INTRODUCTION

Germany is one of Europe’s largest nations, with one of the largest populations. Although it has played a major part in European and world history, it has been a single, unified nation for less than 100 years. The area that now makes up Germany originally was a cluster of partially independent cities and states. In 1871 the Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck created a unified Germany. In this century, Germany fought in two world wars (World War I, 1914–1918, and World War II, 1939–1945), and lost both.

Following the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, the nation was divided by the countries that had defeated it: the United States, France, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. The American, French, and British zones were combined in 1949 to create the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). That same year, the Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic(East Germany). Germany was separated for four decades.

Both Germanys recovered from the damage of the war with impressive speed. However, progress was faster and more dramatic in the West than in the East. Because of this, nearly three million East Germans eventually fled to West Germany, seeking better lives. Finally, in 1961, the East Germans put up the Berlin Wall and sealed off the nation’s borders.

In the late 1980s, however, Germany became caught up in the changes sweeping communist Eastern Europe. The destruction of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 became one of the most important symbols of the communist system’s collapse. In March 1990, the East Germans held their first free elections. The two German nations were reunited on October 3, 1990.

LOCATION

Germany’s main regions are the Bavarian Alps (which form the boundaries with Austria and Switzerland), the South German Hill Region, the Central Uplands, and the North German Plain. Major rivers include the Rhine in the west and the Danube, which flows from west to east.

Germany has the second largest population of any European country—over 81 million. More than 90 percent of the people are ethnic Germans, descended from Germanic tribes. Since the 1950s, significant numbers of foreign workers have come into Germany from countries including Turkey, Italy, Greece, and the former Yugoslavia. By the end of 1991, Germany had a foreign population of close to 6 million.

LANGUAGE

Standard (or High) German is the nation’s official language, but many other dialects are spoken throughout the country. Low German is spoken along the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts and on Germany’s offshore islands. It has some features in common with Dutch and even English (examples: Standard GermanWasser,Low GermanWater;Standard GermanApfel,Low GermanAppel). Sorbian is a Slavic language spoken by approximately 60,000 people in eastern Germany. A number of different languages, including Turkish, are spoken by Germany’s immigrant populations.

Germans must get government approval for the names of their children. Male children must have obviously male names, and female children must have obviously female names. Names must also be chosen from a pool of distinctly German names. These include Dieter and Helmut for boys and Katarina and Christa for girls.