CONTENT
THE COUNTRY
Germany is a country in Central Europe. It has nine neighbouring states.
Its full name is “Federal Republic of Germany”.
Germany is in fact a federal state consisting of 16 federal states.
These are Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Bremen, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, Thuringia, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Berlin, Saxony-Anhalt, North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate.
Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen are city states, which are small federal states consisting of only one city.
Each of the federal states has its own emblem. Do you already know some of them?
Try to match them up correctly.
RIVERS
Almost a third of Germany’s surface is covered by forest.
Many rivers flow through Germany. The longest river is the Rhine.
It flows in the west of Germany. It comes from Switzerland, then flows 865 kilometres through Germany before disappearing into the Netherlands, where it flows into the North Sea.
So the Rhine flows from south to north. So do the Weser and the Elbe, which also both flow into the North Sea. The Oder, which forms the border river to Poland, flows into the Baltic Sea.
The Danube flows in the south of Germany. It rises in Germany and then flows east to Austria. The Danube flows through a total of ten countries before it flows into the Black Sea.
There are about 900 rivers in Germany with a length of ten kilometres or more.
Do you live close to a river? What is its name?
HISTORY
An early form of the human is called “homo heidelbergensis” . They lived in the area that is now Germany more than half a million years ago. People also lived there later, although they were rather few in number.
Germanic tribes, Romans and Celts
The first people in Germany of whom we know a bit today were the Germanic tribes. The German language later developed from their languages. The Celts, on the other hand, lived in the south of what is now Germany. The Romans conquered the south and west of the country. The remaining Germanic tribes managed to fight back. The most famous battle that the Romans lost was the Battle of Varus in 9 AD.
At that time, the Roman Empire had already fallen and the Germanic tribes had their own empires. The largest became the Frankish Empire. Later, the west of this empire became France, and the east belonged to Germany.
The Holy Roman Empire
The empire of the Germans, the Holy Roman Empire, ended in 1806, when Napoleon Bonaparte ensured that the ruler of Austria was no longer German Emperor.
German Empire
The Germans had a common country, a modern state, since 1871.
National Socialism, Second World War, Federal Republic of Germany
The German Reich first had emperors and had been a republic since 1919. In the years from 1933 to 1945, National Socialism ruled, triggering the Second World War. At the end of this war, many German cities were almost completely destroyed. The Second World War ended in 1945 with the defeat of National Socialist Germany. In the Potsdam Agreement of 2 August 1945, the four victorious powers – the USA, the Soviet Union, Great Britain and France – decided to divide Germany into four occupation zones. Tensions soon arose between the victorious powers. The three western zones became democratic and free elections were held. On 23 May 1949, the Basic Law was promulgated for the Federal Republic of Germany that had emerged from the three zones. A democratic German state was created with Bonn as its capital.
Foundation of the GDR
In the zone administered by the Soviet Union, a state dependent on the Soviet Union developed: the GDR (German Democratic Republic).
Despite its name, it was not a democratic state, but a dictatorship. There were no free elections and no opposition. The Socialist Unity Party (SED) held power here. East Berlin was designated as the capital.
Building the Berlin Wall
In the first years after the GDR was founded, many people left the country to live in West Germany. In August 1961, the GDR rulers had the Berlin Wall built. This was to prevent people from fleeing to the West. The Wall made it visible to everyone that Germany was divided. The division only ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 and the reunification of Germany on 3 October 1990.
THE CAPITAL
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany in 1990, Berlin has been the capital of Germany. About 3.5 million people live here. Berlin is located in the east of Germany and is one of the city states.
The rivers Spree and Havel flow through the city.
Many tourists visit Berlin. Twelve million people come every year to admire the city. They go up the TV tower on Alexanderplatz, visit the zoo, look at the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate.
WHO LIVES IN GERMANY?
83.2 million people live in Germany. This makes Germany the country in Europe with the second highest population after Russia.
77% of people live in a city. For example, in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne. A particularly large number of people live in the Ruhr region in northwest Germany.
Overall, Germany is a densely populated country with an average of 230 people per square kilometre.
Most people living in Germany are German and speak German.
About every fifth person was born abroad or has a parent who was not born in Germany. Most of them are Germans from Eastern Europe or come from Turkey.
In addition, Sorbs have lived in Germany for many generations. They usually grow up speaking two languages, German and Sorbian, a Slavic language related to Czech and Polish.
In the north of Germany there are also many Danes, who mostly speak Danish and German. Likewise, Germans live in the south of Denmark, mostly speaking both languages. The reason for this is the somewhat arbitrary drawing of borders.
Since the early Middle Ages, people in Germany have been Christians.
In the early modern period, however, many broke away from the Catholic Church. They became Protestant or Evangelical. Most of them were followers of Martin Luther, the reformer. For a long time, the Protestants formed the majority. The Catholics were a minority living in the south and southwest. Nowadays, many people have left the church. About one third of Germans today are Catholic, one third Protestant and the rest do not belong to any church. In addition, about every twentieth inhabitant of Germany is Muslim. Germany’s Jewish communities had about 95,000 members in 2019.
WHO HAS THE SAY IN GERMANY?
Until 1918, the nobility could still determine a lot in Germany. The emperor was one such aristocrat. He appointed the Reich Chancellor, the head of the government. However, there was already the Reichstag, the parliament. Since 1918, the parliament determines who sits in the government.
Today’s parliament is the Bundestag. Every four years, Germans elect who is to be a member of the Bundestag. The Bundestag passes laws and high expenditures and elects a Federal Chancellor. The Federal Chancellor is the head of the government and also decides who will be a minister. Normally, the Federal Chancellor belongs to a political party. In addition, he or she often only has enough votes in the Bundestag together with another party to be elected as Chancellor. Such a cooperation of parties is called a coalition.
The federal states are allowed to decide quite a lot in their part of the country, among other things about schools. That’s why, for example, school holidays differ from state to state. The federal states have parliaments and governments. The governments of the federal states work together in the Bundesrat. Some laws are decided not only by the Bundestag, but also by the Bundesrat.
The head of state of Germany is the Federal President. Normally, he or she has little power to decide. If the parliament does not function properly, the Federal President can intervene under certain circumstances. But that has never happened.
COLOURING THE FLAG
Can you see the colours of the German flag in the photo of the Reichstag building?
You can colour it in below.
GERMAN CUISINE
German cuisine includes dishes such as:
Fried potatoes
Currywurst
Königsberger meatballs
Here you can see how to prepare fried potatoes quickly, deliciously and easily ( and learn a bit of German in the meantime 😉 )
SOURCES
Here we show you which sources were used for the development of the learning field. Just click on the respective links if you want to learn more.
Kinderweltreise Deutschland – Daten & Fakten
OUR ADVISOR
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FUNDING
This page was created by Our Network e.V.
The learning field was funded by Aktion Mensch.
The subsidised institution is solely responsible for the content of the publications.
