 percent of the adult German population was overweight or obese.[263]

Culture

A German Christmas market in Dresden

Culture in German states has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and secular, and its scientists, writers and philosophers have played a significant role in the development of Western thought.[264] Global opinion polls from the BBC revealed that Germany is recognised for having the most positive influence in the world in 2013 and 2014.[265][266]

Germany is well known for such folk festivals as the Oktoberfest and Christmas customs, which include Advent wreaths, Christmas pageants, Christmas trees, Stollen cakes, and other practices.[267][268] As of 2024, UNESCO inscribed 54 properties in Germany on the World Heritage List.[269] There are a number of public holidays in Germany determined by each state; 3 October has been a national day of Germany since 1990, celebrated as the Tag der Deutschen Einheit (German Unity Day).[270]

Music

Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the most famed composers of classical music, was born in Bonn in 1770.

German classical music includes works by some of the world's most well-known composers. Dieterich Buxtehude, Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Friedrich Händel were influential composers of the Baroque period. Ludwig van Beethoven was a crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras. Carl Maria von Weber, Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms were significant Romantic composers. Richard Wagner was known for his operas. Richard Strauss was a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. Karlheinz Stockhausen and Wolfgang Rihm are important composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries.[271]

In 2013, Germany was the second-largest music market in Europe, and fourth-largest in the world.[272] German popular music of the 20th and 21st centuries includes the movements of Neue Deutsche Welle, pop, Ostrock, heavy metal/rock, punk, pop rock, indie, Volksmusik (folk music), schlager pop and German hip hop. German electronic music gained global influence, with Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream pioneering in this genre.[273] DJs and artists of the techno and house music scenes of Germany have become well known (e.g. Paul van Dyk, Felix Jaehn, Paul Kalkbrenner, Robin Schulz and Scooter).[274]

Art, design and architecture

Franz Marc, Roe Deer in the Forest (1914)

German painters have influenced Western art. Albrecht Dürer, Hans Holbein the Younger, Matthias Grünewald and Lucas Cranach the Elder were important German artists of the Renaissance, Johann Baptist Zimmermann of the Baroque, Caspar David Friedrich and Carl Spitzweg of Romanticism, Max Liebermann of Impressionism and Max Ernst of Surrealism. Several German art groups formed in the 20th century; Die Brücke (The Bridge) and Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) influenced the development of expressionism in Munich and Berlin. The New Objectivity arose in response to expressionism during the Weimar Republic. After World War II, broad trends in German art include neo-expressionism and the New Leipzig School.[275]

German designers became early leaders of modern product design.[276] The Berlin Fashion Week and the fashion trade fair Bread & Butter are held twice a year.[277]

Architectural contributions from Germany include the Carolingian and Ottonian styles, which were precursors of Romanesque. Brick Gothic is a distinctive medieval style that evolved in Germany. Also in Renaissance and Baroque art, regional and typically German elements evolved (e.g. Weser Renaissance).[275] Vernacular architecture in Germany is often identified by its timber framing (Fachwerk) traditions and varies across regions, and among carpentry styles.[278] When industrialisation spread across Europe, classicism and a distinctive style of historicism developed in Germany, sometimes referred to as Gründerzeit style. Expressionist architecture developed in the 1910s in Germany and influenced Art Deco and other modern styles. Germany was particularly important in the early modernist movement: it is the home of Werkbund initiated by Hermann Muthesius (New Objectivity), and of the Bauhaus movement founded by Walter Gropius.[275] Ludwig Mies van der Rohe became one of the world's most renowned architects in the second half of the 20th century; he conceived of the glass façade skyscraper.[279] Renowned contemporary architects and offices include Pritzker Prize winners Gottfried Böhm and Frei Otto.[280]

Literature and philosophy

Brothers Grimm, who collected popular German folk tales and published them in a collection

German literature can be traced back to the Middle Ages and the works of writers such as Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach. Well-known German authors include Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Theodor Fontane. The collections of folk tales published by the Brothers Grimm popularised German folklore on an international level.[281] The Grimms also gathered and codified regional variants of the German language, grounding their work in historical principles; their Deutsches Wörterbuch, or German Dictionary, sometimes called the Grimm dictionary, was begun in 1838 and the first volumes published in 1854.[282]

Influential authors of the 20th century include Gerhart Hauptmann, Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Böll, and Günter Grass.[283] The German book market is the third-largest in the world, after the United States and China.[284] The Frankfurt Book Fair is the most important in the world for international deals and trading, with a tradition spanning over 500 years.[285] The Leipzig Book Fair also retains a major position in Europe.[286]

German philosophy is historically significant: Gottfried Leibniz's contributions to rationalism; the enlightenment philosophy by Immanuel Kant; the establishment of classical German idealism by Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling; Arthur Schopenhauer's composition of metaphysical pessimism; the formulation of communist theory by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; Friedrich Nietzsche's development of perspectivism; Gottlob Frege's contributions to the dawn of analytic philosophy; Martin Heidegger's works on Being; Oswald Spengler's historical philosophy; and the development of the Frankfurt School have all been very influential.[287]

Media

Babelsberg Studio in Potsdam

The largest internationally operating media companies in Germany are Bertelsmann, Axel Springer SE and ProSiebenSat.1 Media. Germany's television market is the largest in Europe, with over 38 million TV households as of 2012.[288] Around 90% of German households have cable or satellite TV, with a variety of free-to-view public and commercial channels.[289] There are more than 300 public and private radio stations in Germany; Germany's national radio network is the Deutschlandradio and the public Deutsche Welle is the main German radio and television broadcaster in foreign languages.[289] Germany's print market of newspapers and magazines is the largest in Europe.[289] The papers with the highest circulation are Bild, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Die Welt.[289] The largest magazines include ADAC Motorwelt and Der Spiegel.[289] Germany has a large video gaming market, with over 34 million players nationwide.[290] The Gamescom is the world's largest gaming convention.[291]

German cinema has made major technical and artistic contributions to film. The first works of the Skladanowsky Brothers were shown to an audience in 1895. The renowned Babelsberg Studio in Potsdam was established in 1912, thus being the first large-scale film studio in the world. Early German cinema was particularly influential with German expressionists such as Robert Wiene and Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. Director Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927) is referred to as the first major science-fiction film. After 1945, many of the films of the immediate post-war period can be characterised as Trümmerfilm (rubble film). East German film was dominated by the state-owned film studio DEFA, while the dominant genre in West Germany was the Heimatfilm ("homeland film").[292] During the 1970s and 1980s, New German Cinema directors such as Volker Schlöndorff, Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder brought West German auteur cinema to critical acclaim.

The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film ("Oscar") went to the German production The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel) in 1979, to Nowhere in Africa (Nirgendwo in Afrika) in 2002, and to The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) in 2007. Various Germans won an Oscar for their performances in other films. The annual European Film Awards ceremony is held every other year in Berlin, home of the European Film Academy. The Berlin International Film Festival, known as "Berlinale", awarding the "Golden Bear" and held annually since 1951, is one of the world's leading film festivals. The "Lolas" are annually awarded in Berlin, at the German Film Awards.[293]

Cuisine

Bavarian Bratwurst with mustard, a pretzel, and German beer

German cuisine varies from region to region and often neighbouring regions share some culinary similarities, including with the southern regions of Bavaria and Swabia, Switzerland, and Austria. International varieties such as pizza, sushi, Chinese food, Greek food, Indian cuisine, and doner kebab are popular.

Bread is a significant part of German cuisine and German bakeries produce about 600 main types of bread and 1,200 types of pastries and rolls (Brötchen).[294] German cheeses account for about 22% of all cheese produced in Europe.[295] In 2012 over 99% of all meat produced in Germany was either pork, chicken or beef. Germans produce their ubiquitous sausages in almost 1,500 varieties, including Bratwursts and Weisswursts.[296]

The national alcoholic drink is beer.[297] German beer consumption per person stands at 110 litres (24 imp gal; 29 US gal) in 2013 and remains among the highest in the world.[298] German beer purity regulations date back to the 16th century.[299] Wine has become popular in many parts of the country, especially close to German wine regions.[300] In 2019, Germany was the ninth-largest wine producer in the world.[301]

The 2018 Michelin Guide awarded eleven restaurants in Germany three stars, giving the country a cumulative total of 300 stars.[302]

Sports

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. With more than 7 million official members, the German Football Association (Deutscher Fußball-Bund) is the largest single-sport organisation worldwide,[303] and the German top league, the Bundesliga, attracts the second-highest average attendance of all professional sports leagues in the world.[304] The German men's national football team won the FIFA World Cup in 1954, 1974, 1990, and 2014,[305] the UEFA European Championship in 1972, 1980 and 1996,[306] and the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2017.[307]

Germany is one of the leading motor sports countries in the world. Constructors like BMW and Mercedes are prominent manufacturers in motor sport. Porsche has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race 19 times, and Audi 13 times (as of April 2024).[308] The driver Michael Schumacher has set many motor sport records during his career, having won seven Formula One World Drivers' Championships.[309] Sebastian Vettel is also among the most successful Formula One drivers of all time.[310]

German athletes historically have been successful contenders in the Olympic Games, ranking third in an all-time Olympic Games medal count when combining East and West German medals prior to German reunification.[311] In 1936 Berlin hosted the Summer Games and the Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Munich hosted the Summer Games of 1972.[312][313]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ From 1952 to 1990, the entire "Das Lied der Deutschen" was the national anthem, but only the third verse was sung on official occasions. Since 1991, the third verse alone has been the national anthem.[1]
  2. ^ Berlin is the sole constitutional capital and de jure seat of government, but the former provisional capital of the Federal Republic of Germany, Bonn, has the special title of "federal city" (Bundesstadt) and is the primary seat of six ministries.[2]
  3. ^ Danish, Low German, Sorbian, Romani, and Frisian are recognised by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.[3]
  4. ^ The Bundesrat is sometimes referred to as an upper chamber of the German legislature. This is technically incorrect, since the German Constitution defines the Bundestag and Bundesrat as two separate legislative institutions. Hence, the federal legislature of Germany consists of two unicameral legislative institutions, not one bicameral parliament.
  5. ^ Deutschland (German), German: [ˈdɔʏtʃlant]
  6. ^ Bundesrepublik Deutschland (German), German: [ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant] [11]
  7. ^ Excluding Turkey, which only has 3% of its total territory in Europe along with some 10% of its population[227]
  8. ^ A migrant background was defined as having been born or having at least one parent born in a country from a prespecified list of countries with a significant Muslim population, or as having citizenship or having at least one parent with citizenship of one of these countries.[240]

References

  1. ^ "Repräsentation und Integration" (in German). Bundespräsidialamt. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  2. ^ "The German Federal Government". deutschland.de. 23 January 2018. Archived from the original on 30 April 2020.
  3. ^ Gesley, Jenny (26 September 2018). "The Protection of Minority and Regional Languages in Germany". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 25 May 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Germany". World Factbook. CIA. Archived from the original on 9 January 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  5. ^ "Surface water and surface water change". Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Archived from the original on 24 March 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Germany". statistikportal.de. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  7. ^ a b "Ergebnisse des Zensus 2022 – Bevölkerung (15.05.2022)". www.destatis.de (in German). Destatis. 25 June 2024. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  8. ^ a b c d "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2024 Edition. (Germany)". www.imf.org. International Monetary Fund. 22 October 2024. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  9. ^ "Gini coefficient of equivalised disposable income". Eurostat. Archived from the original on 9 October 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
  10. ^ "Human Development Report 2023/24" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 13 March 2024. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 March 2024.
  11. ^ Mangold, Max, ed. (2005). Duden, Aussprachewörterbuch (in German) (6th ed.). Dudenverlag. pp. 271, 53f. ISBN 978-3-411-04066-7.
  12. ^ Schulze, Hagen (1998). Germany: A New History. Harvard University Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-674-80688-7.
  13. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Lühr, Rosemarie; Springer, Otto (1998). Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Band II (in German). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. pp. 699–704. ISBN 978-3-525-20768-0. Archived from the original on 11 September 2015. (for diutisc). Lloyd, Albert L.; Lühr, Rosemarie; Springer, Otto (1998). Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Band II (in German). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. pp. 685–686. ISBN 978-3-525-20768-0. Archived from the original on 16 September 2015. (for diot).
  14. ^ McRae, Mike (6 November 2019). "We Just Found an 11-Million-Year-Old Ancestor That Hints How Humans Began to Walk". ScienceAlert. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022.
  15. ^ Wagner, G. A; Krbetschek, M; Degering, D; Bahain, J.-J; Shao, Q; Falgueres, C; Voinchet, P; Dolo, J.-M; Garcia, T; Rightmire, G. P (27 August 2010). "Radiometric dating of the type-site for Homo heidelbergensis at Mauer, Germany". PNAS. 107 (46): 19726–19730. Bibcode:2010PNAS..10719726W. doi:10.1073/pnas.1012722107. PMC 2993404. PMID 21041630.
  16. ^ Hendry, Lisa (5 May 2018). "Who were the Neanderthals?". Natural History Museum. Archived from the original on 30 March 2020.
  17. ^ "Earliest music instruments found". BBC News. 25 May 2012. Archived from the original on 3 September 2017.
  18. ^ "Ice Age Lion Man is world's earliest figurative sculpture". The Art Newspaper. 31 January 2013. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015.
  19. ^ Conard, Nicholas (2009). "A female figurine from the basal Aurignacian of Hohle Fels Cave in southwestern Germany". Nature. 459 (7244): 248–252. Bibcode:2009Natur.459..248C. doi:10.1038/nature07995. PMID 19444215. S2CID 205216692. Archived from the original on 12 February 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  20. ^ ""It must be a woman" – The female depictions from Hohle Fels date to 40,000 years ago..." Universität Tübingen. July 22, 2016. Archived from the original on October 11, 2016. Retrieved July 26, 2016.
  21. ^ "Nebra Sky Disc". UNESCO. 2013. Archived from the original on 11 October 2014.
  22. ^ Heather, Peter. "Germany: Ancient History". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  23. ^ "Germanic Tribes (Teutons)". History Files. Archived from the original on 26 April 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  24. ^ Claster, Jill N. (1982). Medieval Experience: 300–1400. New York University Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-8147-1381-5.
  25. ^ Hickey, Raymond (2020). The Handbook of Language Contact (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons Ltd. pp. 323–325. doi:10.1002/9781119485094.ch16. ISBN 978-1119485025.
  26. ^ Heather, Peter. "Germany: Ancient History". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  27. ^ Wells, Peter (2004). The Battle That Stopped Rome: Emperor Augustus, Arminius, and the Slaughter of the Legions in the Teutoburg Forest. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-393-35203-0.
  28. ^ Murdoch 2004, p. 57.
  29. ^ a b Fulbrook 1991, pp. 9–13.
  30. ^ Modi, J. J. (1916). "The Ancient Germans: Their History, Constitution, Religion, Manners and Customs". The Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay. 10 (7): 647. Raetia (modern Bavaria and the adjoining country)
  31. ^ Rüger, C. (2004) [1996]. "Germany". In Bowman, Alan K.; Champlin, Edward; Lintott, Andrew (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History: X, The Augustan Empire, 43 B.C. – A.D. 69. Vol. 10 (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 527–28. ISBN 978-0-521-26430-3. Archived from the original on 23 December 2016.
  32. ^ Bowman, Alan K.; Garnsey, Peter; Cameron, Averil (2005). The crisis of empire, A.D. 193–337. The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. 12. Cambridge University Press. p. 442. ISBN 978-0-521-30199-2.
  33. ^ a b Fulbrook 1991, p. 11.
  34. ^ Falk, Avner (2018). Franks and Saracens. Routledge. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-429-89969-0.
  35. ^ McBrien, Richard (2000). Lives of the Popes: The Pontiffs from St. Peter to Benedict XVI. HarperCollins. p. 138.
  36. ^ Fulbrook 1991, pp. 19–20.
  37. ^ Fulbrook 1991, pp. 13–24.
  38. ^ Nelson, Lynn Harry. The Great Famine (1315–1317) and the Black Death (1346–1351). University of Kansas. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  39. ^ Fulbrook 1991, p. 27.
  40. ^ Eisenstein, Elizabeth (1980). The printing press as an agent of change. Cambridge University Press. pp. 3–43. ISBN 978-0-521-29955-8.
  41. ^ Cantoni, Davide (2011). "Adopting a New Religion: The Case of Protestantism in 16th Century Germany" (PDF). Barcelona GSE Working Paper Series. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  42. ^ a b Philpott, Daniel (January 2000). "The Religious Roots of Modern International Relations". World Politics. 52 (2): 206–245. doi:10.1017/S0043887100002604. S2CID 40773221.
  43. ^ Macfarlane, Alan (1997). The Savage Wars of Peace: England, Japan and the Malthusian Trap. Blackwell. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-631-18117-0.
  44. ^ Jeroen Duindam; Jill Diana Harries; Caroline Humfress; Hurvitz Nimrod, eds. (2013). Law and Empire: Ideas, Practices, Actors. Brill. p. 113. ISBN 978-90-04-24951-6.
  45. ^ Hamish Scott; Brendan Simms, eds. (2007). Cultures of Power in Europe during the Long Eighteenth Century. Cambridge University Press. p. 45. ISBN 978-1-139-46377-5.
  46. ^ "Maria Theresa, Holy Roman Empress and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia". British Museum. Archived from the original on 20 June 2021. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  47. ^ Bideleux, Robert; Jeffries, Ian (1998). A History of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change. Routledge. p. 156.
  48. ^ Batt, Judy; Wolczuk, Kataryna (2002). Region, State and Identity in Central and Eastern Europe. Routledge. p. 153.
  49. ^ Fulbrook 1991, p. 97.
  50. ^ Nicholas Atkin; Michael Biddiss; Frank Tallett, eds. (2011). The Wiley-Blackwell Dictionary of Modern European History Since 1789. Wiley. pp. 307–308. ISBN 978-1-4443-9072-8.
  51. ^ Sondhaus, Lawrence (2007). "Austria, Prussia, and the German Confederation: The Defense of Central Europe, 1815–1854". In Talbot C. Imlay; Monica Duffy Toft (eds.). The Fog of Peace and War Planning: Military and Strategic Planning under Uncertainty. Routledge. pp. 50–74. ISBN 978-1-134-21088-6.
  52. ^ Henderson, W. O. (January 1934). "The Zollverein". History. 19 (73): 1–19. doi:10.1111/j.1468-229X.1934.tb01791.x.
  53. ^ Hewitson, Mark (2010). "'The Old Forms are Breaking Up, ... Our New Germany is Rebuilding Itself': Constitutionalism, Nationalism and the Creation of a German Polity during the Revolutions of 1848–49". The English Historical Review. 125 (516): 1173–1214. doi:10.1093/ehr/ceq276. JSTOR 40963126.
  54. ^ "Issues Relevant to U.S. Foreign Diplomacy: Unification of German States". US Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 1 October 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  55. ^ a b "Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898)". BBC. Archived from the original on 27 November 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  56. ^ Mommsen, Wolfgang J. (1990). "Kaiser Wilhelm II and German Politics". Journal of Contemporary History. 25 (2/3): 289–316. doi:10.1177/002200949002500207. JSTOR 260734. S2CID 154177053.
  57. ^ Fulbrook 1991, pp. 135, 149.
  58. ^ Black, John, ed. (2005). 100 maps. Sterling Publishing. p. 202. ISBN 978-1-4027-2885-3.
  59. ^ Farley, Robert (17 October 2014). "How Imperial Germany Lost Asia". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 19 March 2020.
  60. ^ Olusoga, David; Erichsen, Casper (2010). The Kaiser's Holocaust: Germany's Forgotten Genocide and the Colonial Roots of Nazism. Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-23141-6.
  61. ^ a b Michael Bazyler (2016). Holocaust, Genocide, and the Law: A Quest for Justice in a Post-Holocaust World. Oxford University Press. pp. 169–70.
  62. ^ Crossland, David (22 January 2008). "Last German World War I veteran believed to have died". Spiegel Online. Archived from the original on 8 October 2012.
  63. ^ Boemeke, Manfred F.; Feldman, Gerald D.; Glaser, Elisabeth (1998). Versailles: A Reassessment after 75 Years. Publications of the German Historical Institute. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–20, 203–220, 469–505. ISBN 978-0-521-62132-8.
  64. ^ "GERMAN TERRITORIAL LOSSES, TREATY OF VERSAILLES, 1919". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Archived from the original on 4 July 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  65. ^ Fulbrook 1991, pp. 156–160.
  66. ^ Nicholls, AJ (2016). "1919–1922: Years of Crisis and Uncertainty". Weimar and the Rise of Hitler. Macmillan. pp. 56–70. ISBN 978-1-349-21337-5.
  67. ^ Costigliola, Frank (1976). "The United States and the Reconstruction of Germany in the 1920s". The Business History Review. 50 (4): 477–502. doi:10.2307/3113137. JSTOR 3113137. S2CID 155602870.
  68. ^ Kolb, Eberhard (2005). The Weimar Republic. Translated by P. S. Falla; R. J. Park (2nd ed.). Psychology Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-415-34441-8.
  69. ^ "PROLOGUE: Roots of the Holocaust". The Holocaust Chronicle. Archived from the original on 1 January 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  70. ^ Fulbrook 1991, pp. 155–158, 172–177.
  71. ^ Evans, Richard (2003). The Coming of the Third Reich. Penguin. p. 344. ISBN 978-0-14-303469-8.
  72. ^ "Ein Konzentrationslager für politische Gefangene in der Nähe von Dachau". Münchner Neueste Nachrichten (in German). 21 March 1933. Archived from the original on 10 May 2000.
  73. ^ von Lüpke-Schwarz, Marc (23 March 2013). "The law that 'enabled' Hitler's dictatorship". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 27 April 2020.
  74. ^ "Industrie und Wirtschaft" (in German). Deutsches Historisches Museum. Archived from the original on 30 April 2011. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
  75. ^ Evans, Richard (2005). The Third Reich in Power. Penguin. pp. 322–326, 329. ISBN 978-0-14-303790-3.
  76. ^ Bradsher, Greg (2010). "The Nuremberg Laws". Prologue. Archived from the original on 25 April 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  77. ^ Fulbrook 1991, pp. 188–189.
  78. ^ "Descent into War". National Archives. Archived from the original on 20 March 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  79. ^ "The "Night of Broken Glass"". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  80. ^ "German-Soviet Pact". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Archived from the original on 11 March 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  81. ^ a b Fulbrook 1991, pp. 190–195.
  82. ^ Hiden, John; Lane, Thomas (200). The Baltic and the Outbreak of the Second World War. Cambridge University Press. pp. 143–144. ISBN 978-0-521-53120-7.
  83. ^ "World War II: Key Dates". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Archived from the original on 11 March 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  84. ^ a b Kershaw, Ian (1997). Stalinism and Nazism: dictatorships in comparison. Cambridge University Press. p. 150. ISBN 978-0-521-56521-9.
  85. ^ Overy, Richard (17 February 2011). "Nuremberg: Nazis on Trial". BBC. Archived from the original on 16 March 2011.
  86. ^ Niewyk, Donald L.; Nicosia, Francis R. (2000). The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust. Columbia University Press. pp. 45–52. ISBN 978-0-231-11200-0.
  87. ^ Polska 1939–1945: Straty osobowe i ofiary represji pod dwiema okupacjami. Institute of National Remembrance. 2009. p. 9.
  88. ^ Maksudov, S (1994). "Soviet Deaths in the Great Patriotic War: A Note". Europe-Asia Studies. 46 (4): 671–680. doi:10.1080/09668139408412190. PMID 12288331.
  89. ^ Overmans, Rüdiger (2000). Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg. ISBN 978-3-486-56531-7.
  90. ^ Kershaw, Ian (2011). The End; Germany 1944–45. Allen Lane. p. 279.
  91. ^ Demshuk, Andrew (2012). The Lost German East. Cambridge University Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-107-02073-3. Archived from the original on 1 December 2016.
  92. ^ "Trabant and Beetle: the Two Germanies, 1949–89". History Workshop Journal. 68: 1–2. 2009. doi:10.1093/hwj/dbp009.
  93. ^ Wise, Michael Z. (1998). Capital dilemma: Germany's search for a new architecture of democracy. Princeton Architectural Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-56898-134-5.
  94. ^ Carlin, Wendy (1996). "West German growth and institutions (1945–90)". In Crafts, Nicholas; Toniolo, Gianni (eds.). Economic Growth in Europe Since 1945. Cambridge University Press. p. 464. ISBN 978-0-521-49964-4.
  95. ^ Bührer, Werner (24 December 2002). "Deutschland in den 50er Jahren: Wirtschaft in beiden deutschen Staaten" [Economy in both German states]. Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017.
  96. ^ Fulbrook, Mary (2014). A History of Germany 1918–2014: The Divided Nation. Wiley. p. 149. ISBN 978-1-118-77613-1.
  97. ^ "Rearmament and the European Defense Community". Library of Congress Country Studies. Archived from the original on 11 October 2011. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  98. ^ Major, Patrick; Osmond, Jonathan (2002). The Workers' and Peasants' State: Communism and Society in East Germany Under Ulbricht 1945–71. Manchester University Press. pp. 22, 41. ISBN 978-0-7190-6289-6.
  99. ^ Protzman, Ferdinand (22 August 1989). "Westward Tide of East Germans Is a Popular No-Confidence Vote". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 4 October 2012.
  100. ^ "The Berlin Wall". BBC. Archived from the original on 26 February 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  101. ^ Williams, Geoffrey (1986). The European Defence Initiative: Europe's Bid for Equality. Springer. pp. 122–123. ISBN 978-1-349-07825-7.
  102. ^ Deshmukh, Marion. "Iconoclash! Political Imagery from the Berlin Wall to German Unification" (PDF). Wende Museum. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 June 2021. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  103. ^ "What the Berlin Wall still stands for". CNN Interactive. 8 November 1999. Archived from the original on 6 February 2008.
  104. ^ "Vertrag zwischen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik über die Herstellung der Einheit Deutschlands (Einigungsvertrag) Art 11 Verträge der Bundesrepublik Deutschland" (in German). Bundesministerium für Justiz und Verbraucherschutz. Archived from the original on 25 February 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  105. ^ "Gesetz zur Umsetzung des Beschlusses des Deutschen Bundestages vom 20. Juni 1991 zur Vollendung der Einheit Deutschlands" [Law on the Implementation of the Beschlusses des Deutschen Bundestages vom 20. Juni 1991 zur Vollendung der Einheit Deutschlands] (PDF) (in German). Bundesministerium der Justiz. 26 April 1994. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 July 2016.
  106. ^ "Brennpunkt: Hauptstadt-Umzug". Focus (in German). 12 April 1999. Archived from the original on 30 April 2011.
  107. ^ Kulish, Nicholas (19 June 2009). "In East Germany, a Decline as Stark as a Wall". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 3 April 2011.
  108. ^ Lemke, Christiane (2010). "Germany's EU Policy: The Domestic Discourse". German Studies Review. 33 (3): 503–516. JSTOR 20787989.
  109. ^ "Eurozone Fast Facts". CNN. 21 January 2020. Archived from the original on 21 March 2020.
  110. ^ Dempsey, Judy (31 October 2006). "Germany is planning a Bosnia withdrawal". International Herald Tribune. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012.
  111. ^ Knight, Ben (13 February 2019). "Germany to extend Afghanistan military mission". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 4 March 2020.
  112. ^ "Germany agrees on 50-billion-euro stimulus plan". France 24. 6 January 2009. Archived from the original on 13 May 2011.
  113. ^ "Government declaration by Angela Merkel" (in German). ARD Tagesschau. 29 January 2014. Archived from the original on 1 January 2015.
  114. ^ "Migrant crisis: Migration to Europe explained in seven charts". BBC. 28 January 2016. Archived from the original on 31 January 2016.
  115. ^ "17: Gebiet und geografische Angaben" (PDF). Statistische Jahrbuch Schleswig-Holstein 2019/2020 (in German). Statistisches Amt für Hamburg und Schleswig-Holstein: 307. 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  116. ^ "Germany: Climate". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 23 March 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  117. ^ "Average monthly temperature in Germany from February 2019 to February 2020". Statista. February 2020. Archived from the original on 23 March 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  118. ^ "Average monthly precipitation in Germany from February 2019 to February 2020". Statista. February 2020. Archived from the original on 23 March 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  119. ^ "Average monthly sunshine hours in Germany from February 2019 to February 2020". Statista. February 2020. Archived from the original on 23 March 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  120. ^ Dinerstein, Eric; Olson, David; Joshi, Anup; Vynne, Carly; Burgess, Neil D.; Wikramanayake, Eric; Hahn, Nathan; Palminteri, Suzanne; Hedao, Prashant; Noss, Reed; Hansen, Matt; Locke, Harvey; Ellis, Erle C; Jones, Benjamin; Barber, Charles Victor; Hayes, Randy; Kormos, Cyril; Martin, Vance; Crist, Eileen; Sechrest, Wes; Price, Lori; Baillie, Jonathan E. M.; Weeden, Don; Suckling, Kierán; Davis, Crystal; Sizer, Nigel; Moore, Rebecca; Thau, David; Birch, Tanya; Potapov, Peter; Turubanova, Svetlana; Tyukavina, Alexandra; de Souza, Nadia; Pintea, Lilian; Brito, José C.; Llewellyn, Othman A.; Miller, Anthony G.; Patzelt, Annette; Ghazanfar, Shahina A.; Timberlake, Jonathan; Klöser, Heinz; Shennan-Farpón, Yara; Kindt, Roeland; Lillesø, Jens-Peter Barnekow; van Breugel, Paulo; Graudal, Lars; Voge, Maianna; Al-Shammari, Khalaf F.; Saleem, Muhammad (2017). "An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm". BioScience. 67 (6): 534–545. doi:10.1093/biosci/bix014. PMC 5451287. PMID 28608869.
  121. ^ Appunn, Kerstine (30 October 2018). "Climate impact of farming, land use (change) and forestry in Germany". Clean Energy Wire. Archived from the original on 13 May 2020.
  122. ^ "Spruce, pine, beech, oak – the most common tree species". Third National Forest Inventory. Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Archived from the original on 24 March 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  123. ^ Bekker, Henk (2005). Adventure Guide Germany. Hunter. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-58843-503-3.
  124. ^ Marcel Cleene; Marie Claire Lejeune (2002). Compendium of Symbolic and Ritual Plants in Europe: Herbs. Man & Culture. pp. 194–196. ISBN 978-90-77135-04-4. Archived from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  125. ^ "National Parks". Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. Archived from the original on 24 March 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  126. ^ "Biosphere reserves". Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. Archived from the original on 24 March 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  127. ^ "Nature parks". Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  128. ^ "Zoo Facts". Zoos and Aquariums of America. Archived from the original on 7 October 2003. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
  129. ^ "Der Zoologische Garten Berlin" (in German). Zoo Berlin. Archived from the original on 30 April 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  130. ^ "Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany" (PDF). Deutscher Bundestag. October 2010. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 June 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  131. ^ Seiffert, Jeanette (19 September 2013). "Election 2013: The German parliament". DW. Archived from the original on 28 March 2020.
  132. ^ "Germany's political parties CDU, CSU, SPD, AfD, FDP, Left party, Greens – what you need to know". DW. 7 June 2019. Archived from the original on 14 February 2020.
  133. ^ Stone, Jon (24 September 2017). "German elections: Far-right wins MPs for first time in half a century". The Independent. Archived from the original on 27 February 2020.
  134. ^ a b "Germany". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 13 June 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  135. ^ "Example for state constitution: "Constitution of the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia"". Landtag (state assembly) of North Rhine-Westphalia. Archived from the original on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
  136. ^ "Verwaltungsgliederung in Deutschland am 30 June 2017 – Gebietsstand: 30 June 2017 (2. Quartal)" (XLS) (in German). Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland. July 2017. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  137. ^ "Fläche und Bevölkerung". Statistikportal.de (in German). Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  138. ^ "Bruttoinlandsprodukt, Bruttowertschöpfung". www.statistikportal.de (in German). Statistische Ämter des Bundes und der Länder. 28 March 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  139. ^ "Bruttoinlandsprodukt, Bruttowertschöpfung (Inhaltsverzeichnis Reihe 1991–2023)". www.statistikportal.de (in German). Statistische Ämter des Bundes und der Länder. 28 March 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  140. ^ Merryman, John; Pérez-Perdomo, Rogelio (2007). The Civil Law Tradition: An Introduction to the Legal Systems of Europe and Latin America. Stanford University Press. pp. 31–32, 62. ISBN 978-0-8047-5569-6.
  141. ^ "Federal Constitutional Court". Bundesverfassungsgericht. Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  142. ^ Wöhrmann, Gotthard (22 November 2013). "The Federal Constitutional Court: an Introduction". German Law Archive. Archived from the original on 20 June 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  143. ^ "§ 2 Strafvollzugsgesetz" (in German). Bundesministerium der Justiz. Archived from the original on 1 May 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  144. ^ Jehle, Jörg-Martin; German Federal Ministry of Justice (2009). Criminal Justice in Germany. Forum-Verlag. p. 23. ISBN 978-3-936999-51-8. Archived from the original on 22 September 2015.
  145. ^ Casper, Gerhard; Zeisel, Hans [in German] (January 1972). "Lay Judges in the German Criminal Courts". Journal of Legal Studies. 1 (1): 135–191. doi:10.1086/467481. JSTOR 724014. S2CID 144941508.
  146. ^ "Intentional Homicide Victims". United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Archived from the original on 26 July 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  147. ^ "Germany's crime rate fell to lowest level in decades in 2018". DW. 2 April 2019. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019.
  148. ^ "STONEWALL GLOBAL WORKPLACE BRIEFINGS 2018 – GERMANY" (PDF). Stonewall. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 September 2023. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  149. ^ "The German Missions Abroad". German Federal Foreign Office. Archived from the original on 27 March 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  150. ^ "The Embassies". German Federal Foreign Office. Archived from the original on 27 March 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  151. ^ "Declaration by the Franco-German Defence and Security Council". French Embassy UK. 13 May 2004. Archived from the original on 27 March 2014.
  152. ^ Freed, John (4 April 2008). "The leader of Europe? Answers an ocean apart". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 May 2011.
  153. ^ "Shaping Globalization – Expanding Partner-ships – Sharing Responsibility: A strategy paper by the German Government" (PDF). Die Bundesregierung. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 March 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  154. ^ "U.S. Relations With Germany". US Department of State. 4 November 2019. Archived from the original on 31 March 2020.
  155. ^ "U.S.-German Economic Relations Factsheet" (PDF). U.S. Embassy in Berlin. May 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  156. ^ "Volume 10. One Germany in Europe, 1989–2009 Germany and Russia" (PDF). German Institute for International and Security Affairs. 13 March 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 August 2017. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  157. ^ Noël, Pierre (May 2009). "A Market Between Us: Reducing the Political Cost of Europe's Dependence on Russian Gas" (PDF). EPRG Working Paper. University of Cambridge Electricity Policy Research Group: 2; 38. EPRG0916. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 November 2009. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
  158. ^ "Aims of German development policy". Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. 10 April 2008. Archived from the original on 10 March 2011.
  159. ^ Green, Andrew (8 August 2019). "Germany, foreign aid, and the elusive 0.7%". Devex. Archived from the original on 8 August 2019.
  160. ^ "Bundeswehr der Zeitenwende: Kriegstüchtig sein, um abschrecken zu können". bmvg.de (in German). 29 July 2024.
  161. ^ Tian, Nan; da Silva, Diego Lopes; Liang, Xiao; Scarazzato, Lorenzo (April 2024). "Trends in Military Expenditure 2023" (PDF). sipri.org. p. 2.
  162. ^ "Germany commits €100 billion to defense spending". Deutsche Welle. 27 February 2022. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022.
  163. ^ Schuetze, Christopher F. (27 February 2022). "Russia's invasion prompts Germany to beef up military funding". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022.
  164. ^ "Defence Expenditure of NATO Countries (2014–2024)" (PDF). NATO. 17 June 2024. pp. 8–9.
  165. ^ "Personalzahlen" (in German). Bundeswehr. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  166. ^ "Ausblick: Die Bundeswehr der Zukunft" (in German). Bundeswehr. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  167. ^ Connolly, Kate (22 November 2010). "Germany to abolish compulsory military service". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 September 2013.
  168. ^ Pidd, Helen (16 March 2011). "Marching orders for conscription in Germany, but what will take its place?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 September 2013.
  169. ^ "Frauen in der Bundeswehr" (in German). Bundeswehr. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  170. ^ Wezeman, Pieter D.; Djokic, Katarina; George, Mathew; Hussain, Zain; Wezeman, Siemon T. (March 2024). "Trends in international Arms Transfer 2023" (PDF). sipri.org. p. 2.
  171. ^ "Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Artikel 65a,87,115b" (PDF) (in German). Bundesministerium der Justiz. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 May 2017. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  172. ^ "Einsatzzahlen – die Stärke der deutschen Kontingente" (in German). Bundeswehr. 18 August 2017. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017.
  173. ^ "Germany extends unified armed forces mission in Mali". International Insider. 1 June 2020. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
  174. ^ a b Lavery, Scott; Schmid, Davide (2018). Frankfurt as a financial centre after Brexit (PDF) (Report). SPERI Global Political Economy Brief. University of Sheffield. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 June 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  175. ^ "Corruption Perceptions Index 2019". Transparency International. 24 January 2020. Archived from the original on 27 March 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  176. ^ Schwab, Klaus. "The Global Competitiveness Report 2018" (PDF). p. 11. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 February 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  177. ^ "Deutschland ist wieder Nummer drei der größten Volkswirtschaften". Der Spiegel (in German). 15 February 2024. Archived from the original on 17 February 2024.
  178. ^ "GDP, PPP (current international $)". World Bank. Archived from the original on 27 March 2024. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
  179. ^ "GDP per capita in PPS". ec.europa.eu/eurostat. Eurostat. Archived from the original on 20 January 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  180. ^ "Unemployment statistics". Eurostat. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  181. ^ "The European single market". European Commission. 5 July 2016. Archived from the original on 9 April 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  182. ^ "Germany: Spend More At Home". International Monetary Fund. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  183. ^ Andrews, Edmund L. (1 January 2002). "Germans Say Goodbye to the Mark, a Symbol of Strength and Unity". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 May 2011.
  184. ^ "Monetary policy". Bundesbank. Archived from the original on 20 June 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  185. ^ Randall, Chris (10 December 2019). "CAM study reveals: German carmakers are most innovative". Electrive. Archived from the original on 10 May 2020.
  186. ^ "Hyundai, Now the No. 3 Carmaker, Takes Aim at Toyota and Volkswagen". Bloomberg. 20 December 2022. Archived from the original on 7 February 2023.
  187. ^ "EU countries approve 2035 phaseout of CO2-emitting cars". Reuters. 29 March 2023.
  188. ^ "Foreign trade". Statistiches Bundesamt. Archived from the original on 2 May 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  189. ^ "Global 500". Fortune. Archived from the original on 20 June 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  190. ^ "DAX". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 21 May 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  191. ^ "Brand value of the leading 10 most valuable German brands in 2019". Statista. Archived from the original on 10 December 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  192. ^ Frost, Simon (28 August 2015). "Berlin outranks London in start-up investment". euractiv.com. Archived from the original on 6 November 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  193. ^ Dakers, Marion (11 May 2017). "Secrets of growth: the power of Germany's Mittelstand". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019.
  194. ^ Bayley, Caroline (17 August 2017). "Germany's 'hidden champions' of the Mittelstand". BBC News. Archived from the original on 22 May 2019.
  195. ^ "Federal Report on Research and Innovation 2014" (PDF). Federal Ministry of Education and Research. 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 May 2016. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  196. ^ "Gross domestic spending on R&D". OECD. Archived from the original on 15 December 2023. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  197. ^ McCarthy, Niall (13 January 2020). "The countries leading the world in scientific research". World Economic Forum. Archived from the original on 12 March 2020.
  198. ^ "Nature Index 2024 Research Leaders: India follows in China's footsteps as top ten changes again". Nature Index. 18 June 2024.
  199. ^ Boytchev, Hristio (27 March 2019). "An introduction to the complexities of the German research scene". Nature. 567 (7749): S34–S35. Bibcode:2019Natur.567S..34B. doi:10.1038/d41586-019-00910-7. PMID 30918381.
  200. ^ "Germany invests 3.3 billion euro in European space exploration and becomes ESA's largest contributor". German Aerospace Centre. 28 November 2019. Archived from the original on 20 June 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  201. ^ World Intellectual Property Organization (2024). Global Innovation Index 2024: Unlocking the Promise of Social Entrepreneurship. World Intellectual Property Organization. p. 18. doi:10.34667/tind.50062. ISBN 978-92-805-3681-2. Retrieved 6 October 2024. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  202. ^ "Assessment of strategic plans and policy measures on Investment and Maintenance in Transport Infrastructure" (PDF). International Transport Forum. 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 January 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
  203. ^ "Transport infrastructure at regional level". Eurostat. Archived from the original on 15 September 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  204. ^ Jeremic, Sam (16 September 2013). "Fun, fun, fun on the autobahn". The West Australian. Archived from the original on 12 October 2013.
  205. ^ "ICE High-Speed Trains". Eurail. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  206. ^ "ADV Monthly Traffic Report 12/2022" (PDF). Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Verkehrsflughäfen e.V. 13 February 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 February 2023.
  207. ^ "Top World Container Ports". Port of Hamburg. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  208. ^ "Germany". US Energy Information Administration. Archived from the original on 5 June 2023. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  209. ^ Paddison, Laura; Schmidt, Nadine; Kappeler, Inke (15 April 2023). "'A new era': Germany quits nuclear power, closing its final three plants". CNN. Archived from the original on 22 April 2023.
  210. ^ Wettengel, Julian (2 January 2019). "Renewables supplied 40 percent of net public power in Germany in 2018". Clean Energy Wire. Archived from the original on 20 June 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  211. ^ a b "Germany". International Energy Agency. 16 December 2021. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  212. ^ "Committed to Biodiversity" (PDF). Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 February 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  213. ^ Eddy, Melissa (15 November 2019). "Germany Passes Climate-Protection Law to Ensure 2030 Goals". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 13 March 2020.
  214. ^ "Legal Country Mapping: Germany" (PDF). WaterLex. 6 July 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 September 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  215. ^ "Germany is the world's leading nation for recycling". Climate Action. 11 December 2017. Archived from the original on 11 September 2019.
  216. ^ "Greenhouse gas emissions per capita in the European Union (EU-28) in 2018, by country". Statista. Archived from the original on 4 March 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  217. ^ "Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Energy Data Explorer". International Energy Agency. 10 November 2021. Archived from the original on 12 August 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  218. ^ "Germany: The World's First Major Renewable Energy Economy". Archived from the original on 29 March 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  219. ^ Federal Ministry for the Environment (29 March 2012). Langfristszenarien und Strategien für den Ausbau der erneuerbaren Energien in Deutschland bei Berücksichtigung der Entwicklung in Europa und global [Long-term Scenarios and Strategies for the Development of Renewable Energy in Germany Considering Development in Europe and Globally] (PDF). Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU). Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 September 2015.
  220. ^ "China and Germany – Working for an Energy Efficient Future". Energiepartnershcaft. 25 September 2023. Archived from the original on 4 February 2024.
  221. ^ Germany's Energy Efficiency Strategy 2050 (PDF). Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. March 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 January 2024.
  222. ^ "Tourism as a driver of economic growth in Germany" (PDF). Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. November 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 July 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  223. ^ "International Tourism – 2023 starts on a strong note with the Middle East recovering 2019 levels in the first quarter" (PDF). World Tourism Barometer. 21 (2). May 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 August 2023.
  224. ^ "Germany's most visited landmarks". DW. Archived from the original on 6 July 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  225. ^ "Attendance at the Europa Park Rust theme park from 2009 to 2018 (in millions)". Statista. 19 June 2020. Archived from the original on 1 August 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  226. ^ "Immigration Drives Germany's Population Growth to 84.7 Million". ETIAS. 30 January 2024.
  227. ^ Metz, Helen, ed. (1995). "Turkey: A Country Study | Geography". GPO for the Library of Congress.
  228. ^ a b c "National Minorities in Germany" (PDF). Federal Ministry of the Interior (Germany). May 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  229. ^ Webb, Alex (20 May 2014). "Germany Top Migration Land After U.S. in New OECD Ranking". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 17 March 2015.
  230. ^ "International Migration Report 2015 – Highlights" (PDF). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 May 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  231. ^ "Germany: Asylum applications rose sharply in 2023". Deutsche Welle. 9 January 2024.
  232. ^ "Current population". Federal Statistical Office. 20 June 2023. Archived from the original on 26 August 2023.
  233. ^ "Foreign population". OECD. Archived from the original on 13 March 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  234. ^ "Pressemitteilung Nr. 158 vom 20. April 2023". Statistisches Bundesamt. 20 April 2023. Archived from the original on 7 November 2023.
  235. ^ "World Urban Areas" (PDF). Demographia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 May 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  236. ^ "Ergebnisse des Zensus 2022 - Bevölkerung (15.05.2022)". www.destatis.de (in German). Destatis. 25 June 2024. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  237. ^ "Bevölkerung nach Religionszugehörigkeit im Zensus 2022 und im Zensus 2011 - je Bundesland" (in German). Statistisches Bundesamt. 2 July 2024.
  238. ^ a b "Bevölkerung im regionalen Vergleich nach Religion (ausführlich) -in %-". Zensus 2011 (in German). Federal Statistical Office of Germany. 9 May 2011. p. Zensus 2011 – Page 6. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013.
  239. ^ "Zensus 2011 – Fakten zur Bevölkerung in Deutschland" am 31. Mai 2013 in Berlin" [2011 Census – Facts about the population of Germany on 31 May 2013 in Berlin] (PDF) (Press release) (in German). Federal Statistical Office of Germany. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
  240. ^ a b "Muslimisches Leben in Deutschland 2020". Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. April 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  241. ^ "Germany: Berlin Facing Challenge Of Assimilating Russian-Speaking Jews". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. 8 April 2008. Archived from the original on 29 October 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  242. ^ "German Jews more than victims, community head says". Jewish Journal. 5 January 2011. Archived from the original on 31 October 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  243. ^ "Jewish Berlin: Myths and Fragmentation". Humanity in Action. Archived from the original on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  244. ^ "Religionszugehörigkeiten 2023". fowid.de (in German). 28 August 2024.
  245. ^ Thompson, Peter (22 September 2012). "Eastern Germany: the most godless place on Earth". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 29 September 2013.
  246. ^ "Germany". Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. Archived from the original on 24 March 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  247. ^ a b "Special Eurobarometer 243: Europeans and their Languages (Survey)" (PDF). Europa. 2006. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
    European Commission (2006). "Special Eurobarometer 243: Europeans and their Languages (Executive Summary)" (PDF). Europa. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 April 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
  248. ^ "Frequently asked questions on languages in Europe". European Commission. 26 September 2013. Archived from the original on 5 July 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  249. ^ "The German Language". FAZIT Communication GmbH. 20 February 2018. Archived from the original on 2 October 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  250. ^ a b "Country profile: Germany" (PDF). Library of Congress. April 2008. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 April 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
  251. ^ Trines, Stefan (8 November 2016). "Education in Germany". World Education News and Reviews. Archived from the original on 5 April 2019. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  252. ^ "A German model goes global". Financial Times. 21 May 2012. Archived from the original on 28 July 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  253. ^ Pitman, Tim; Hannah Forsyth (18 March 2014). "Should we follow the German way of free higher education?". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 18 March 2014.
  254. ^ Bridgestock, Laura (13 November 2014). "The Growing Popularity of International Study in Germany". QS Topuniversities. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016.
  255. ^ Bertram, Björn. "Rankings: Universität Heidelberg in International Comparison". Universität Heidelberg. Archived from the original on 21 September 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  256. ^ "Humboldt University of Berlin". Times Higher Education. Archived from the original on 15 June 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  257. ^ Kern, Heinrich (2010). "Humboldt's educational ideal and modern academic education" (PDF). 26th Annual Meeting of the Danube Rectors Conference. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  258. ^ "Hospital of the Holy Spirit Lübeck". Lübeck + Travemünde. Archived from the original on 15 December 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  259. ^ Health Care Systems in Transition: Germany (PDF). European Observatory on Health Care Systems. 2000. p. 8. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 May 2011.
  260. ^ "Germany statistics summary (2002–present)". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on 6 June 2016. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
  261. ^ "Health expenditure, total (% of GDP)". World Bank. 1 January 2016. Archived from the original on 30 January 2017.
  262. ^ "Germany Country Health Profile 2019" (PDF). WHO. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 June 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  263. ^ "Overweight and obesity – BMI statistics". Eurostat. Archived from the original on 25 March 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  264. ^ "Germany country profile". BBC News. 25 February 2015. Archived from the original on 2 June 2015.
  265. ^ "BBC poll: Germany most popular country in the world". BBC News. 23 May 2013. Archived from the original on 23 May 2013.
  266. ^ "World Service Global Poll: Negative views of Russia on the rise". BBC. 4 June 2014. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014.
  267. ^ MacGregor, Neil (28 September 2014). "The country with one people and 1,200 sausages". BBC News. Archived from the original on 10 December 2014.
  268. ^ "Christmas Traditions in Austria, Germany, Switzerland". German Ways. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  269. ^ "World Heritage Sites in Germany". UNESCO. Archived from the original on 23 March 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  270. ^ "Artikel 2 EV – Vertrag zwischen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik über die Herstellung der Einheit Deutschlands (Einigungsvertrag – EV k.a.Abk.)" (in German). buzer.de. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  271. ^ John Kmetz; Ludwig Finscher; Giselher Schubert; Wilhelm Schepping; Philip V. Bohlman (20 January 2001). "Germany, Federal Republic of". Grove Music Online. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.40055.
  272. ^ "The Recorded Music Industry in Japan" (PDF). Recording Industry Association of Japan. 2013. p. 24. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 August 2013. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  273. ^ "Kraftwerk maintain their legacy as electro-pioneers". Deutsche Welle. 8 April 2011. Archived from the original on 4 April 2013.
  274. ^ Nye, Sean. "Minimal Understandings: The Berlin Decade, The Minimal Continuum, and Debates on the Legacy of German Techno". Journal of Popular Music Studies. Archived from the original on 1 January 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  275. ^ a b c David Jenkinson; Günther Binding; Doris Kutschbach; Ulrich Knapp; Howard Caygill; Achim Preiss; Helmut Börsch-Supan; Thomas Kliemann; April Eisman; Klaus Niehr; Jeffrey Chipps Smith; Ulrich Leben; Heidrun Zinnkann; Angelika Steinmetz; Walter Spiegl; G. Reinheckel; Hannelore Müller; Gerhard Bott; Peter Hornsby; Anna Beatriz Chadour; Erika Speel; A. Kenneth Snowman; Brigitte Dinger; Annamaria Giusti; Harald Olbrich; Christian Herchenröder; David Alan Robertson; Dominic R. Stone; Eduard Isphording; Heinrich Dilly (10 December 2018). "Germany, Federal Republic of". Grove Art Online. doi:10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T031531. ISBN 978-1-884446-05-4.
  276. ^ "Bauhaus: The Single Most Influential School of Design". Gizmodo. 13 June 2012. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014.
  277. ^ "Berlin as a fashion capital: the improbable rise". Fashion United UK. 12 January 2012. Archived from the original on 8 May 2015.
  278. ^ Stiewe, Heinrich (2007). Fachwerkhäuser in Deutschland: Konstruktion, Gestalt und Nutzung vom Mittelalter bis heute. Primus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-89678-589-3.
  279. ^ A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Oxford University Press. 2006. p. 880. ISBN 978-0-19-860678-9.
  280. ^ Jodidio, Philip (2008). 100 Contemporary Architects (1 ed.). Taschen. ISBN 978-3-8365-0091-3.
  281. ^ Dégh, Linda (1979). "Grimm's Household Tales and its Place in the Household". Western Folklore. 38 (2): 99–101. doi:10.2307/1498562. JSTOR 1498562.
  282. ^ "History of the Deutsches Wörterbuch". DWB 150th Anniversary Exhibition and Symposium (in German). Humboldt-Universität. 2004. Archived from the original on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  283. ^ Espmark, Kjell (2001). "The Nobel Prize in Literature". Nobelprize.org. Archived from the original on 26 April 2011.
  284. ^ "Annual Report" (PDF). International Publishers Association. October 2014. p. 13. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 July 2016. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  285. ^ Weidhaas, Peter; Gossage, Carolyn; Wright, Wendy A. (2007). A History of the Frankfurt Book Fair. Dundurn Press. pp. 11. ISBN 978-1-55002-744-0.
  286. ^ Chase, Jefferson (13 March 2015). "Leipzig Book Fair: Cultural sideshow with a serious side". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 25 April 2015.
  287. ^ Searle, John (1987). "Introduction". The Blackwell Companion to Philosophy. Wiley-Blackwell.
  288. ^ "Distribution of TV in Germany (German)". Astra Sat. 19 February 2013. Archived from the original on 1 January 2015.
  289. ^ a b c d e "Germany". Media Landscapes. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  290. ^ Batchelor, James (16 July 2019). "German consumers spent €4.4bn on video games in 2018". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 9 May 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  291. ^ MacDonald, Keza (23 August 2022). "Pushing Buttons: What to expect from the world's biggest games convention". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 26 July 2023.
  292. ^ Brockmann, Stephen (2010). A Critical History of German Film. Camden House. p. 286. ISBN 978-1-57113-468-4.
  293. ^ Reimer, Robert; Reimer, Carol (2019). Historical Dictionary of German Cinema. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 331. ISBN 978-1-5381-1940-2.
  294. ^ Philpott, Don (2016). The World of Wine and Food: A Guide to Varieties, Tastes, History, and Pairings. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 344. ISBN 978-1-4422-6804-3.
  295. ^ "Where does our cheese come from?". Eurostat. 19 January 2019. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  296. ^ "Guide to German Hams and Sausages". German Foods North America. Archived from the original on 22 March 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  297. ^ "In-depth look at Germany's national drink – beer". The Times of India. 16 September 2012. Archived from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  298. ^ Payne, Samantha (20 November 2014). "Top 10 Heaviest Beer-drinking Countries: Czech Republic and Germany Sink Most Pints". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 13 May 2015.
  299. ^ "492 Years of Good Beer: Germans Toast the Anniversary of Their Beer Purity Law". Spiegel Online. 23 April 2008. Archived from the original on 6 May 2008.
  300. ^ "German Wine Statistics". Wines of Germany, Deutsches Weininstitut. Archived from the original on 14 December 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  301. ^ "Wine production worldwide in 2019, by country (in million hectoliters)". Statista. Archived from the original on 1 April 2021. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  302. ^ Heller, Charlie (15 November 2017). "Germany Was Just Awarded Its 300th Michelin Star". Food and Wine. Archived from the original on 28 December 2017. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  303. ^ Schalling, Herbert (21 August 2019). "DFB: presidential candidate Fritz Keller promises 'no more one-man show'". DW. Archived from the original on 29 March 2020.
  304. ^ Gaines, Cork (22 May 2015). "The NFL and Major League Baseball are the most attended sports leagues in the world". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 31 August 2019.
  305. ^ "FIFA World Cup Timeline". FIFA. Archived from the original on 5 March 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  306. ^ "History". UEFA. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  307. ^ "Confederations Cup". FIFA. Archived from the original on 12 March 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  308. ^ Smith, Damien (15 December 2020). "Porsche to make Le Mans 24 Hours return in 2023". Autocar. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  309. ^ Ornstein, David (23 October 2006). "What we will miss about Michael Schumacher". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 January 2014.
  310. ^ "Vettel makes Formula One history with eighth successive victory". Irish Independent. 17 November 2013. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013.
  311. ^ Reiche, Danyel (2016). Success and Failure of Countries at the Olympic Games. Routledge. p. 99. ISBN 978-1-317-63277-1.
  312. ^ Large, David Clay (2007). Nazi Games: The Olympics of 1936. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 136, 337. ISBN 978-0-393-05884-0.
  313. ^ Large 2007, p. 337.

Sources

Listen to this article (1 hour and 5 minutes)
Spoken Wikipedia icon
This audio file was created from a revision of this article dated 27 May 2023 (2023-05-27), and does not reflect subsequent edits.

51°N 9°E / 51°N 9°E / 51; 9