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___ Germany

Destination Germany, this page gives you comprehensive information about many aspects of the Central European country in its diversity: geography, economy, science, people, culture, environment, government and history.
You will have access to German newspapers and you will find extensive travel and tourism information.


Schloss Bellevue
Schloss Bellevue, Berlin
Official Residence of the Federal President
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Federal Republic of Germany | Deutschland

Country Profile


Flag of Germany
The German Flag

The Federal Republic of Germany is located in the heart of Europe. The nation-state now known as Germany was first unified in 1871 as a modern federal state, the German Empire.
In the first half of the 20th century two devastating World Wars, of which Germany was responsible for, left the country occupied by the victorious Allied powers.
With the advent of the Cold War, two German states were formed in 1949: the western Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR).
The democratic FRG embedded itself in key western economic and security organizations, the EC and NATO, while the communist GDR was on the front line of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. The decline of the USSR and the fall of Communism enabled Germany's unification in 1990.
With the unification of the two German states, the country became Europe's most populous nation and strengthened its role as a key member of the European Union and of the continent's economic, political, and security organizations.

Border Countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland

 Germany in Europe

Official Name:
Bundesrepublik Deutschland

local short form: Deutschland
int'l long form: Federal Republic of Germany
int'l short form: Germany
former: German Empire, German Republic, German Reich.

ISO Country Code: de

Time zone: Central European Time (CET)
Actual Time : Sun-May-11  00:21
Local Time : CET = UTC +1h
Daylight Saving Time (DST) March - October (UTC +2)

Capital City: Berlin
Former (transitional) Capital City: Bonn

Major Cities:
(city population)
Bremen (543 000), Dortmund (592 000), Düsseldorf (568,000), Essen (603 000), Frankfurt (644 000), Hamburg (1.7 million), Hannover (516 000), Köln (964 000), München (1.2 million), Stuttgart (582 000)

Government:
Type: Democratic-parliamentary federal state
Founded: 1949 (Basic Law, i.e., Constitution, promulgated on 23 May 1949).
On the 3rd October 1990, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic unified in accordance with Article 23 of the FRG Basic Law.

Geography:
Location: Central Europe bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea in north.
Area: 357 031 sq. km. (137 850 sq. mi.)
Terrain: Low plain in the north; high plains, hills, and basins in the center and east; mountainous alpine region in the south.
Highest mountain: Zugspitze 2 962 m.

Climate: Generally moderate continental climate without sustained periods of cold or heat, maritime climate in the North, in the South mountain climate in the Alpine regions.

People:
Nationality: German(s)
Population: 83 million
Ethnic groups: Primarily German; Danish minority in the north, Sorbian (Slavic) minority in the east; 7.3 million foreign residents.
Religions: Protestants (27.9 million), Catholics (27.3 million); approximately 3.2 million Muslims.
Language: German, second languages: English, French, Turkish.

Natural resources: Coal, lignite, natural gas, iron ore, copper, nickel, uranium, potash, salt, construction materials, timber, arable land.
Agriculture products: Potatoes, wheat, barley, sugar beets, fruit, cabbages; cattle, pigs, poultry.

Industries: Among the world's largest and most technologically advanced producers of iron, steel, coal, cement, chemicals, machinery, vehicles, machine tools, electronics, food and beverages; shipbuilding; textiles.

Exports partners: France 10.6%, USA 9.3%, UK 8.4%, Italy 7.4%, Netherlands 6.2%, Austria 5.3%, Belgium 5.1%, Spain 4.9%, Switzerland 4% (2003)

Imports partners: France 9.2%, Netherlands 8.4%, USA 7.3%, Italy 6.3%, UK 6%, Belgium 4.9%, China 4.7%, Austria 4% (2003)

Currency: Euro (EUR)

Note: External links will open in a new browser window.   

Official Sites

Bundespräsident
Home page of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany; Horst Köhler's office.

Bundesregierung online
Official site of the German Government.

bund.de
Gateway to services and online information of the German Administration and other public agencies.

Contemporary Issue
G8 Summit Heiligendamm
Official website of the summit.

Auswärtiges Amt
The Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Diplomatic Missions
The German UN Mission
Homepage of the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations.
The German Embassy
German Information Center, Washington D.C. provides comprehensive background information on Germany.
German Missions abroad
List of German Missions worldwide.
Addresses of Foreign Missions in Germany
List of addresses of Missions of foreign countries in Germany (in German).

to The German Federal States
More Links and Information on and about all German Federal States.


Statistics
Statisches Bundesamt Deutschland
The Federal Statistical Office provides Human Geography Data Collections.


Weather
Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD)
Meteorology and Climatology
wetter.de
German weather (in German).



Maps
to Map of Germany
Political Map of Germany.
Google Earth Google Map Germany (Deutschland)
Zoomable map and satellite view of Germany.
Google Earth Google Map Berlin
Zoomable map and satellite view of Germany's capital city.

to Map of Europe
Political map of Europe.

 

German News

German News
Recent news and headlines.
Headlines
An overview of recent news by the German Information Center.
great site Deutsche Welle (DW) [German Wave]
News and information in 35 languages.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung - FAZ
Last but not least the FAZ online! (in German).
Frankfurter Rundschau
National and international news.
Focus
Website of the weekly news magazine (in German - partly in English).
Handelsblatt
Daily business and financial publication (English summaries).
Netzeitung.de
Internet distributed News site (in German)
Paperball
Retrieves articles of the latest news (in German).
SPIEGEL
Since more than 50ty years sophisticated News. (German, partly English)
Stern
Weekly Magazine (German).
Tagesschau
German TV News. (German).
Die Zeit
Weekly News and background information (in German).

Initiative Nachrichtenaufklärung
Founded in May 1997, in order to publish once in the year a rank list of the most neglected topics and news in the media of the Federal Republic of Germany.

to German Newspapers online
More links to German newspapers online.
 

 

Arts & Culture

Joseph Beuys
Painter, sculptor, teacher, performance artist, activist, theorist: Everybody is an artist - The Joseph Beuys Online Guide.
Deutsche Kultur International
Information on German cultural exchange and international cultural relations.
 update  Documenta 12 (16/06--23/09 2007)
Important exhibition of contemporary planetary art, Kassel.
Alexander von Humboldt
In search of knowledge far beyond the horizons of his time.
Goethe-Institut / Inter Nationes
Institution for cultural, social and political communication between Germany and foreign countries in the media area.
MASALA Welt-Beat Festival (4. - 15. July 2007)
Summer in the City of Hannover, World Beat Festival, traditional and modern world music (site in German).
new Monopol
Monopol - Magazin für Kunst und Leben

royal preussen.de
Official Website of The House of Hohenzollern.

__German Literature (very small selection)
Bertolt Brecht
The International Brecht Society Homepage, dedicated to the works and thought of Brecht.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Wikipedia entry about J.W. Goethe, one of the key figures of German literature.
The Grimm Brothers
Well known for their Children's and Household Tales (Grimms' Fairy Tales, compiled by D. L. Ashliman)
Fairy Tales by the Grimm Brothers
Web edition of tales from the Grimm Brothers' Kinder- und Hausmärchen (in German and English)
Hermann Hesse
The Steppenwolf's page (in English and German).
Thomas Mann (Buddenbrookhaus)
Maybe you will miss Felix Krull at Buddenbrookhaus somehow; (in German).
Karl-May-Stiftung
Site about the storyteller by the Karl May Foundation (in German).
Perry Rhodan
The world's greatest space adventure series, in print since 1961.

Die Deutsche Bibliothek
The national library and national bibliographic information centre.
Schiller-Nationalmuseum / Deutsches Literaturarchiv
Schiller National Museum / German Literature Archive, Marbach. Collection and research of the newer German literature.

New books in German
The web site presents regular reviews of new titles of contemporary German literature, particularly recommended for translation into English.

__German Cyberspace Culture
web culture business inter active
Excellent and competent information on everything internet, not all 4 free (in German)
great site Freedom for Links
Against the misuse of the Internet. (German)
web culture Governments on the WWW
Gunnar Anzingers comprehensive list of links to governmental institutions worldwide
  LEO Link Everything Online
A WWW Informationsystem online since June 1994, including the LEO's English - German dictionary
Metropolis
German online community - for all, not for everyone (in German)
great site NetNews
AME's netNews letter regarding more platforms than MS (in German)
politik-digital
An independent information and communication platform in the field of Internet and politics (German)
Space Night
Space in TV (German)
web culture Telepolis
German Internet Culture.
great site Timeticker
Int. Timezones, the exact time for every place on the world by Martin Zwernemann

Museums
The Bauhaus, founded in Weimar 1919 by Walter Gropius, until today one of the most famous and most avant-garde art and design schools.
Bauhaus-Archiv Museum für Gestaltung
The bauhaus-archive museum of design.
Bauhaus Dessau Foundation
Preserves and conveys the historic heritage of the Bauhaus.

Deutsches Museum
Museum of natural science and technology.
cultural reference Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland - Bonn
The Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Museum Ludwig - Cologne
The collection comprises the most important stages and positions in the development of 20th century and contemporary art.
Naturmuseum Senckenberg
Natural History Museum, Frankfurt.
Pinakothek der Moderne
One of the world's largest museums of modern art.
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Preussischer Kulturbesitz
Various Collections and exhibitions.

Museumdirectories
German Museums
A Linklist of German Museums (German).
Museen und Ausstellungen
Guide to Museums & Exhibitions of the German-speaking world (in German).

Music
Bayreuther Festspiele
Götterdämmerung, Meistersinger, Lohengrin, Rheingold, Siegfried, etc.
Herbert Grönemeyer
Mensch - contemporary German music.
popkomm
More or less, the greatest world music event - Cologne.
Scorpions
Contemporary German music.
 
 Books about German literature and art.
   
  Art
US books German Contemporary Art
US books Books from and about Joseph Beuys
German books Joseph Beuys (in German)
   
Literature
US books German World Literature
US books German literature
US books Books from Goethe
German books Goethe (in German)
   
US books Grimm's Grimmest by the Grimm Brothers
   
US books Books from Hermann Hesse
German books Hermann Hesse (in German)
   
US books Books from Thomas Mann
German books Thomas Mann (in German)
   
US books Books from Karl May
German books Karl May (in German)
   
US books Books from Heinrich Böll
German books Heinrich Böll (in German)
   
US books Books from Günter Grass
German books Günter Grass (in German)
   
  Adventurer
US books Books from and about Alexander von Humboldt
German books Alexander von Humboldt (in German)
   
   
Bode Museum Berlin
Bode Museum Berlin © nationsonline.org

Business & Economy

Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Arbeit
The Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour.
Bundesagentur für Aussenwirtschaft (bfai)
The German Office for Foreign Trade offers a wide range of useful information about business opportunities.

Deutsche Börse AG
German Stock Exchange.
Deutsche Bundesbank
The Germany Central bank.

Deutsche Industrie- und Handelskammertag (DIHK)
The Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) is the central organisation for 82 German chambers.

Do's and Don'ts
The Devil is in the Details
25 Etiquette Tips for Business Professionals.

Transportation
Airline
Deutsche Lufthansa
The German Airline.
Germanwings
Cologne-Bonn based low fare airline, offers flights all over Europe.
Hapag-Lloyd Express
Low cost airline offers flights to destinations in France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom; owned by
TUI
One of the world's largest travel and tourism business.
Thomas Cook Airlines (Condor)
German based airline offers 65 destinations worldwide.

Railroad
Deutsche Bahn AG
The former "Deutsche Bundesbahn".

German Brand Names
Abeking & Rasmussen
Yacht- and Boatyard
Agfa
Photographic films.
Adidas
Sportswear
Bosch
Electronic
Braun
Formerly a great name in consumer electronic.
Glashütte
Time
Hugo Boss
German tailor
Krupp
Steel
Leica
Cameras
Meissen
Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen.
Zeiss
Optical Systems.

Cars
Audi
A typical German Car
BMW
A typical Bavarian Car
Mercedes-Benz
Typical German Car
Porsche
Also a very typical German Car
Volkswagen
A very typical German Car.

Business Crime Control e.V.
Civil rights movement devoted to combating business crime (in German).
Deutsche Standards
Made in Germany - Information on German Brands.
 



Frankfurt
Business Metropolis Frankfurt/Main
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Destination Germany - Travel and Tour Guides

Discover Germany: Berlin, Cologne, Munich, Oktoberfest, Black Forest, German Alps, Lake of Constance, Zugspitze.
Accommodation, hotels, attractions, festivals, events, tourist boards, biking, skiing, hiking, climbing, tours and much more.

German National Tourist Board
Germany - anything but typical, offers all the information for visitors of Germany.

deutschland.de
Portal of the Federal Republic of Germany, offers a representative collection of essential references to German information on the internet.

Tatsachen über Deutschland
Facts about Germany--the Federal Foreign Office provides up-to-date information on the Federal Republic of Germany.

Germany Info
The German Embassy at Washington provides also information on the country.

The German Way
Germany for Visitors - made by a visitor.

City Guides
Berlin Tourism
The official tourism site of Berlin.
Cologne (Köln)
Official website of the City of Cologne.
Munich ( München )
Bavaria's capital city online.

Official City Sites
Berlin
Stadt Berlin
Bonn
Bundesstadt Bonn
Bremen
Dortmund
Düsseldorf
Essen
Frankfurt
AltFrankfurt
Images of the Old City of Frankfurt am Main, once Europe's largest preserved medieval city
Hamburg
Hannover
Köln
The Official Web Site of the City of Cologne
München
The Official Web Site of the City of Munich
Stuttgart

Websites of German cities usually use the city name plus the .de extension, e.g.: Heidelberg.de

Tourism Guides for the German Federal States and Regions
Tourismus Baden-Württemberg
A guide to Baden-Württemberg.
Bodensee Tourism
Information for the Lake of Constance region.
Schwarzwald Tourismus
The official Black Forest Hompage, one of the famoust and popular holiday regions in Germany.

Bayern Tourism
The Bavarian Tourist Board, information about Bavarian tourism and tourism resorts.
German Alpine Road - Deutsche Alpenstrasse
Information on the German Alpine Road.
Oktoberfest
This world famous and biggest public festival in the world attracts around 6 million visitors every year.
Zugspitze
Website about Germany's highest peak.

Brandenburg
Brandenburg as a holiday destination.
Hessen Touristik Service
Tourist Guide Hesse, the Official Site (in German)
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Discover the East of North Germany.
Reiseland Niedersachsen
Official tourism guide Lower-Saxony.
Nordrhein-Westfalen Tourismus
Official tourism guide of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Rhineland-Palatinate
Guide to the Rhineland-Palatinate's seven holiday regions.
Urlaub im Saarland
A tourist guide to Saarland (in German only).
Landestourismusverband Sachsen
Destination Saxony.
Reiseland Sachsen-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt tourism (in German).
Schleswig - Holstein Tourismus
Schleswig - Holstein tourism guide (in German only).

to More Guides to Germany
 
 Books about Travel in Germany

US books 

Travel Guides Germany
   Travel Guides Germany
   Guide de tourisme et voyages en Allemagne (in French)
UK books  Germany Travel Guides
fr books  Guide de tourisme et voyages en Allemagne
German books  German Books: Reiseführer Deutschland

Education & Research

Deutsche Bildungsserver (DBS)
The internet guide to the German education system (in German and English).

Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam (AIP)
Cosmic Magnetic Fields, Solar- and Stellar Activity and Extragalactic Astrophysics and Cosmology.
Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie
The German Psychological Society.
DIN Deutsches Institut für Normung
The German Institute for Standardization.
Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft
The German Physical Society (German).
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und Raumfahrt DLR
Germany's national space agency.
FGAN - Forschungsgesellschaft für Angewandte Naturwissenschaften
Research Establishment for Applied Science.
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
Development of innovations in key technologies.
GEIN (German Environmental Information Network)
Environmental Research, Environmental Protection; Regional Geography.
GEO Explorer
Science magazine (German).
Geo-Guide
Geography related Library Service by the University Library, Göttingen (SUB) and the University Library "Georgius Agricola" of Freiberg.
GMD
National Research Center for Information Technology.
Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum für Informationstechnik
Fast Algorithms, Fast Computers.
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of the Sciences.
Vereinigung Deutscher Landerziehungsheime e.V.
Exquisite Education (in German).
Morgenwelt
Online magazine for science, scientific research and more... (German and English).
SCOOLZ
Internet Magazine with content 4 Kids and Teachers (in German).

 
Higher Education
RWTH - Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule
Aachen
Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität
Bonn
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität
Freiburg
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Founded in 1737.
Ruprecht-Karls-Universität
Heidelberg, founded in 1386.
TU Ilmenau
Universität zu Köln
The University of Cologne is one of the largest universities in Germany, founded 1388.
Universität Mannheim
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
München
Technische Universität
München
C.v.O. Universität Oldenburg
Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Education, Economics.
Universität Passau
The history of the university begins in 1612 (in German).
Universität Tübingen
Founded in 1477.

to More links to German Universities
 
 

Environment & Nature

Links to federal organizations and NGO's with activities in key issues in environmental politics like Climate Protection, Energy Politics, Globalization, Nature Conservation and Sustainable Development.

Umweltbundesamt (UBA)
Federal Environmental Agency.

Forum Umwelt und Entwicklung
Forum on Environment & Development founded by leading German NGO's.

Aktionsgemeinschaft Solidarische Welt e.V.
Since 1957 Action for World Solidarity (ASW) supports small, self- initiated groups in India, Africa and Brazil.

Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland e. V.
Alliance for environment and nature conservation, the German branch of Friends of the Earth.

Deutscher Naturschutzring e.V.
Umbrella organization for German environmental organizations (in German).

Greenpeace e.V.
The German branch of Greenpeace.

WWF Deutschland
World Wide Fund for Nature, Germany.
 
 

Heritage & History
 
Heritage
cultural reference Kölner Dom
The 750 years old cathedral of Cologne.
Oberammergau
A play of life and death, promised in a moment of mortal threat. Passion play since 1634.
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz
The official web site of the Berlin State Library - Prussian Cultural Heritage.
ELSTER
Scientific collection of links of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (in German).

History
  Deutsches Archäologisches Institut
Research in archaeology and related fields.
Deutsches Historisches Museum
The German Historical Museum, Berlin.
Facts about Germany: History
Comprehensive information about German's history from the Middle Ages to present.
German History
Virtual Library resources of German History.
Virtual Library Geschichte
VL Geschichte presents academically valuable websites on historical topics.
Haus der Geschichte
German History.
Monumenta Germaniae Historica (Dt. Institut f. Erforschung des Mittelalters)
German Research Institute for the Middle Ages (German).

__Additional Information on Germans History
History of Germany
Comprehensive information about the history of Germany, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
 
Books about German's history Books about the German History
US books General History of Germany
US books Early History of Germany

Frankfurt, Old City
Frankfurt, Old City © nationsonline.org
 

Language
Deutsch für Reisende
German/English basic words: Numbers, shopping/dining, travel etc.
German For Travellers
Start now to learn your first German phrases; site with basics of German online.

__Dictionaries
German - English Dictionary - TU Chemnitz
A simple dictionary based on a wordlist of about 145,000 entries.
  LEO's English - German dictionary
English <-> German dictionary online contains 370,730 entries in its database and has a discussion forum (your not alone).

 
Books dictionary Books / Dictionaries
US books English - German dictionary
French books English - German dictionary

 

Search

allesklar
Directory of German sites (in German).
@-web
Search engines knowhow (in German).
Dino-Online
German Index (in German).
Fireball
Search engine for german sites (in German).
Web.de
Search Index (in German).
 
German Usenet
soc.culture.german

Additional Information

Robert J. Shea's German Resources
BBC News Country Profile: Germany
Governments on the WWW: Germany
Open Directory: Germany
Wikipedia: Germany
The World Factbook -- Germany
 
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The Germany page was last modified on: Thursday, 20-Sep-2007 12:27:41 CEST


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