Page 1 - History of Germany

Library of Congress – Federal Research Division Country Profile: Germany, April 2008

COUNTRY PROFILE: GERMANY

April 2008

COUNTRY

Formal Name: Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland).

Short Form: Germany.

Term for Citizen(s): German(s).

Capital: Berlin, with a population of about 3.4 million.

Major Cities: After Berlin, the most populous cities as of 2007 were Hamburg (1.7 million),
Munich (1.2 million), Cologne (964,000), Frankfurt (644,000), Essen (603,000), Dortmund
(592,000), Stuttgart (582,000), Düsseldorf (568,000), Bremen (543,000), and Hanover (516,000).

Independence: The Day of German Unity commemorates the official reunification of the
democratic Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the communist German
Democratic Republic (East Germany) on October 3, 1990. The holiday is the equivalent of an
independence celebration because it marks the end of the country’s Cold War–driven division
into two separate states.

Public Holidays: Official holidays are New Year’s (January 1), Good Friday/Easter Monday
(variable dates in March or April), May Day (May 1), Ascension Day (variable date in April or
May), Pentecost (variable date in April or May), Day of German Unity (October 3), and
Christmas/Boxing Day (December 25–26).

Flag: The German flag is a horizontal tricolor consisting of black (top), red
(middle), and yellow (bottom) stripes.

Click to Enlarge Image

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Current Challenges: In 2008 Germany was still grappling with the effects of unification of the
democratic Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the communist German
Democratic Republic (East Germany) on October 3, 1990. Unification brought together a people
separated for more than four decades by the division of Europe into two hostile blocs in the
aftermath of World War II. Economically, a division remains between East and West,
exacerbated by the decision following unification to substitute the German mark (subsequently
replaced by the euro in January 1999) for the East German currency, generally at a 1:1 rate, and
the adoption of similar wages and benefits in both parts of the country in spite of unequal
productivity. Despite massive investment from the western part of Germany into the new
German states of the East—a transfer of wealth that totaled about US$1.6 trillion from 1991 to

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