Germany

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The Federal Republic of Germany or FRG (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is one of the world's major industrialized countries, located in Western Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark and the Baltic Sea, to its east by Poland and the Czech Republic, to the south by Austria and Switzerland and to its west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. West Germany was a founding member of the European Union.

 
 
 
 
(In Detail)

History

Main article: History of Germany The German language and the feeling of "Germanhood" go back more than a thousand years, but the state now known as Germany was unified as a modern nation-state only in 1871, when the German Empire, dominated by Prussia, was forged. This was the second German Reich, usually translated as "empire", but also meaning "realm".

The first Reich – known for much of its existence as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation – stemmed from the division of the Carolingian Empire in 843, which was founded december 25th 800 by Charlemagne and existed in varying forms until dissolved in 1806 as one of the consequences of the Napoleonic Wars.

Between 1815 and 1871 Germany consisted of dozens of independent states, 39 of which formed the German Confederation (Deutscher Bund). For a detailed list, see List of German Confederation member states.

The second Reich, the German Empire, was proclaimed January 18th, 1871, in Versailles after the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. This was mainly the results of the efforts of Otto von Bismarck, Germany's most prominent statesman of the 19th century.

After being subdued by France in the Napoleonic Wars, France was to be perceived as Germany's arch-enemy in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Later in World War I, Germany subsequently invaded France in 1914. After initial advances, the war amounted to a slow war in the trenches, killing many on both sides. The war ended in 1918, Germany's emperor was forced to abdicate, and after a quenched revolution the Imperial Germany was succeeded by the Weimar Republic.

The Peace Treaty of Versailles held Germany responsible for the war. Economic hardship due to both the peace conditions and to the world wide Great Depression is mostly pointed to as explanation why anti-democratic parties, both right-wing and left-wing, were increasingly supported by German opinion leaders and voters. In extraordinary elections of July and November 1932, the Nazis got 37,2% and 33,0% respectively. On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany, and by the Enabling Act on March 23, 1933, a wide majority of the parliament effectively disbanded the constitution of the Weimar Republic.

The Third Reich was that of the Nazis, which lasted 12 years, from 1933 to 1945. In 1934, Hitler affirmed total control of government, when he also succeeded the President of Germany.

Hitler's policy of annexing neighbouring lands eventually led to the outbreak of World War II in Europe on September 1, 1939. Initially, Germany and her allies had many military successes, and gained control over most of Europe's mainland, including a large part of the Soviet Union. After the Soviet Union and the United States entered the war, the momentum in the war switched. On 8 May 1945, Germany surrendered after Hitler committed suicide. The war resulted in large losses of territory, 15 million Germans expelled, and 45 years of division, while the country was split up into West and East Germany.

In 1949 two German states were founded: the Federal Republic of Germany with originally twelve states and the German Democratic Republic with five states. In 1952, the Laender of East Germany were abolished, and the GDR was divided into Bezirke (districts). In the same year the 3 small laender of Wuerttemberg-Baden, Wuerttemberg-Hohenzollern, and Baden combined to form Baden-Wurtemburg, so that when The Saarland joined the Federal Republic in 1957 it was as the eleventh state.

After the fall of Communism in Europe, Germany was reunited in 1990 (see German reunification); together with France the new Germany is playing the leading role in the European Union. Germany is at the forefront of European states seeking to exploit the momentum of monetary union to advance the creation of a more unified and capable European political, defense and security apparatus. The Chancellor recently also claimed a permanent seat for Germany in the UN Security Council.

Politics

Main article: Politics of Germany Germany is a constitutional federal democracy, whose political system is laid out in the 1949 'constitution' called Grundgesetz (Basic Law). It has a parliamentary system in which the head of government, the Bundeskanzler (Chancellor), is elected by the parliament.

The parliament, called Bundestag (Federal Assembly), is elected every four years by popular vote in a complex system combining direct and proportional representation. The 16 Bundeslaender are represented at the federal level in the Bundesrat (Federal Council), which—depending on the subject matter—may have a say in the legislative procedure. Lately, there has been much concern about the Bundestag and the Bundesrat blocking each other, making effective government very difficult.

The function of head of state is performed by the Bundespraesident (Federal President), whose powers are mostly limited to ceremonial and representative duties.

The judiciary branch includes a Constitutional Court called Bundesverfassungsgericht, which may ultimately overturn all acts by the legislature or administration if they are deemed unconstitutional.

States

Main article: States of Germany Germany is divided into sixteen Bundeslaender (singular Bundesland), or federal statess:

Geography

Main article: Geography of Germany Germany stretches from the high mountains of the Alps (highest point: the Zugspitze at 2,962 m) in the south to the shores of the North and Baltic Seas in the north. In between are found the forested uplands of central Germany and the low-lying lands of northern Germany (lowest point: Neuendorfer/Wilstermarsch at -3.54 m), traversed by some of Europe's major rivers such as the Rhine, Danube and Elbe.

The weather is sometimes unpredictable. In the middle of summer it could be warm and sunny one day and then cold and rainy the next. However truly extreme weather conditions, like severe droughts, tornados, destructive hailstorms, severe frost or heat etc. are all extremely rare. There have been two bad large-scale floodings in the last few years, but in the long term those are also quite rare. Damaging earthquakes are unheard-of.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Germany Germany possesses the world's third most technologically powerful economy after the US and Japan. While exports remain strong, the local market of the basically capitalistic economy has started to struggle under the burden of generous social benefits. Structural rigidities—like a high rate of social contributions on wages—have made unemployment a long-term, not just cyclical, problem, while Germany's aging (and often involuntarily early-retired) population has pushed social security outlays to exceed contributions from workers. Both employers' associations and unions are increasingly deeply entrenched. After many failed starts, and continued unrelenting lobbyist attempts to mold goverment in their image, the word "reform" has acquired such a bad name among the population that the gouvernment has a hard time getting anything at all done.

The integration and upgrading of the eastern German economy remains a costly long-term problem, with annual transfers from the west amounting to roughly $100 billion without conditions in the East actually improving after 1997. Some economists have started saying that the transfers hurt more than they help since they don't encourage the East to get out of the slump by its own effort, while at the same time preventing dearly-needed infrastructure investment and upkeep in the West. There are still almost no internationally renowned companies headquartered in the East, most have only established subsidiaries The recent adoption of a common European currency and the general political and economic integration of Europe including the eastward expansion of the European Union are thought to bring major changes to the German economy in the early 21st century.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Germany Germany has many large cities but no really large ones, Berlin being a borderline case; the population is thus much less centralized and oriented towards a single large capital than in most other European countries. The largest cities are Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne. The largest multi-city metropolitan areas are the Ruhr Area and the greater Frankfurt am Main region.

Germany has about 7.3 million non-citizen residents, including refugees, foreign workers (Gastarbeiter), and their dependents. About 2/3s of these have been in the country for more than 8 years, 20% have been born in Germany; both groups would qualify for citizenship after recent changes in immigration law (2002 data). Germany is still a primary destination for political and economic refugees from many developing countries, but the number of asylum seekers has been dropping in recent years, reaching about 50,000 in 2003. A proper immigration law has been bounced back and forth between the Bundestag and Bundesrat without much success for about five years now, leaving immigration largely ad-hoc and German language classes for immigrants poorly organized small-scale affairs.

An ethnic Danish minority of about 50,000 people lives mostly close to the Danish border in the north, a small Slavic people known as the Sorbs lives in the states of Saxony (about 40.000) and Brandenburg (about 20.000). The Frisian language, considered the living language closest to the English language, is mother tongue for about 12,000 speakers in Germany, the rest living in the Netherlands. In rural areas of Northern Germany Low Saxon is widely spoken.

Immigration has created a sizeable Turkish minority (ca. 1.9m), and other smaller minorities including Italians (0.6m), Serbs (0.6m), Greeks (0.4m), Poles (0.3m) and Croats (0.2m) (2002 data). The smaller groups are largley percieved as better integrated than the Turks.

There is also a large number of of ethnic German immigrants from the former Soviet Union area (1.7m), Poland (0.7) and Romania (0.3m) (1980-1999 totals), which are automatically granted German citizenship, and thus do not show up in foreign resident statistics; unlike the foreigners they have been settled by the government almost evenly spread throughout Germany. Many of them speak the languages of their former resident countries at home.

Even with the mentioned difficulties, Germany still has one of the world's highest levels of education, technological development, and economic productivity. Since the end of World War II, the number of youths entering universities has more than tripled, and the trade and technical schools of Germany are among the world's best. University attendance still lags behind many other European nations, though. With a per capita income level of about $25,000, Germany is a broadly middle class society. A generous social welfare system provides for universal (but not government-run) medical care, unemployment compensation, and other social needs. Germans also are mobile; millions travel abroad each year, most of their favourite destinations being at the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Germany Germany's contributions to the world's cultural heritage are numerous, and the country is often known as das Land der Dichter und Denker (The Land of Poets and Thinkers). Germany was the birthplace of composers such as Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Schumann and Wagner; poets such as Goethe and Schiller as well as Heine; philosophers including Kant, Hegel, Marx and Nietzsche, theologians like Luther, authors including Hermann Hesse and Grass; and scientists including Einstein, Born and Planck. There are also numerous fine artists from Germany such as the Renaissance artist Albrecht Duerer, the surrealist Max Ernst, the expressionist Franz Marc, the conceptual artist Joseph Beuys or the neo expressionist Georg Baselitz. After Hitler's raise to power there was a brain drain in these areas that has not yet been completely overcome.

The German language and its dialects were once the lingua franca of central, eastern and northern Europe, and remains one of the most popular foreign languages taught worldwide. Many important historical figures, though not citizens of Germany in the modern sense, were nevertheless immersed in the German culture, for example Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Kafka and Copernicus.

Contemporary Germany has a thriving popular culture increasingly being led by its new old capital Berlin, and a self-confident music and art culture. Germany is also well known for its many opera houses.

• Cuisine of Germany
• Music of Germany
• List of Germans
• Public Holidays: German Unity Day
• Bundesliga
• Goethe-Institut

Religion

The Grundgesetz, Germany's constitution, guarantees freedom of faith and religion. It also states that no one may be discriminated against due to their faith or religious opinions. However larger religions receive some preferential treatment, for example being able to teach religion to adherents' children in public schools and having membership fees collected by the German Finanzamt (i.e. IRS).

Christianity is the major religion, with Protestants (particularly in the north and east) comprising 33% of the population and Catholics (particularly in the south and west) also 33%.

Currently about two thirds of the German population, more than 55 million people, officially belong to a Christian denomination, although most of them take no part in church life except at such events as weddings and funerals. Nearly half of them are Protestants and nearly half of them Roman Catholics. Most German Protestants are members of the Evangelical Church in Germany. Independent and congregational churches exist in all larger towns and many smaller ones, but most such churches are small.

Roman Catholicism was Germany's top religion in the 15th century, but the religious movement commonly known as the Reformation changed this drastically. In 1517 Martin Luther challenged this religion as he saw it as a commercialisation of his faith. Through this, he altered the course of European and world history and established Protestantism, the largest denomination in Germany today.

Before World War II, about two-thirds of the German population was Protestant and one-third was Roman Catholic. In the north and northeast of Germany especially, Protestants dominated. In the separated West Germany between 1945 and 1990, Catholics had a small majority.

In the former East Germany, there is much less religious feeling -- probably the result of forty years of Communism -- than in the West. The average church attendance is one of the lowest in the World, with only 5% attending at least once per week, compared to 14% in the West according to a recent study. The number of people who attend church for christenings, weddings and funerals is also lower than in the West.

About 30% of the population are officially religiously unaffiliated. In the East this number is also considerably higher.

Approximately three million Muslims (mostly of Turkish descent) live in Germany. Lately there have been heated discussions about the question if Muslim woman working in public service, such as schoolteachers, should be able to wear headscarves to work or not.

Besides this there are a few hundred thousand Orthodox Christians, 400,000 New Apostolic Christians, numerous other small groups, and 160,000 Jews, of which around 100,000 belong to a synagogue.

Today Germany, especially its capital Berlin, has the fastest growing Jewish community worldwide. Some ten thousands of Jews from the former Eastern Bloc, mostly from ex-Soviet Union countries, settled in Germany since the fall of the Berlin wall. This is mainly due to a German government policy which basically grants an immigration ticket to anyone from the CIS and the Baltic states with Jewish heritage, and the fact that today's Germans are seen as significantly more accepting of Jews than many people in the ex-Soviet realm. Some of the about 60,000 long-time resident German Jews have expressed some mixed feelings about this immigration that they perceive as making them a minority not only in their own country but also in their own community; but largely the integration seems to work out. Prior to Nazism, about 600,000 Jews lived in Germany, most of them long-time resident families.

In the mid-90s there was a moral panic about Scientology in Germany, which was largely percieved as harbouring sinister plans for infiltration of the top tiers of the German economic community. In fact there are only a few hundred Scientologists in Germany and the scare has pretty much turned into a non-topic by now.

International rankings

• World-wide press freedom index 2003 Rank 8 out of 166 countries

Miscellaneous topics

• List of English exonyms for German toponyms
• Communications in Germany
• Freedom of speech in Germany''
• Foreign relations of Germany
• Military of Germany
• Transportation in Germany
• Tourism in Germany
• List of German towns
• List of German districts
• List of famous Germans
• East Germany
• West Germany

External links

• Facts about Germany - Official site published by the German Federal Foreign Office
• Deutschland.de - Official German portal
• Statistikportal.de - Official statistical data
• Bundesregierung Deutschland - Official site of the German Federal Government
• Bundespraesident - Official site of the German President
• Bundestag - Official site of the German Parliament
• A Manual for Germany - How Germany works, published by the German Federal Government
• Stadtpanoramen.de - Panoramic views of numerous German Cities
• Panoramic views of numerous German landmarks
• German Travel Guide - Tourism Resources
• Axel Boldt, A Subjective Comparison of Germany and the United States
• Photos of Germany
• rummage in the photo box