Portal:Germany

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

Germany (German: Deutschland), officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north and the Alps to the south. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, and Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west.

Germany includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,578 square kilometres (138,062 sq mi) and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With 83 million inhabitants, it is the second most populous state of Europe after Russia, the most populous state lying entirely in Europe, as well as the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is a very decentralized country. Its capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while Frankfurt serves as its financial capital and has the country's busiest airport.

In 1871, Germany became a nation-state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the Revolution of 1918–19, the empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic. The Nazi seizure of power in 1933 led to World War II, and the Holocaust. After the end of World War II in Europe and a period of Allied occupation, two new German states were founded: West Germany, formed from the American, British, and French occupation zones, and East Germany, formed from the western part of the Soviet occupation zone, reduced by the newly established Oder-Neisse line. Following the Revolutions of 1989 that ended communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe, the country was reunified on 3 October 1990.

Today, Germany is a federal parliamentary republic led by a chancellor. It is a great power with a strong economy. The Federal Republic of Germany was a founding member of the European Economic Community in 1957 and the European Union in 1993. Read more...

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Emanuel Lasker (German pronunciation: [eˈmaːnuɛl ˈlaskɐ] ^ⓘ; December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher. He was the second World Chess Champion, holding the title for 27 years, from 1894 to 1921, the longest reign of any officially recognised World Chess Champion in history. In his prime, Lasker was one of the most dominant champions, and he is still generally regarded as one of the strongest players in history.

His contemporaries used to say that Lasker used a "psychological" approach to the game, and even that he sometimes deliberately played inferior moves to confuse opponents. Recent analysis, however, indicates that he was ahead of his time and used a more flexible approach than his contemporaries, which mystified many of them. Lasker knew contemporary analyses of openings well but disagreed with many of them. He published chess magazines and five chess books, but later players and commentators found it difficult to draw lessons from his methods.

Lasker made contributions to the development of other games. He was a first-class contract bridge player and wrote about bridge, Go, and his own invention, Lasca. His books about games presented a problem that is still considered notable in the mathematical analysis of card games. Lasker was a research mathematician who was known for his contributions to commutative algebra, which included proving the primary decomposition of the ideals of polynomial rings. His philosophical works and a drama that he co-wrote, however, received little attention. (Full article...)

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Image 1
Walchensee Hydroelectric Power Station
Photograph credit: Diego Delso
The Walchensee Hydroelectric Power Station is a storage power station in Bavaria, Germany. The turbines, seen here, are fed by water from the Walchensee which is then released into the Kochelsee. The power station uses the hydraulic head of about 200 metres (660 ft) between the two natural lakes, and water from the Rißbach river is also used to augment the supply. The installed capacity is 124 MW with an annual production of 300 GWh; this is one of the largest of such power plants in Germany.
Image 2
Cologne Stadtbahn
Photograph credit: Martin Falbisoner
The underground station Rochusplatz on the Cologne Stadtbahn, a light rail system in the German city of Cologne. The station entrance is at the junction of Venloer Straße with Äußere Kanalstraße in the district of Ehrenfeld. It was opened in 1992 and consists of a mezzanine and one island platform with two rail tracks. The station was previously known as Äußere Kanalstraße, but was renamed to its present title on 15 December 2019. The system uses pairs of K5000/K5200 units built by Bombardier Transportation, which are almost identical to the M5000 trams used by Metrolink in Manchester, England.
Image 3
Neue Wache
Photo credit: Daniel Schwen
The interior of the Neue Wache, the central memorial of Germany for victims of war and tyranny. Located in Berlin, the building was originally built as a guardhouse, and has been used as a war memorial since 1931. The statue, Mother with her Dead Son is directly under the oculus, and so is exposed to the rain, snow and cold, symbolising the suffering of civilians during World War II.
Image 4
German Instrument of Surrender
The German Instrument of Surrender, the main portion of which was signed at Reims, France, at 02:41 on 7 May 1945, was the legal instrument that established the armistice ending World War II in Europe. It was signed by representatives of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, the Allied Expeditionary Force and Soviet High Command. Another act of military surrender was signed, shortly before midnight, on 8 May in the outskirts of Berlin, Germany, at the insistence of the Soviets.
Image 5
Church of Peace in Sanssouci Park
Church of Peace
Credit: Wolfgang Staudt
The Church of Peace in the Marly Gardens, Sanssouci Park
Image 6
East Frisia
Photo credit: Matthias Süßen
Morning fog on the plains of East Frisia, a coastal region in the northwest of the German federal state of Lower Saxony. It connects Western Frisia (in the Netherlands) with the district of Nordfriesland ("Northern Frisia") in Schleswig-Holstein, all of which belong to the historic and geographic Frisia.
Image 7
Dresden
Photochrom: Detroit Publishing Co.
Restoration: Lise Broer
An 1890s photochrom print of Dresden, the capital city of Saxony in Germany, with Dresden Frauenkirche (left), Augustus Bridge (centre), and Katholische Hofkirche (right) visible. Dresden in the early 20th century was a leading European centre of culture and science, but suffered heavy damage due to an Allied bombing on February 13, 1945.
Image 8
Kadavar
Photograph: Henry W. Laurisch
Kadavar are a rock band from Berlin, Germany, founded in 2010. Their retro sound, incorporating psychedelic rock and stoner rock, has been compared to bands of the 1970s hard rock/heavy metal era. Kadavar currently consists of three members: guitarist and lead vocalist Christoph "Lupus" Lindemann, drummer Christoph "Tiger" Bartelt, and bassist Simon "Dragon" Bouteloup.
Image 9
Charlottenburg Palace
Photograph: Thomas Wolf
Charlottenburg Palace is a large palace in Charlottenburg, a part of the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf borough of Berlin, Germany. The palace was built at the end of the 17th century and expanded during the 18th century. It includes much exotic internal decoration in baroque and rococo styles. It was badly damaged during the Second World War, but has since been reconstructed, becoming a major tourist attraction.
Image 10
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
Credit: Metoc
The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a Holocaust memorial in Berlin
Image 11
Speicherstadt in Hamburg
Speicherstadt
Credit: Dietmar Rabich
Speicherstadt in Hamburg, June 2016
Image 12
German war bond poster
Poster: Lucian Bernhard; restoration: Bellhalla
A 1917 poster by Lucian Bernhard intended to sell war bonds in Germany. The caption, roughly translated, is "This is how your money helps you fight! Turned into submarines, it keeps enemy shells away! That's why you should subscribe to war bonds!" Mostly excluded from international financial markets during World War I, Germany was largely limited to domestic borrowing. The bond drives proved extremely successful, raising approximately 100 billion marks in funds.
Image 13
German New Guinea
Design credit: German New Guinea Company; photographed by the National Numismatic Collection
German New Guinea was a German colonial protectorate established in 1884 in the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups. The German New Guinea Company was founded in Berlin by Adolph von Hansemann and a syndicate of German bankers for the purpose of colonizing and exploiting the protectorate's resources. This gold coin, worth 20 New Guinean marks, was issued by the German New Guinea Company in 1895, and is now part of the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution.
Image 14
Albert Bierstadt
Painting credit: Albert Bierstadt
Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902) was a German-American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West, such as this oil-on-canvas painting, entitled Among the Sierra Nevada, California, created in 1868. He painted the landscape in his Rome studio, and exhibited it in Berlin and London before shipping it to the United States. His choice of grandiose subjects was matched by his entrepreneurial flair; his exhibitions of individual works were accompanied by promotion, ticket sales, and, in the words of one critic, a "vast machinery of advertisement and puffery". This work is in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Image 15
Völkerschlachtdenkmal in Leipzig
Monument to the Battle of the Nations
Credit: André Karwath
A night shot of the Völkerschlachtdenkmal (Monument of the Battle of the Nations) in Leipzig, Germany.
Image 16
Moritzburg Castle
Moritzburg Castle
Credit: Olaf Leillinger
Jagdschloss (hunting lodge) Moritzburg near Dresden in Saxony (1999)
Image 17
Regensburg, Germany
Photo credit: Karsten Dörre
A twilight panorama of Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany with the 12th century bridge Steinerne Brücke and Regensburg Cathedral on the left and the river Danube in the foreground. Located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, the first settlements in the area date to the Stone Age. A Roman fort was constructed in 179. In contrast to almost all other major German cities, Regensburg had little damage from Allied air raids in World War II and thus has an almost intact medieval city center, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Image 18
Wind beeches on the Schauinsland in the Black Forest
Wind beeches on the Schauinsland in the Black Forest
Credit: Richard Fabi
Image 19
Monument to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in Berlin-Mitte
Marx-Engels Forum
Credit: Manfred Brückels
Monument to Marx and Engels on the Marx-Engels-Forum in Berlin-Mitte. The Berliner Dom is visible in the background.
Image 20
Deutsche Mark
Banknote: Allied-occupied Germany (image courtesy of the National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History)
A one Deutsche Mark banknote issued by Allied-occupied Germany and circulated by the United States Army Command in 1948. This was the first of three issues of West German currency introduced that year. The Mark remained the official currency of West Germany until German reunification in 1990, then the official currency of Germany until the adoption of the euro in 2002.
Image 21
Stefan Heym
Photograph: Marcel Antonisse / Anefo
Helmut Flieg (1913–2001) was a German writer best-known by the pseudonym Stefan Heym. He lived in the United States (or served in its army abroad) between 1935 and 1952, before moving back to his native Germany. He published works in English and German at home and abroad, including Nazis in the U.S.A. (1938), Goldsborough (1953), and Five Days in June (1977).
Image 22
German Instrument of Surrender
Photograph credit: Lt. Moore; restored by Adam Cuerden
The German Instrument of Surrender was the legal document that effected the termination of the Nazi regime and ended World War II in Europe. A July 1944 draft version had also included the surrender of the German government, but this was changed due to concern that there might be no functional German government that could surrender; instead, the document stated that it could be "superseded by any general instrument of surrender imposed by, or on behalf of the United Nations", which was done the next month.

This photograph shows Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel signing the German Instrument of Surrender in Berlin. The first surrender document was signed on 7 May 1945 in Reims by General Alfred Jodl, but this version was not recognized by the Soviet High Command and a revised version was required. Prepared in three languages on 8 May, it was not ready for signing in Berlin until after midnight; consequently, the physical signing was delayed until nearly 1:00 a.m. on 9 May, and backdated to 8 May to be consistent with the Reims agreement and public announcements of the surrender already made by Western leaders.

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Anniversaries for May 9

1805 - Death of poet Friedrich Schiller
1837 - Birth of engineer and industrialist Adam Opel
1907 - Birth of Nazi youth leader Baldur von Schirach
1921 - Birth of resistance fighter Sophie Scholl
1955 - West Germany joins the NATO

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Did you know...

... that Oksana Lyniv founded the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine in 2016 and conducted them in thirty concerts across ten music festivals in 2022?
... that Thomas Mann insisted on omitting a passage on homoeroticism in the English translation of his work "On the German Republic"?
... that Heike Heubach became the first deaf member of the German Bundestag?
... that in opposition to his parents, opera star Joseph Schwarz began his career by running away from home to join a band of traveling minstrels?
... that Robert Winterberg's 1911 operetta Die Dame in Rot was adapted into English for Broadway?
... that in 1933 Nazi sympathisers attempted to kidnap two German-Jewish filmmakers in Liechtenstein?
... that in just one night, thousands of books on the experiences and medical care of transgender people in Nazi Germany were burned for being "un-German"?
... that Tilmann Köhler directed Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro in 2023 with playful "serious games" in which the women win by "wit, cleverness and presence of mind"?
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German wine is primarily produced in the west of Germany, along the river Rhine and its tributaries, with the oldest plantations going back to the Roman era. Approximately 60 percent of German wine is produced in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, where 6 of the 13 regions (Anbaugebiete) for quality wine are situated. Germany has about 103,000 hectares (252,000 acres or 1,030 square kilometers) of vineyard, which is around one tenth of the vineyard surface in Spain, France or Italy. The total wine production is usually around 10 million hectoliters annually, corresponding to 1.3 billion bottles, which places Germany as the eighth-largest wine-producing country in the world. White wine accounts for almost two thirds of the total production.

As a wine country, Germany has a mixed reputation internationally, with some consumers on the export markets associating Germany with the world's most elegant and aromatically pure white wines while other see the country mainly as the source of cheap, mass-market semi-sweet wines such as Liebfraumilch. Among enthusiasts, Germany's reputation is primarily based on wines made from the Riesling grape variety, which at its best is used for aromatic, fruity and elegant white wines that range from very crisp and dry to well-balanced, sweet and of enormous aromatic concentration. While primarily a white wine country, red wine production surged in the 1990s and early 2000s, primarily fuelled by domestic demand, and the proportion of the German vineyards devoted to the cultivation of dark-skinned grape varieties has now stabilized at slightly more than a third of the total surface. For the red wines, Spätburgunder, the domestic name for Pinot noir, is in the lead. (Full article...)

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