Culture of Germany

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Schloss Neuschwanstein (left) and Berlin, the center of creative industries (right)

German culture began long before the rise of Germany as anation-state and spanned the entire German-speaking world. From its roots, culture in Germany has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and secular. Historically Germany has been calledDas Land der Dichter und Denker (the land of poets and thinkers).[1] . There are 240 subsidised theatres, hundreds of symphonic orchestras, thousands of museums and over 25,000 libraries spread in Germany. These cultural opportunities are enjoyed by many: there are over 91 million German museum visits every year; annually, 20 million go to theatres and operas; 3.6 million per year listen to the symphonic orchestras.[2] The UNESCO inscribed 33 properties in Germany on the World Heritage List.[3]
[edit]Language

German is the official and predominant spoken language in Germany.[4] It is one of 23 official languages in the European Union, and one of the three working languages of the European Commission, along with English and French. Recognised native minority languages in Germany are Danish, Sorbian, and Frisian. They are officially protected by the ECRML. The most used immigrant languages areTurkish, Kurdish, Polish, the Balkan languages, and Russian.

[edit]Literature

German literature can be traced back to the Middle Ages, with the most notable authors of the period being Walther von der Vogelweideand Wolfram von Eschenbach.

The Nibelungenlied, whose author remains unknown, is also an important work of the epoch, as is theThidrekssaga. The fairy tales collections collected and published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the 19th century became famous throughout the world. Theologian Luther, who translated the Bible into German, is widely credited for having set the basis for the modern "High German" language. Among the most admired German poets and authors are Lessing, Goethe, Schiller, Kleist, Hoffmann, Brecht, Heine andSchmidt. Nine Germans have won the Nobel Prize in literature: Theodor Mommsen, Paul von Heyse, Gerhart Hauptmann, Thomas Mann, Nelly Sachs, Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Bll, Gnter Grass, and Herta Mller.
Johann Wolfgang v. Goethe
(17491832)

Friedrich Schiller Brothers Grimm Thomas Mann Hermann Hesse

(17591805) (17851863) (18751955) (18771962)

[edit]Music

Main article: Music of Germany

Ludwig van Beethoven was an influential German composer and pianist

In the field of music, Germany claims some of the most renowned classical composers of the world including Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, who marked the transition between the Classical andRomantic eras in Western classical music. Other composers of the AustroGerman tradition who achieved international fame include Brahms, Wagner, Haydn, Schubert, Hndel, Schumann, Liszt,Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Johann Strauss II, Bruckner, Mahler, Telemann, Richard Strauss,Schoenberg, Orff, and most recently, Henze, Lachenmann, and Stockhausen. As of 2006, Germany is the fifth largest music market in the world,[8] has exerted a strong influence on techno and rock music, and pioneered trance music. Artists such as Herbert Grnemeyer,Scorpions, Rammstein, Nena, Xavier Naidoo, Dieter Bohlen, Tokio Hotel and Modern Talking have enjoyed international fame. German musicians and, particularly, the pioneering bands Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk have also contributed to the development of electronic music.[9]

Rammstein

Germany hosts many large rock music festivals annually. The Rock am Ring festival is the largest music festival in Germany, and among the largest in the world. German artists also make up a large percentage of Industrial musicacts, which is called Neue Deutsche Hrte. Germany hosts some of the largest Goth scenes and festivals in the entire world, with events like Wave-Gotik-Treffen and M'era Luna Festivaleasily attracting up to 30,000 people. Since about 1970, Germany has once again had a thriving popular culture, now increasingly being led by its new-old capital Berlin, and a self-confident music and art scene. Germany is also very well known for its many renowned opera houses, such as Semperoper, Komische Oper Berlin and Staatstheater am Grtnerplatz. Richard Wagner has built the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. One of the most famous composers in the film business is German Hans Zimmer.
[edit]Cinema

Main article: Cinema of Germany

Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel in 1930, Germany's first major film with sound

German cinema dates back to the very early years of the medium with the work of Max Skladanowsky. It was particularly influential during the years of the Weimar Republic with German expressionists such as Robert Wiene and Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. Austrianbased director Fritz Lang, who became a German citizen in 1926 and whose career flourished in the pre-war German film industry, is said to have been a major influence on Hollywood cinema. His silent movie Metropolis(1927) is referred to as the birth of modern Science Fiction movies. In 1930 Austrian-American Josef von Sternberg directed The Blue Angel, which was the first major German sound film and it brought world fame to actress Marlene Dietrich.[10] Impressionist documentary Berlin: Symphony of a Great City, directed by Walter Ruttmann, is a prominent example of the city symphony genre. The Nazi era produced mostly propaganda films although the work of Leni Riefenstahl still introduced new aesthetics to film.[11]

The Berlinale Palast during the Berlin Film Festival in February 2007

During the 1970s and 80s, New German Cinema directors such as Volker Schlndorff, Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder put West German cinema back on the international stage with their often provocative films. [12] More recently, films such asGood Bye Lenin! (2003), Gegen die Wand (Head-on)(2004), Der Untergang (Downfall) (2004), and Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (2008) have enjoyed international success. The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film went to the German production Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum) in 1979, to Nowhere in Africa in 2002, and to Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) in 2007.[13] Among the most famous German actors are Marlene Dietrich, Klaus Kinski, Hanna Schygulla, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Jrgen Prochnow,Thomas Kretschmann and Til Schweiger. The Berlin Film Festival, held annually since 1951, is one of the world's foremost film festivals. An international jury places emphasis on representing films from all over the world and awards the winners with the Golden and Silver Bears.[14] The annual European Film Awards ceremony is held every second year in the city of Berlin, where the European Film Academy (EFA) is located. The Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam are the oldest large-scale film studios in the world and a centre for international film production.
[edit]Architecture

u
The Bauhaus building in Dessau, 1925

Main article: German architecture Architectural contributions from Germany include the Carolingian and Ottonian styles, important precursors of Romanesque. The region then produced significant works in styles such as the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque. The nation was particularly important in the early modern movement through the Deutscher Werkbund and the Bauhaus movement identified with Walter Gropius. The Nazis closed these movements and favoured a type of neo-classicism. Since World War II, further important modern and post-modern structures have been built, particularly since the reunification of Berlin.
[edit]Art

Main article: German art

German art has a long and distinguished tradition in the visual arts, from the earliest known work of figurative art to its current output ofcontemporary art. Important German Renaissance painters include Albrecht Altdorfer, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Matthias Grnewald, Hans Holbein the Younger and the well-known Albrecht Drer. The most important Baroque artists from Germany are Cosmas Damian Asam. Further artists are the romantic Caspar David Friedrich, the surrealist Max Ernst, the conceptualist Joseph Beuys, or Wolf Vostell or the neo-expressionist Georg Baselitz.
[edit]Religion

Main article: Religion in Germany

Picture of Benedict XVI.

The German government has limited responsibilities for culture, which is devolved to the states of Germany, called Lnder. 64.1 percent of the German population belongs to Christian denominations. 31.4 percent are Roman Catholic, and 32.7 percent are affiliated with Protestantism [17] (the figures are known accurately because Germany imposes a church tax on those who disclose a religious affiliation, but there are many people, who are religious but not registered[citation
needed]

).

Portrait of Martin Luther

The North and East is predominantly Protestant, the South and West rather Catholic. Nowadays there is a non-religious majority in Hamburg and the East German states.[18] 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, most of whom are from Turkey.

German theologians include Luther, Melanchthon, Schleiermacher, Feuerbach, and Rudolf Otto. Also Germany brought up many mystics including Meister Eckhart, Rudolf Steiner, Jakob Boehme, and some popes (e.g. Benedict XVI).
[edit]Science

Main articles: Science and technology in Germany and German inventors and discoverers

Albert Einstein in 1921, the year he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics

Germany has been the home of many famous inventors and engineers, such as Johannes Gutenberg, who is credited with the invention of movable type printing in Europe; Hans Geiger, the creator of theGeiger counter; and Konrad Zuse, who built the first computer.[19] German inventors, engineers and industrialists such as Zeppelin, Daimler, Diesel, Otto, Wankel, Von Braun and Benz helped shape modern automotive and air transportation technology including the beginnings of space travel. [20][21] The work of Albert Einstein and Max Planck was crucial to the foundation of modern physics, whichWerner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrdinger developed further.[22] They were preceded by such key physicists as Hermann von Helmholtz, Joseph von Fraunhofer, and Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit, among others. Wilhelm Conrad Rntgen discovered X-rays, an accomplishment that made him the first winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.[23] The Walhalla temple for "laudable and distinguished Germans", features a number of scientists, and is located east of Regensburg, in Bavaria.[24][25] Germany is home to some of the finest academic centers in Europe. Some famous Universities include those of both Munich and Berlin, University of Tbingen, University of Gttingen, University of Marburg, University of Berlin, Mining Academy Freiberg and Freiburg University, among many others. Moreover the Ruprecht-KarlsUniversitt Heidelberg is one of the oldest universities in Europe.
[ [edit]Society

Main articles: Germans and List of Germans

Cultural map of the world according to theWorld Values Survey, describing Germany as high in "Rational-Secular Values" and average-high in "Self-Expression values".

Germany is a modern, advanced society, shaped by a plurality of lifestyles and regional identities.[38] The country has established a high level of gender equality, promotesdisability rights, and is legally and socially tolerant towards homosexuals. Gays and lesbians can legally adopt their partner's biological children, and civil unions have been permitted since 2001.[39] The Foreign minister Guido Westerwelle and the mayor of Berlin,Klaus Wowereit, are openly gay.[40] During the last decade of the 20th century, Germany changed its attitude towards immigrants. Until the mid-1990s the opinion was widespread that Germany is not a country of immigration, even though about 20% of the population were of non-German origin. Today the government and a majority of the German society are acknowledging that immigrants from diverse ethnocultural backgrounds are part of the German society and that controlled immigration should be initiated based on qualification standards.[41]

Young Germans

Since the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the internal and external evaluation of Germany's national image has changed.[42] In the annual Nation Brands Index global survey, Germany became significantly and repeatedly more highly ranked after the tournament. People in 20 different states assessed the country's reputation in terms of culture, politics, exports, its people and its attractiveness to tourists, immigrants and investments. Germany has been named the world's second most valued nation among 50 countries in 2010.[43] Another global opinion poll, for the BBC, revealed that Germany is recognised for the most positive influence in the world in 2010. A majority of 59% have a positive view of the country, while 14% have a negative view.[44][45] With an expenditure of 67 billion on international travel in 2008, Germans spent more money on travel than any other country. The most visited destinations were Spain, Italy and Austria.[46]