In a movie, in which a party is carted across Europe in 7 days, somebody says: "If it's Thursday, it must be Brussels." But the classic tourist triathlon "get out of the bus - take a snapshot - get back into the bus" is no way to explore a country. Especially not Germany, with its rich cultural scene, its coastlines, low mountain ranges and the Alps, the divide between East and West that is still palpable, its thriving cities and calm nature reserves. A few facts about culture, language, history and politics will help to gain a better understanding of the country and its people.

Germany lies in a temperate climate zone characterised by west winds, between the Atlantic Ocean and the more continental climate to the East. (weather forecasts and current information for several cities in Germany under weather.yahoo.com)

The longest linear distance across the country from North to South is 876 kilometres; from East to West it is 640 kilometres. Germany's highest mountain is the Zugspitze, which is 2,962 metres high. (City maps and country maps on www.deutschland.de or maps.google.de)

Germany's population is 82.5 million. The proportion of foreign nationals is 8.8 percent.

German is the official language. "Hochdeutsch" - standard German - is spoken along with a number of regional dialects, such as the Bavarian, Swabian, Palatinate, Hessian, Saxon and North German dialects. Sorbian, Danish and Romany are spoken by minorities.

The most important public service television and radio broadcasting stations are ARD and ZDF, Deutsche Welle and a number of cooperating regional broadcasters, plus a large number of commercial radio and television stations such as RTL, SAT1, and Pro7. There are more than 300 daily newspapers - Bild, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Die Welt or the weekly newspaper Die Zeit, to name just a few. There are also a number of national news magazines, like Spiegel and Focus.

The Euro was introduced in 2002 and replaced the Deutsche Mark.

100 Euros (EUR) = 142.980 US Dollars (USD); 100 US Dollars = 69.93985 Euros

100 Euros (EUR) = 69.65700 British Pounds (GBP); 100 British Pounds = 143.561 Euros

(Source: www.oanda.com/converter/classic, 22^nd October 2007)

About one third each of the population is either Roman Catholic or Protestant. About three percent of the population are of Muslim faith. There are about 108,000 Jewish people in Germany. (More detailed information on religion in Germany in English on Wikipedia under en.wikipedia.org.)

Germany's constitution is called The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (Grundgesetz). The preamble of the Grundgesetz reads: "Conscious of their responsibility before God and man, inspired by the determination to promote world peace as an equal partner in a united Europe, the German people, in the exercise of their constituent power, have adopted this Basic Law." The first Article of the Grundgesetz is: "Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority."

(Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (Grundgesetz, GG) in English on www.iuscomp.org)

The four occupying powers - USA, USSR, UK and France - partitioned Germany into four zones of military occupation at the Potsdam Conference in August 1945. In April 1949, the three Western powers decided to unite the Western parts of Germany into one "trizone". East Germany remained under the "protection" of the Soviet Union and proclaimed its own state sovereignty.

 

On the 24^th of May 1949, the German Grundgesetz came into effect: the Federal Republic of Germany was born. Bonn became the nation's capital. The first Bundestag elections took place in August 1949. The enactment of the Constitution of the German Democratic Republic on the 7^th of October 1949constituted the East German state. Following several "Berlin crises", and in order to stop the mass exodus, the GDR's government closed the border to West Berlin on the 13^th of August 1961 and began erecting the Berlin Wall. The East-West divide led to tense relationships between East and West Germany in the following decades.

After many years of conservative government by the CDU/CSU parties in West Germany, a coalition government of social and liberal parties took over and tried to improve relations with the Eastern European countries. The SED, East Germany's socialist party, formed the government of the German Democratic Republic. Towards the end of the 1980s, the SED lost a great deal of its prestige and power.

In the night of the 9^th November 1989, the borders of the GDR were opened in an act of surprise and the dramatic "Fall of the Wall" accelerated the downfall of the SED regime and the end of the GDR as a separate German state. People could now move freely between East and West Germany.

On the 1^st of July 1990, the first freely elected new GDR government and the German Bundesregierung agreed on an economic, currency and social union of the states and signed the Reunification Treaty. The five East German Laender and East Berlin became a part of the Federal Republic of Germany and subjects of the German Grundgesetz on the 3^rd of October 1990. Since then, the 3^rd of October - the "German Day of Unity" - is the German national holiday.

(Find out more on de.wikipedia.org (1) and de.wikipedia.org (2))

Germany is a federal republic, consisting of 16 federal states - the Bundeslaender, or Laender. Berlin is the German capital and has about 3.4 million inhabitants. The Federal Republic of Germany is a founding member of the European Union, and with more than 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the EU's most densely populated country. Germany is also member of the United Nations, the OECD, NATO, and OSCE as well as the Group of Eight (G8).

The German Bundestag has 614 members, each elected for a period of four years. Each of the 16 Laender is represented in the German Bundesrat through members of its state government. The Federal President (Bundespräsident) is the head of state. Dr. Horst Köhler has been in office as Federal President since July 2004. The government is headed by the Federal Chancellor (Bundeskanzler). Dr. Angela Merkel has been in office since November 2005.

 

(More information on Germany's political system is available on www.tatsachen-ueber-deutschland.de. Much more information on education, health, culture, media, sports, state, tourism, environment, economy and science in Germany is available on www.deutschland.de)

More about lifestyle, education and career in Germany is available on www.young-germany.de.