Germany'''The Federal Republic of Germany''' is one of G8|the world's leading industrialization|industrialised countries, located in the heart of Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea, to the south by Austria and Switzerland, to the west by France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic. {| border=1 align=right cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=300 style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;" |+<big>'''Bundesrepublik Deutschland'''</big> | align="center" colspan="2"| {| border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 style="background:#f9f9f9; text-align:center;" | width="130px"| image:Germany flag large.png|125px|Flag of Germany || align=center width=130px| Image:Bundesadler.png|100px|Germany: Coat of Arms |- | width="130px"| (Flag of Germany|Flag) | align=center width=130px| (Federal Coat of Arms of Germany|Coat of Arms) |} |- | align=center colspan=2 | National motto: ''Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit'' (German language|German: Unity and Justice and Freedom) |- | align=center colspan=2 | List of national anthems|National anthem: Das Lied der Deutschen 3rd stanza (''Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit'') |- | align=center colspan=2 style="background:#f9f9f9;" | image:LocationGermany.png|Location of Germany |- |'''Official language''' || German language|German1 |- |'''Capital''' || Berlin |- |'''Largest City''' || Berlin |- |'''Chancellor of Germany|Chancellor''' || Gerhard Schröder |- |'''President of Germany|President''' || Horst Köhler |- |'''Area''' - Total - % water |List of countries by area|Ranked 61st 1 E11 m2|349,223 km² 2.416% |- |'''Population''' - As of April 2005|April 2005 est - Population density|Density |List of countries by population|Ranked 14th 82,468,000 [http://www.destatis.de/indicators/e/vgr910ae.htm] 242/km² |- |'''Formation Unification/reunification ''' |Treaty of Verdun (843) January 18 1871 May 23 1949 October 3 1990 |- |'''Gross Domestic Product|GDP''' - Total (2003) - GDP/capita || List of countries by GDP|Ranked 3rd $2.271 trillion $27,600 |- |'''Currency''' || Euro (€)2 |- | '''Time zone''' - in European Summer Time|summer | Central European Time|CET (Coordinated Universal Time|UTC+1) Central European Summer Time|CEST (Coordinated Universal Time|UTC+2) |- | '''Top-level domain|Internet TLD''' || .de |- | '''List_of_country_calling_codes|Calling Code''' || +49 |- |colspan="2"| 1 Danish language|Danish, Low German language|Low German, Sorbian language|Sorbian, Romany language|Romany and Frisian language|Frisian are officially recognised and protected as minority languages per the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages|ECRML. 2 Prior to 1999: Deutsche Mark. |} Germany is a democratic federal parliamentary state, made up of 16 federal States of Germany|states (''Länder''), which in certain spheres act independently of the Federation. The Federal Republic of Germany is a member state of the United Nations, NATO, the G8 nations and a founder member of the European Community|EEC, now the European Union. == History == {{main|History of Germany}} ===Holy Roman Empire=== Image:Electoral princes.png|thumb|left|The prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire The medieval empire – known for much of its existence as the Holy Roman Empire, later with the addition: "of the German Nation" – stemmed from the Franks|Carolingian Empire founded by Charlemagne on 25 December 800, and divided in 843 into eastern and western kingdoms. In 962, King Otto I, a Saxon who ruled the eastern kingdom, was crowned Emperor in Rome, giving the eastern kingdom the blessing of the Pope and prominence. The empire existed in varying forms until 1806. During these thousand years, the Germans expanded their influence with the help of the Catholic Church, the Teutonic Order, the Hanseatic League and German settlers in Central Europe. The demise of the Hohenstaufen dynasty in 1254 brought with it a decrease in power for the Emperor, who became a mere ''primus inter pares'' and had to deal with the various princes of the realm. In 1517 the Protestant Reformation broke out and spread through Germany. This resulted in the religious split of the country and in 1555 it was left to the princes to determine the state religion|religious affiliation of their respective territories. The resulting Thirty Years War (1618) and the Peace of Westphalia (1648) drastically enfeebled Germany and divided her politically. Thus the ''imperium'' was overrun and dissolved during the Napoleonic Wars. The number of German states was reduced under Napoleon as the larger states annexed the smaller ones. Austria's control on German affairs waned as the Habsburgs focused on their Central European possessions. ===Restoration and revolution=== Image:800px-Nationalversammlung.jpg|thumb|259px|left|Frankfurt Parliament in 1848/49 Following Napoleon's fall, the Congress of Vienna convened in 1814 in order to restructure Europe, and the German Confederation was founded as a loose league of 39 sovereign states. Disagreement with the restoration politics partly led to the lifestyle called ''Biedermeier'' and to intellectual liberal movements, which demanded unity and freedom during the Vormärz epoch. Klemens Wenzel von Metternich|Metternich's counter-measures were successful in repressing the liberal agitation. The ''Zollverein'', a tariff union, profoundly furthered economic unity in the German states, which started to be shaped by the growing Industrial Revolution|industrialization. In the light of a Revolutions of 1848|series of revolutionary movements in Europe in 1848, particularly following the The Revolutions of 1848 in France|revolution in France which once more established a republic, the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states|revolution broke out in Germany. The monarchs initially yielded to the revolutionaries' liberal demands and the Frankfurt Parliament was elected to draw up a constitution for the new Germany, completed in 1849. However, the Prussian king Frederick William IV of Prussia|Frederick William IV, who was supposed to become Emperor, rejected crown and constitution. This prompted violent rollbacks by the monarchs, and the demise of the national assembly along with most merits of the revolution. In 1862, conflict between the Prussian King Wilhelm I of Germany|Wilhelm I and the increasingly liberal parliament erupted over military reforms. The king appointed Otto von Bismarck the new Prime Minister of Prussia, who used the desire for national unification to further the interests of the Prussian monarchy. He utilised military means and waged war on Denmark, Austria and, finally, France. ===German Empire=== Image:Reichsgruendung2.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Foundation of modern Germany, Versailles, 1871. Bismarck is in white in the middle. After the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, Bismarck's third successful war, the German Empire (''Kaiserreich'') was proclaimed in Versailles on January 18, 1871. The Empire was a unification of the scattered parts of Germany, but excluded Austria. After the Year of Three Emperors, Bismarck was forced to quit by the young new Emperor William II of Germany|William II in 1890 due to political and personal differences. The Emperor's foreign policy was opposed to that of Bismarck, who had established a system of alliances securing Germany's position and avoiding war. Germany took an imperialism|imperialistic course, not unlike other powers, but her actions also became unpredictable. This led to conflict with neighboring countries. Most alliances in which Germany had been involved were not renewed and new alliances excluded the Reich. Austria and Germany became increasingly isolated. Imperialist power politics, coupled to an arms race, and the determined pursuit of national interests were the main reasons for World War I, which saw Germany and Austria-Hungary against Russia, France and the United Kingdom. On November 4 1918, the German Revolution broke out, and five days later Emperor William II and all German ruling princes abdicated. An armistice was signed on November 11 at Compiègne, and the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 signalled the official end of the war, though its demands were perceived as a humiliation in Germany. ===Weimar Republic=== Image:German Revolution.jpg|thumb|250px|right|The German Revolution of 1918–1919 ended the German Monarchy|Monarchy Following the abdication of the Emperor, Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democrats proclaimed what became known as the Weimar Republic. Following the proclamation by the Spartacist League of a Socialist Republic, Germany became engulfed in several months of struggle between republican, communist, and authoritarian groups, ending with the defeat of the radical left-wing militants. On August 11, 1919, the federation|federal Weimar Constitution came into effect. At this time the German Communist Party was founded. The 1920s were characterised by hyperinflation, which exacerbated post-war economic hardship. There was considerable unrest, the Germans being unused to the new liberal democracy and lacking confidence in the new state; German voters increasingly supported anti-democratic parties, both right-wing|right- and left-wing. Anti-modernism and political reaction appealed to the voters. The situation deteriorated further after the world wide Great Depression, and in two extraordinary elections of 1932, the most aggressive anti-parliamentarian parties together got more than the half of the seats. 37% and then 33% of the votes went to the ultra-nationalist National Socialist German Workers Party (''NSDAP''), and about 16% of the votes went to the Communists. The end of the Weimar Republic came when on 30 January, 1933, President of Germany|President Paul von Hindenburg|Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler, the leader of the NSDAP, Chancellor of Germany with support from the centre-right parties. A Reichstag fire was used as an excuse for abolishing civil and political rights, and with the Enabling Act, March 23, full legislative power was transferred to Hitler's government, who established a centralised totalitarian state in which the remaining checks and balances were quickly abolished. ===Third Reich=== Image:1936NurembergRally.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Nazi party's Nuremberg Rally, 1936 The new regime quickly dissolved all trade unions, made Germany a one-party state, and repressed all opposition. From 1933 onwards, 412 concentration camps were set up for groups and people perceived as threats. Open persecution of Jews began, culminating in Kristallnacht on November 9 1938. In 1934, the Nazi Party was purged of internal opposition during the Night of the Long Knives. In 1935 the Racial policy of Nazi Germany|Nuremberg race laws came into force: Jews were deprived of their German citizenship, banned from marrying Germans, and locked out from most of society. In 1936, German troops entered the demilitarised Rhineland, violating the Versailles Treaty, in an attempt to rebuild national self-esteem. Emboldened, Hitler followed from 1938 onwards a policy of expansionism. It started with the Anschluss|annexation of Austria and the Sudetes region in Czechoslovakia. In 1939, Bohemia and Moravia were annexed and a Slovakian independent state was created. To avoid a two-front war, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was concluded with the Soviet Union. Then Germany launched a Blitzkrieg against Poland, beginning World War II. In 1940, most of Western Europe was occupied, and Germany continued its invasions through 1941, conquering Yugoslavia and Greece, engaging in the Battle of Britain over London, and then breaking the pact with the Soviet Union by opening the Eastern Front. When war was also declared on the United States after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Hitler had engaged too many enemies. The Soviet Union started to push Germany back and German cities increasingly became targets of Allied air attacks. On May 8 1945, Germany surrendered after the Red Army had occupied Berlin where Hitler had committed suicide. Under his leadership, Nazi Germany had systematically murdered six million Jews in the Holocaust and six million more Roma (people)|Roma, Slavic people|Slavs, homosexuals, communists, and mentally and otherwise disabled individuals. ===Division and Reunification=== Image:Berlin Wall.jpg|thumb|250px|right|The Berlin Wall partitioned the city from 1961 to 1989 The war resulted in Oder-Neisse line|territorial losses and Expulsion of Germans after World War II|the expulsion of millions from Historical Eastern Germany|Silesia, Prussia and Pomerania, as well as from Czechia|Bohemia and Moravia. Germany and Berlin were occupied and partitioned by the Allies, with West Germany and West Berlin being controlled by the Western allies and East Germany and East Berlin by the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union cut off supplies to West Berlin, Western forces Berlin Airlift|airlifted food and supplies. West Germany benefitted from the American Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Europe after the war and was a founding state of the European Union. Its economy bloomed and democracy was stabilised by successive governments in Bonn. The Soviet-supported East Germany, by contrast, became one of the most repressive of the communist satellite states of the Warsaw Pact. The flight of growing numbers of East Germans to freedom via West Berlin led on August 13, 1961, to East Germany erecting the Berlin Wall and a fortified border to West Germany. Relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR remained icy until the Western chancellor Willy Brandt launched a highly controversial rapproachment with East Berlin and Moscow (''Ostpolitik'') in the 1970's. During the summer of 1989, following growing unrest, large numbers of East German citizens took refuge in West German embassies in Central Europe|Central and Eastern Europe|Eastern European countries in the hope of emigrating to the West. The East German government's confusion grew and on November 9 1989, East German authorities unexpectedly allowed East German citizens to enter West Berlin and West Germany. Hundreds of thousands of people took advantage of the opportunity; new crossing points were opened in the Berlin Wall and along the border with West Germany. This led to the acceleration of the process of reforms in East Germany that ended with the German reunification|reunification of East and West Germany that came into force on October 3 1990. == Politics == ===National government=== ''Main article: Politics of Germany'' Germany is a constitutional federal republic, whose political system is laid out in the 1949 constitution called ''Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany|Grundgesetz'' (Basic Law). It has a parliamentary system in which the head of government, the Chancellor of Germany|''Bundeskanzler'' (Federal Chancellor), is elected by the parliament. image:Bundestag.jpg|thumb|200px|The Bundestag, the lower house of German Parliament, in the historic Reichstag (building)|Reichstag building Image:Herrenhaus-berlin.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Prussian House of Lords in Leipziger Straße, seat of the Bundesrat, the upper house of German Parliament The German legislature consists of the ''Bundestag (Germany)|Bundestag'' (Federal Diet) and the ''Bundesrat'' (Federal Council). The supreme legislative body is the ''Bundestag'', the parliament, which is elected every four years. It in turn elects the Federal Chancellor (''Chancellor of Germany|Bundeskanzler''), the head of government. The ''Bundesrat'' represents the 16 federal states (''States of Germany|Bundesländer'') and cooperates in law-making and administering the federation. Its members are delegates of the governments of the individual ''Länder'', or states. Lately, there has been much concern about the ''Bundestag'' and the ''Bundesrat'' blocking each other, especially with majorities differing in the two bodies, making effective legislation very difficult. The head of state the Federal President (''President of Germany|Bundespräsident''). He is elected every five years by the Federal Assembly (''Bundesversammlung (Germany)|Bundesversammlung''), which is made up by the members of the ''Bundestag'' plus the corresponding number of ''Länder'' representatives. The powers of the Federal President are mostly limited to ceremonial and representative duties. ===Legal system=== ''Main article: Judiciary of Germany'' Germany has a civil law (legal system)|civil or statute law system based ultimately on Roman law. Law is codified in the ''Strafgesetzbuch'' (for criminal law), the ''Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch'' (for civil law|civil or private law). Administrative law is largely in the jurisdiction of the individual federated states and is therefore not codified nationally. There are a series of specialist supreme courts; for civil and criminal cases the highest court of appeal is the ''Federal Court of Justice of Germany|Bundesgerichtshof'' (Federal Court of Justice). The courtroom style is Inquisitorial system|inquisitorial. The Federal Constitutional Court (''Federal Constitutional Court of Germany|Bundesverfassungsgericht''), located in Karlsruhe, is the supreme court responsible for constitutional matters, with power of judicial review. It acts as the highest legal authority and ensures that legislative and judicial practice conforms with the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany|Basic Law. It acts independently of the other state bodies but cannot act on its own behalf. ===Foreign relations=== ''Main article: Foreign relations of Germany'' Image:SchröderandChirac.jpg|thumb|250px|Chancellor Gerhard Schröder together with France|French President Jacques Chirac (left) Together with France, Germany plays a leading role in the European Union. Germany is at the forefront of European states seeking to advance the creation of a more unified and capable European political, defence and security apparatus. Since its establishment on May 23, 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany kept a notably low profile in international relations. In 1999, however, on the occasion of the Kosovo War|NATO war against Yugoslavia, Gerhard Schröder|Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's government broke convention by sending German troops into combat for the first time since World War II. In 2003, Germany and France were protagonists in the coalition of nations opposing the United States|US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq|war in Iraq. Nevertheless, the German government has offered help to the reconstruction efforts in Iraq, but only outside of the war-torn country. In 2004, German troops stationed in the United Arab Emirates trained Iraqi soldiers to drive and maintain military trucks, and in 2005, the German military sent soldiers translators to the UAE to show Iraqis how to build bridges and streets. Together with Japan, India, and Brazil, Germany is currently seeking a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. ===Armed forces=== Image:Eufor handover.jpg|thumb|right|German troops (with red berets in the front row) are part of the EUFOR peace-keeping force in Bosnia and Herzegovina {{main|Military of Germany}} Germany's military, the ''Bundeswehr'', is a federal defence force with Army ''Heer'', Navy ''German Navy|Deutsche Marine'', Air Force ''Luftwaffe'', Central Medical Services ''(Zentraler Sanitätsdienst)'' and Joint Service Support Command ''(Streitkräftebasis)'' branches. It employs some 250,000 personnel, 50,000 of whom are 18-30-year-old men on national duty for currently at least 9 months. In peacetime, the Bundeswehr is commanded by the Minister of Defence, currently Peter Struck (since 2002). If Germany is in a state of defence, the Federal Chancellor becomes commander in chief of the Bundeswehr. Since 1990 the German military has undergone a constant process of change. In this evolution, the mission of the military has changed from repelling a potential invasion of armoured Soviet Union|Soviet-led divisions to policing the world's hot spots. In the process, German military spending has fallen from about 3.5 per cent of gross national product in the early 1990s to about 1.4 percent. Currently the German military has about 7,200 troops serving abroad in such places as Afghanistan, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnia. They are also assisting the United States|US anti-terrorism operation called Operation Enduring Freedom|Enduring Freedom off the Horn of Africa. The opposition CDU|Christian Democrat Party has criticised Gerhard Schröder|Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's German defence budget of about €24billion as being too small. ==States== ''Main article: States of Germany'' Germany is divided into sixteen State (national)|states (in German called ''Bundesländer'', singular ''States of Germany|Bundesland''). It is further subdivided into 439 districts (''List of German districts|Kreise'') and cities (''kreisfreie Städte'') (2004). Image:Germany_map_states.png|right|thumb|215px|States of Germany {| border style="border-collapse:collapse" !colspan=2|English language|In English !colspan=2|German language|In German |- !States of Germany|State !! Capital !! State !! Capital |- |'''1''' Baden-Württemberg||Stuttgart||Baden-Württemberg||Stuttgart |- |'''2''' Bavaria||Munich||(Freistaat) Bayern||München |- |'''3''' Berlin||Berlin||Berlin||Berlin |- |'''4''' Brandenburg||Potsdam||Brandenburg||Potsdam |- |'''5''' Bremen (state)|Bremen||Bremen||(Freie Hansestadt) Bremen||Bremen |- |'''6''' Hamburg||Hamburg||(Freie und Hansestadt) Hamburg||Hamburg |- |'''7''' Hesse||Wiesbaden||Hessen||Wiesbaden |- |'''8''' Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania||Schwerin||Mecklenburg-Vorpommern||Schwerin |- |'''9''' Lower Saxony||Hanover||Niedersachsen||Hannover |- |'''10''' North Rhine-Westphalia|North Rhine-Westphalia||Düsseldorf||Nordrhein-Westfalen||Düsseldorf |- |'''11''' Rhineland-Palatinate||Mainz||Rheinland-Pfalz||Mainz |- |'''12''' Saarland||Saarbrücken||Saarland||Saarbrücken |- |'''13''' Saxony||Dresden||(Freistaat) Sachsen||Dresden |- |'''14''' Saxony-Anhalt||Magdeburg||Sachsen-Anhalt||Magdeburg |- |'''15''' Schleswig-Holstein||Kiel||Schleswig-Holstein||Kiel |- |'''16''' Thuringia||Erfurt||(Freistaat) Thüringen||Erfurt |} ==Geography== ''Main article: Geography of Germany'' image:de-map.png|right|Map of Germany with cities Since German reunification|reunification of the two parts of the country Germany has resumed its role as a major centre between Scandinavia in the north and the Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean region in the south, as well as between the Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic west and the countries of Central Europe|central and Eastern Europe|eastern Europe. The territory of 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 Sea in the north-west and the Baltic Sea in the north-east. 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 meters below sea level), traversed by some of Europe's major rivers such as the Rhine, Danube and Elbe. Thanks to its central situation Germany has more neighbours than any other European country; these are Denmark in the north, Poland and the Czech Republic in the east, Austria and Switzerland in the south, France and Luxembourg in the south-west and Belgium and the Netherlands in the north-west. The greater part of Germany lies in the cool/temperate climatic zone in which humid westerly winds predominate. In the north-west and the north the climate is extremely oceanic and rain falls all the year round. Winters there are relatively mild and summers comparatively cool. In the east the climate shows clear continental features; winters can be very cold for long periods, and summers can become very warm. Here, too, long dry periods are often recorded. In the centre and the south there is a transitional climate which may be predominantly oceanic or continental, according to the general weather situation. == Economy == ''Main article: Economy of Germany'' image:50ec_ger.png|thumb|right|150px|A coin featuring the Brandenburg Gate, symbol of division and reunification Germany is the world's third largest economy measured by gross domestic product, placed behind the United States and Japan. According to the World Trade Organisation, Germany is also the world's top exporter, ahead of the United States and China. Its major trading partners include France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy and the Netherlands. A major issue of concern remains the persistently high unemployment rate, especially in the eastern States of Germany|states, and weak domestic demand, also due partly to high unemployment. However, according to the head of Germany's Council of Economic Advisers, German Reunification|reunification is to blame for two-thirds of Germany's growth lag compared to its European Union|EU neighbours. In particular, eastern Germany lacks a solid base of small and medium-sized companies, which provided the foundation for West Germany's economic prosperity. '''Agriculture.''' For many years now agriculture in Germany has been in a state of decline. Poor earnings and lack of profitability are counted to the main reasons for the failure of many medium and small concerns. The main crops grown are potatoes, wheat, barley, sugar beet and cabbage. Germany ranks among the world's largest producers of milk, milk products and meat. '''Industrial sector.''' As in most other large economic nations, Germany's industrial sector has declined in favour of the service sector. Germany is among the world's largest and most technologically advanced producers of iron, steel, cement, chemicals, machinery, motor vehicles, machine tools and electronics, as well as a world leader in the shipbuilding industry. Major automakers like DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen, and huge international corporations like Siemens AG rank among the world's largest firms. '''Service sector.''' The service sector has grown steadily in recent years and now contributes the largest share of GDP. This sector includes tourism. As of 2004, the largest numbers of foreign visitors to Germany came from the Netherlands, followed by the United States and the United Kingdom.[http://www.destatis.de/basis/e/tour/tourtab4.htm] '''Natural resources.''' Germany is lacking in natural raw materials, if one disregards the hard coal deposits in the Ruhr Area|Ruhr area, in the Aachen district and in the Saarland, where mining is profitable only thanks to state subsidies. Brown coal from mines in the Leipziger Bucht and the Niederlausitz is still the major energy source in the eastern States of Germany|Länder, while mineral oil enjoys this position in the western Länder. The current Red-Green Alliance|red-Green coalition government is pursuing a long-term strategy of phasing out nuclear energy|nuclear power in favour of renewable energy|renewable sources of energy. ==Demographics== ''Main article: Demographics of Germany'' Image:Hamburg old.jpg|thumb|300px|right|A historic picture of Hamburg, Germany's second largest city Germany has many large cities but only three with a population of one million or more: Berlin with 3.4 million, Hamburg with 1.8 million, and Munich with 1.2 million. Thus, the population is much less centralised and oriented towards a single large city than in most other European countries. The largest cities apart from those are Cologne, Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart, Dortmund, Essen, Germany|Essen, Düsseldorf, Bremen, Duisburg and Hanover. By far the largest urban conurbation is the Rhine-Ruhr region, including the Düsseldorf-Cologne district. As of 2004, about 6.7 million non-citizen residents were living in Germany. By far the largest number came from Turkey, followed by Italy, Greece, Croatia, the Netherlands, and other European and Mediterranean countries.[http://www.destatis.de/basis/e/bevoe/bevoetab10.htm] About 2/3 of these have been in the country for 8 years or more, and are therefore eligible for naturalization.[http://www.destatis.de/basis/e/bevoe/bevoetab8.htm] Germany is still a primary destination for political and economic refugees from many developing country|developing countries, but the number of asylum seekers has been dropping in recent years, reaching about 50,000 in 2003. An ethnic Danish minority of about 50,000 people lives in Schleswig, mostly close to the Danish border, in the north; a small number of Slavs|Slavic people known as the Sorbs lives in the states of Saxony (about 40,000) and Brandenburg (about 20,000). The Frisian language is mother tongue to about 12,000 speakers in Germany. In rural areas of Northern Germany, Low Saxon is widely spoken. There are also a large number of ethnic German immigrants from the former Soviet Union area (1.7 million), Poland (0.7 million) and Romania (0.3 million) (1980–1999 totals), who are automatically granted German citizenship, and thus do not show up in foreign resident statistics; unlike foreigners, they have been settled by the government almost evenly spread throughout Germany. ==Religion== ''Main article: Religion in Germany'' Image:Luther46c.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Martin Luther, Father of the German Reformation and reformer of the German language, 1529 Germany is the home of the Protestant Reformation|Reformation launched by Martin Luther in the early 16th century. Today, Protestantism|Protestants (particularly in the north and east) comprise about 33% of the population and Catholicism|Catholics (particularly in the south and west) also 33%. In total more than 55 million people officially belong to a Christian denomination. Most German Protestants are members of the Evangelical Church in Germany. Free churches exist in all larger towns and many smaller ones, but most such churches are small. The current pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI, is German. Besides this there are several hundred thousand Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christians (mostly Greece|Greeks and Serbia|Serbs), 400,000 New Apostolic Church|New Apostolic Christians, 150,000 Jehovah's Witnesses, and numerous other small groups. Islam in Germany|Approximately 3.7 million Muslims (mostly of Turkey|Turkish descent) live in Germany. Germany now has Europe's third-largest Jewish population. In 2004, twice as many Jews from former Soviet Union|Soviet republics settled in Germany as in Israel, bringing the total inflow to more than 200,000 since 1991. About half joined settled Jewish communities, of which there are now more than 100, with a total of 100,000 members—up from 30,000 before unification. Some German cities have seen a revival of Jewish culture, particularly in Berlin, where 3,000 Israelis also live. Jews have a voice in German public life through the ''Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland''. In the territory of the former East Germany, there is much less religious feeling than in the West, probably the result of forty years of Communism. Only 5% attend a mass at least once per week, compared with 14% in the West according to a recent [http://www.umich.edu/~newsinfo/Releases/1997/Dec97/r121097a.html study]. About 30% of the total population are officially religiously unaffiliated. In the East this number is also considerably higher. Church and state are separate, but there is cooperation in many fields, most importantly in the social sector. Churches and religious community, if they are both large, stable and loyal to the constitution, can get special status from the state as a "corporation under public law" which allows the churches to levy taxes called ''Kirchensteuer'' (church tax) on their members. This revenue is collected by the state in return for a collection fee. See Status of religious freedom in Germany. ==Education== ''Main article: Education in Germany'' Germany has one of the world's highest levels of education. The most important foreign languages taught at school are English language|English, Latin language|Latin, French language|French, Russian language|Russian, Greek language|Greek, and Spanish language|Spanish. Since the end of World War II, the number of youths entering university|universities has more than tripled, but university attendance still lags behind many other European nations. In the annual league of top-ranking universities compiled by Shanghai Jiaotong University in 2004, Germany came 4th overall, but with only 7 universities in the top 100 (to compare, the United States had 51). The highest ranking university, at #45, was the Technical University of Munich|TU Munich. For Germany, the results of the PISA (student assessment)|PISA student assessments were some kind of nationwide shock. The comparatively low scores brought on heated debate about how the school system should be changed. Furthermore it was revealed that more than in other countries students with higher-earning parents are better-educated and tend to achieve higher results. There is also some diversity between the schools of the various states, that determine their respective school system independently. In addition to academic education, Germany also has a elaborate system of vocational education, called the ''dual system'', which combines apprenticeship in enterprises with theoretical teaching in vocational schools. == Social issues == ''Main article: Social issues in Germany'' Image:KreuzbergStreet.jpg|320px|thumb|right|The borough of Kreuzberg in Berlin is sometimes called the "largest Turkish city outside of Turkey" The German social market economy (German language|German: ''soziale Marktwirtschaft'') helped bring about the "economic miracle" that rebuilt Germany from ashes after World War II to one of the most impressive economies in Europe. Still, Germany continues to struggle with a number of social issues. Issues created by the German Reunification of 1990 have begun to narrow. While the standard of living is higher in the western half of the country, easterners now share a reasonably high standard of living. Germans continue to be concerned about a relatively high level of unemployment; however, they are generally unwilling to concede to labour concessions such as longer working hours. Since World War II, Germany has experienced intermittent turmoil from various extremist groups. In the 1970s the terrorist Red Army Faction engaged in a string of assassinations and kidnappings against political and business figures. Recently there has been a surge in right-wing extremist crimes. According to Interior Minister Otto Schily, the number of these crimes rose 8.4% to 12,553 cases in 2004, which the minister attributed to such crimes as the display of illegal Nazism|Nazi symbols. In September 2004, the right-wing extremist National Democratic Party of Germany|National Democratic Party gained a new place on the national political stage when they captured 9.2% of the vote in the eastern state of Saxony. That compared with 1.9% in 1999. The current German government considers this party to be a threat to the country and has sought repeatedly to ban the party or curtail its activities. Immigrants in Germany face undue police inquiries (such as repeat targeted requests for identification), violence from right-wing extremist groups, higher rates of delinquency and more general integration problems. Some German states have banned Muslim teachers from wearing headscarves in class. ==Culture== ''Main article: Culture of Germany'' Image:Goethecut.png|thumb|right|250px|Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is regarded as a major German poet 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 brought forth composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven, Johannes Brahms|Brahms, Robert Schumann|Schumann and Richard Wagner|Wagner; poets such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe and Friedrich Schiller|Schiller as well as Heinrich Heine|Heine; philosophers including Gottfried Leibniz|Leibniz, Immanuel Kant|Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|Hegel, Karl Marx|Marx, Friedrich Engels|Engels, Arthur Schopenhauer|Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche and Martin Heidegger|Heidegger; theologians like Martin Luther|Luther; authors including Hermann Hesse|Hesse, Thomas Mann|Mann, Heinrich Böll|Böll and Günter Grass|Grass; scientists including Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit|Fahrenheit, Johannes Kepler|Kepler, Ernst Haeckel|Haeckel, Albert Einstein|Einstein, Max Born|Born, Max Planck|Planck, Werner Heisenberg|Heisenberg, Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt|Creuzfeldt, Heinrich Rudolf Hertz|Hertz, Robert Koch|Koch, Nicolaus Copernicus|Copernicus (Kopernikus), Otto Hahn|Hahn, Gottfried Leibniz|Leibniz, Justus von Liebig|Liebig and Robert Bunsen|Bunsen; and inventors and engineers such as Johann Gutenberg|Gutenberg, Nikolaus August Otto|Otto, Werner von Siemens|Siemens, Wernher von Braun|Braun, Gottlieb Daimler|Daimler, Carl Benz|Benz and Rudolf Diesel|Diesel. There are also numerous fine artists from Germany such as the Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer|Dürer, the romanticist Caspar David Friedrich|Friedrich, the Surrealism|surrealist Max Ernst|Ernst, the Expressionism|expressionist Franz Marc|Marc, the Conceptualism|conceptual artist Joseph Beuys|Beuys or the neo expressionist Georg Baselitz|Baselitz. Many historical figures, though not citizens of Germany in the modern sense, were important and influential figures in German culture, such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Kafka and Stefan Zweig. The German language was once the lingua franca of central, eastern and northern Europe, and in Europe it is the second most popular language after English. As a foreign language, German is the third most taught worldwide. [http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/www/en/aussenpolitik/kulturpolitik/sprache/deutsch_html]. It is also the second most used language on the Internet. The language has its origin in Old High German. Germany had two languages: High German and Low German, which—from a linguistic standpoint—were two different languages. Whilst High German was subject to the so-called consonant shift, Low German was not. Today's standard language is based on High German rather than Low German; the latter has been given the status of a minority language by the European Union, although it is less used today in the traditionally Low German-speaking areas of northern Germany. Since about 1970 Germany has once again had a thriving popular culture, now 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. == Miscellaneous topics == *List of German towns *List of German districts *List of universities in Germany *Historical Eastern Germany *Communications in Germany *Transportation in Germany *Tourism in Germany *Tax in Germany *List of Germans|List of famous Germans *List of English exonyms for German toponyms == References == *References and bibliography can be found in the more detailed articles linked to in this article. == External links == {{Commons|Germany}} *[http://www.facts-about-germany.de Facts about Germany] — Official site published by the German Federal Foreign Office *[http://www.deutschland.de/home.php?lang=2 Deutschland.de] — Official German portal *[http://www.campus-germany.de campus-germany.de] — Study and Research in Germany (multilingual) *[http://www.dw-world.de Deutsche Welle] Germany's international broadcaster, 30 language website *[http://www.earth-photography.com/Countries/Germany Pictures of Germany] From the countryside to large cities *[http://www.destatis.de/e_home.htm Destatis.de] — Federal Statistical Office Germany (in English) *[http://www.statistikportal.de/ Statistikportal.de] — More official statistical data *[http://www.bundesregierung.de/en Bundesregierung Deutschland] — Official site of the German Federal Government *[http://www.bundespraesident.de/en Bundespräsident] — Official site of the German Federal President {{EU_countries}} {{Europe}} Category:Germany Category:European Union member states af:Duitsland ang:Þéodiscland ar:ألمانيا an:Alemaña roa-rup:Ghirmânii ast:Alemaña bg:Германия bs:Njemačka ca:Alemanya cs:Německo cv:Германи cy:Yr Almaen da:Tyskland de:Deutschland et:Saksamaa el:Γερμανία als:Deutschland es:Alemania eo:Germanio eu:Alemania fa:آلمان fo:Týskland fr:Allemagne fy:Dútslân ga:An Ghearmáin gd:A' Ghearmailt gl:Alemaña - Deutschland ko:독일 hi:जर्मनी hr:Njemačka io:Germania id:Jerman ia:Germania is:Þýskaland it:Germania he:גרמניה ka:გერმანია kw:Almayn la:Germania lv:Vācija lt:Vokietija lb:Däitschland li:Duutsland hu:Németország mk:Германија ms:Jerman zh-min-nan:Tek-kok nah:Alemantlan na:Germany nl:Duitsland nds:Düütschland ja:ドイツ no:Tyskland nn:Tyskland os:Герман pl:Niemcy pt:Alemanha ro:Germania rm:Germania ru:Германия se:Duiska scn:Girmania simple:Germany sk:Nemecko sl:Nemčija sr:Немачка fi:Saksa sv:Tyskland ta:ஜெர்மனி th:ประเทศเยอรมนี vi:Đức tr:Almanya uk:Німеччина yi:דײַטשלאַנד zh:德国 First page | Prev | Next | Last page |

This article on Germany is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Germany".

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