Wissenswertes zur Tracht
Dirndl-Claudia1
A dirndl is a type of traditional dress worn in southern Germany and Austria, based on the historical costume of the Alpine peasants. It became popular in Austria as a fashionable dress among the upper classes between 1870 and 1880.
It has a tight bodice, low neck, full skirt, lacy blouse, and apron. While appearing to be quite simple and plain, a properly-made, modern dirndl might be quite expensive.
In Bavarian slang, 'dirndl' originally referred to a young woman or a girl. Nowadays, 'dirndl' may equally refer to either a young woman, or to the dress as described in this article.
Contemporary Uses
The dirndl is generally restricted to Bavaria and Austria, but is also seen in these regions by women in the folk music business (which often targets an elder conservative audience in Germany).
In Bavaria, it may often be seen on women working in tourism-related businesses, and sometimes waitresses in traditional-style restaurants or biergartens. However, despite being far from an everyday dress, a common woman in southern Bavaria may sometimes wear it at formal occasions (much like a Scotsman wearing a kilt) and certain traditional events. Surprisingly, it is hugely popular even among young women at the time of the Oktoberfest in Munich (and similar festivals in southern Germany), although most young women will only wear dirndl-style dresses (called Landhausmode), which may deviate by numerous ways and are often much cheaper.
Popular designs are often less plain and much more revealing and provocative (e.g. having a short skirt and/or displaying significant cleavage). A true dirndl is usually a good way of distinguishing between a native Bavarian female visitor of the Oktoberfest, and non-native female visitors who may just happen to live for some time in Bavaria.
Lederhosen ("leather trousers" in German; singular: "Lederhose") are knee-breeches (knickerbockers or shorts) made of leather. Lederhosen is a frequently misspelled and mispronounced word in the English language as "leiderhosen" or "liederhosen" and should be pronounced "laederhoesen".
They are made, in order of quality, from elk, goat, calf, or pig hide. Usually, they are handsomely and elaborately braided or embroidered with monograms, designs, edelweiss, hunting or peasant motifs. The buttons are generally made of rough-hewn elkhorn. They are also usually accompanied by leather suspenders (British, braces).
Traditionally, lederhosen were worn by Germanic men of the Alpine and surrounding regions, including Austria, the highlands and mountains of Southern Germany, the German-speaking part of Italy known as South Tyrol, which was formerly a part of Austria until after the Great War, and Switzerland. La Couturière Parisienne, however, claims that lederhosen were not originally only a Bavarian garment, but that they had been worn all over Europe, especially by riders, hunters and others—and not only by the peasant folk. Only the flap (drop front style) may actually be a unique Bavarian invention. It became so popular in the 18th Century, that it was known in France as "à la bavaroise," or in the Bavarian style.
Lederhosen have remained regionally popular and are commonly associated with virility and brawn. Some men still enjoy wearing them when hiking, working outdoors, or attending folk festivals and Beer Gardens; they are rarely seen elsewhere. Nevertheless, they have remained a symbol of regional pride. Their role in Bavaria is thus comparable to that of the kilt in Scotland.
* The Turkish oil wrestlers wear a kind of lederhosen called kisbet, which are also beautifully embroidered and remarkably like the Alpine lederhosen, but without the suspenders; these are covered in olive oil just as the wrestlers, so as to make the grip of the adversary slippery, but wide enough -in order not to hinder movement- for his oiled hand to reach for a slightly firmer grip inside.
Edelweiss (Leontopodium alpinum) is one of the best known European mountain flowers. The name comes from German edel (meaning noble) and weiß (meaning white). The scientific name, Leontopodium means "lion's paw", being derived from Greek words leon and podion.
Flowering stalks of edelweiss can grow to a size of 3-20 cm (in cultivation, up to 40 cm). The leaves appear woolly because of the covering of white hairs. The flowers are felted and woolly with white hairs, with characteristic bloom consisting of five to six small yellow flower heads (5 mm) surrounded by leaflets in star form. The flowers are in bloom between July and September. It is unequally distributed and prefers rocky limestone places at 2000-2900 m altitude. It is not toxic, but has been used traditionally in folk medicine as a remedy against abdominal and respiratory diseases.
Edelweiss is a protected plant in many countries, including Bulgaria, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Slovakia (Tatra National Park), Slovenia (since 1898), Austria (since 1886) and Romania (since 1933).
It usually grows in inaccessible places, which is why it is associated in Slovenia with mountaineering. Its white colour is considered in Switzerland a symbol of purity and due to its beauty, it obtained its Romanian name, floarea reginei (Queen's flower).
Tracht is traditional German costume. Recently, there has been a renewed interest in tracht.
The tracht of southern Germans and Austria has inspired an entirely new fashion style, called Landhausmode (Country Estate Style). Landhausmode, influenced by the costumes of the farmers, peasants and rural people, and characterized by the use of linen, loden (a traditional type of felt that has recently gained popularity worldwide) and embroidery, is somewhat analogous to North American Western Wear, in that there is a relationship between Landhausmode and Alpenrock (a style of rock music influenced by traditional Alpine songs), just as there is a relationship between Western Wear and Country Music.
Clothing is defined, in its broadest sense, as coverings for the torso and limbs as well as coverings for the hands (gloves), feet (socks, shoes, sandals, boots) and head (hats, caps). Humans nearly universally wear clothing, which is also known as dress, garments, attire, or apparel. People wear clothing for functional as well as for social reasons. Clothing protects the vulnerable nude human body from the extremes of weather, other features of our environment, and for safety reasons. But every article of clothing also carries a cultural and social meaning.
People also decorate their bodies with makeup or cosmetics, perfume, and other ornamentation; they also cut, dye, and arrange the hair of their heads, faces, and bodies (see hairstyle), and sometimes also mark their skin (by tattoos, scarifications, and piercings). All these decorations contribute to the overall effect and message of clothing, but do not constitute clothing per se.
Articles carried rather than worn (such as purses, canes, and umbrellas) are normally counted as fashion accessories rather than as clothing. Jewelry and eyeglasses are usually counted as accessories as well, even though in common speech these items are described as being worn rather than carried.
Clothing as functional technology
The practical function of clothing is to protect the human body from weather — strong sunlight, extreme heat or cold, and precipitation — as well as protect from insects, noxious chemicals, weapons, and contact with abrasive substances. In conclusion, clothing protects against anything that might injure the naked human body. Humans have shown extreme inventiveness in devising clothing solutions to practical problems.
See, among others: armor, diving suit, swimsuit, bee-keeper's costume, motorcycle leathers, high-visibility clothing, and protective clothing.
Clothing as social message
Alim Khan's bemedaled robe is a social message
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Alim Khan's bemedaled robe is a social message
Social messages sent by clothing, accessories, and decorations can involve social status, occupation, ethnic and religious affiliation, marital status and sexual availability, etc. Humans must know the code in order to recognize the message transmitted. If different groups read the same item of clothing or decoration with different meanings, the wearer may provoke unanticipated and/or unwanted responses.
The manner of consciously constructing, assembling, and wearing clothing to convey a social message in any culture is governed by current fashion. The rate at which fashion changes varies; easily modified styles in wearing or accessorizing clothes can change in months, even days, in small groups or in media-influenced modern societies. More extensive changes, that may require more time, money, or effort to effect, may span generations. When fashion changes, messages from clothing change.
Social status
In many societies, people of high rank reserve special items of clothing or decoration for themselves as symbols of their social status. In ancient times, only Roman senators could wear garments dyed with Tyrian purple; only high-ranking Hawaiian chiefs could wear feather cloaks and palaoa or carved whale teeth. In pre-republic China, only the emperor could wear yellow. In many cases throughout history, there have been elaborate systems of sumptuary laws regulating who could wear what. In other societies (including most modern societies), no laws prohibit lower-status people from wearing high-status garments, but the high cost of status garments effectively limits purchase and display. In current Western society, only the rich can afford so-called haute couture. Additionally, the threat of social ostracism may limit garment choice.
Occupation
Military, police, and firefighters usually wear uniforms, as do workers in many industries. School children often wear school uniforms, while college and university students sometimes wear academic dress. Members of religious orders may wear uniforms known as habits. Sometimes a single item of clothing or a single accessory can declare one's occupation or rank within a profession — for example, the high toque or chef's hat worn by a chief cook.
See also undercover.
Ethnic, political, and religious affiliation
In many regions of the world, national costumes and styles in clothing and ornament declare membership in a certain village, caste, religion, etc. A Scotsman declares his clan with his tartan. A Sikh displays his religious affiliation by wearing a turban and other traditional clothing. A French peasant woman would have identified her village with her cap or coif.
Clothes can also proclaim dissent from cultural norms and mainstream beliefs, as well as personal independence. In 19th-century Europe, artists and writers lived la vie de Bohème and dressed to shock: George Sand in men's clothing, female emancipationists in bloomers, male artists in velvet waistcoats and gaudy neckcloths. Bohemians, beatniks, hippies, Goths, Punks and Skinheads have continued the (countercultural) tradition in the 20th-century West. Now that haute couture plagiarizes street fashion within a year or so, street fashion may have lost some of its power to shock, but it still motivates millions trying to look hip and cool.
Marital status
Hindu women, once married, wear sindoor, a red powder, in the parting of their hair; if widowed, they abandon sindoor and jewelry and wear simple white clothing. Men and women of the Western world may wear wedding rings to indicate their marital status. See also Visual markers of marital status.
Sexual interest
Some clothing indicates the modesty of the wearer. For example, many Muslim women wear head or body covering (see hijab, burqa or bourqa, chador and abaya) that proclaims their status as respectable women. Other clothing may indicate flirtatious intent. For example, a Western woman might wear extreme stiletto heels, close-fitting and body-revealing black or red clothing, exaggerated make-up, flashy jewelry and perfume to show sexual interest. A man might wear a tightly-cut shirt and unbutton the top buttons.
What constitutes modesty and allure varies radically from culture to culture, within different contexts in the same culture, and over time as different fashions rise and fall. Moreover, a person may choose to display a mixed message. For example, a Saudi Arabian woman may wear an abaya to proclaim her respectability, but choose an abaya of luxurious material cut close to the body and then accessorize with high heels and a fashionable purse. All the details proclaim sexual desirability, despite the ostensible message of respectability.
Male alternatives
The cross-dressing and transgender communities wear clothing associated with their non-birth sex with an awareness of gender. On the other hand, skirts, kilts and sarongs — usually associated with women in the West — are common men's clothing in Asia and in some African countries. Kilts are part of the traditional Celtic dress. The foustanella is worn in Southern Europe. Both Scottish and Turkish military units include such clothing, while the cassock is common amongst Christian clergy.
Regional variations of male skirts or kilts include the lava-lava in Polynesia, caftans in the Mediterranean, robes, tupenus in South Asia and Oceania, dashiki in West Africa, hakama in Japan, the Moroccan djellaba, and lungis in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar. Finally, there are attempts to introduce contemporary kilts as menswear in the West.
Sexual fetishes involving clothing
Because clothing and adornment are closely related to ideas of human sexuality and sexual display, humans may develop clothing fetishes. They may be strongly aroused by the sight of another person wearing clothing and accessories they consider arousing or sexually exciting. Sometimes the object of clothing becomes the object of arousal itself. Fetishes have been documented in every culture and have been recorded throughout history. Common fetishes involving clothing include arousal by or involving shoes, leather, uniforms, or lingerie.
Fetishes vary as much as fashion. Sometimes the clothing itself becomes the object of fetish, such as in case with used girl panties in Japan. Some clothing manufacturers make fetish clothing, designed to arouse buyers with specialized tastes.
Religious habits and special religious clothing
Religious clothing might be considered a special case of occupational clothing. Sometimes it is worn only during the performance of religious ceremonies. However, it may also be worn everyday as a marker for special religious status.
See also, Religious vesture.
Clothing materials
Common clothing materials include:
* Cloth, typically made of cotton, flax, wool, hemp, ramie, silk, or synthetic fibers
* Down for down-filled parkas
* Fur
* Leather
Less-common clothing materials include:
* Jute
* Rubber
* PVC
* Tyvek
* Rayon
Reinforcing materials such as wood, bone, plastic and metal may be used in fasteners or to stiffen garments.
Clothing maintenance
Clothing, once manufactured, suffers assault both from within and from without. The human body inside sheds skin cells and body oils, and exudes sweat, urine, and feces. From the outside, sun damage, damp, abrasion, dirt, and other indignities afflict the garment. Fleas and lice take up residence in clothing seams. Well-worn clothing, if not cleaned and refurbished, will smell, itch, look scruffy, and lose functionality (as when buttons fall off and zippers fail).
In some cases, people simply wear an item of clothing until it falls apart. Cleaning leather presents difficulties; one cannot wash bark cloth (tapa) without dissolving it. Owners may patch tears and rips, and brush off surface dirt, but old leather and bark clothing will always look old.
But most clothing consists of cloth, and most cloth can be laundered and mended (patching, darning, but compare felt).
Humans have developed many specialized methods for laundering, ranging from the earliest "pound clothes against rocks in running stream" to the latest in electronic washing machines and dry cleaning (dissolving dirt in solvents other than water).
In past times, mending was an art. A meticulous tailor or seamstress could mend rips with thread raveled from hems and seam edges so skillfully that the darn was practically invisible. When the raw material — cloth — was worth more than labor, it made sense to expend labor in saving it. Today clothing is considered a consumable item. Mass-manufactured clothing is less expensive than the time it would take to repair it. Many people prefer to buy a new piece of clothing rather than to spend their time mending old clothes. But the thrifty still replace zippers and buttons and sew up ripped hems.
The life cycle of clothing
Used, no-longer-wearable clothing was once desirable raw material for quilts, rag rugs, bandages, and many other household uses. It could also be recycled into paper. Now it is usually thrown away. Used but still wearable clothing can be sold at consignment shops, flea markets, online auction, or just donated to charity. Charities usually skim the best of the clothing to sell in their own thrift stores and sell the rest to merchants, who bale it up and ship it to poor Third World countries, where vendors bid for the bales and then make what profit they can selling used clothing.
Early 21st-century clothing styles
Western fashion has to a certain extent become international fashion, as Western media and styles penetrate all parts of the world. Very few parts of the world remain where people do not wear items of cheap, mass-produced Western clothing. Even people in poor countries can afford used clothing from richer Western countries.
However, people may wear ethnic or national dress on special occasions or if carrying out certain roles or occupations. For example, most Japanese women have adopted Western-style dress for daily wear, but will still wear silk kimonos on special occasions. Items of Western dress may also appear worn or accessorized in distinctive, non-Western ways. A Tongan man may combine a used T-shirt with a Tongan wrapped skirt, or tupenu.
Western fashion, too, does not function monolithically. It comes in many varieties, from expensive haute couture to thrift store grunge.
Mainstream Western or international styles
* International standard business attire — global in influence, just as business functions globally.
* Haute couture
* Casual wear
Regional styles
* Clothing of Europe and Russia
* Clothing in the Americas
o United States mainstream fashion
For example: "Catalogue" fashion, regional styles such as preppy or Western wear.
*
o United States alternative fashion
These fashions are often associated with fans of various musical styles.
See also Goth, Hippie, Grunge, Hip-hop, and Fetish-wear
* Clothing in Asia
* Clothing in Africa
* Clothing in Oceania
Origin and history of clothing
A Neandertal clothed in fur
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A Neandertal clothed in fur
According to archaeologists and anthropologists, the earliest clothing probably consisted of fur, leather, leaves or grass, draped, wrapped or tied about the body for protection from the elements. Knowledge of such clothing remains inferential, since clothing materials deteriorate quickly compared to stone, bone, shell and metal artifacts. Archeologists have identified very early sewing needles of bone and ivory from about 30,000 BC, found near Kostenki, Russia, in 1988.
Ralf Kittler, Manfred Kayser and Mark Stoneking, anthropologists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, have conducted a genetic analysis of human body lice that indicates that they originated about 107,000 years ago. Since most humans have very sparse body hair, body lice require clothing to survive, so this suggests a surprisingly recent date for the invention of clothing. Its invention may have coincided with the spread of modern Homo sapiens from the warm climate of Africa, thought to have begun between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago. However, a second group of reseachers used similar genetic methods to estimate that body lice originated about 540,000 years ago (Reed et al. 2004. PLoS Biology 2(11): e340). For now, the date of the origin of clothing remains unresolved.
Some human cultures, such as the various peoples of the Arctic Circle, until recently made their clothing entirely of furs and skins, cutting clothing to fit and decorating lavishly.
Other cultures have supplemented or replaced leather and skins with cloth: woven, knitted, or twined from various animal and vegetable fibres. See weaving, knitting, and twining.
Although modern consumers take clothing for granted, making the fabrics that go into clothing is not easy. One sign of this is that the textile industry was the first to be mechanized during the Industrial Revolution; before the invention of the powered loom, textile production was a tedious and labor-intensive process. Therefore, methods were developed for making most efficient use of textiles.
One approach simply involves draping the cloth. Many peoples wore, and still wear, garments consisting of rectangles of cloth wrapped to fit — for example, the Scottish kilt or the Javanese sarong. Pins or belts hold the garments in place. The precious cloth remains uncut, and people of various sizes can wear the garment.
Another approach involves cutting and sewing the cloth, but using every bit of the cloth rectangle in constructing the clothing. The tailor may cut triangular pieces from one corner of the cloth, and then add them elsewhere as gussets. Traditional European patterns for men's shirts and women's chemises take this approach.
Modern European fashion treats cloth much more prodigally, typically cutting in such a way as to leave various odd-shaped cloth remnants. Industrial sewing operations sell these as waste; home sewers may turn them into quilts.
In the thousands of years that humans have spent constructing clothing, they have created an astonishing array of styles, many of which we can reconstruct from surviving garments, photos, paintings, mosaics, etc., as well as from written descriptions. Costume history serves as a source of inspiration to current fashion designers, as well as a topic of professional interest to costumers constructing for plays, films, television, and historical reenactment.
See also History of Western fashion, Category:History of clothing
Future trends
As technologies change, so will clothing. Many people, including futurologists have extrapolated current trends and made the following predictions:
* Man-made fibers such as nylon, polyester, Lycra, and Gore-Tex already account for much of the clothing market. Many more types of fibers will certainly be developed, possibly using nanotechnology. For example, military uniforms may stiffen when hit by bullets, filter out poisonous chemicals, and treat wounds.
* "Smart" clothing will incorporate electronics. Clothing may incorporate wearable computers, flexible wearable displays (possibly leading to fully animated clothing and some forms of invisibility cloaks), medical sensors, etc.
* Present-day ready-to-wear technologies will presumably give way to computer-aided custom manufacturing. Low power laser beams will measure the customer; computers will draw up a custom pattern and execute it in the customer's choice of cloth.
Clothing industry
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The clothing industry is concentrated outside of western Europe and America, and garment workers often have to labor under poor conditions. Coalitions of NGO's, designers (Katharine Hamnett, American Apparel, Veja, Edun,...) and trade unions like the Clean clothes campaign (CCC) seek to improve these conditions as much as possible by sponsoring awareness-raising events, which draw the attention of both the media and the general public to the workers' conditions.
Oktoberfest is a two-week festival held each year in Munich, Bavaria, Germany during late September and early October. It is one of the most famous events in the city and the world's largest fair, with some six million people attending every year. Other cities across the world also hold fairs, modeled after the Munich event, called Oktoberfest.
The event takes place during the 16 days before the first Sunday in October on an area named the Theresienwiese, often called "d' Wiesn" for short. Beer plays a central role in the fair, with every festival beginning with a keg of beer tapped by the Mayor of Munich who declares "O'zapft is!" (Bavarian for "It's tapped!"). A special Oktoberfest beer is brewed for the occasion, which is slightly darker and stronger, in both taste and alcohol. It is served in a one-liter-tankard called Mass. The first "mass" is served to the Bavarian Minister-President. Only local Munich breweries are allowed to serve this beer in a Bierzelt (beer tent) which is large enough for thousands.
Visitors also consume large quantities of food, most of it traditional hearty fare such as sausage, hendl (chicken), käsespätzle (cheese noodles), and sauerkraut, along with such Bavarian delicacies as roast ox tails.
The first "Oktoberfest" took place on October 12th 1810: For the commemoration of their marriage, Crown Prince Ludwig (later King Ludwig I) and Princess Therese of Sachsen-Hildburghausen (hence: "Theresienwiese") organized a great horse race (the marriage took place on October 12th, the horse race on October 17th, therefore there are different dates named as being the first Oktoberfest).
In the year 1813, the Oktoberfest was called off as Bavaria was involved in the Napoleonic war. In 1816, carnival booths appeared. The main prizes were silver, porcelain, and jewelry. In 1819, The town fathers of Munich took over festival management. They decided that the Oktoberfest should be celebrated every year without exception. Later, it was lengthened and the date pushed backward. The reason being that the end of September in Bavaria often has very good weather. The high temperature in the first week of Oktoberfest nears 30° Celsius which stimulates the thirst of the visitors. However, today the last week of Oktoberfest is still in October.
Bavaria-Statue above the Theresienwiese
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Bavaria-Statue above the Theresienwiese
Since 1850 The statue of Bavaria has watched the Oktoberfest. This worldly Bavarian patron was first sketched by Leo von Klenze in a classic style and Ludwig Michael Schwanthaler romanticised and "germanised" the draft. Johann Baptist Stiglmaier and Ferdinand von Miller made the statue. In 1853, the Bavarian Ruhmeshalle was finished.
In 1854, 3,000 residents of Munich succumbed to an epidemic of Cholera, so the festival was canceled. Also, in the year 1866, there was no Oktoberfest as Bavaria fought in the Austro-Prussian War. In 1870, the Franco-German war was the reason for concelation of the festival. In 1873, the festival was once more canceled due to a Cholera epidemic. In the year 1880, the city government approved the sale of beer. The electric light illuminated over 400 booths and tents. In 1881, booths selling bratwursts opened. In 1892, beer was first served in glass mugs. At the end of the 1900's, a re-organization took place. Until then, there were games of Kegelen, large dance floors, and trees for climbing in the beer booths. They wanted more room for guests and musicians. The booths became beer halls.
In the year 1910, Oktoberfest celebrated its 100th birthday. 120,000 liters of beer were poured. In 1913, the Bräurosl was founded, which was the largest Oktoberfest beer tent of all time, with room for about 12,000 guests. Today, the biggest tent is the Hofbräu-Festhalle which holds 10,000. From 1914 through 1918, World War I prevented the celebration of Oktoberfest. In 1919 and 1920, the two years after the war, Munich celebrated only an "Autumn Fest." In 1923 and 1924, the Oktoberfest was not held due to inflation. In 1933, the Bavarian white and blue flag was replaced with the standard swastika flag
From 1939 to 1945, due to World War II, no Oktoberfest took place. From 1946 to 1948, after the war, Munich once again celebrated only the "Autumn Fest." The sale of proper Oktoberfest beer was not permitted. The guests had to make due with beer that had an alcohol content under 2%. Since its beginnings the Oktoberfest has thus been canceled 24 times due to war, disease and other emergencies.
Since 1950, there has been a traditional festival opening: A twelve gun salute and the tapping of the first keg of Oktoberfest beer at 12:00 by the current Mayor of Munich with the cry "O'zapft is!" opens the Oktoberfest. The first mayor to tap the keg was Thomas Wimmer.
Löwenbräu Tent(2003)
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Löwenbräu Tent(2003)
By 1960, the Oktoberfest had turned into an enormous world-famous festival. The first Japanese, Americans, and New Zealanders discovered the festival and stumbled with beer mugs alongside Bavarians. They spread the word of Munich worldwide. After this foreigners began to picture germans as wearing the Sennerhut, Lederhosen, and the girls in Dirndl. Horse races ended in 1960.
On September 26, 1980, a bomb explosion near the entrance killed 13 visitors and injured 200 more. The bomb had been placed by a 21-year-old Neo-Nazi who died at the scene. It has been related to Gladio, NATO's secret paramilitary organizations.
There are many problems every year with young people, who overestimate their ability to handle large amounts of alcohol. Many pass out due to drunkenness. These especially drunk patrons are often called "Bierleichen" (German for "beercorpses"). They are brought by staff to a medical tent where drunks as well as sick people are treated.
To make the Oktoberfest, and especially the beer tents, once again friendly to older people and families, the concept of the "quiet Oktoberfest" was developed in 2005. Until 6:00 PM, the tents only play quiet music, for example traditional wind music. Only after that will Schlager and pop music be played, which has led to more violence in earlier years. The music played in the afternoon is limited to 85 decibels. With these measures, the organizers of the Oktoberfest hope to curb the over-the-top party mentality and preserve the traditional beer tent atmosphere.
Münchner Kindl is Bavarian for "Munich child", the symbol on the coat-of-arms of the city Munich. This symbol has been the coat-of-arms of Munich since the 13th century. The figure portrayed was originally a hooded monk holding a Bible, but by the 16th century it evolved in different portrayals into the figure of a small child wearing a pointed hood, often shown holding a beer mug and a radish. The image in its different configurations has appeared on countless different objects, from atop the city hall in Munich to manhole covers and even beer steins. The gender of the figure has also changed over the years: from a clearly male monk, to a gender-neutral child, to a small girl. Nowadays when the kindl is portrayed by a person - for instance, as a mascot for Oktoberfest - it is usually enacted by a young woman. It is possible that the Münchner Kindl was the inspiration for the Munchkins in L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
The Oktoberfest in Hong Kong was started in 1992. It is celebrated in late October and early November (dry season in Hong Kong) and is hosted by Marco Polo Hong Kong Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, just next to the Star Ferry pier.
For the festival, the Marco Polo Hotel sets up a traditional tent with long wooden tables and benches with capacity for approximately 1,500 persons to create an Oktoberfest atmoshere. The German Band Die Notenhobler from Ulm, Germany entertains the approximately 85% Chinese audience. Their program starts at 19:30 every night and comprise of three parts: traditional German music, games and competitions, party music.
The hotels caters traditional Southern German foods, such as pork knuckle, sausages with sauerkraut and apple strudel together with beer (past beer sponsors were 1991-1999 Loewenbraeu; 2000-2002 Veltins; 2003 Jever; 2004-2005 Loewenbraeu).
In 2005 the festival was held from October 14 to November 3 with some additional dates for private functions, which is popular for staff parties of large corporations.
Early history of the Germanic tribes (100 BC–AD 300)
Main articles: Germanic peoples and Germania
The ethnogenesis of the Germanic tribes is assumed to have occurred during the Pre-Roman Iron Age in southern Scandinavia and northern Germany, from the first century BC expanding south, east and west, coming into contact with Celtic tribes of Gaul and Iranian, Baltic and Slavic tribes in Eastern Europe. Little is known about early Germanic history, except through their interactions with the Roman Empire and archaeological finds.
Under Augustus, the Roman General Drusus began to invade Germany, and it was from this period that the German tribes became familiar with Roman tactics of warfare while maintaining their national identity. In 9, three Roman legions led by Publius Quinctilius Varus were crushed by the Cheruscan leader Arminius (Hermann) in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Germany as far as the Rhine and the Danube therefore remained outside the Roman Empire. By 100, the time of Tacitus' Germania, Germanic tribes settled along the Rhine and the Danube (the Limes Germanicus), occupying most of the area of modern Germany. The 3rd century saw the emergence of a number of large West Germanic tribes — Alamanni, Franks, Chatti, Saxons, Frisians, Thuringians. Around 260, the Germanic peoples broke through the Limes and the Danube frontier.
Migration Period and Franks (300-843)
Main article: Franks
The migration included the Goths, Vandals and Franks, among other Germanic and Slavic tribes. The migration may have been triggered by the incursions of the Huns, population pressures or climate changes. Several Germanic peoples, such as the Franks and Burgundians invaded the Roman Empire and formed kingdoms.
The conversion to Roman Catholicism of the pagan Frankish king Clovis to better appeal to his conquered Roman subjects was a crucial event in the history of Europe. It resulted in more support from Rome, further solidification of power during the slow, often bloody conversion process, the eventual end to the ancient tribalism of Germany and secured domination over the rival Christian conversion attempts by Arianism. Under the Merovingian and Carolingian kings the Franks formed a new Germanic empire, replacing the Roman Empire in Western Europe.
The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (843–1806)
The prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. From Bildatlas der Deutschen Geschichte by Dr Paul Knötel (1895)
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The prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. From Bildatlas der Deutschen Geschichte by Dr Paul Knötel (1895)
Main article: Holy Roman Empire
The medieval empire — since 1448 officially called the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation ("Sacrum Romanum Imperium Nationis Germanicae") but often referred to as the Holy Roman Empire (or the Old Empire) — stemmed from a division of the Carolingian Empire in 843, which was founded by Charlemagne on December 25, 800, and existed in varying forms until 1806, its territory stretching from the river Eider in the north to the Mediterranean coast in the south.
Under the reign of the Ottonian emperors (919-1024), the duchies of Lorraine, Saxony, Franconia, Swabia, Thuringia and Bavaria were consolidated and in 962 the German king was crowned Holy Roman Emperor. Under the reign of the Salian emperors (1024-1125), the Holy Roman Empire absorbed Italy and Burgundy. Under the Hohenstaufen emperors (1138-1254) the German princes were increasing their influence further east.
The edict of the Golden Bull in 1356 provided the basic constitution of the empire up to its dissolution. For three hundred years starting in 1438, the Emperors were elected exclusively from the Austrian Habsburg family.
In 1530, a separate Protestant church was acknowledged as the new state religion in many states of Germany. This led to inter-German strife, the Thirty Years' War (1618-48). From 1740 onwards the dualism between Austria and Prussia dominated the Empire's history. In 1806 the Imperium was overrun and dissolved as a result of the Napoleonic Wars.
Restoration and revolution (1814–1871)
The way of the students to Wartburg 1817
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The way of the students to Wartburg 1817
Frankfurt Parliament in 1848/49
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Frankfurt Parliament in 1848/49
Main article: German Confederation
Following Napoleon's fall and the end of the Confederation of the Rhine, the Congress of Vienna convened in 1814 in order to restructure Europe. In Germany, the German Confederation was founded, a loose league of 39 sovereign states. Disagreement with the restoration politics partly led to the lifestyle called Biedermeier and to intellectual liberal movements, which demanded unity and freedom during the Vormärz epoch, each followed by a measure of Metternich's repression of liberal agitation. The Zollverein, a tariff union, profoundly furthered economic unity in the German states.
The German people had been stirred by the ideals of the French revolution. On October 18, 1817, students held a gathering to exchange ideas, the high point of which was the burning of works by authors like August von Kotzebue, who were against a united German state. A second such meeting attracted 30,000 people from all social classes and from all regions to the Hambacher celebration. There for the first time, the colours of black, red and gold were chosen to represent the movement, which later became the national colours.
The states were also shaped by the Industrial Revolution, which was the initial step of the growing industrialisation in Europe and contributed to a wave of poverty, causing social uprisings. In light of a series of revolutionary movements in Europe, which in France successfully established a republic, intellectuals and common people started the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states. The monarchs initially yielded to the revolutionaries' liberal demands, and an intellectual National Assembly was elected to draw up a constitution for the new Germany, completed in 1849. However, the Prussian king Frederick William IV, who was offered the title of Emperor but with a loss of power, rejected the crown and the constitution. This prompted the demise of the national assembly along with most of the changes from the revolution.
In 1862, conflict between the Prussian King Wilhelm I and the increasingly liberal parliament erupted over military reforms. The king appointed Otto von Bismarck the new Prime Minister of Prussia. Bismarck solved the conflict with difficulty and used the desire for national unification to further the interests of the Prussian monarchy. In 1864 he successfully waged war on Denmark. Prussian victory in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 enabled him to create the North German Confederation and divide Austria, formerly the leading state of Germany, from the more western and northern parts.
German Empire (1871–1918)
Foundation of modern Germany, Versailles, 1871. Bismarck is in white in the middle
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Foundation of modern Germany, Versailles, 1871. Bismarck is in white in the middle
Main article: German Empire
After the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, the German Empire (Deutsches Kaiserreich) was proclaimed in Versailles on January 18, 1871. As a result, the new empire was a unification of all the scattered parts of Germany but without Austria—Kleindeutschland. Beginning in 1884 Germany established several colonies. The young emperor's foreign policy was opposed to that of Bismarck, who had established a system of alliances in the era called Gründerzeit, securing Germany's position as a great nation, isolating France with diplomatic means and avoiding war for decades. Under Wilhelm II, however, Germany took an imperialistic course, not unlike other powers, but it led to friction with neighbouring countries. Most alliances in which Germany had been previously involved were not renewed, and new alliances excluded the country. Specifically, France established new relations by signing the Entente Cordiale with the United Kingdom, and got ties with Russia. Austria-Hungary and Germany became increasingly isolated.
Imperial Germany (1871-1918).
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Imperial Germany (1871-1918).
Subdivisions of Germany in 1925. Map showing borders of Germany from 1919 until 1937.
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Subdivisions of Germany in 1925. Map showing borders of Germany from 1919 until 1937.
Although not one of the main causes, the assassination of Austria's crown prince triggered World War I on July 28, 1914, which saw Germany as part of the unsuccessful Central Powers in the second-bloodiest conflict of all time against the Allied Powers. In November 1918, the second German Revolution broke out, and Emperor Wilhelm II and all German ruling princes abdicated. An armistice was signed on November 11, putting an end to the war. Germany was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, whose unexpectedly high demands were perceived as humiliating in Germany, as a continuation of the war by other means and a breaking of traditional post-war diplomacy that included negotiations between the victors and vanquished.
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Weimar Republic (1919–1933)
Main article: Weimar Republic
After the German Revolution in November 1918, a Republic was proclaimed. That year, the German Communist Party was established by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, and in January 1919 the German Workers Party, later known as the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers Party, NSDAP, "Nazis"). On August 11, 1919, the Weimar Constitution came into effect, with the sign of the Reichspräsident Friedrich Ebert.
In a climate of economic hardship due to both the world wide Depression and the harsh peace conditions dictated by the Treaty of Versailles, and a long succession of more or less unstable governments, the political masses in Germany increasingly lacked identification with their political system of parliamentary democracy. This was exacerbated by a wide-spread right-wing (monarchist, völkische, and Nazi) Dolchstoßlegende, a political myth which claimed the German Revolution was the main reason why Germany had lost the war. On the other hand, radical left-wing communists such as the Spartacist League had wanted to abolish what they perceived as a "capitalist rule" in favour of a "Räterepublik" and were thus also in opposition to the existing form of government. During the years following the Revolution, German voters increasingly supported anti-democratic parties, both right- (monarchists, Nazis) and left-wing (Communists). At the beginning of the 1930s, Germany was not far from a civil war. Paramilitary troops were set up by several parties. They intimidated voters and seeded violence and anger among the public, who suffered from high unemployment and poverty. After a succession of unsuccessful cabinets, on January 29, 1933, President von Hindenburg, seeing little alternative and pushed by advisors, appointed Adolf Hitler Chancellor of Germany.
Due to the country's federal and decentralised structure Germany has a number of larger cities. The most populous are Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt and Dortmund. By far the largest conurbation is the Rhine-Ruhr region, including the Düsseldorf-Cologne district and the cities of Essen, Dortmund, Duisburg and Bochum. The federal structure has kept the population oriented towards a number of large cities, and has precluded the growth of any single city that would rival such European capitals as London, Paris or Moscow for size.
As of 2005, about 7.5 million foreign citizen residents were living in Germany. The majority came from Turkey, followed by Italy, the former Yugoslavia, Greece, Poland, Russia, Austria, Ukraine, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and France. [6] Thanks to reform of German nationality law, many of these immigrants are eligible for naturalization ([7]). 8 million of German citizens are connected with another nationality.
Germany is still a primary destination for political and economic immigrants from many less industrialised countries, especially Turkey and Southern/Southeastern Europe, but the number of annual asylum seekers has been declining in recent years.
According to a the microcensus conducted by the German federal office of statistics in 2005, 19% of the country's residents are of foreign or partially foreign descent.
Panorama view of Frankfurt (Hesse), the banking city of Germany.
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Panorama view of Frankfurt (Hesse), the banking city of Germany.
Economy
A 50 euro cent coin Featuring the Brandenburg Gate, symbol of division and reunification.
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A 50 euro cent coin Featuring the Brandenburg Gate, symbol of division and reunification.
Main article: Economy of Germany
Germany is the largest European economy and the third largest economy in the world in real terms, placed behind the United States and Japan, and fifth behind China and India counted by purchasing power parity. According to the World Trade Organization, Germany is also the world's top exporter, ahead of the United States and number two in the world regarding to imports. It currently (2005) has the largest trade surplus of all countries in the world. While it has positive trade balances with most of its EU-partners or the United States, it runs trade deficits with China and Japan.
A major issue of concern remains the persistently high unemployment rate and weak domestic demand which slows down economic growth. Eastern Germany in particular suffers from a lack a solid base of small and medium-sized companies, which provided the foundation for the Federal Republic's economic prosperity and is responsible in great measure for Germany's lag in economic growth. Domestic demand has stagnated for many years due to wage stagnation and zealous cost-cutting by the federal state. Lack of consumer demand might have caused many of the prevalent economic problems. Germany's government runs a restrictive fiscal policy and has cut numerous regular jobs in the public sector. Since reunification there has been a net loss of estimated 1 million such jobs. But while regular employment in the public sector shrank, "irregular" government employment like so called 1-Euro-Jobs, government supported self-employment (ICH-AG) and job training increased. Despite the tense situation in eastern Germany, total government employment in Germany remains lower than in other states such as the United Kingdom or Canada.
Economical and political discussion in Germany today concentrates on whether Germany needs more "market reforms" such as deregulation of the labor market, more low income jobs, lower social security feeds, lower taxes for enterprises and employers, etc., or already passed too many reforms. In view of shifting socio-economic trends, more and more people in Germany distrust the sense and direction of the reforms over the last years, although Conservatives insist that they are necessary to make Germany competitive on the global stage.
Science and technology
Germany is a leading nation in scientific research and the production of innovative technological products. Some of the most important industrial contributions include rocketry, material science, and chemical products.
As in physics and chemistry, Germans are a leading nation in the Nobel Prizes for physiology or medicine.
Exports
Frankfurt am Main - popularly referred to as "Mainhattan", drawing clear parallels to Manhattan - is Germany's financial centre.
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Frankfurt am Main - popularly referred to as "Mainhattan", drawing clear parallels to Manhattan - is Germany's financial centre.
As mentioned above the exporting of goods is an essential part of the German economy and one of the most relevant reasons for Germany's wealth. Like many other export oriented countries, Germany itself does not have the climate or the natural resources necessary to support a high living standard. Overtaking the United States in 2003, Germany is now the world's largest exporter of goods with $1.016 trillion exported in 2005.
Politics
More information on politics and government of Germany can be found at the Politics and government of Germany series.
Politics of Germany takes place in a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Federal Chancellor is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, Bundestag and Bundesrat. Since 1949 the party system is dominated by the conservative Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Smaller parties that have an important role are the liberal Free Democratic Party, that has been in the Bundestag since 1949, as well as the Green Party that has seats in the parliament since 1983.
(See also List of German institutions.)
The Judiciary of Germany is independent of the executive and the legislature. The political system is laid out in the 1949 constitutional document, the Grundgesetz (Basic Law), which remained in effect with minor amendments after 1990's German Reunification.
Legal system
Main article: Judiciary of Germany
Germany has a civil or statute law system based ultimately on Roman law with some references to Germanic law. Legislative power is divided between the Federation and the individual federated states. While criminal law and private law have seen codifications on the national level (in the Strafgesetzbuch and the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch respectively), no such unifying codification exists in administrative law where a lot of the fundamental matters remain in the jurisdiction of the individual federated states. In 1976, with the Verwaltungsverfahrensgesetz (VwVfG), the main form of actions of administration was codified. Most federated states have followed this codification. There are a series of specialist supreme courts; for civil and criminal cases the highest court of appeal is the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice), located in Karlsruhe. The courtroom style is inquisitorial.
The Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht), also located in Karlsruhe, is the German Supreme Court responsible for constitutional matters, with power of judicial review. It acts as the highest legal authority and ensures that legislative and judicial practice conforms to the Constitution. It acts independently of the other state bodies, but cannot act on its own behalf.
Foreign Relations
US President George W. Bush welcomes Chancellor Angela Merkel to the Oval Office.
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US President George W. Bush welcomes Chancellor Angela Merkel to the Oval Office.
Main article: Foreign relations of the Federal Republic of Germany
Germany plays a leading role in the European Union, having a strong alliance with France. Germany is at the forefront of European states seeking to advance the creation of a more unified and capable European political, defence and security apparatus.
Since its establishment on May 23, 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany kept a notably low profile in international relations, both because of its recent history as well as its occupied status. In 1999, however, on the occasion of the NATO war against Yugoslavia, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's government broke convention by sending German troops into combat for the first time since World War II.
Germany and the United States have been close allies since the end of the Second World War. The Marshall Plan and continued US support during the rebuilding process after World War II, as well as the significant influence American culture has had on German culture, have crafted a strong bond between Germany and the US that lasts to this day. Not only do the United States and Germany share many cultural similarities but they are also deeply economically interdependent. 8.8% of all German exports are US bound, and US-German trade according to the US Census Bureau totalled $108.2 billion for 2004. An illustration of the strong economic relations between the US and Germany may be the fact that 18.3% of all cars sold in the US were manufactured by German car manufacturers. Other signs of the close ties between Germany and the US are the fact that German-Americans remain the largest ethnic group in the US and the largest US community outside the US is the Ramstein Air Base, close to the city of Kaiserslautern, Germany.
Armed Forces
Heer Leopard 2A6.
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Heer Leopard 2A6.
Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, is a defence force with Heer (German Army), Marine (German Navy), Luftwaffe (German Air Force), Zentraler Sanitätsdienst (Central Medical Services) and Streitkräftebasis (Joint Service Support Command) branches. It employs some 250,000 soldiers (including women in active fighting branches since 2001) and 120,000 civilians (will be reduced to 75,000). 40,000 of the soldiers are 18-23-year-old men on national duty, currently for at least 9 months. In peacetime, the Bundeswehr is commanded by the Minister of Defence, currently Franz Josef Jung. If Germany goes to war, which is according to the Basic Law allowed only for defensive purposes, the Chancellor becomes commander in chief of the German Bundeswehr.
The military budget has not kept up with the Bundeswehr's mission, which has changed dramatically from protecting Germany's borders against a Soviet invasion into a mobile unit deployed around the world. The funding levels for the Bundeswehr have actually been falling since 1990, when military spending amounted to about 3.5% of gross domestic product. Today, defence spending equals about 1.2% of German GDP, compared to the NATO average of 2.3% and the United States' more than 4%. Critics argue that the current budget of €24.4 billion is too small to finance the necessary transformation of the Bundeswehr into a well-equipped force ready for NATO and UN led missions abroad. Opponents argue that the transformation from a manpower based army securing the Eastern border to a modernised force with fewer soldiers on the payroll is duly reflected in a lower budget.
Currently, the German military has about 1,180 troops stationed in Bosnia-Herzegovina; 2,650 Bundeswehr soldiers are serving in Kosovo; and 3,900 Bundeswehr troops are assisting the US anti-terrorism operation called Enduring Freedom off the Horn of Africa. 4,500 German troops currently make up the largest contingent of the NATO-led ISAF force in Afghanistan.
Energy policy
See also: Nuclear power phase-out and Nuclear energy policy
Wind turbine in Germany.
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Wind turbine in Germany.
In 2000, the German SPD-led government along with Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (Alliance '90/The Greens), officially announced its intention to phase out the use of nuclear energy. Jürgen Trittin as the Minister of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, reached an agreement with energy companies on the gradual shut down of the country's nineteen nuclear power plants and a cessation of civil usage of nuclear power by 2020.
In 1999, electricity production in Germany was powered by coal (47%), nuclear power (30%), natural gas (14%), renewable sources (including hydro, wind and solar power) (6%), and oil (2%) ([8]). As for energy consumption, oil accounted for 41% of the total. At the World climate conference, the German government announced a carbon dioxide reduction target of 25% by the year 2005 as compared to 1990, to protect global climate.[1]
In 2005, the German government reached a controversial agreement with Russia in building a gas pipeline at the bottom of the Baltic Sea directly from Russia to Germany.
Germany leads Europe by having the greatest solar and wind electricity generating capacity on the continent.[2] In terms of total installed capacity in windpower electricity Germany is the world's No.1 producer. 2005 18,427.5 MW were produced (in comparison: 2nd place Spain - 10,027 MW; 3rd place; USA - 9,141 MW). Germany's emphasis on renewable energy sources has also resulted in the founding of numerous high-tech companies developing such technologies. One such company is SolarWorld, developer and manufactuer of solar cells. Germany is also the main exporter of wind turbines, the the demand greatly exceeding capacity.[3]
Society
Religion
Martin Luther, Father of the Protestant Reformation and reformer of the German language, 1529.
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Martin Luther, Father of the Protestant Reformation and reformer of the German language, 1529.
Main article: Religion in Germany
Germany is the home of the Reformation launched by Martin Luther in the early 16th century. Today, Protestants (particularly in the north and east) comprise about 33% of the population and Catholics (particularly in the south and west) also 33%. The current pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI, is German. In total more than 55 million people officially belong to a Christian denomination. The third largest religious identity in Germany is that of non-religious people (including atheists and agnostics (especially in former GDR)), who amount to a total of 28.5% of the population (23.5 million).
Approximately 3 million Muslims[9] (predominantly from Turkey and the former Yugoslavia) live in Germany. Most are Sunnis and Alevites from Turkey but there are a little number of Shiites.
See also: Islam in Germany
Today's Germany has Western Europe's third-largest Jewish population. In 2004, twice as many Jews from former Soviet republics settled in Germany as in Israel, bringing the total influx to more than 200,000 since 1991. About half joined a settled Jewish community, of which there are now more than 100, with a total of 100,000 members—up from 30,000 before reunification. Some German cities have seen a revival of Jewish culture, particularly in Berlin, where there are also 3,000 Israelis. Jews have a voice in German public life through the Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland (Central Council of Jews in Germany). Other cities with significant Jewish populations are Frankfurt and Munich.
See also: History of the Jews in Germany
Social issues
Main article: Social issues in Germany
Berliner Dom.
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Berliner Dom.
The German social market economy (German: soziale Marktwirtschaft) helped bring about the "economic miracle" (the German "Wirtschaftswunder") that rebuilt Germany from ashes after World War II to one of the most impressive economies in Europe. Still today, Ludwig Erhard, minister of economics in the Adenauer administration (1949-1963) and later federal chancellor (1963-1966), is widely recognised as having been the "father" of this profound rise in the country's economic and social wealth.
Germany continues to struggle with a number of social issues, although problems created by the German Reunification of 1990 have begun to diminish. The standard of living is higher in the western half of the country, but easterners now share a reasonably high standard of living. Germans continue to be concerned about a relatively high level of unemployment, especially in the former East German states. The country has passed several reforms to curb unemployment.
For centuries, a woman's role in German society was summed up by the three words: Kinder (children), Küche (kitchen), and Kirche (church) - Kinder, Küche, Kirche. Throughout the twentieth century, however, women have gradually won victories in their quest for equal rights. Despite significant gains, discrimination remains in united Germany. Women are noticeably absent in the top tiers of German business. They only hold 9.2% of jobs in Germany's upper and middle management positions[4]. Until 2001 women were barred from serving in combat units in the Bundeswehr, being restricted to the medical service and the administration. The first woman to become chancellor is Angela Merkel, who was elected in 2005.
Image:AMerkel.jpg
Angela Merkel
Since World War II, Germany has experienced intermittent turmoil from various groups. In the 1970s leftist terrorist organisations like the Red Army Faction engaged in a string of assassinations and kidnappings against political and business figures and there has been a recent surge in right-wing nationalist crimes. According to former Interior Minister Otto Schily, the number of these crimes rose 8.4% to 12,553 cases in 2004, which the minister attributed to such crimes as the display of illegal Nazi symbols being reported more frequently.[citation needed]
Germany is also burdened with an extremely low fertility/birthrate. In recent times Germany's birth rate has plunged to the lowest level ever recorded, prompting lawmakers to ask what the state can do to encourage women to have more children. According to provisional figures from the Federal Statistics Office, 680,000 babies were born in Germany in 2005, down from a peak of 1.36 million in 1964 and fewer even than in 1945, when nearly all the country lay in rubble.
Germany has failed to implement EU laws prohibiting racial discrimination. The European Court of Justice ruled on April 29, 2005, that Germany had breached EU law by failing to transpose fully the 'Racial Equality Directive' prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of race or ethnic origin (Directive 2000/43/EC). Immigrants to Germany may generally face integration issues and other difficulties. In addition to the challenges of adapting to a new language and culture, they may be subject to security-related police inquiries and violence from right-wing nationalist groups.
Some German states have banned Muslim teachers from wearing headscarves in class and all except Bavaria have banned crosses from the classroom as well, generally by prohibiting the use of all religious symbols by teachers. This is legitimate by combining the German states' privilege of educational laws with the principle of separation of church and state, both provided for in the German federal constitution: According to this legal view, teachers in their vocational function within a state administered educational system are obliged to maintain and publicly exhibit religious neutrality when on duty. As this status of employment does not hold for pupils, whose constitutional right to religious freedom thus remains unencumbered by these provisions, this ban cannot legally be extended to them as it is in France.
Education
Main article: Education in Germany
The University of Heidelberg is one of the most renowned universities in the world.
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The University of Heidelberg is one of the most renowned universities in the world.
Germany has one of the world's highest levels of education and many famous universities. The most important foreign languages taught at school are English, French, Latin, Italian and Ancient Greek. Some languages, such as Russian, Turkish, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic are taught less widely. Since the end of World War II, the number of youths entering universities has more than tripled, but university attendance still lags behind many other European nations. In the annual league of top-ranking universities compiled by Shanghai Jiaotong University in 2004, Germany came 4th overall, but with only 7 universities in the top 100 (to compare, the United States had 51). The highest ranking university, at #45, was the TU Munich. Most German universities are state-owned and were free of charge, however a recently passed education reform calls for fees between €300 and €500 per semester from each student, starting in 2007. Additionally university students are often supported by the so called BAföG, a federal subsidy, running as high as €290 per month as interest free credit plus €290 as direct payment.
German educational ideals differ considerably from Anglo-Saxon educational ideals, emphasising socialisation, debate, vocal participation in class and critical faculties. Consequently the results of the PISA student assessments, that revealed comprehension of the respective subject matters only, were a shock to the German public but no surprise to many educational experts.
Participation in the official school system is compulsory; however, home-schooling is still practised by a number of people. There has been some publicity to government prosecution of this practice.
Culture
Berlin is sometimes called the "culture-capital of Europe". After Paris, it's the second most popular touristic site among Europeans.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a significant German poet
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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a significant German poet
Main article: Culture of Germany
Germany's contributions to the world's cultural heritage are numerous, and the country is often known as das Land der Dichter und Denker (the land of poets and thinkers). German literature can be traced back to the Middle Ages, in particular to such authors as Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach, considered some of the most important poets of medieval Europe. The fairy tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are world famous and the Nibelungenlied, whose author is not known, is also a major contribution to German literature. Theologian Luther, who translated the Bible into German, is widely credited for having set the basis for modern "High German" language. The most admired German poets and authors are without doubt Lessing, Goethe, Schiller, Kleist and Hoffmann. Other poets include Friedrich Hölderlin, Heinrich Heine, Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, Theodor Fontane, Rainer Maria Rilke and authors of the 20th century include Nobel Prize winners Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Böll, and Günter Grass. Other famous authors are Brecht and Schmidt. Germany's influence on world philosophy was significant as well, as exemplified by Magnus, Leibniz, Kant, Herder, Mendelssohn, Novalis, Fichte, Hegel, Marx, Engels, Feuerbach, Schopenhauer, Schweitzer, Nietzsche, Husserl, Hartmann, Jaspers, Luxemburg, Heidegger, Arendt, Steiner, Gadamer, and Habermas. In the field of sociology influential German thinkers were Tönnies, Simmel, Weber, Horkheimer, Adorno, and Luhmann.
Many historical figures, though not citizens of Germany in the modern sense, were important and influential figures in German culture, such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Kafka,and Stefan Zweig.
German language
Main article: German language
The German language was once the lingua franca of central, eastern and northern Europe. Within the European Union, German is the language with the most native speakers, with more than English, French, Spanish and Italian. As a foreign language, German is the third most taught worldwide.[10] It is also the second most used language on the Internet. The language has its origin in Old High German. There are numerous dialects of German, many of which are not intelligible to speakers of standard German or a different dialect. Some consider Low German to be a different language from German; Low German has been given the status of a minority language by the European Union, although it is less used today in the traditionally Low German-speaking areas of northern Germany.
Ludwig van Beethoven was an influential German composer and pianist
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Ludwig van Beethoven was an influential German composer and pianist
Music
Main article: Music of Germany
In the field of music, Germany's influence is noted through the works of, among others, Bach, Händel, Telemann, Beethoven, Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Mozart, Brahms, Schumann, Wagner, Strauss, Orff.
Science and technology
Germany has been the homeland of many great scientists like Helmholtz, Fraunhofer, Fahrenheit, Kepler, Copernicus, Haeckel, Wundt, Virchow, Ehrlich, Humboldt, Röntgen, Braun, Einstein, Born, Planck, Heisenberg, Creuzfeldt, Hertz, Koch, Hahn, Leibniz, Liebig, Mayr and Bunsen.
It has been the home of many inventors and engineers such as Gutenberg, Otto, Geiger, Fick, Lilienthal, Bosch, Siemens, von Braun, Porsche, Maybach, Daimler, Zuse, Diesel, and Benz.
Important mathematicians were born in Germany such as Dedekind, Bessel, Gauß, Hilbert, Jacobi, Riemann, Riese, Klein, Einstein, Cantor and Weierstraß.
Alongside other heavy industries, Germany is also a base for several major weaponsmanufacture with worldwide trade of - among others - submarines, helicopters and armored vehicles. Examples include Heckler & Koch, small arms manufacturer; Rheinmetall, defence company developing and manufacturing numerous tanks and turrets, air defence systems, weapons, munitions and projectiles; EADS, developer of Eurofighter and Eurocopter air vehicles, aswell as other weapon systems; Howaldtswerke, developer and manufacturer of the Type 212 submarine and Krauss-Maffei, developer and manufacturer of the Leopard 2 main battle tank.
Transport
Main article: Transport in Germany
Map of the German autobahn network
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Map of the German autobahn network
Due to its central situation in Europe, the volume of traffic, especially goods transit, in Germany is very high. In the past decades, much of the freight traffic shifted from rail to road transport, which led the Federal Government to introduce a motor toll for lorries in 2005. In addition, individual traffic increased to an extent that on German roads, traffic densities are very high by international comparison. For the future, a further strong increase of traffic is expected.
High speed vehicular traffic has a long tradition in Germany, not only owing to the automobile industry, but also, because the first Autobahn in the world, the AVUS, and the world's first automobile were built in Germany. Germany possesses one of the densest road systems of the world. It covers 12,037 kilometres (7,479 mi) of federal "Autobahn" motorways and 41,386 kilometres (25,716 mi) of federal highways. In contrast to other European countries, German motorways partially have no blanket speed limit. However, signposted limits are in place on many dangerous or congested stretches, and where traffic noise or pollution poses a nuisance; some of these limits apply only at night or only in wet conditions.
InterCity Express train (generation III), Stuttgart.
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InterCity Express train (generation III), Stuttgart.
Another way to travel is via rail. Deutsche Bahn (German Rail) is the major German railway infrastructure and service operator. For commuter and regional services, franchises of various sizes are granted by the individual states, though largely financed from the federal budget. Unsubsidised long-range service operators can compete freely all over the country, at least in theory. Actually, Deutsche Bahn holds a de facto monopoly on long-range services.
The InterCity Express or ICE is a type of high-speed train operated by Deutsche Bahn in Germany and neighbouring countries, for example to Zürich, Switzerland or Vienna, Austria. ICE trains also serve Amsterdam (The Netherlands) as well as Liège and Brussels (Belgium). In spite of branch lines progressively being closed for at least the last seven decades, the rail network throughout Germany is still very extensive and provides excellent services in most areas. On regular lines, at least one train every two hours will call even in the smallest of villages. Nearly all larger metropolitan areas are being served by an S-Bahn heavy rail metro system. A large proportion of towns feature underground and/or tram systems. Good urban and overland bus services are ubiquitous.
Frankfurt International Airport is a major international airport and European transportation hub. Frankfurt Airport ranks among the world's top ten airports and serves 304 flight destinations in 110 countries. Depending whether total passengers, flights or cargo traffic are used to measure, it ranks as the busiest, second busiest and third busiest in Europe alongside London Heathrow Airport and Paris' Charles de Gaulle.
International rankings
For an explanation of the ratings, see the corresponding article.
Political and economic rankings
* Political freedom - Free; political rights and civil liberties both rated 1 (the highest score available)
* Press freedom - 18th freest in the world at 4.00
* GDP per capita (PPP) - 17th highest in the world at I$30,579
* Human Development Index - 20th highest in the world at 0.930
* Income equality - 14th most equal income at 28.3 (Gini index)
* Literacy rate - Equal 1st with 99.9 %
* Unemployment rate - 80th lowest with 10.60 %
* Corruption - 16th lowest with a rating of 8.2
* Economic freedom - Equal 19th freest with a rating of 1.96
Health rankings
* Fertility rate - 171st most fertile country with a rating of 1.39 per woman
* Birth rate - 192nd most births per capita at 8.33 per 1000 people
* Infant mortality - 11th least infant deaths with a rating of 4.16 per 1000 births
* Death rate - 55th highest with a rating of 10.55 deaths per 1000 people
* Life expectancy - 23rd highest with 78.80 years
* Suicide rate - 28th highest with 20.4 for men, 7.0 for women and 13.5 total
Other rankings
* CO⊃2; emissions per capita - 24th highest with 9,8 metric tons per capita
* Electricity consumption - 7th highest with 510,400,000,000 kWh
* Broadband uptake - 18th highest with 13.0 %
* Beer consumption - 3rd largest with 115.8 l per capita
Miscellaneous topics
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Culture of Germany in prose
Germany is known as das Land der Dichter und Denker (The Land of Poets and Thinkers). Famous German poets include Goethe, Schiller and Heine. Poets in Jena and later in Berlin led Romanticism in the 19th century. German prose authors include Günter Grass, Hermann Hesse and Bertolt Brecht. Famous German philosophers include Leibniz, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Heidegger. German theologians include Luther, Schleiermacher, Feuerbach, and Rudolf Otto. Also Germany brought up many mystics including Meister Eckhart and Rudolf Steiner.
Religious tradition in Germany
The German government has limited responsibilities for culture, which is devolved to the states of Germany, called Länder.
Approximately 67 percent of the German population belong to a Christian denomination, of whom roughly half are Roman Catholic and half are Protestant (the figures are known quite accurately because Germany imposes a church tax on those who disclose a religious affiliation). Germany formed a substantial part of the Roman Catholic Holy Roman Empire, but was also the source of Protestant reformers such as Martin Luther. Historically, Germany had a substantial Jewish population. Only a few thousand people of Jewish origin remained in Germany after the Holocaust, but the German Jewish community now has approximately 100,000 members, many from the former Soviet Union. Germany also has a substantial Muslim minority, the most are from Turkey.
Less than 4 percent of Germans attend church on a regular basis.
Musical and artistic contributions from Germany
Germany has made a significant contribution to art and music. Famous German fine artists include the Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer, the surrealist Max Ernst, the expressionist Franz Marc, the conceptual artist Joseph Beuys or the neo expressionist Georg Baselitz. Famous German composers include Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Schumann, and Wagner. The German Bauhaus school has a large influence on modern architecture. Many important historical figures, though not citizens of Germany in the modern sense, were nevertheless seen as Germans in the sense that they were immersed in the German culture, for example Mozart, Franz Kafka and Stefan Zweig.
Academic landmarks of Germany
Germany has some of the finest academic centers in Europe. Famous Universities include the University of Tübingen, University of Göttingen, University of Marburg, University of Berlin, Heidelberg University, mining academy Freiberg and Freiburg University, among many others.
Since about 1970, Germany has once again had a thriving popular culture, now increasingly being led by its new-old capital Berlin and the city of Hamburg, and a self-confident music and art scene. Germany is also well known for its many opera houses.
Cuisine of Germany
Main article: German cuisine
German cuisine varies from region to region, but concentrates on meat (especially sausage) and varieties of sweet dessert and cakes (such as Black Forest gateau Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte) and Stollen (a fruit cake).Germans also are famous for rye bread. Germany also produces a large quantity of beer, and (mostly white) wine, particularly Riesling, but also Müller-Thurgau and other varieties.
German cuisine is very similar to British and American cuisine and also to the cooking styles of its immediate neighbors (Holland, France, Austria, Poland). Although sausage is the most famous food product from Germany you couldn't gain an understanding of German cuisine if you just reduced it to sausage. In Germany it is mostly consumed as a snack (Bratwurst), at barbecues and it also appears in a few dishes. A stereotypical German dish contains a type of meat (typically pork, beef or poultry), a type of potatoes (mashed, fried, as dumplings or boiled) and a type of vegetable (typically peas, carrots or cabbage) and sauce. The "home cuisine" differs very much from the "restaurant cuisine". In restaurants you will find more traditional dishes. Cuisine differs also greatly according to regions (in the north you eat fish, in the Rhine region you replace beer with wine, in Bavaria you eat roasted pork) and season (in spring you eat white asparagus with ham and sauce hollandaise, in fall you eat green cabbage with a special kind of sausage and mustard and in winter/for Christmas you eat duck or goose with red cabbage, dumplings and delicious brown gravy).
Bavarian "citizenship"
The fact that, different to the constitutions of all other German Länder, the Bavarian constitution provides for a Bavarian citizenship, is often mentioned as an indicator for Bavarian distinctiveness. Some Bavarians are keen to emphasize that - in accordance with the generous indication of the constitution - they regard everyone
* born in Bavaria,
* born to a Bavarian parent,
* adopted by a Bavarian as a child,
* married to a Bavarian, or
* naturalized in Bavaria,
as a fellow-Bavarian; some of those falling under this untechnical definition express pride to being "Bavarian". However, state legislation regulating citizenship procedures has never been enacted, the constitution itself provides that all Germans enjoy the same rights as Bavarian citizens, and no office issues certificates concerning a "Bavarian" citizenship. Thus, the notion of citizenship rather bears a folkloristic, but not really political meaning.
However, many - originally born Bavarians - clearly divide between born Bavarians and people that only moved to Bavaria. The nickname for all those who came to Bavaria is "Zuagroaste" ("those who have travelled here").
Many people in the northern part of Bavaria see themselves as Franconians and do therefore not like to be called "Bavarians". They have a separate dialect and don't wear traditional Bavarian clothing.
German-Bavarian relations
It is a common joke in Germany that Bavaria is not part of Germany. In fact a minority seriously agree to this notion; the Bayernpartei (Bavaria Party) has tendencies to make Bavaria an independent state in Europe. It is important to note that Bavaria was the only state to reject the West German constitution in 1949. However this has had no consequences on its implementation.
Several German dialects are spoken in Bavaria. In the administrative regions to the north the Franconian dialect is prevalent, in Swabia the local dialect is Swabian, a thread of the Alemannic dialect family. In the Upper Palatinate people speak the Northern Bavarian dialect that can vary regionally. In Upper and Lower Bavaria (Middle) Austro-Bavarian is the predominant dialect.
See also
Bavarian Soviet Republic
List of rulers of Bavaria
List of Premiers of Bavaria
Former countries in Europe after 1815
[edit]
Culture
Bavaria has a culture very distinct from the rest of Germany. Noteworthy differences (especially in rural areas, less significant in the major cities) can be found with respect to:
Religion: Particularly in Southern Bavaria the predominant faith is Roman Catholic, contrasting with the more Lutheran-Protestantism in the Northern parts of Bavaria. This is expressed by the typical Bavarian and Austrian greeting: "Grüß Gott!" ("God bless you" or "Greetings from God"). The current pope, Benedict XVI (Joseph Alois Ratzinger), was born in Marktl am Inn in Upper Bavaria.
Food and drink: Bavarians tend to place a greater value on food and drink than do other Germans. Bavarians also consume many items of food and drink which are unusual elsewhere in Germany. [citation needed]
Language: Bavarians are very proud of their marked dialects and most of them speak with their Bavarian, Franconian or Swabian accent.
Politics: The Christian Social Union, which has ruled in Bavaria uninterruptedly since 1957, does not seek election in any other state of Germany. The CSU, arguably the most inward looking of the major German political parties, combines socially conservative positions with advocacy for extensive involvement of the state in the economy.
Social behaviour: In comparison to the elaborate formality in the rest of Germany, Bavarians can be extremely egalitarian and folksy. [citation needed]
Administrative Divisions
Regierungsbezirke (administrative regions)
Administrative Regions of Bavaria
Administrative Regions of Bavaria
Bavaria is divided into 7 administrative regions called Regierungsbezirke (singular Regierungsbezirk).
1. Oberfranken (Upper Franconia)
2. Mittelfranken (Middle Franconia)
3. Unterfranken (Lower Franconia)
4. Schwaben (Swabia)
5. Oberpfalz (Upper Palatinate)
6. Oberbayern (Upper Bavaria)
7. Niederbayern (Lower Bavaria)
These administrative regions consist of 71 administrative districts (called Landkreise, singular Landkreis) and 25 independent cities (kreisfreie Städte, singular kreisfreie Stadt).
Landkreise/kreisfreie Städte (administrative districts/independent cities)
Administrative districts of Bavaria
Enlarge
Administrative districts of Bavaria
Administrative districts:
1. Aichach-Friedberg
2. Altötting
3. Amberg-Sulzbach
4. Ansbach
5. Aschaffenburg
6. Augsburg
7. Bad Kissingen
8. Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen
9. Bamberg
10. Bayreuth
11. Berchtesgadener Land
12. Cham
13. Coburg
14. Dachau
15. Deggendorf
16. Dillingen
17. Dingolfing-Landau
18. Donau-Ries
19. Ebersberg
20. Eichstätt
21. Erding
22. Erlangen-Höchstadt
23. Forchheim
24. Freising
25. Freyung-Grafenau
26. Fürstenfeldbruck
27. Fürth
28. Garmisch-Partenkirchen
29. Günzburg
30. Haßberge
31. Hof
32. Kelheim
33. Kitzingen
34. Kronach
35. Kulmbach
36. Landsberg
37. Landshut
38. Lichtenfels
39. Lindau
40. Main-Spessart
41. Miesbach
42. Miltenberg
43. Mühldorf
44. Munich (München)
45. Neuburg-Schrobenhausen
46. Neumarkt
47. Neustadt (Aisch)-Bad Windsheim
48. Neustadt (Waldnaab)
49. Neu-Ulm
50. Nürnberger Land
51. Oberallgäu
52. Ostallgäu
53. Passau
54. Pfaffenhofen
55. Regen
56. Regensburg
57. Rhön-Grabfeld
58. Rosenheim
59. Roth
60. Rottal-Inn
61. Schwandorf
62. Schweinfurt
63. Starnberg
64. Straubing-Bogen
65. Tirschenreuth
66. Traunstein
67. Unterallgäu
68. Weilheim-Schongau
69. Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen
70. Wunsiedel
71. Würzburg
Independent cities:
1. Amberg
2. Ansbach
3. Aschaffenburg
4. Augsburg
5. Bamberg
6. Bayreuth
7. Coburg
8. Erlangen
9. Fürth
10. Hof
11. Ingolstadt
12. Kaufbeuren
13. Kempten
14. Landshut
15. Memmingen
16. Munich (München)
17. Nuremberg (Nürnberg)
18. Passau
Austro-Bavarian or Bavarian is a major group of Upper German varieties. Like standard German, Austro-Bavarian is a High German language, but they are not the same. However, Austro-Bavarian and Standard German have influenced each other and the vast majority of Austro-Bavarian speakers speak Standard German as well.
Austro-Bavarian is also used to refer to the dialect group which includes the Austro-Bavarian dialect discussed here, as well as the Cimbrian, Hutterite German, and Mócheno dialects of German.
History and Origin
The Austro-Bavarian language has its origins in the Germanic tribe known as the Baioari or Bajuwarii, who established a tribal duchy, which covered much of what is today Bavaria and some of Austria in the early middle ages and was eventually subdued by Charlemagne. However, they gradually migrated down the Danube and into the Alps to all those areas where Austro-Bavarian dialects are spoken.
In German, there is usually a difference made between "bairisch" (referring to the language) and "bayerisch" (referring to the state of Bavaria). Because of King Ludwig I's passion for everything Hellenic, the German name for Bavaria today is spelled "Bayern", while the language spoken there has retained its original spelling "Bairisch" — note the I versus the "Hellenic"
he SIL code for Bavarian language is BAR. It has no ISO 639 code of its own, but is classified under the "Germanic (Other)" collective language code "gem". Genetically Bavarian is part of the Upper German family along with Alemannic (which includes Swabian and Swiss German), whereas Standard German is part of the Middle German family, closer to Saxon.
[edit]
Regions where Austro-Bavarian is spoken
* in Bavaria:
o in Upper Bavaria
o in Lower Bavaria
o in the Upper Palatinate
* in Austria:
o in all parts of the country with the exception of the state of Vorarlberg and Reutte in Tirol, where an Alemannic dialect is spoken.
* in Italy:
o in South Tyrol
[edit]
Subgroups
There are three main dialect groups in Austro-Bavarian:
* Northern Austro-Bavarian, also spoken in the Upper Franconian district of Wunsiedel);
* Central Austro-Bavarian (along the main rivers Isar and Danube, spoken in Munich, Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria, southern Upper Palatinate, the Swabian district of Aichach, the northern parts of the State of Salzburg, Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Vienna (see Viennese German) and the Northern Burgenland)
* Southern Austro-Bavarian (in Tyrol, South Tyrol, Carinthia, Styria, and the southern parts of Salzburg and Burgenland).
There are clearly noticeable differences within those three subgroups, which in Austria often coincide with the borders of the particular states. For example,. each of the accents of Carinthia, Styria and Tyrol can be easily recognised. Also there is a marked difference between Eastern and Western Central Austro-Bavarian, roughly coinciding with the border between Austria and Bavaria. Also, the Viennese dialect has some characteristics distinguishing it from all other dialects.
However, the various Austro-Bavarian dialects are normally mutually intelligible, with the possible exception of some versions of Tyrolean.
[edit]
Use
All Bavarians and Austrians can read, write and understand Standard German but, as a phenomenon, many people, especially in rural areas, have little opportunity to speak it at all. In those regions, Standard German is the "written language" while Bavarian is the commonly (and in very many cases only) spoken language.
Although there exist grammars, vocabularies, and a translation of the Bible, there is no common standard for how to write the language. There is poetry written in various Austro-Bavarian dialects, and many pop songs use the language as well, especially ones belonging to the Austropop wave of the 1970s and 1980s.
Although Austro-Bavarian as a spoken language is in daily use in its region, Standard German is preferred in the mass media. However, especially in Austria, the variety of Standard German used in the media and in education is strongly influenced by Austro-Bavarian.
On the use of Austro-Bavarian and Standard German in Austria see Austrian German.
There exist only very few forms of the simple past in Austro-Bavarian (e.g. i war = I was; i wuit = I wanted), most of the verbs are used only in the present perfect when a past tense is required.
It is difficult for a foreigner, including non-bavarian Germans, to distinguish between an Austrian and a Bavarian by language. One of the most obvious differences are relative clauses: In normal German it is: Wenn... (English: If...) A Bavarian would also say: Wenn... But an Austrian normally says: Wann..
[edit]
Written Bavarian
* Bavarian: S' Boárische is a Grubbm vã Dialekde im Süüdn vãm deitschn Schbrååchraum.
o German: Das Bairische ist eine Gruppe von Dialekten im Süden des deutschen Sprachraumes.
+ English: Bavarian is a group of dialects spoken in the south of the German speaking area.
* Bavarian: Serwas/Griasde, i bi da Beda und kumm/kimm vo Minga.
o German: Hallo ich bin der Peter und komme aus München.
+ English: Hi, I'm Peter and I'm from Munich.
* Bavarian: 'S Liesal håd se an Haxn brocha.
o German: Elisabeth hat sich das Bein gebrochen.
+ English: Elisabeth has broken her leg.
* Bavarian: I håb a Gäid/Gööd gfundn.
o German: Ich habe Geld gefunden.
+ English: I have found money.
Beyond Munich, capital of Bavaria counting 1.3 mio souls though often called a "big village", and its sprawling suburbs: the Alps - home of many famous mountain resorts. Landscapes as in Visconti's movie about the life of König Ludwig II, villages and towns that seem unchanged for the last 100 years except maybe for a few additional banks, gas stations and souvenir shops along the main town roads. Otherwise, the "homo bavaricus" has stayed pretty much the same: country shirt and richly decorated traditional jacket, leather pants with flowery suspenders (Lederhosen), felt hat garnished with feathers, "goatee beards" and many pins full of ornaments, little bells and trinkets. The "costumes" are worn on Sundays and even in Munich during the Oktoberfest season. Some take a raft, beer and music ride down Munich's home river the Isar. On the other hand the sacred King of all Bavarians, Ludwig II, architect of almost all castles in the south of Munich of which Neuschwanstein (new-swan-rock) is best known for its role model for Walt Disney's sleeping beauty castle. Wouldn't you be dreaming to have breakfast on the castle's terasse in company of Sissi, overlooking the best in natural Kitsch the Bavarian.
For most travellers this region of southern Germany bordering the Alps is the most quintessentially (and stereotypically) German. Bavaria is the land of Lederhosen and wood carvers, of giant stoneware mugs called Maß filled with Starkbier (dark bock beer) and houses painted with colorful frescoes. However, Bavaria is the most fancied state in Germany for purposes of vacationing and tourism. Its sceneries and cultural riches, the traditional Bavarian hospitality are the advantages are appreciated by the innumerable visitors from Germany and abroad. One of the biggest attractions is Munich’s yearly Oktoberfest but year round travellers can find festivals, great beer and lively music in the hundreds of villages scattered in the region. It is always interesting to spend some days in the surrounding of Nuremberg, Passau, Regensburg, Wurzburg, Augsburg or Bamberg - the cities offer cultural programs and nightlife, the countryside calm and relaxing atmosphere and beautiful landscapes. Several days could be spent just driving around stopping wherever you come across something interesting.
The variety of health resorts and spas of world-wide renown stretching from the Rhön Mountains to the Alps offer holiday-makers every facility for health and fitness. No wonder, therefore, that Bavaria welcomes nearly 22 percent of all international tourist traffic in Germany. Discover for example Berchtesgaden, Coburg, Fussen, Garmisch-partenkirchen or Oberammergau.
Tourism in the Free State of Bavaria has become an increasingly important economic factor, especially in areas with less potent economic structure. The total number of overnight accommodations in all hotels and private lodgings, with a total capacity of about 715.000 beds, amounts to nearly 93 million, inclusive also of camping sites. As regards international tourism, the Free State has also notably improved its standing. One in nearly five visitors comes from abroad. Traditionally most foreign tourists come from the USA, followed by the Netherlands, Japan, Italy and Austria.
If you haven't seen enough yet of this interesting region don't forget to pay a visit to Altmuhl - great wandering area, Bayreuth with its famous Wagner festivals or some world-known fairy-tale sites like Neuschwanstein or Rothenburg ob der Tauber along the Romantic Russell. Don´t forget to visit the newly build Legoland Deutschlans near Günzburg.
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