Germany Destination News

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Germany has no territories or colonies. 

  

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

  

Annesley, Claire (ed.). A Political and Economic Dictionary of Western 

Europe. Philadelphia: Routledge/Taylor and Francis, 2005. 

Berg-Schlosser, Dirk and Ralf Rytlewski (eds.). Political Culture in 

Germany. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993. 

Briel, Holger (ed.). German Culture and Society: Th e Essential 

Glossary. London: Arnold, 2002. 

Bullock, Alan Louis Charles. Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives. London: 

Harper-Collins, 1991. 

Eckhart, Karl, et al. (eds.). Social, Economic and Cultural Aspects 

in the Dynamic Changing Process of Old Industrial Regions: 

Ruhr District (Germany), Upper Silesia (Poland), Ostrava Region 

(Czech Republic). Piscataway, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2003. 

Gortemaker, Manfred. Unifying Germany, 1989–1990. New York: 

St. Martin’s Press, 1994. 

Hiden, John. Republican and Fascist Germany: Th emes and Variations 

in the History of Weimar and the Th ird Reich, 1918–45. New 

York: Longman, 1996. 

International Smoking Statistics: A Collection of Historical Data 

from 30 Economically Developed Countries. New York: Oxford 

University Press, 2002. 

Mitcham, Samuel W. Retreat to the Reich: Th e German Defeat in 

France, 1944. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2000. 

Sarkar, Saral K. Green-alternative Politics in West Germany. New 

York: United Nations University Press, 1993. 

Shirer, William L. Th e Rise and Fall of the Th ird Reich. New York: 

Simon and Schuster, 1960. 

Summers, Randal W., and Allan M. Hoff man (ed.). Domestic Violence: 

A Global View. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002. 

Tipton, Frank B. A History of Modern Germany Since 1815. Berkeley: 

University of California Press, 2003. 

Verhey, Jeff rey. Th e Spirit of 1914: Militarism, Myth and Mobilization 

in Germany. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000. 

Vogt, Henri. Between Utopia and Disillusionment: A Narrative 

of the Political Transformation in Eastern Europe. New York: 

Berghahn Books, 2004. 

Wessels, Wolfgang, Andreas Maurer, and Jürgan Mittag (eds.). Fifteen 

into One?: the European Union and Its Member States. New 

York: Palgrave, 2003.

German infl uence on Western thought can be traced back at least 

as far as the 13th century, to the great scholastic philosopher, naturalist, 

and theologian Albertus Magnus (Albert von Bollstädt, 

d.1280) and the mystic philosopher Meister Eckhart (1260?– 

1327?). Philipp Melanchthon (Schwartzerd, 1497–1560) was a 

scholar and religious reformer. Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz 

(1646–1716) was an outstanding philosopher, theologian, mathematician, 

and natural scientist. Th e next two centuries were 

dominated by the ideas of Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), Moses 

Mendelssohn (1729–86), Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814), 

Friedrich Ernst Daniel Schleiermacher (1768–1834), Georg Wilhelm 

Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831), Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph 

von Schelling (1775–1854), Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860), 

Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach (1804–72), Karl Marx (1818–83), 

Friedrich Engels (1820–95), and Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche 

(1844–1900). In the 20th century, Edmund Husserl (1859–1938), 

Oswald Spengler (1880–1936), Karl Jaspers (1883–1969), Martin 

Heidegger (1889–1976), and Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002) 

are highly regarded. Figures of the Frankfurt School of social and 

political philosophy include Th eodor Adorno (1903–1969), Max 

Horkheimer (1895–1973), Walter Benjamin (1892–1940), Herbert 

Marcuse (1898–1979), and Jürgen Habermas (b.1929). Political 

theorist Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) is also highly regarded, 

as is Carl Schmitt (1888–1985). One of the founders of modern 

Biblical scholarship was Julius Wellhausen (1844–1918). Franz 

Rosenzweig (1886–1929) was one of the most infl uential modern 

Jewish religious thinkers, as was Gershom Scholem (1897–1982). 

Among the most famous German scientists are Johann Rudolf 

Glauber (1694–1768), Justus von Liebig (1803–73), Robert Wilhelm 

Bunsen (1811–99), and Nobel Prize winners Hermann Emil 

Fischer (1852–1919), Adolf von Baeyer (1835–1917), Eduard Buchner 

(1860–1917), Wilhelm Ostwald (1853–1932), Otto Wallach 

(1847–1931), Richard Martin Willstätter (1872–1942), Fritz Haber 

(1868–1934), Walther Nernst (b.Poland, 1864–1941), Heinrich 

Otto Wieland (1877–1957), Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus (1876– 

1959), Carl Bosch (1874–1940), Friedrich Bergius (1884–1949), 

Otto Hahn (1879–1968), Hans Fischer (1881–1945), Friedrich 

Bergius (1884–1949), Georg Wittig (1897–1987), Adolf Butenandt 

(1903–1995), Otto Diels (1876–1954), Kurt Alder (1902–58), Hermann 

Staudinger (1881–1965), Karl Ziegler (1898–1973), Manfred 

Eigen (b.1927), Ernst Otto Fischer (b.1918), Johann Deisenhofer 

(b.1943), Robert Huber (b.1937), and Hartmut Michel (b.1948) 

in chemistry; Karl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855), Georg Simon 

Ohm (1787–1854), Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz 

(1821–94), Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857–1894), and Nobel Prize 

winners Wilhelm Konrad Röntgen (1845–1923), Max Karl Ernst 

Ludwig Planck (1858–1947), Albert Einstein (1879–1955), Gustav 

Ludwig Hertz (1887–1975), Werner Heisenberg (1901–76), Walter 

Bothe (1891–1957), Carl-Friedrich von Weizsäcker (b.1912), 

Rudolf Mössbauer (b.1929), Hans Bethe (1906–2005), Klaus 

von Klitzing (b.1943), Ernst Ruska (1906–1988), Gerd Binnig 

(b.1947), Johannes Georg Bednorz (b.1950), Hans Georg Dehmelt 

(b.Germany, 1922), Wolfgang Paul (1913–1993), Wolfgang Ketterle 

(b.1957), and Th eodor Wolfgang Hänsch (b.1941) in physics; 

Rudolf Virchow (1821–1902), August von Wassermann (1866– 

1925), and Nobel Prize winners Robert Koch (1843–1910), Paul 

Ehrlich (1854–1915), Emil von Behring (1854–1917), Otto H. 

Warburg (1883–1970), Konrad Lorenz (Austria, 1903–89), Konrad 

Emil Bloch (1912–2000), Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen (1911– 

1979), Max Delbrück (b.Germany 1906–1981), Sir Bernard Katz 

(b.Germany 1911–2003), Georges Jean Franz Köhler (1946– 

1995), Erwin Neher (b.1944), Bert Sakmann (b.1942), Christiane 

Nüsslein-Volhard (b.1942), and Günter Blobel (b.1936), in physiology 

or medicine; earth scientists Alexander von Humboldt 

(1769–1859) and Karl Ernst Richter (1795–1863); and mathematician 

Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann (1826–66). Notable 

among German inventors and engineers are Gabriel Daniel 

Fahrenheit (1686–1736), developer of the thermometer; Gottlieb 

Daimler (1834–1900), Rudolf Diesel (b.Paris, 1858–1913), and Felix 

Wankel (1902–88), developers of the internal combustion engine; 

airship builder Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838–1917); 

and rocketry pioneer Wernher von Braun (1912–77). Leading social 

scientists, in addition to Marx and Engels, were the historians 

Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886) and Th eodor Mommsen (1817– 

1903), Nobel Prize winner in literature; the political economist 

Georg Friedrich List (1789–1846); the sociologists Georg Simmel 

(1858–1918) and Max Weber (1864–1920); and the German-born 

anthropologist Franz Boas (1858–1942). Johann Joachim Winckelmann 

(1717–68) founded the scientifi c study of classical art and 

archaeology. Heinrich Schliemann (1822–90) uncovered the remains 

of ancient Troy, Mycenae, and Tiryns; Wilhelm Dörpfeld 

(1853–1940) continued his work. 

Outstanding fi gures in German political history are the Holy 

Roman emperors Otto I (the Great, 912–973), Frederick I (Barbarossa, 

1123–90), Frederick II (1194–1250), and Spanish-born 

Charles V (1500–58); Frederick William (1620–88), the “great 

elector” of Brandenburg; his great-grandson Frederick II (the 

Great, 1712–86), regarded as the most brilliant soldier and statesman 

of his age; Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck (1815–98), the 

Prussian statesman who made German unity possible; Austrianborn 

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945), founder of Nazism and dictator 

of Germany (1933–45); and Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967), FRG 

chancellor (1948–63). Walter Ernst Karl Ulbricht (1893–1973), 

chairman of the Council of State (1960–73), and leader of the SED 

from 1950 to 1971, was the dominant political fi gure in the GDR 

until his death in 1973. Erich Honecker (1912–94) became fi rst 

secretary of the SED in 1971 and was chairman of the Council of 

State and SED general secretary from 1976 until the FRG and GDR 

merged in 1990. Willi Stoph (1914–1999), a member of the Polit 

buro since 1953, served as chairman of the Council of Ministers in 

1964–73 and again from 1976 on. Willy Brandt (1913–1992), FRG 

chancellor (1969–74) won the Nobel Peace Prize for his policy of 

Ostpolitik. Other Nobel Peace Prize winners were Ludwig Quidde 

(1858–1941), Gustav Stresemann (1878–1929), Carl von Ossietzky 

(1889–1938), and Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965). 

Baron Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben 

(1730–94) was a general in the American Revolution. Karl 

von Clausewitz (1780–1831) is one of the great names connected 

with the science of war. Important military leaders were Hellmuth 

von Moltke (1800–1891); Gen. Paul von Hindenburg (1847–1934), 

who also served as president of the German Reich (1925–34); and 

Gen. Erwin Rommel (1891–1944). 

Pope Benedict XVI (b.Joseph Alois Ratzinger, 1927) became the 

265th pope in 2005. He is the ninth German pope, the last being 

the Dutch-German Adrian VI (1522–1523). 

Th e roster of famous Germans is long in most fi elds of endeavor. 

Th e name of Johann Gutenberg (1400?–1468?), who is generally 

regarded in the Western world as the inventor of movable 

precision-cast metal type, and therefore as the father of modern 

book printing, might well head the list of notable Germans. 

Martin Luther (1483–1546), founder of the Reformation, still exerts 

profound infl uence on German religion, society, music, and 

language. 

Th e earliest major names in German literature were the poets 

Wolfram von Eschenbach (1170?–1220?), Gottfried von Strassburg 

(d.1210?), and Sebastian Brant (1457?–1521). Hans Sachs 

(1494–1576) wrote thousands of plays, poems, stories, and songs. 

Hans Jakob Christoff el von Grimmelshausen (1620?–76) created 

a famous picaresque novel, Simplicissimus. Th e fl owering of 

German literature began with such renowned 18th-century poets 

and dramatists as Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724–1803), 

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–81), Christoph Martin Wieland 

(1733–1813), and Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744–1803), 

and culminated with the greatest German poet, Johann Wolfgang 

von Goethe (1749–1832), and the greatest German dramatist, Johann 

Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759–1805). Leaders of 

the Romantic movement included Jean Paul (Jean Paul Friedrich 

Richter, 1763–1825), August Wilhelm von Schlegel (1767–1845), 

Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg, 1772–1801), Ludwig Tieck 

(1773–1853), E. T. A. (Ernst Th eodor Wilhelm—the A stood for 

Amadeus, the middle name of Mozart) Hoff mann (1776–1822), 

and Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist (1777–1811). Th e brothers Jakob 

Grimm (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859) are 

world-famous for their collections of folk tales and myths. Heinrich 

Heine (1797–1856), many of whose poems have become 

folksongs, is generally regarded as the greatest German poet after 

Goethe. Other signifi cant poets are Friedrich Hölderlin (1770– 

1843), Friedrich Rückert (1788–1866), Eduard Mörike (1804–75), 

Stefan Georg (1868–1933), and Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926). 

Playwrights of distinction include Friedrich Hebbel (1813–63), 

Georg Büchner (1813–37), Georg Kaiser (1878–1945), Ernst 

Toller (1893–1939), and Bertolt Brecht (1898–1957). Two leading 

novelists of the 19th century were Gustav Freytag (1816–95) 

and Th eodor Storm (1817–88). Germany’s 20th-century novelists 

include Ernst Wiechert (1887–1950), Anna Seghers (Netty Reiling, 

1900–1983), and Nobel Prize winners Gerhart Johann Robert 

Hauptmann (1862–1946), Thomas Mann (1875–1955), Nelly 

Sachs (1891–1970), and Heinrich Böll (1917–86). Other major 

writers of the 20th and 21st centuries include German-born Erich 

Maria Remarque (1898–1970), Günter Grass (b.1927), Christa 

Wolf (b.1929), and Peter Handke (b.1942). 

Leading fi lmmakers include G. W. (Georg Wilhelm) Pabst 

(b.Czechoslovakia, 1885–1967), F. W. (Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe) 

Murnau (1888–1931), Fritz Lang (b.Austria, 1890–1976), German born 

Ernst Lubitsch (1892–1947), Max Ophüls (Oppenheimer, 

1902–57), Leni (Helene Bertha Amalie) Riefenstahl (1902–2003), 

Volker Schlöndorff (b.1939), Werner Herzog (b.1942), Rainer 

Werner Fassbinder (1946–82), Wim Wenders (b.1945), and Doris 

Dörrie (b.1955). Outstanding performers include Emil Jannings 

(Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz, b.Switzerland, 1886–1950), Marlene 

Dietrich (1901–1992), and Klaus Kinski (Claus Günther 

Nakszynski, 1926–91). 

Th e two giants of German church music were Heinrich Schütz 

(1585–1672) and, preeminently, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685– 

1750). Signifi cant composers of the 18th century were Germanborn 

Georg Friedrich Handel (1685–1759), Carl Philipp Emanuel 

Bach (1714–88), and Christoph Willibald von Gluck (1714–87). 

Th e classical period and music in general were dominated by the 

titanic fi gure of Ludwig von Beethoven (1770–1827). Romanticism 

in music was ushered in by Carl Maria von Weber (1786– 

1826), among others. Outstanding composers of the 19th century 

were Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809–47), Robert Schumann 

(1810–56), Richard Wagner (1813–83), and Johannes Brahms 

(1833–97). Major fi gures of the 20th and 21st centuries are Richard 

Strauss (1864–1949), Paul Hindemith (1895–1963), Carl Orff 

(1895–1982), German-born Kurt Weill (1900–50), Hans Werner 

Henze (b.1926), and Karlheinz Stockhausen (b.1928). Important 

symphonic conductors included Otto Klemperer (1885–1973), 

Wilhelm Furtwängler (1886–1954), Karl Böhm (1894–1981), and 

Eugen Jochum (1902–87). Among Germany’s outstanding musical 

performers are singers Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (b.1915) and 

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b.1925), and pianists Walter Gieseking 

(1895–1956) and Wilhelm Kempff (1895–91). 

Veit Stoss (1440?–1533) was one of the greatest German sculptors 

and woodcarvers of the 15th century; another was Tilman 

Riemenschneider (1460?–1531). Outstanding painters, engravers, 

and makers of woodcuts were Martin Schongauer (1445?–91), Matthias 

Grünewald (1460?–1528?), Hans Holbein the Elder (1465?– 

1524), Lucas Cranach (1472–1553), Hans Holbein the Younger 

(1497?–1543), and above all, Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528). More 

recent artists of renown are the painters Emil Nolde (1867–1956), 

Franz Marc (1880–1916), Max Beckmann (1884–1950), the USborn 

Lyonel Feininger (1871–1956), Otto Dix (1891–1969), Max 

Ernst (1891–1976), and Horst Antes (b.1936); the painter and cartoonist 

George Grosz (1893–1959); the sculptors Ernst Barlach 

(1870–1938) and Wilhelm Lehmbruck (1881–1919); the painteretcher- 

sculptor Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945); the Dadaist Hannah 

Höch (1889–1978); the painter-sculptor-installation artist Joseph 

Beuys (1921–1986); the painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer 

(b.1945); and the architects Walter Gropius (1883–1969), leader of 

the Bauhaus School of Design, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886– 

1969), Erich Mendelsohn (1887–1953), Gottfried Böhm (b.1920), 

and Helmut Jahn (b.1940).

Germany is famous for its beautiful scenery, particularly the Alps 

in the south and the river valleys of the Rhine, Main, and Danube; 

the landscape is dotted with castles and medieval villages. Th eater, 

opera, and orchestral music abound in the major cities. Th e area 

that was formerly the German Democratic Republic off ers a number 

of Baltic beach resorts and scenic Rügen Island. Residents of 

the United States and Canada need only a valid passport to enter 

Germany for a period of no more than three months; citizens of 

other countries need a visa. All border formalities for residents of 

other European Community countries were abandoned with the 

lift ing of trade barriers in 1993. 

Facilities for camping, cycling, skiing, and mountaineering are 

abundant. Football (soccer) is the favorite sport; Germany hosted 

and won the World Cup competition in 1974, and was scheduled 

to host in 2006. Tennis has become more popular since Boris 

Becker won the Wimbledon Championship in 1985; German Steffi 

Graf was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 

2004. Th e Olympic Games were held in Berlin in 1936, during the 

Hitler years, and in Munich in 1972. 

Approximately 16,357,037 tourists visited Germany in 2003, 

almost 34% of whom came from Western Europe. Th ere were 

892,302 hotel rooms with about 1.6 million beds and an occupancy 

rate of 33%. Th e average length of stay was two nights. Tourism 

receipts totaled $31.6 billion that year. 

In 2005, the US Department of State estimated the daily expenses 

in Munich at $350; in Cologne, $323; and in Berlin, $353. 

Th e Federation of German Industries, the Confederation of German 

Employers’ Associations, the Federation of German Wholesale 

and Foreign Traders, and the Association of German Chambers 

of Commerce represent business in the FRG. Th ere are about 

14 regional associations of chambers of business and industry located 

in the largest cities; many maintain branch offi ces in smaller 

cities. Th e chambers are organized into provincial associations 

and are headed by the Permanent Conference of German Industry 

and Trade. Th e cooperative movement is well developed. Consumer 

cooperatives are represented in the International Cooperative 

Alliance by the Central Association of German Cooperatives, 

founded in 1949; it also represents credit cooperatives. Th e central 

association of agricultural cooperatives, the German Raiff eisen 

Society, is located in Wiesbaden. Th e Association of German 

Peasants is the largest society of farmers. Th ere is also a Central 

Association of German Artisan Industries. Th e private Association 

of Consumers operates more than 150 local advisory centers. 

Professional societies and associations are numerous and represent 

a wide variety of occupations and fi elds of study. 

Civil action groups (Bürgerinitiativen) have proliferated in recent 

years. August 13 Working Committee serves in part as a human 

rights awareness organization. Deutscher Frauenring serves 

as an umbrella organization for national women’s groups. Th e Red 

Cross is active. Th ere are national chapters of Habitat for Humanity, 

CARE and Caritas. 

Th e German Academy of Arts in Berlin and the Academy of 

Fine Arts in Dresden are well-known arts organizations. Th ere is a 

network of seven academies of science in Germany. Th e UNESCO 

Institute for Education has an offi ce in Hamburg. A few cultural 

and learned associations particular to Germany include the International 

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Society, the International 

Heinrich Schutz Society, and the International Hegel Gesellschaft 

Society. Th ere are numerous organizations dedicated to research 

and education in scientifi c fi elds, particularly those relating to 

medicine. 

Th ere are about 80 youth associations, most of which belong to 

the Federal Youth Ring. Th e scouting movement is highly active 

and political parties sponsor groups associated in the Ring of Political 

Youth. In total there are about 90 national youth organizations 

and youth associations. Many of them are part of the umbrella 

organization known as the German Federal Youth Association. 

Th ere are thousands of groups and associations sponsoring various 

arts and cultural activities and special organizations for various 

hobbies and sports. Th e German Sports Confederation serves 

as an umbrella organization for over 88,000 sports clubs nationwide. 

Th ere are also many patriotic and religious organizations in 

the country.