Germany

TL;DR. For most of its history, "Germany" was not one country but a patchwork of hundreds of separate German-speaking states, loosely held together under a confusing institution called the Holy Roman Empire. The religious split of the Reformation began here in 1517 with Martin Luther. The many states were finally united into a single German Empire in 1871 under the leadership of Prussia and its chief minister, Otto von Bismarck. In the twentieth century Germany was at the center of both World Wars. Its Nazi era, from 1933 to 1945, produced a dictatorship under Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust, the deliberate murder of about six million Jews and millions of other people. After total defeat in 1945, Germany was split into a democratic West and a communist East, divided by the Berlin Wall, until it reunited in 1990. Today Germany is a stable democracy and Europe's largest economy, known for confronting its past honestly.

Key takeaways

• Germany became a single country only in 1871, very late by European standards; before that it was a collection of many German states.
• The Protestant Reformation started in Germany with Martin Luther in 1517 and split the country between Catholics and Protestants.
• Germany was central to both World Wars; it lost both, and the second ended in total defeat in 1945.
• The Nazi regime carried out the Holocaust, the systematic murder of about six million Jews and millions of others. This is stated plainly here, without minimizing it, and it must never be downplayed.
• It is essential to separate the Nazi regime from the German people. Postwar Germany has spent decades openly confronting and teaching this history rather than hiding it.
• From 1949 to 1990 there were two Germanys, a democratic West and a communist East, divided by the Berlin Wall; they reunited peacefully in 1990.

Main events at a glance

The land and the deep past

Germany sits in the heart of Europe, with no great natural walls like high mountains or wide seas to protect most of its borders. It has neighbors on almost every side, which is one reason its history is so tangled with the rest of the continent. The land is a mix of flat plains in the north, rolling hills and river valleys in the middle, forests like the famous Black Forest, and the Alps along the southern edge. The Rhine and the Danube, two of Europe's great rivers, run through or along it and have carried trade and armies for thousands of years.

In ancient times the region was home to many Germanic tribes, groups of people who spoke related languages and lived beyond the frontier of the Roman Empire. The Romans called the area Germania and tried to conquer it. In one famous battle around the year 9 CE, in the Teutoburg Forest, Germanic warriors led by a chief the Romans called Arminius destroyed three Roman legions. After that, Rome largely gave up on conquering the lands east of the Rhine. The river became a long-term border between the Roman world and the Germanic one.

Centuries later, as the Roman Empire weakened, Germanic peoples played a large part in its fall. Some came as invaders and some as migrants and settlers, and groups with names like the Goths, Vandals, and Franks moved into former Roman territory and set up kingdoms of their own. The Franks, in what is now France and western Germany, became the most powerful. Their greatest king, Charlemagne, was crowned emperor by the pope in the year 800, reviving the idea of a grand Christian empire in western Europe. When his realm was later divided, its eastern part grew into the German lands.

From those eastern lands came the institution that would loom over German history for the next thousand years. In 962, a German king named Otto I was crowned emperor, an event usually taken as the start of what later became known as the Holy Roman Empire. Despite the grand name, this was not a tightly run state. It was a sprawling, ever-shifting collection of German territories whose emperor was chosen by a small group of powerful princes called electors. Real power usually stayed with the local rulers rather than the emperor, and over the centuries the empire grew more and more fragmented.

Don't be confused: The Holy Roman Empire was not the same thing as ancient Rome, and it was not really an empire in the way we usually mean. A famous quip says it was "neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire." It was a loose collection of hundreds of German-speaking states, big and small, that shared an elected emperor with limited real power. It lasted, in name, for about a thousand years, from the Middle Ages until 1806, but for most of that time the individual states ran their own affairs. It is not the same as modern Germany, which did not exist as one country until 1871.

From many states to one Germany

For most of the Middle Ages and the centuries that followed, there was no country called Germany. Instead there were hundreds of separate territories: kingdoms, duchies, church lands, and free cities, all German-speaking, all loosely under the umbrella of the Holy Roman Empire. Each had its own ruler, laws, and customs. This is the single most important fact for understanding German history: the German people existed long before the German country did.

The biggest turning point in this long stretch was the Reformation. In 1517, a monk and professor named Martin Luther publicly challenged the Catholic Church, objecting to certain practices, especially the selling of "indulgences," documents the church claimed could reduce punishment for sins. His ideas, helped by the newly invented printing press, spread quickly across the German lands. They led to the birth of Protestant Christianity, a branch of the faith separate from the Roman Catholic Church. Germany was split: some states and princes became Protestant, others stayed Catholic. This religious divide shaped German life for centuries and helped cause terrible wars.

The worst of those was the Thirty Years' War (1618 to 1648). It began as a conflict between Catholic and Protestant states inside the Holy Roman Empire but drew in many foreign powers, including Sweden, France, and Spain, fighting on German soil. It was one of the most destructive wars in European history. Disease, famine, and fighting killed a huge share of the population in many German regions, with some areas losing a third or more of their people. The memory of this devastation left a deep mark.

Out of the patchwork, one state rose to dominate: Prussia, in the north and east. Prussia became a kingdom in 1701 and built itself into a disciplined, militarized power, known for its strong army and efficient, orderly government. People sometimes joked that while other countries had an army, the Prussian army had a country, a way of saying how central the military was to the whole state. Under rulers like Frederick the Great in the 1700s, Prussia grew in size and reputation, winning wars against larger rivals and becoming one of the major powers of Europe.

To its south, the other German heavyweight was Austria, ruled by the Habsburg family, who for centuries usually held the title of Holy Roman Emperor. The long rivalry between Prussia in the north and Austria in the south was one of the great questions of German history: if the German states ever united, which of the two would lead them? In the end, Prussia won that contest, and the unified Germany of 1871 would be built around Prussia, leaving Austria outside as a separate country, which it remains today.

The push toward a single Germany came in the 1800s, an age when many European peoples wanted nations of their own. The man who made it happen was Otto von Bismarck, the shrewd chief minister of Prussia. Through clever diplomacy and three short, successful wars, the last against France, Bismarck rallied the German states around Prussia. In 1871, in a ceremony held at the palace of Versailles in defeated France, the German states were joined into a single German Empire, with the Prussian king as its emperor (the Kaiser). For the first time, most German-speaking people lived in one country. Bismarck's approach is often summed up by his own phrase about settling great questions through "blood and iron," meaning military strength rather than speeches and votes.

Big events and conflicts

Germany's modern history is defined by two world wars and their aftermath. For each, it helps to be clear about who fought alongside whom.

World War I (1914 to 1918). Europe in 1914 was split into rival alliance systems, and a single assassination set off a chain reaction. Germany fought on the side of the Central Powers, mainly together with Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire (centered on what is now Turkey). They fought against the Allies, which included France, Britain, Russia, and later the United States, among others. The war became a grinding stalemate of trenches that killed millions. Germany was defeated and, in 1918, asked for an armistice (a stop to the fighting). The emperor gave up his throne, and Germany became a republic.

The peace that followed was harsh. The Treaty of Versailles (1919) forced Germany to accept blame for the war, give up territory and its overseas colonies, sharply limit its army, and pay enormous sums of money called reparations. Many Germans felt humiliated and treated unfairly, a bitterness that extremists would later exploit.

The Weimar Republic (1919 to 1933). Germany's first real democracy is named after the city of Weimar, where its constitution was written. These years were a mix of bright and dark. On one hand, there was extraordinary cultural energy in art, film, theater, and science, and Berlin became one of the liveliest cities in the world. On the other hand, the young democracy was fragile. In the early 1920s, runaway hyperinflation made money nearly worthless; people needed wheelbarrows of banknotes to buy bread, and savings were wiped out. The economy partly recovered, but then the worldwide Great Depression struck after 1929, throwing millions out of work. Desperation pushed many voters toward extreme parties on both the far right and the far left.

The Nazi era (1933 to 1945). Into this crisis stepped Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party (the National Socialists). They preached an aggressive, racist nationalism, blamed Germany's troubles on Jews and others, and promised to restore national pride and order. In January 1933, through legal political maneuvering rather than an election victory, Hitler was appointed head of government. He quickly dismantled democracy, banned other parties, crushed opposition, and turned Germany into a brutal one-party dictatorship. The state controlled the press, schools, and daily life, and it persecuted anyone it deemed an enemy or an outsider.

In foreign affairs, Hitler rebuilt the military and began seizing territory. World War II in Europe began in September 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. In this war Germany led the Axis powers, allied chiefly with Italy and, on the other side of the world, Japan. They fought against the Allies, which included Britain, France, the Soviet Union (after 1941), the United States (after 1941), and many others. Early on, German forces conquered much of Europe. The tide turned after Germany invaded the Soviet Union and the United States entered the war. The fighting was enormous and deadly, especially on the Eastern Front against the Soviets. Germany was finally crushed from both east and west, and the war in Europe ended in May 1945 with Germany's total defeat.

The Holocaust. During the war, the Nazi regime carried out one of the gravest crimes in human history. It organized the deliberate, systematic murder of Europe's Jews. About six million Jewish men, women, and children were killed, shot in mass executions or murdered in death camps built for that purpose, such as Auschwitz. This planned extermination is called the Holocaust (in Hebrew, the Shoah). The Nazis also murdered millions of other people, including Roma (sometimes called Gypsies), disabled people, Soviet prisoners of war, Polish civilians, political prisoners, gay men, and others they considered undesirable. These are not vague or exaggerated figures; they are documented facts established by overwhelming evidence, including the regime's own records. The Holocaust must be remembered clearly and soberly, and it must never be denied or minimized. Responsibility for it lies with the Nazi regime and those who carried out and enabled its crimes, not with the German people as a whole or with later generations, though Germany as a nation has chosen to take responsibility for remembering and teaching this history.

It is worth pausing on how this horror unfolded, because it did not happen all at once. The persecution of Jews began with words and laws: propaganda that blamed them for the country's troubles, then rules that stripped them of citizenship, jobs, and property, then violence such as the nationwide attacks on Jewish homes, shops, and synagogues in November 1938. Step by step, a modern, educated society was turned toward mass murder. Many people went along, whether out of fear, hatred, ambition, or a choice to look away. A smaller number resisted, hid their neighbors, or spoke out, sometimes paying with their lives. Remembering both the crime and the ordinary choices that made it possible is part of why this history is studied so carefully today.

Defeat and division (1945). When the war ended, Germany lay in ruins, its cities bombed and its government destroyed. The victorious Allies occupied the country and split it into zones. As wartime cooperation between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union broke down into the Cold War, those zones hardened into two separate countries in 1949. West Germany (officially the Federal Republic of Germany) was a democracy aligned with the United States and Western Europe. East Germany (the German Democratic Republic) was a communist state aligned with the Soviet Union. The capital, Berlin, sitting inside East Germany, was itself divided.

The Berlin Wall (1961 to 1989). So many people fled communist East Germany for the freer, more prosperous West that, in 1961, the East German government built a guarded wall through Berlin to stop them. The Berlin Wall became the most famous symbol of the Cold War and of a Europe split in two. People who tried to cross it were sometimes shot.

Reunification (1990). Meanwhile, West Germany experienced a remarkable recovery often called the economic miracle (Wirtschaftswunder), rebuilding into one of the world's richest, most successful economies. In 1989, as communist rule collapsed across Eastern Europe, huge peaceful protests in East Germany and a sudden easing of travel rules led crowds to the Wall. On the night of November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, opened by the people themselves. Less than a year later, on October 3, 1990, the two Germanys were reunited into a single democratic country. The day is now a national holiday.

How people lived: daily life and lifestyle

Because Germany was made of many states for so long, it still has strong regional identities. People from Bavaria in the south, the Rhineland in the west, or the northern coast often have different dialects, traditions, foods, and even temperaments, and they take pride in these differences. The famous lederhosen (leather shorts) and dirndl dresses, for example, are really Bavarian, not "typically German" everywhere.

Modern German life is often associated with a respect for order, planning, and quality work. The country is proud of its engineering and manufacturing, from cars to precision tools, and "Made in Germany" became a worldwide mark of reliability. Workers' rights are taken seriously: Germany has strong trade unions, and its system is often called a social market economy, meaning a free market combined with a sturdy safety net of health care, pensions, and worker protections.

Seasonal traditions are warm and beloved. In December, towns fill with Christmas markets (Weihnachtsmärkte), open-air stalls selling crafts, roasted nuts, and hot spiced wine. In autumn, Oktoberfest in Munich draws millions to celebrate Bavarian beer, food, and music; it is the most famous part of a deep German beer culture with centuries-old brewing traditions and a historic purity law about what beer may contain. Sunday is traditionally a quiet day of rest, and many Germans value their leisure time, holidays, and the outdoors, with hiking and cycling popular across the country.

Education and work also have a distinct shape. Germany is well known for its apprenticeship system, in which young people who do not go to university train on the job in a trade while studying part time, a path that carries real respect and feeds the country's skilled workforce. Decades of division also left their mark on daily life: even now, after reunification, there are real differences between the formerly communist east and the west, in wages, attitudes, and memories, and bridging that gap has been one of modern Germany's quiet, ongoing tasks.

Music and the arts

Few countries have shaped Western culture as deeply as Germany, above all in music and ideas.

In classical music, the German-speaking world produced an unmatched line of composers. Johann Sebastian Bach brought the music of his era to a peak in the 1700s. Ludwig van Beethoven transformed music in the early 1800s, composing some of his greatest works after he had gone deaf. Johannes Brahms carried the tradition forward, and Richard Wagner created vast, dramatic operas that changed the art form. (The Austrian Mozart belongs to the same broad German-language musical world.) For many people, German classical music is simply the heart of the entire Western tradition.

Germany is just as famous for philosophy, the disciplined study of big questions about knowledge, right and wrong, and how societies work. Immanuel Kant reshaped how thinkers approach reason and morality. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel developed sweeping ideas about history and progress. Friedrich Nietzsche challenged traditional beliefs and morality in ways still debated today. And Karl Marx, a German thinker, wrote the ideas about class and economics that would inspire communist movements around the world, including the one that later ruled East Germany.

In literature, the towering figure is Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a poet, playwright, and novelist whose work, especially the play Faust, is to German what Shakespeare is to English. Germany also gave the world the Brothers Grimm, who collected the folk tales, such as Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel, that became famous fairy tales worldwide.

Germany has also been a powerhouse of science and invention. German and German-speaking researchers helped lay the foundations of modern chemistry, physics, and medicine, and the country produced a long line of Nobel Prize winners. The printing press, developed by Johannes Gutenberg in the 1400s, was a German breakthrough that changed the whole world by making books cheap and widespread. In the visual arts, the Renaissance painter and printmaker Albrecht Dürer stands among Germany's most admired figures, and in the twentieth century the Bauhaus, a famous German school of design, shaped modern architecture and everyday objects around the globe with its clean, functional style.

Notable people

• Martin Luther (1483 to 1546). The monk whose challenge to the Catholic Church in 1517 began the Reformation and split Western Christianity.
• Otto von Bismarck (1815 to 1898). The Prussian statesman who united the German states into one empire in 1871 and dominated European diplomacy for decades.
• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 to 1750) and Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 to 1827). Two of the greatest composers in the history of Western music.
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 to 1832). Germany's most celebrated writer, often ranked among the giants of world literature.
• Karl Marx (1818 to 1883). The philosopher and economist whose ideas shaped communism and much of modern political thought.
• Albert Einstein (1879 to 1955). The German-born physicist whose theories of relativity revolutionized science. He was Jewish and fled Nazi Germany, becoming a powerful symbol of the talent the regime drove out.
• Adolf Hitler (1889 to 1945). It is necessary to name him honestly as the central figure of the Nazi catastrophe. As dictator from 1933, he led Germany into World War II and bears central responsibility for the Holocaust. He died by suicide in 1945 as Germany collapsed. He is remembered not as a hero but as the author of immense crimes.
• Angela Merkel (born 1954). A scientist from the former East Germany who became Germany's first woman chancellor (head of government) and led the country for sixteen years, from 2005 to 2021, a symbol of the reunited nation.

Religion, coexistence, and minorities

Since the Reformation, Germany has been split between Protestants and Roman Catholics, with Protestants historically stronger in the north and east and Catholics in the south and west. For centuries this divide caused conflict, but today the two churches coexist peacefully, and a growing share of Germans, especially in the formerly communist east, identify with no religion at all.

Germany was also home to one of the most important Jewish communities in Europe, with deep roots going back many centuries and a rich contribution to German science, business, music, and thought. The Nazi Holocaust destroyed that community: most of Germany's Jews were murdered or forced to flee. The Jewish population in Germany today is small, though it has grown again since the 1990s, partly through migration from the former Soviet Union, and the country works hard to protect and honor Jewish life.

After World War II, West Germany invited foreign workers to help rebuild and run its booming factories. The largest group came from Turkey, brought in under "guest worker" (Gastarbeiter) programs starting in the 1960s. Many stayed and raised families, and people of Turkish background are now one of the largest minority communities in Germany, part of the fabric of its cities. More recently, Germany took in large numbers of refugees, including many from Syria during the migration crisis of 2015. As in many countries, there are honest and ongoing debates about integration: how newcomers and longtime residents live together, share a language and values, and build a common future. These debates are real, but Germany today is a diverse society and a country built on immigration as well as tradition.

Food: Germany's own table

German cooking is hearty, regional, and very much its own, built around bread, meat, and the produce of a cool climate.

• Bread. Germany is famous for having one of the richest bread traditions on Earth, with hundreds of varieties, many of them dense, dark, whole-grain loaves quite different from soft white bread.
• Sausages and cured meats. The sausage (Wurst) is a national specialty, with countless regional types, such as the bratwurst (a grilled sausage) and the currywurst (sliced sausage with a spiced ketchup, a beloved street food). Cured and smoked meats and hams are also central.
• The pretzel (Brezel). A twisted, salted bread, especially popular in the south, often eaten with butter or alongside beer.
• Sauerkraut. Finely shredded cabbage that is fermented until sour, a traditional way to preserve vegetables through winter, often served with meat.
• Hearty dishes. Regional favorites include roast pork knuckle, dumplings (Knödel), schnitzel (a breaded, fried cutlet), and potato dishes of every kind.
• Beer. Brewing is treated almost as an art, with strong regional styles and a centuries-old reputation for quality. Beer is woven into festivals and everyday meals alike.

Don't be confused: German food is its own distinct tradition. While neighbors like Austria and the Czech Republic share some dishes, German cooking should not be lumped together with the very different cuisines of France or Italy. The sausage, the dark bread, and the pretzel are German signatures.

Everyday life: relationships, family, and home

Family and relationships in Germany are built mostly on individual choice. People are free to date, live together, and marry whom they wish, and many marry later than past generations did, often after finishing studies and starting careers. Same-sex marriage has been legal since 2017, with the same rights as any other marriage. Germany is known for strong family support from the state: parents can take paid parental leave (Elternzeit) and receive a monthly child benefit (Kindergeld), and public childcare is widely available, which helps many parents combine work and family.

There is a real cultural value placed on letting children play outdoors and learn some independence, with plenty of time spent outside in most weather. The Kindergarten, which means "children's garden," is itself a German invention, the idea of an early space where young children learn through play. Households vary widely, from couples with children to single people, single parents, and blended families, and there is no single "typical" home.

Germany is generally a dog-friendly country, where well-behaved dogs are welcome in many parks, cafes, and even on trains. Owning a dog comes with responsibilities: in many areas dogs must be registered and a small dog tax (Hundesteuer) paid, and owners are expected to follow leash rules and clean up after their pets. Many other animals, from cats to small pets, are kept and loved too.

A respect for order, rules, recycling, and tidiness runs through daily life for a lot of people. Germany has a detailed system for sorting household waste into different bins for paper, packaging, glass, and food scraps, and there is a deposit (Pfand) on many bottles and cans that you get back when you return them. This is not about being cold; it is widely seen as a fair, practical way for everyone to share clean public space. A beloved part of home life is the allotment garden (Schrebergarten or Kleingarten), a small rented garden plot, often on the edge of a city, where people who live in apartments grow vegetables and flowers and relax outdoors.

School, work, and the economy

The German school system is known for sorting, or "tracking," students into different kinds of schools fairly early, often around the age of ten. The paths lead toward more academic or more practical training, though students can switch tracks, and the exact system varies from state to state because education is run regionally. Students aiming for university take a major final exam called the Abitur. One of Germany's most admired features is its vocational apprenticeship system (often called the dual system), in which young people split their time between a company and a vocational school, learning a skilled trade while earning a wage. This path carries real respect and supplies the country with highly skilled workers.

German work culture is often associated with efficiency, punctuality, and careful planning, though styles differ by company and region. Workers enjoy strong rights, supported by powerful trade unions and by laws that, in larger firms, give employees a real voice in company decisions. There is usually a clear separation between work time and private time, and Germany offers generous paid holidays and vacation by international standards. The aim is steady, quality work rather than long hours for their own sake.

Germany has Europe's largest economy. It is famous worldwide for engineering and its car industry, home to well-known brands, as well as for chemicals, machinery, and high-tech manufacturing. A special strength is the Mittelstand, a large network of small and mid-sized firms, often family-owned and highly specialized, many of them quiet world leaders in their niche. Germany is also one of the world's great exporting nations, selling its goods across the globe, which is why the phrase "Made in Germany" became a mark of quality.

Language, idioms, and words to know

The main language is German (Deutsch), famous for building long compound words by joining smaller words together, so a single German word can need a whole English phrase to translate. German also has a polite or formal "you" (Sie) and an informal "you" (du); using Sie with people you do not know well is a sign of respect, and switching to du is a small but meaningful step toward friendliness.

A few real, well-known German expressions:

• "Übung macht den Meister." Literally "practice makes the master," the equivalent of "practice makes perfect."
• "Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund." Literally "the morning hour has gold in its mouth," meaning the early hours are valuable, close to "the early bird catches the worm."
• "Alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei." A humorous saying: "everything has an end, only the sausage has two."

Useful everyday phrases: hallo (hello), danke (thank you), bitte (please, and also "you're welcome"), and entschuldigung (excuse me or sorry).

German has also given the world several words for ideas that other languages borrow:

• Gemütlichkeit: a feeling of cozy warmth, comfort, and good cheer, often shared with others.
• Schadenfreude: taking pleasure in someone else's misfortune.
• Zeitgeist: the "spirit of the time," the mood and ideas of a particular age.

A genuine line from Germany's most celebrated writer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, captures a hopeful spirit: "Es irrt der Mensch, solang er strebt" ("Man errs as long as he strives"), from his play Faust.

Famous places to know

• Berlin. The capital, where the Brandenburg Gate stands as a national symbol and surviving stretches of the Berlin Wall, including the open-air East Side Gallery, recall the years of division.
• Neuschwanstein. A dramatic, fairy-tale castle in the Bavarian hills, built for King Ludwig II in the 1800s and one of the most photographed buildings in the world.
• Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom). An immense Gothic cathedral that took centuries to complete, towering over the city of Cologne beside the Rhine.
• The Black Forest (Schwarzwald). A region of dark, wooded hills in the southwest, known for its scenery, villages, cuckoo clocks, and a famous cherry cake.
• Munich and the Bavarian Alps. Munich is the lively capital of Bavaria, gateway to the snow-capped Alps along the southern border, with mountain villages, lakes, and hiking trails nearby.

Fitting in: visiting, impressing people, and being a good citizen

A few habits go a long way in Germany. Punctuality matters: arriving on time for meetings and social plans is a sign of respect. Germans are often direct in conversation, saying clearly what they think; this is meant as honesty, not rudeness, and clear communication is valued. It helps to follow the rules, including small ones: people generally wait for the green signal rather than jaywalk, and sorting your recycling correctly is expected. Be mindful of quiet hours, typically at night and on Sundays, when loud noise such as drilling or mowing is avoided, since Sunday is widely treated as a day of rest. Use the formal Sie and last names with people you have just met until you are invited to be casual, and note that cash is still common, so it is wise to carry some even where cards are accepted.

One subject calls for special care and seriousness: Germany confronts its Nazi past openly and gravely. This is taught in schools and marked by public memorials, and it is taken very seriously in conversation. It is also a matter of law: denying the Holocaust is a crime, and displaying Nazi symbols, such as the swastika, or giving the Nazi salute is illegal. Visitors should treat this history with respect and never joke about it.

To make a good impression, be reliable, keep your word, show interest in the local region and language (even a few German words are appreciated), and respect shared spaces and rules. Beyond that, ordinary courtesy and friendliness are welcome everywhere.

If you plan to visit, check the entry and visa rules that apply to your nationality through official sources before you travel, as requirements change. This chapter is general information, not legal advice.

Suggested reading, news, and links

Books. For readers who want a deeper, balanced history, look for a respected modern general history of Germany by an established historian; a librarian or bookshop can point you to a well-reviewed, up-to-date single-volume history. There are also many acclaimed books specifically about the Nazi era, the Holocaust, and the Cold War division of Germany.

News. For coverage in English, international outlets such as the BBC and major international newspapers report regularly on Germany. Germany's own respected outlets include Deutsche Welle (DW), which publishes in English, along with Der Spiegel and Die Zeit, two well-known German publications.

Useful links.

• Germany's official tourism site, Germany Travel (germany.travel).
• The BBC country profile for Germany, on the BBC News website.
• The Britannica entry for Germany, at britannica.com.

Today, and how to talk about it

Modern Germany is one of the world's great success stories of recovery and reinvention. It is a stable, democratic country and Europe's largest economy, a leading member and driving force of the European Union, the partnership of European nations that share trade and many policies. From the ruins of 1945, it rebuilt itself into a prosperous, peaceful, and respected nation.

What sets Germany apart is how it has chosen to face its darkest chapter. Rather than hide or excuse the Nazi era, Germany has made a deliberate, ongoing effort to confront it, a process Germans call Vergangenheitsbewältigung, which roughly means "coming to terms with the past." Schoolchildren learn the full history of the Holocaust, memorials stand in public places, denying the Holocaust is a crime, and the country has paid reparations and apologized. This culture of remembrance is widely admired as a model for how a nation can take honest responsibility for terrible wrongs done in its name.

The experience of the Nazi era and the war also left postwar Germany deeply committed to pacifism, a strong reluctance to use military force. For decades it kept its army small and avoided foreign combat. In recent years, as security threats in Europe have grown, Germans have begun debating whether to spend more on defense and play a larger military role, a sensitive discussion in a country so marked by the costs of war.

A note on the German language helps round out the picture. German is one of the most widely spoken languages in Europe and is the main language not only of Germany but also of Austria and much of Switzerland. It is famous for building long compound words by joining smaller ones together, which is why German can produce single words that take an English sentence to translate. The same language that gave the world Goethe and the philosophers is spoken today across a confident, modern country at the center of European life.

Don't be confused: It is vital to separate the Nazi regime from the German people, both then and now. The Nazis were a movement that seized power and committed crimes; many Germans supported them, some resisted at the cost of their lives, and the vast majority of Germans alive today were born long after 1945. Modern Germany is a free, democratic country that openly condemns the Nazi past. Treating today's Germans as if they were Nazis is both inaccurate and unfair.

Next we travel south to a land of ancient Rome, Renaissance art, and a late and lively unification of its own: Italy. 👉