"The main articles are:
Climate
Main article: Climate in Europe
Geography
History
Main article: History of Germany
Cities
Population of Germany
Main article: Population of Germany
Nationality
2024: Reducing the period of residence for citizenship from 8 to 3-5 years
In January 2024, it became known that Germany, thirsty for labor resources, will facilitate the procedure for obtaining citizenship, despite migration disputes. According to the new rules, citizenship can be obtained after 5 years of residence in the country (from 8 years earlier), which corresponds to neighboring countries such as France. For people who have "exceptionally well integrated," 3 years will be enough. The dual citizenship rules, which are now only allowed to citizens of other EU countries, will be relaxed.
2018: Visa-free entry to 176 countries
European Parliament
Main article: European Parliament
Bundestag - unicameral parliament
2024
Top far-right AfD candidate Maximilian Crash resigns from party leadership after claiming 'not everyone was criminals' in SS
In May 2024, it became known that the main candidate from the German far-right party AfD in the European elections, Maximilian Krakh, will refrain from further election activities and will immediately resign from the party's governing council.
It comes after he told Italian newspaper La Repubblica that in the SS, the main Nazi paramilitary force during the Second World War, "not everyone was criminal."
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has said her party must make a "clean break" with the AfD, suggesting the AfD has become too toxic an ally ahead of the European elections in June 2024.
Court allows German intelligence to monitor Alternative for Germany party as suspected of extremism
Germany's domestic intelligence agency can continue to monitor the far-right Alternative for Germany party as a suspect in extremism, and posing a potential threat to democracy, a court ruled in May 2024.
Extremist status means authorities are allowed to enforce measures such as wiretapping phones or using whistleblowers to track potential illegal activity.
Die Heimat party stripped of government funding for threatening Germany's' basic democratic order '
Germany's highest court ruled in January 2024 to ban election funding for one of the country's most prominent political parties in a decision made amid growing calls to restrict far-right campaigning - the FT.
On January 23, judges at the federal constitutional court in Karlsruhe ruled that Die Heimat, or "Homeland" - a small party formerly known as the NPD - should lose access to public funding for the next six years as it poses a threat to Germany's "basic democratic order."
2023
Sharp rise in popularity of far-right AfD above 20% amid economic downturn due to conflict in Ukraine
By November 2023, the far right in Germany is on the rise, and Chancellor Scholz is at a loss. AfD has seen a surge in support.
As the EU's biggest economy grapples with a steady decline and surge in immigration, the spectre of German nationalism is back. Citizens are in such a contradictory state about the direction of development of the country, which has not happened since the Second World War.
Proportion of women in parliament - 35.1%
2022
The share of seats of the far-right AfD party (Alternative für Deutschland) - 11%
Proportion of women in parliament - 39.4%
1966: Formation of the extra-parliamentary opposition due to its absence from parliament
The extra-parliamentary opposition (Ausserparlamentarische Opposition, APO) - in the 1960s in Germany is almost synonymous with the entire protest movement. It is finally formed after the coming to power of the large coalition of the SPD/CDU/CSU in 1966 - due to the actual absence of opposition within parliament. The main forms of activity are discussions, demonstrations, congresses; the main topics are protest against the law on the state of emergency, against the Vietnam War, support for liberation movements in third world countries, criticism of imperialism.
Unlike the French student opposition, which is supported by trade unions and young workers, APO in Germany effectively remains a university and near-university political phenomenon. After 1968, APO ceases to act as a single force and breaks up into numerous circles, clubs and groupings.
One of the goals of the extra-parliamentary opposition is to claim public spaces, primarily universities. The three main forms of such "appropriation" are go in (students turn a lecture into a debate), teach in (collective, public study of an important public topic, a kind of political information) and seat in (sit-in). These are all distant ancestors of the later "occupy." The most famous go in will take place in 1968 during a lecture by Theodore V. Adorno, who recently returned to Frankfurt from exile: a dozen students (according to other sources, three), who believe that the professor does not pay enough attention to the topic of gender equality, rise from their places and partially undress, remaining standing in front of the topless lecturer. Adorno, whose writings for protesting students are kind of foundational, is very surprised to realize that he is being treated like an academic reactionary.
For more details see: Freie Universitat Berlin (Free University of Berlin)
Landtaghi - Land Parliaments
Landtags - land parliaments (zemstvo parliaments) in Germany are the highest constitutional bodies of the lands. They legislate, approve budgets and elect prime ministers. In addition, the Landtag participates in the formation of the government and monitors its work.
In Germany, municipal bodies are also called landtags - city meetings.
2024: AfD takes first place in land elections for the first time - in Thuringia
Against the background of the failure of the policy of the current German government (the so-called "traffic light government") in September 2024, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party for the first time in its history ranks first in the land elections of Germany. She won the Thuringian parliamentary elections.
Government
Main article: German Federal Government
Foreign policy
Main article: German Foreign Policy
N'KO
Armed Forces
Ministry of Defence
Bundeswehr
Main article: Bundeswehr
Economy
Main article: German economy
Ecology
2023: Carbon dioxide emissions fall to lowest level in 70 years as industry slumps
carbon dioxide Emissions in Germany fell to the lowest level in 70 years, due to a reduction in industrial production and a decrease coal in generation volumes.
At the same time, Europe's largest economy has not yet achieved its climate goals.
2019
Export of plastic waste
Germany leads by share of recyclable waste
Germany installed the first vacuum cleaners to clean car exhausts
In mid-May 2019, the first vacuum cleaners began to be installed in Germany to clean street air from harmful exhausts. 17 mobile cleaners were placed on one of Stuttgart's main highways, Necator Avenue. Read more here.
Information Technology
German IT Market
Main article: German IT market
Information security
Main article: Information security in Germany
Social media
Communication
Main article: Communication (German market)
Health care
Main article: Health care in Germany
MEDIA
2024: Closure of the Compact edition after the publication of an interview with a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry
In Germany, the scandal is gaining momentum related to the ban on the activities of the editorial board of Compact magazine, its publisher Compact-Magazin GmbH and its affiliated media production company Conspect Film.
A press release from the German Interior Ministry indicates that the work of this "right-wing extremist organization contradicts the constitutional order" of the republic. The publication's website is blocked, with the social media platforms on which it worked, they also contacted a request to close accounts.
In particular, the country's Interior Minister Nancy Feather noted that the magazine distributes "anti-Semitic and racist materials promoting a conspiracy theory." Among such publications, the German authorities probably also mean an interview given to the publication by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova.
Three days after its publication, the FRG authorities announced a ban on the editorial office.
2022:70% of the population watches TV every day
Culture
Language
2022: Number of English speakers - 45.4 million
2019: German ranked 12th in the world by number of speakers
Music
2024: Bayreuth Festival Friends Association cuts its funding
The Bayreuth Festival Friends Association plans to reduce its stake in the show by almost half, bringing it to 15%. This decision was made at a meeting in Berlin at the end of April 2024.
At this time, Friends owns a 29% stake in the festival - along with the federal government and the government of the state of Bavaria. According to the Association, in 2024 it will transfer 2.4 million euros to the festival budget, which is about a million less than before. The rest of the shareholders will have to compensate for the missing money, otherwise the festival will have to save. The issue of reducing the number of choristers and cuts in the orchestra is no longer on the agenda.
2016:122 metal-playing bands
1685: Johann Sebastian Bach was born
- Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). Listen to Andrei Reshetin's disc "Stronger than Death."
Literature
- August von Kotzebue (1781-1819) was a writer and publicist.
Painting
Religion
2022
39.4% of the population believes in life after death
24% of the population attends divine services at least once a month
2021
11% of the population say religion is important in their lives
Religious groups in Germany
Churches
Games
Education
Libraries
2021: Germany has 8,195 public libraries
Education costs
Literacy rate
Science and Research
2020: More than 1 million animals used for scientific purposes
Almost 8 million animals are used for scientific purposes in Europe and half of them are laboratory mice and rats.
Weapons in Germany
Main article: Weapons in Germany
Crime
2024: Record shipment of cocaine seized in Germany - 35 tonnes worth €30bn
In mid-June 2024, it became known that Europol in cooperation with the criminal police and customs Germany , during several raids, record shipments of cocaine were seized - 35 tons for 30 billion euros. The criminals smuggled cocaine from South America EU to through major ports, mainly those of Hamburg Germany , Antwerp Belgium and Rotterdam Netherlands. The investigation also involved law enforcement agencies, the Belgium Netherlands, Ecuador and Colombia. More. here
2023: Teenage immigrant gangs attack firefighters
During the riots on New Year's Eve from 2022 to 2023, numerous attacks on emergency workers took place in Berlin and other German cities. Interior Minister Nancy Feather and Berlin Mayor Francisca Giffay spoke to firefighters who they say are facing a new kind of violence.
Karsten Homrighausen, head of the Berlin fire brigades:
- This is a new phenomenon. Our firefighters tell how they are, for example, trapped and attacked.
According to eyewitnesses, aggressive teenagers attacked primarily firefighters. The city authorities are not yet ready to paint a collective portrait of these people. The German Interior Minister believes that the police should reveal the nationality of the attackers.
It is characteristic that in Germany, as well as, for example, in Spain, the decisive role of immigrants in the growth of crime is hushed up: they are afraid to anger visitors.
Nancy Feather, German Interior Minister:
- It is impossible to be silent about the fact that many had foreign origin. But neither should it be abused for political debate. Many people living here in Neukoelln are of foreign origin, and they are the most upset and require a strong reaction from the state.
Berlin's Commissioner for Integration and Migration, Katharina Nivedzial, believes that punishing migrants will further distance them from German society:
- We give young people perspective and we see them as our compatriots. They are not strangers. We have to let them know, "You're yours." If we stigmatise them and make them outsiders, then we will exacerbate a similar feeling and the danger of the group getting bigger. And we have to prevent that at all costs.
2022: Arrest of 25 right-wing extremists preparing an assault on the Bundestag
On the night of December 7, 2022, German police special forces conducted an operation in 11 federal states to arrest 25 people who belong to a right-wing radical organization.
About 3,000 members of the security forces searched 130 objects at the same time, 50 people are under investigation.
What is known about those arrested?
According to German media, they were detained: a former member of parliament from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, 58-year-old Birgit Malsak-Winkemann and a judge from Berlin, as well as several former members of the command of the special forces (KSK) and paratroopers of the Bundeswehr.
Prince Royce, a 71-year-old entrepreneur from Frankfurt am Main, Henry XIII, is considered the main organizer of the "rebellion."
Also among the detainees there is a Russian citizen named Vitaly B.
All of them belong to a right-wing radical group called the "Reichsbürger" (Reichsbürger/" Citizens of the Reich ").
The organization allegedly planned the violent overthrow of power in Germany from November 2021, and during searches, weapons were found from members of the movement.
Right-wing extremists were planning the killing of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the NYT reported on December 13, citing its own sources.
What does this mean for German politics?
The largest anti-terrorist operation of the special services in the history of the country, as well as active media lighting and mountains of prepared information, leave no space for discussion about the guilt of the suspects, the Rybar channel noted.
Given the small number of detainees and the dubious reputation of the suspects, whose organization is often compared with American supporters of QAnon conspiracy theories, it suggests that the Scholz government, under this pretext, decided to crack down on the right-wing opposition with one blow.
There have already been statements by the prosecutor's office of the Federal Republic of Germany that the suspects in the preparation of the coup allegedly contacted representatives of the Russian Federation, but did not receive support.
Apparently, the upcoming criminal case on terrorism will silence AfD deputies for a long time, who often allowed themselves to criticize sanctions against Russia and generally disagree with the pro-American course of the current government.