Germany, the country of beer, sausages, and Oktoberfest is an interesting country no doubt. With so much going on there (or shall I say here!), it surely calls for an interesting facts post. So here’s not ten, or twenty, but sixty-nine (neunundsechzig!) fun facts about Germany! And if you manage to get through all that, check out my post on German Stereotypes! Enjoy!
- Germans are the second largest beer consumers in the world, after the Irish (of course).
- Beer is officially considered a food in Bavaria.
- Michael Ballack does not like beer.
- Germany is Europe’s largest economy.
- The most popular German surname (Nachname) is Müller.
- Chancellor Angela Merkel has a Barbie doll made after her.
- Historically, Germany was known as the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Weimar Republic.
- 31% of the country has been kept with forests and woodlands, with Hesse having the most.
- There are over 300 kinds of bread in Germany.
- There are also bread museums.
- There are 35 dialects of the German language.
- The Wittelsbachs ruled Bavaria for 738 years.
- Munich is further north than any major US city (excluding Alaska).
- German is the official language of 5 countries: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. It is also spoken in Northern Italy and the French provinces of Alsace and Lorraine.
- Germany is the first country to adopt Daylight Saving Time (DST) in 1916.
- 2% of Germans do not own cell phones.
- Gummy bears were invented by a German.
- The balcony of the hotel Michael Jackson dangled his son over is in Berlin.
- While it is called Oktoberfest, it actually starts in Steptember.
- The first Oktoberfest was a wedding celebration for Prince Ludwig of Bavaria.
- 65% of the Autobahn (highway) has no speed limit.
- The Cologne Cathedral took 632 years to build. (Bill Bryson in Neither Here Nor There (p. 88) wrote: “It is absolutely immense, over 500 feet long and more than 200 feet wide…It can hold 40,000 people. You can understand why it took 700 years to build – and that was with German workers. In Britain they would still be digging the foundations.”)
- The first printed book was in German.
- German is the third most commonly taught language worldwide.
- When JFK visited Berlin, he infamously said “Ich bin ein Berliner,” which also translates to “I am a jelly donut.”
- Hugo Boss designed the official uniforms for the Nazi Party and Hitler Youth. (I did an assignment on this for German class if anyone is interested in reading more about it)
- To ask for a beer in a pub, you would use your thumb to indicate “one” rather than your index finger (watch Inglorious Basterds for improper examples of ordering beer)
- Til Schweiger, sometimes known as the “German Brad Pitt,” is born one day after Pitt.
- The longest word published in the German language is Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft (79 letters). Try saying that five times fast.
- Famous Bavarians include Pope Benedict XVI, Richard Wagner, Richard Straus, Thomas Mann, Levi Strauss, and Rudolf Diesel.
- The Berlin Wall fell in 1989 (the year I was born!).
- The world’s tallest cathedral is in Ulm.
- Berlin has the largest train station in Europe.
- Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany.
- German is spoken by more than 100 million people worldwide.
- There are over 150 castles in Germany.
- The Christmas tree (Tannenbaum) tradition came from Germany.
- Freiburg is the warmest German city.
- There are over 60 beer gardens in Munich.
- Germany has over 400 zoos, the most in the world.
- There are over 1,000 kinds of sausages in Germany.
- Germany borders 9 countries (Austria, France, Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, Luxemburg, Holland, Czech Republic, and Poland).
- Berlin is nine times bigger than Paris.
- Most taxis in Germany are Mercedes.
- In the 4th grade, German kids are placed into Hauptschule, Realschule or Gymnasium, which pretty much determines if you will go to university or straight to the work force (Gymnasium is the highest level).
Why they’re so smart. Inventions and contributions to the world of arts:
- Albert Einstein, the most recognized scientist in the world, was German and born in Ulm.
- Einstein married his cousin.
- There is a rumour that Einstein failed his first University Entrance Exam (he didn’t).
- Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz created the first motor-driven vehicles
- Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, originally used for printing the Bible.
- Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen discovered the X-rays in 1895.
- The cuckoo clock is invented in Germany in the 17th century.
- Other notable German inventions include: the telephone, diesel engine, aspirin, fluorescent lamp, and the pregnancy test.
- There are 102 German Nobel laureates as of 2009.
- Adidas was founded by the Bavarian, Adolf “Adi”Dassler.
- His other brother, Rudolf Dassler founded Puma.
- Famous German composers include Beethoven, Schumann, Bach, Wagner, Strauss, and Handel.
- Famous philosophers include Nietzsche, Marx, Kant and Hegel.
Facts about football:
- The Deutscher Fußball-Bund was found in 1900 in Leipzig.
- The Bayern Munich is the most successful team in the Bundesliga having won four times (1974, 1975, 1976, 2001)
- Nicknames for Bayern Munich include Der FCB, Die Bayern, Die Roten and FC Hollywood.
- 10% of Bayern’s shares are owned by Adidas.
- Franz Beckenbauer is nicknamed “Der Kaiser”
- The DFB won 3 times in 1954, 1974, 1990, and their wins are represented by the three stars on their logo.
- Rudi Voller told Michael Ballack to take his number 13.
- Ballack’s favourite cologne is “Romance” for men by Calvin Klein (Guys – take note).
- Mesut Ozil (of Turkish descent) recites verses of the Koran before kick-offs.
- Lukas Podolski paid a 5000 euro fine and admitted to being an “idiot” after slapping Ballack’s face during a qualifying win against Wales when Ballack shouted at him over a misplaced pass.
- There’s more soccer fan clubs in Germany than anywhere else in the world.
Disclaimer: my blog is mainly for entertainment purposes, and not an encyclopedia. These fun facts came from information that my friends have told me, that I’ve witnessed, read, or stumbled upon on the internet. Some of these facts may be out of date and therefore, I do not suggest anyone quoting these facts for a research paper, or use in life or death situations. Danke.
Hi! I'm so happy that you found my blog and I thanks a million for sharing these neat facts! I've been living here for seven months and didn't know half of them! You sure do a lot of research on the places you will go, thats fabulous!! I look forward to being your newest follower and learning more about you and your adventures!
hahah your welcome! those were some good facts.
Very cool facts but I want sum more so please write another blog or update your page please to get more viewers.
Ich liebe Deutschland so viel, und ich liebe es, dass ich geboren wurde und noch heute hier leben Deutschland ist so viel Spaß und wir haben so viele tolle Dinge, die Sie sprachen über so vielen Dank für weitere Informationen über mein Land.
Jean-Meabh
Haha. Please stop using google translater!
And bavaria munich won the bundesliga over 20 times.
SO AWESOME AND INFORMATIONAL!!!!!!!!
This blog is so cool! It really helped me with my social studies homework! Keep on writing awesome entries like these!
I enjoyed this post… while my boyfriend is South Africa, his Dad is hard core German and so he speaks German and eats German and the whole nine yards… I will have to show this to him! 🙂
xoxo
Jenna
DANKE SCHON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How can anybody eat german? Does he feed on sausage and beer, or what? XD Actually, I am german, and I have really no idea what could be german food 😀
Ok. There are many german dishes. It’s a shame that you don’t know some at all. Here are some examples for you…
Weißwurst (sausage)
Spätzle (pasta)
Knödel (dumpling)
Obatzn (cheese)
and a whole bunch of other meals.
Du solltest wirklich mal ein paar Gericht lernen, wenn du international unterwegs bist. Schafft Eindruck!
they have really good mashed potatoes and German chocolate is sooooooooo good
It's always cool to learn interesting facts about other places! 🙂 Thanks for sharing these!!
I had no idea so many things were invented in Germany!
Vielleicht kennst Sünden Berliner eher als kreppel?
P.S. I stopped by from Travel Babbles, Around the World Wed.
ahh! i was never interested in going to germany until i moved to lorraine and realized how amazing germany is. the food is DELICIOUS. the boys are cute. the beer is amazing. oh me gee i m so excited for you.
SO HOT AHAHAH
XOXO http://wonderfashionista.blogspot.com/
found you on the blog hop over at travelbabbles! Hope you will check out our blog too!
-tiffanie
http://jetsettingdivas.blogspot.com
Hahaha I love fact #29. And the picture makes this post THAT much more exciting.
http://www.thewrittenrunway.com
My favorite was fact 25.
Hi! Stopped over from the Around the World blog hop! I really love your site, and the facts about Germany. Those never get old. I am living in Germany right now, my husband plays hockey over here. Looking forward to having a better look around your site. Cheers!
http://texagermanadian.blogspot.com/
KY – Thanks! I love your blog as well, and can't wait to read more about your adventures in Germany! I'll probably have some questions for you 🙂
Jenna – That's so cool! I hope he enjoys reading it as much as you did!
Kassi – No prob! And…they were quite the inventors 🙂
Brenna – "the boys are cute" I think that should be fact #70!
Alessendra – I know! 😀
Jet-Setting Divas – Thanks! Your blog looks great as well!
Ambyr – Haha, I think every post I write from now on should begin with a hot shirtless Michael Ballack.
TexaGermaNadian – You're so lucky! Your life seems really cool…can't wait to read more of your blog as well!
Hi there, I'm coming over from FTLOB and I am so glad I did! Great blog – awesome post! I am from Germany, born and raised there, currently living in Chicago, but definitely going back someday!
You are going there next year? Where and for how long?
Nice to meet you!
Hugs,
Chrissy xxx
http://chrissyinamerica.blogspot.com
Chrissy – Nice meeting you as well! How are you liking Chi-town? I lived there for a year for uni and lived in the theatre district, across the street from the Chicago Theatre. I loved it! Anyway, I sent a message your way! 🙂
Nice post! 😀 Of course Germany is close to my heart so I enjoyed it very much.
You should make a video of you attempting to say the longest word in German.
Wait…did you say beer? I'm so there. 😉
Bad Traveler – Haha, I have a hard time pronouncing German words half that length!
C- right on!
I loved reading this! I would love to move to a foreign country! How exciting! I can't wait to read more! i hope that you are having a fabulous day! Take care!
P.S. who is the eye candy in the picture? Is that Michael Ballack?
Oooh I've been wanting to put a french word of the day on my blog, so I might borrow that widget you have 🙂
Posidanielle – Thanks! And, yes it is 🙂
I really enjoyed your Blog. I will be going to Germany next hockey season. It is nice I have learned so many fun facts 🙂 Hope you are doing well!
Oh I like Michael Ballack , is so mmmmmmmmmmm 🙂
Germany seems like such a fascinating place! Also, your blog is one of my favorites and I've given you an award, you can see the the details in my latest post. 🙂
OK, here are a couple of more things about Germany…from my perspective…
They make they greatest cars in the world.
There is nothing cooler than a Metro car full of Germans singing beer songs during the World Cup in Paris in 1998.
Gummy bears, bread and football players 🙂 Yummyyyy
You learn something new every day! We started the hockey season in Germany this year but unfortunately, the team folded just before the regular season started. Thanks for sharing these fun facts, we hope to find our way back to Germany in a few months!
Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitänswitwenrentensachbearbeitungszentrahlbüroangestelltengewerkschaftsvorsitzender (118 letters!!!)
If you see that singns: ä, ö, ü, ß just and your PC can't handle them just write them like: ä=ae, ö=oe, ü=ue and ß=ss – that's what germans would do. The dots over the letters change their pronaunciation in a dramatic way, so to just forgett them does not help… (thei are special for the german language)like 'Haendel' and 'Rudi Voeller'
It's a realy nice side^^ and the facts are correct. I'm studying german in Leipzig and theres somthing I've recognised: They don't like it if you think all things that are typical for baveria are typical for the whole country (some say Baveria is'nt german – the baverian kongdom never wantet to belong to the rest of the others…)
The wins you have for Bayern are their Champions League wins. They have won the Bundesliga many more times, the most recent being the 2009-2010 season when they won the domestic double.
Uhm, there are some factual errors here. For example, the Kingdom of Prussia had a big part of what is now called Germany under its influence, but not everything. Bavaria, like most of the south and south west, was't part of it. And considering the "Berliner"-Quote: Yes, in some Regions a "Berliner" is a jam-filled Donut, but nobody thought that Kennedy called himself one, as a citizen of the City of Berlin is also called a "Berliner". "Tenenbaums" are called Tannenbaum, or plural: Tannenbäume. Nevertheless it's great and a little bit surprising to see somebody so excited of this country. ^^
Perhaps an addition, German is also one of the three official languages in Belgium, even though it's only spoken by a minority in the south-east.
Yeah, actually, not all Taxis in Germany are Mercedes. I guess some 2% to 5% are VW.
I also do have a friend who drives Taxi here in Leipzig (Germany) and he owns the only Taxi-Ford in Town (with a population of half a million).
Fact 60 isn't correct: the FCB won 55 major trophies!
In the years mentioned in the fact, the FCB won the Champions League. But they won a lot more championships and cups.
see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Bayern_Munich_statistics#Honours
Bayern-Munich has won the bundesliga 21 times not 4!!
Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. He was Canadian. Other than that… cool.
He only MOVED to Canada – he came from Scotland.
#48 Einstein didn't fail (and he studied in Switzerland btw)
#43 Paris is 3 times bigger than Berlin
#11 There are many more (only in Switzerland are more than 20)
It wasn't Alexander G. Bell but Johann Philipp Reis!
Nice post anyway!
Greetz from Switzerland^^
#67: Oh wow, bro, I'm pretty sure you mean that he "recites verses," not "receits versus." Receits isn't even a word. Versus means "against" or "opposed to", as in "Today's game is Bayern-Munich versus Hoffenheim."
Nice list you got there!
Anywhere there are two errors:
25. When JFK visited Berlin, he infamously said “Ich bin ein Berliner,” which also translates to “I am a jelly donut.”
i never heard of this speach beeing infamous. indeed we read it in school.
you are right about the translation, "Berliner" stands for two things: a citizen of berlin or a jelly donut.
Im quite certain that no one was thinking JFK wantet to tell the people that he is a jelly donut 😉
By the way "Hamburger" is translated with citizen of Hamburg and burgers.
40. Taxis in Germany are Mercedes.
Most of them where but newer cabs are mostly cheaper cars.
Have a great time in Germany!
Belgium also has German as one of its offical languages
….actually it is in the 7th grade that you pick the next school that will either end after 9th grade (no diploma), after 10th grade (can go to trade schools) or after the 13th grade which allows you to go to college (for free)!
When you attempt the secondary schools (weiterführende Schulen), depents on in which part of germany you live in :3 in northrhine-westfalia, where I live, it’s after year 4, in for example Belin it is after 6th grade.
You also can’t end school after 9th grade, ten years are required. After 12/13(in most parts it’s 12 years by now) years (which is only possible on Gymnasium)
30: richard wagner, thomas mann and rudolf diesel were not born in bavaria.
44: most of our taxis are mercedes, but of course there other brands, too.
🙂
Rudolf Diesel was born in Augsburg and it lies in Bavaria for sure because well I lived there. By the way: He went to the school I went.
Great article! I actually learned some interesting facts I didn't know about, depsite being german and all 🙂
1: Germans are actually the third largest per capita consumers of beer, after the Czechs and Irish.
and #68 was probably my favorite 🙂
Germany rules!
The cathedral in koln is gigantic. You see it when you arrive by train. Paris is about 3 times the population of Berlin. VW is about to become the largest car maker in the world. The English language is derived in great part from Deutsch. They invaded England in the middle ages. That is why it is not very similar to the latin derivitives. #18 the rest of the hotel is there too.#40 I have heard that the Berlin zoo is the largest in the world.
Hey! I wasn’t sure of the fastest way to contact you, if you don’t mind I’ll just place my comment here. I’m Mike and I’ve been a blog SEO expert for several years. Only recently did I decide to begin giving back and to share a few of my skills on fiverr. They include: backlink building, website analysis, here is just one example 🙂 – http://fiverr.com/tools4marketers/do-in-depth-niche-research-and-come-up-with-5000-to-20000-powerful-keywords. I think I have a lot to give to your website and would be very happy to go through and personally promote it. Feel free to contact me and please have a look at my gigs at http://fiverr.com/tools4marketers Thank you so much for reading this and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
It’s the first time when i’ve seen your site. I can understand lots of hard work has gone in to it. It’s really good.
First of all Great Post!
Technically the longest german word is unlimited: urururur…..opa or urururur…oma (great-great-…-grandpa/-ma). 🙂
hi
Hello i have recently visted germany it was awesome! what a great country!!!!!!! 😀 😛 xx
Hi jeremiah
Was born and raised in Germany (in Lower Saxony ) glad you all like our great country. And as someone else mentioned, Bavaria does not represent Germany. Most Americans,think of Germany being like Bavaria. Anyway…btw… I’m cute.Lol 😉
hello. i come from malaysia and currently studying in local university.
taking bachelor in language and linguistics (major in german language).
i find that german language is hard and complicated in terms of gender and grammar.
but nevermind. i’m trying my best. and seems i’m doing well though.
and i’m looking forward for the day when i’m going to german.
nice to read this fun facts! thanks for sharing. 🙂
Great read!
I just wanted to say that the author Thomas Mann comes from Lübeck, a hanseatic city in the north. This is a personal topic for me, since he is my favourite and I am from Lübeck too. 😉
“Ich bin ein Berliner” means “I am a Berliner”. So JFK did not say “I am a jelly donut” he said “I am a Berliner :))) But I love all the other facts though! Thanks 🙂
“berliner” also refers to a jelly donut
Michelle is 100% right Victoria!
People from Berlin call the jam filled donout “Pfannekuchen”, cause the wouldn’t eat themselfs… 🙂
There is a big discussion about this fact, but the one I believe is: do you really think the translaters/interpreters did this mistake in JFK speech?
I don’t remember now the link to the article – where is says that JFK was 100% correct – because he was not from Berlin but he was “a Berliner” in thoughts.
If you will look more on the www, maybe your oppinion will change. 🙂
You do know that it’s just a matter of interpretation?
Yes, Berliner means both – citizen to Berlin and in some parts of Germany also a jelly doughnut …
but JFK clearly meant that he is a citizen of Berlin, feeling for his audience and telling them that he will stand by as one of them. Because in the context of the speech nobody would have understood that wrong. So there’s no joke there at all as far as I see it.
In kennedy’s speach he did not claim to be a berliner , he did say that the people of berlin should take pride in the words ” ich bin ein berliner” . I remember this very well as i was born and raised in germany
Great post! I’m from the States and now live in Freiburg, so this was really fun to read.
COOOOOOLLLL thanks xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx :DDDDDDDDDDDDDd
That is hilarious! Really fun facts about my home country! http://www.holfeld.com/german
Thanks for the great facts. They’re great for my Germany Project. Thank You xoxo
great info but some errors
LOLOLOL i love how it’s “69 Facts” TEEHEE
Berlin is nine times bigger than Paris!
Thats correct!
Not the population but the area – the amount of space.
German is not the Language we speak in Luxemburg….as I live there, I can tell you that we speak Luxemburgish… But we have three official languages here, German, Luxemburgish and French, but these “foreign” languages are only used in official letters and so on.
P.S. I worte this in English that the other people coming to see your blog understand what I wrote…. ich kann auch Deutsch… 😉
I loved this post. I recently married a German boy and we lived there last year, but now live in Chattanooga! Alot of things I didn’t know! Thank you!
To say Germany was fomrely known as The Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia is more than a little inaccurate. The Holy Roman empire went fary beyond the borders of present day Germany, all the way into eastern Europe and down to Italy. Prussia also extend into parts of eastern Europe and part of present day Europe. They were distinct states from modern German republic and not all of the inhabitants of these fomer kingdoms saw themselves as Germanic.
Hi! You forgot to mention Belgium in the countries where german is spoken… yes! we have a small (real small) german speaking community he he they are about 70 thousand not more… and it is an official language along with french and dutch…
hey
i just read the 69 facts about germany, and i was hilarious and really entertaining. I must say though, that we austrians ( i’m austrian btw.) are the second largest beer consumers in the world, after the Czech. Yea, it’s true
go and google it 😉
Also, the composers you’ve mentioned Strauss, handel, and bach were austrians and all of them spent most of the time in vienna.
sorry, but i just had to get this straight guys.
have a nice day
@ben M
Johann Sebastian Bach born in Eisenach (Germany)
Richard Strauss born in Munich (Germany)
Georg Friedrich Haendel born in Halle (Germany)
haha i am german and that fun fact with john f kennedy isnt true 😀 it means that he is a person who live in berlin
Hi,
I’m from Germany and I liked your text. Very funny and true facts about us. Go on
thanx 4 the help u REALLY saved me from getting detention 🙂
Great facts, didn’t know half of those!!
OHH!!! This post helped me a lot with my German homework. Thanks!
Is a really good post, though Ireland is in 4th place with the beer consumption per capita. The Czech Republic is number one 😉
Gummy bears were also invented in Germany!
AUSGEZEICHNET! ABER NICHT 100% WAHR .
this was very helpfull 4 my school project!! tons of stuf was realy interesting!!!!!!!!
Thanks for putting this blog up it really helped me on my German test in third grade!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i love it
Thnx so much! I would have never been able to finish my project if it wasnt for this! I had picked Germany in a project i was doing because i love Germany to death (I really love their accents) and i couldnt find any fun facts (i had to have four) and i had like five days to finish ( my friend hogged the two germany books the class had, and she didnt even open them!) and i was running out of time. You REALLY saved my hide. TThnx!
hahaha cool facts
i was doin stuff with my school today on germany facts
it is an amazing blog to u i was able to know about all these facts ,these are really amazing
Did you know?!
Germany’s most common food is Bread. That is so strange :>D
haha ben you are funny not cool facts though 🙂
It is an encyclopedia for kids 😀
i ll use it in the Deutsh Quiz by gothe institute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😀
so right i agree with her the boys are cute there,that shuold be fact number #70!!!!!!!!!!!!!:):):):):):):):):):):)
i like this alot becuose it helped me on my assinment 4 school thx!!!!!!!
Jk good facts!
thx so much it helped me on my school assinment
soooooooo cooool i dindnt know that there was 300 kinds of breads and 1000 kinds of sousages i put it on my assinment and i got a 100 and i passed aaaaaaaaahhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!:):):0
About ordering beer in Germany… The Germans usually count beginning with the thumb. So it would be kinda like this: *thumb* eins, *index* zwei, *middle* drei, and so on.
Heres another fun fact about Germany:
While German is only the 8th most popular language (by number of speakers), it is the 2nd most used language on the internet
I just memorized that 79 letter long German word in under 3 minutes 🙂
Your being very stereotypical about Irish drinking. Like most other countries do . It’s so anoying . I’m Irish and my parents don’t drink. None of my friends parents drink either!
“69 Fun Facts About Germany” truly got me personally simply addicted with your page!
I personallywill be returning even more regularly.
Many thanks ,Lora
Yes, please tell me more about Hugo boss and nazi uniforms thanks
hallo,
i wasn’t gonna say anything about the minor mistakes, which are in the list (35 dialects?! in a county maybe…) but now i have to correct:
Richard Wagner was not bavarian! like most best german things he was from saxony (the german kingdom, which was NEVER part of prussia, had been ruled by the Wettiner for 830 years and is the home to M. Ballack)
also the autobahn is NOT a high way – it’s an Interstate
numbers 7, 23, 24, 27 (ever seen a german ordering only one beer?), 33 (it’s not even the biggest in germany, but number 4 by pessenger…), 43 (…by area), 45 (AFTER the 4th grade and only in some states – berlin for example is different), 50 (it’s actually the printing press with movable letters) are (kinda) wrong
sorry for correcting, but i had to…
oh wow that is so cool , i got my information for a school project here , and all of them were COLD HARD FACTS! __ fancy that! ;D
Thank- you this really helped with my 6 yrs research for school 🙂 x
This site is very helpful now my power point won’t be so boring so thanks.
I enjoyed reading your post 🙂 It was very entertaining and informative!
Richard Wagner was not Bavarian, was from Essen…..
Hey,
Amusing read. I guess #60 refers to Champions League titles, not the Bundesliga?
Bayern munich won over 20 times: 1932 1969 1972 1973 1974 1980 1981 1985 1986 1987 1989 1990 1994 1997 1999 2000 2001 2003 2005 2006 2008 2010
The first e-mail was send in germany.
The bycicle was invented in Karlsruhe (Germany).
And if there ever will be a fusion reactor, it will be coming from germany (karlsruhe) aswell.
I am an American but my fathers mother was born in Germany…. Reading this gave me some insight to my history… Thanks
By the way that HUGE word that is like 74 letters long…. What does that word translate to English mean
It is illegal in Germany for a dog to bark for longer than 20 minutes at a time.
Great article 🙂
This has aleady been said but when JFK said “Ich bin ein Berliner” he did not mean he would be a jelly donut. There is a jelly donut called “Berliner” here, but in this case, he wanted to identify with the citizens of Berlin, the Berliner, kind of the ‘New Yorkers’.
Please change that, anyways, great job!
I believe I was German in one of my past lives and it must’ve been a great one, cause I have admired Germans since I was little…without any particular outside influences. I can’t wait to visit.Long live Germany and my beloved FC Bayern München!
Very nice information! Thanks very much! English is the only foreign language I know….wonder if it’s ok to travel in Germany, which I always want to:)
thanks im doing an asignment on germany this helped a lot 🙂
Hi!
Its really fun reading all these facts and the way you have put them! I am pursuing doktorarbeit in deutsche Literatur. 🙂
Hi
Thanks so much for sharing these amazing facts!
I was using them for my German homework for school they helped me so much!
My mum and dad were helping me at first but were no way as helpful when I told my French teacher about the website she told everyone about it!
Thanks again
I’m sure I will use this website again.
Can u tell me a lot about Germany I am13 years old I am trying to do a project
Einstein was German, but had to flee to United States (because of a crazy called HITLER who ruled German), becoming an American citizen in 1940.
the nation which drinks most beer pro person is NOT ireland. Is Czech Republic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_beer_consumption_per_capita
well there’s just a mistake.. the telephone was invented by an Italian man Antonio Meucci 😉
but it was interesting to read 🙂
Some football facts are a bit off.
Though quite interesting!
In addition to the Christmas tree, the advent calendar was invented in Germany. It was created by the manager of an orphanage near Hamburg to amuse the children in his care.
Some of the facts are so interesting, but more interesting to me is your blog. I’m gonna be you! currently residing in Kuala Lumpur and marking the first item in my bucket list: get the bachelor
I’d definitely follow your posts 😉
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing this info! 🙂
As regards building the cathedral, Bill Bryson didn’t always get his facts right.
great bro
A jelly donut! lol. Awesome information, had to work on a report and this helped my grade a ton!!! Thank you!!!!!
No way I’m going out with Sonny now!!!
I found this interesting, My fathers mother was from Germany….I only stumbled upon this as i was trying to do research for my son who is in the 3rd grade and has to do a paper on Germany’s money…One day I hope to visit Germany as it is part of my heritage….
Cool facts!
Here are some facts on Bayern München as you got something wrong there 😉
They won the Bundesliga 23 times, that’s why they have 4 stars you get one for each 5 times you win. They won the DFB Pokal 15 times (16 times if they win the final tomorrow 😉
And they won the Champions League 5 times (last time last week 😉
They won the world pokal twice. And at the moment they are the team with the highest brand value (669Mill€) – on the second place: Manchester United (650Mill€)
Cheers, Michèle
wow this reaalycomes in handy for the travel expo
thx
these facts are really cool. thanks
these facts are really cool. thanks dude
oh my god you helped me with my assignment so much!! thanks.
The official language of the French provinces of Alsace and Lorraine is French………
Have been living in Germany for the last 16 years and now I’m really annoyed because half of them are not true or proof able…
Hey guy 😀 That is a very interesting list. I read it with pleasure 🙂
It includes some things you wouldn’t mind thinking about your country as a german, that is pretty interesting 😀
Btw, some facts aren’t straight. As a typical know-it-all-german i have to tell you!
JFK DIDNT say “I am a jelly doughnut” in Berlin… Ok he DID but “I am a Berliner/am from Berlin” and “I am a jelly doughnut” is spelled exactly the same, so nobodoy misunderstood him.
So the story of how he said he was filled with strawberry mush is in Germany only known as “What the americans falsely think”.
The tallest cathedral in the world ISN’T in Ulm, but somewhere in America, afaik NYC. Ulm was once the tallest building in the world, as it was the cathedral of cologne.
Hugo Boss didn’t design any SS-Uniforms, he just produced them in his factory, but that is not so much of a difference.
And, indeed there are not “more than 150 castles” in Germany but several thousand.
With the ‘Ich bin Berliner’ from Berlin/a doughnut* he spoke it, so he might said it wrong…I dunno, although looking on wikipedia, he said it right, and the misconception came from a character in a fictional book, who was an ‘unreliable narrator’. Me personally I’d say it with me weird accent ‘baelinaer’, although according to my German teacher, I had a good accent, even though half of my alphabet is silent.
*Jelly doughnut?….oh yeah….jam doughnuts. (I live in soggyland.)
I am from Germany and even from Berlin.
JFK said “Ich bin ein Berliner.” and he didn’t say anything wrong. I’ve never heard of that misconception before I started searching for german stereotypes and finding fun facts about germany.
In germany nobody things that he meant being a pastery called Berliner, especially not because this pastery in Berlin is actually called “Pfannkuchen” which translates to pancake. Though the ppl in Berlin know that they are also called “Berliner” they usualy refer to them as “Pfannkuchen” which confuses the rest of germany since they mean with “Pfannkuchen” the actual pancake you eat for breakfast.
Yes it is actually pronounced “baelina” so your german teacher doesn’t seem too bad. (:
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Btw. I really love the blog about the german stereotypes. It was sooo incredibly funny reading it. Especially because most of that is sooooo true. xDD
One thing that i don’t find that true is that you should tell before hand whether you are telling a joke or not. Germans are (at least the ones I know ^^) really sarcastic and quite like black humor.
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To some of the fun facts about school in germany I have to say that every federal state has it’s own school reform. So the changing schools in 4th grade is only in Bavaria and “Baden Württemberg” (I think). In most of the other federal states you change schools usually in grade 6.
Actualli every little village has its own dialect almost. And the Christmas tree came ages ago from the Germanians, who were actually the vikings where the evergreen tree was a symbol of life in the middle of the winter, and Christmas “just happens” to be almost at the same time as the shortest day of the year. So as much as I love Germany, they’re not getting the credit for this 😀
Nice list, thanks for the work. Buuut:
“The Bayern Munich is the most successful team in the Bundesliga having won four times (1974, 1975, 1976, 2001)”
– I don’t even like this Club… But they won the “Bundesliga” 23x times. 1975 & 1976 they didn’t won it.(http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Bayern_M%C3%BCnchen#National)
Friendly greetings.
You wrote the winnings of the Chamipons League, it’s the CHampionship where the best european teams play every year. And Bayern won it now 5 times, this year the last time. Please delete this second comment, it’s just for information for you 🙂
If you are wondering the area that speaks German in Italy is called South Tiroel. (Umlaut on the o, I use ‘oe’ as I can’t make umlauts easily on my laptop.
As a German I have to point out, that most of the Germans that aren’t Bavarian don’t like the Bavarians very much 😉 You have written far too much facts about them 😉
And another interesting fact:
70. In Germany you are allowed to buy alcohol like beer and wine from the age of 16, and all the hard stuff from 18 on.
This is very fascinating my culture is really awesome, I love showing off stuff like this to my Hispanic and Asian friends lol. #GOGERMANY
Thanks this helped with my homework luv u
point 14. German is also an official language in Belgium.
point 35. 100 Million only refers to the NATIVE German speakers.
There are over 30 million people visiting Germany every year, so have fun!
I think this really helped with my homework, my teacher has to decide though
I used em for meh german report!!!
thanks ;D
yes i did right down my source and put it in my own words some how
So did I, I wrote stuff about Germany for a report
je voudrais de connaitre la civilization
Germany is a lovely country, I’m also part German I know a friend or two from Germany. Yolo Bro 🙂
These facts are awesome Right:) 🙂 !!!!!
Thomas Mann was NOT a Bavarian. He was born in Lübeck.
These facts are awesome!!! 🙂
45 is wrong. In certain areas kids leave elementary school after 6th grade like in Berlin and they got rid of the system that divides it into 4 branches. They have only 2.Gesamtschule or Gemeinschaftsschule and Gymnasium.
all the numbers but you pick 69 😉
60. is wrong the fc bayern has won bundesliga 23times till now (2014) and will win this season too 😀
1931/32 1968/69 1971/72 1972/73 1973/74 1979/80 1980/81 1984/85 1985/86 1986/87
1988/89 1989/90 1993/94 1996/97 1998/99 99/2000 2000/01 2002/03 2004/05 2005/06
2007/08 2009/10 2012/1
they are the fist team who won the trible (bundesliga dfb championsleague)
and it’s wrong that the german wear “lederhosen” all the time most didn’t wear them in they’re hole life they are only in bavaria and there just to special events like wiesn/ oktoberfest or maifest
in berlin for example you can’t order a beer that easy and it don’t taste like a “real” bavarian beer
I’m coming from bavaria and the beer in berlin isn’t real beer its kind of dinking you gave your 10 year old boy like a sprite or coca cola here even women dink beer 😀
70: Fun fact, a german wouldn’t understand it.
nice facts!
You should add that the Computer was invented by the german Konrad Zuse. And that the electronic Music came into being through Karlheinz Stockhausen and the band Kraftwerk (Kraftwerk is the world’s most sampled band and has a more significant influence than the Beatles these days)
I am from germany and have to say, that i LOVE this post 😀
Sure, not the whole list is 100% right. But like 95%
Also, did you know, that the white colour from the president’s house’s from germany?
Also we created the internet
very funny and interesting!
however your fact about bayern munich is a little misleading, because you listed their victories in the champions league (they even won a fifth time in 2013) and not the ones of the bundesliga (23… 24 if you count in the previous german league) and now i’m being a smart ass, but adidas now only ownes 8,33% of the shares…
enjoyed your list very much…
You’ll probably want to update this 😉
I ride a Go-Ped and love it, I hear that scooters are big in Germany. I wish I was born in Germany as a German, would have been great! Any who any one want to ride here in Utah hit me up! “801-759-2878”
One fact is wrong there.. The Koreans of 고려 (Coree) invented the printing press nearly 200 years before Gutenberg did. The book is named Jikji, now located in a meuseum in France.
So the first printed book in the world was actually written in korean(through chinese characters)
haha your korean 🙂
Sorry, but my regional pride forces me to correct you 😀 Thomas Mann was NOT a Bavarian, but from the wonderful city of Lübeck all the way up in the north of Germany. He only moved to Munich when he was 19, but that still doesn’t make him real Bavarian.
I am from Ireland and about half of Ireland drink and Germany has more people who drink so do not say bad things about Ireland agian
so helpful for school
Einstein was a Jew, not German. He also stole all of “his” ideas from other physicists, like Henri Poincaré, George FitzGerald or Hendrik Lorentz. He wanted to throw atomic bombs onto people, but the Manhattan-Project was a failure. Only after they stole German technology, they used bombs against Japan.
Jewlluminati Karl Marx is luckily not part of us as well; the creator of the bloody Communist Manifest. Please don’t relate my nation with such crazy people. Levi Strauss was also a Jew.
Mezut Özil & Lukas Podolski are also not Germans. They just joined because of money & fame.
The Nobel Prize only serves for propaganda nowadays. We Germans don’t care if we win such prices or not.
Gradualpetrify,
Being Jewish is a religion, not a nationality. One is a citizen of the country where they were born, regardless of the religion they practice or their family practiced. Jews do not lose their nationality because of their religion–for over 2000 years, Jews have been born and been citizens of countries all over the world, including Germany. Some identify with the religion of their families for generations, yet personally are atheists. Some are orthodox believers, and some were not born into families who were Jewish but converted. All are Jewish. And all are citizens of countries regardless of their religious beliefs, just as Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans, Hindus, Buddhists, etc., are citizens. It’s not a racial identity in spite of the propaganda spread by genocidal men.
In Germany, nazis used religious identity as racial identifier in a calculated plan to take the assets, personal belongings, financial wealth, real property, and businesses of Jewish citizens, both for personal profit and to benefit the state. For political expediency–to quickly gain power, get rid of political opposition–they used the same fear mongering to target communists, blaming them for the economic problems that were caused by the Treaty of Versailles (ending WWI) and the Great Depression–neither of which were caused by either communists or Jews.
Communists are not hiding behind every door, nor are Jews in an “Illuminati conspiracy” to run the world. Most Jewish people have nothing to do with banking or Hollywood. They are your neighbors and would be your friends. Your demonization of a religion as controlling the business of Hollywood is likewise silly. While studios often were originally built by Jewish immigrants to America, long ago (nearly a century) they were sold, then bought and sold many times over–eventually by huge multinational corporations that are listed on public exchanges (think of Sony Corporation, General Electric, Time Warner)–that means they answer to shareholders and are subject to many laws in every jurisdiction where they do business. People–actors and actresses, directors, producers–get deals to make movies or TV shows after their earlier products make lots of money for the studios. Hence you have James Cameron, Seth MacFarlane, Ron Howard, Angelina Jolie, Steven Spielberg, Arnold Schwarzneggar, Clint Eastwood, Bruce Willis, Ashton Kutcher, Mel Gibson and hundreds of others looking for scripts, trying to sign actors and others with great box office records to their projects to get the studios’ “green light.”
Always, always, always, the single factor that the studio considers is PROFIT. If any exec makes any decision that does not turn a profit, he or she will be GONE. There is no conspiracy to promote a political belief or religion. For one thing, corporate law requires executives to act in the best interest of the corporation–the shareholders. MONEY. Otherwise shareholders can sue to get the money spent, the profit lost…and with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, one bad decision could easily ruin a person for life. Your conspiracy theory originated when times were simpler, individual people made decisions, and far less money was at stake–just as wrong-headed but a different time. Now impossibility can be added to the list of reasons it just is not true.
Albert Einstein was terribly conflicted over the fact he had developed knowledge that led to the horrors of atomic weapons, and he NEVER wanted to use them! Their use was very simply the lesser of 2 evils–Japanese military leaders fought the war in the Pacific with a “fight to the death mindset–when Allied forces were winning a battle for an island or a beach, Japanese soldiers were instructed to react suicidally, killing anyone and everyone within reach–in a belief that the Allies would torture them horrifically if they were captured. The Japanese military had little food for themselves, much less their captives–POWs were starved as nazis starved those in the deat and labor camps. Tens of thousands died being marched to less open areas–lookup the Bataan Death March. Atomic bombs were the last hope of leaders trying to avoid prolonged warfare that was killing soldiers on both sides and civilians across the Pacific. It was never the desire of Einstein. Like Hitler, you create fictions to fill the empty places in your fallacious theories. Your antisemitism colors your thinking until you accept preposterous ideas as truth. If Einstein wanted to drop bombs a you say–we’d have recordings of him saying so, footage of speeches, quotes in newspapers. Instead we see the opposite. A real concern for victims, sadness that people will die, fear that the bomb could be misused. Your knowledge of history is weak in the areas you claim to know what evils Jews were planning…Perhaps if you filled in the blanks you would not be so quick to come up with crazy conspiracy theories?
What you said is the same racist propaganda put forth by the nazis. You should be ashamed of yourself. Millions were deprived of everything they and their families worked for centuries to earn, then their families were taken from them, and finally their lives. Millions and millions. And over fifty million Europeans died in the war created by those monsters bent on genocide. Vilifying the victims is evil and ignorant. Repeating such hatred is despicable. Jews possess the same nationalities as any other religious identity, from every part of the planet. And have motives no different from the rest of us. The don’t lose their nationality when they worship in a Temple or identify with the religion of their families whether they believe or not. It’s hard to believe that you could resurrect the absurd beliefs of nazi leaders who were driven from power 70 years ago, revealing horrors worse than any time in the history of humanity. We often think they were insane to be so evil, as we trace the development of their various phobias. We like to think mankind could not be that horrid, poisonous, calculatedly ugly, without being insane. But the recent resurgence of these horrific ideas by people who ought to know better, who have all the truths available to them, who must know people who personally contradict the lies you are spreading, prove that the ugliness is in all humanity–who must make a personal decision to reject the evil. We are responsible for choosing what is right and rejecting the lies.
Another thing: please don’t get your information from Jewish Hollywood propaganda movies. It’s just a movie, not reality. Even sad enough, that you watch movies where disarmed soldiers get tortured for fun, while fighting against the Ango-American-Jewish-Bolshevik world dictators..
to 48.
he did fail in math once…
At least thats the most common excuse from german students when they fail in math
XD
hi
German is as well an official language in Belgium, although spoken only in Eupen-Malmedy province.
Hi,
Love the facts! It’s almost completely accurate and enjoyed it very much 🙂 It was also pretty funny
But the main reason I’m commenting is because I found some site who copied-and-pasted your entire article… Here: http://www.supervices.com/bizzare/weird-stuff/69-fun-facts-germany/
You might want to file a DMCA complaint on them if they don’t take it down.
Hey! Aww thanks! I’m happy you enjoyed reading them! 🙂 Wow, that’s so horrible of them! How did you find it? I noticed that you left them a comment too on the post. I’ll send them a notice as well. Thanks so much! You’re so nice for doing that for me! 🙂
I believe number 25 is a myth or urban legend.
Good research.
Sorry, but Thomas Mann is NOT a Bavarian. He was born in the town of Lübeck on 6th June 1875 and he died in Zürich.
You have to correct this. 😉
I actually love it when they shove that frankfurter sausage you know where! 😉
In the 45th listing it says that Germans go to different schools in 4th grade, it should be after 4th grade so in 5th 😉
actually its interesting but its not funny for most of the facts :p #sorryBro
This post is really interesting, but why it is on 19th place
in google’s search results. It deserves to be in top 5.
Many webmasters think that seo is dead in 2016, but it’s not true.
There is sneaky method to reach google’s top 5 that not
many people know. Just search for: pandatsor’s tools
German are the second largest beer consumers? After Irish? Both nations are after Czech republic ;D
Pretty! This has been a really wonderful post. Many thanks for supplying
these details.
Thanks for sharing these fun facts, I will be sharing with my Girl Scouts at day camp this summer. 5th and 6th graders will enjoy the idea of bread museums and the origin of the Christmas tree. Enjoy your travels!
My Neighbor’s MS13, well I figured after they O.D. me with Viagra, they’ll chop my dick off, freeze it, make a cast out of it, then manufacture dildo’s for everyone to fuck, also they’ll hollow my body out, stuff it full of money ect…..so they can extract it later like a bank, of course this is after grueling hours of torture ect…..all because their just evil:/.
I bought $5000.00 of Carpet Cleaning Equipment with my own money. The whole time I begged/plead for them to give me Green Friendly Cleaner, there’s is a GEMS Comity. My demands were never met, being I was getting sicker and sicker for Diversey particulates/fumes. We ended up using Brady Solutions, Clean by Proxy but I was still getting sicker. In turn I went to get help from the Union Rep. what happen put me in rage, My foreman’s lied about saying I was only excepted to do 400sqft., Yet I was always told/expected to do 1000sqft. per day, in turn lie after lie, after lie ! The Union Rep. started as if she would care, and ended in favor of my foreman. She was voted out during this process, the next process in tailed a new Union Rep. he listened and saw I was right, and my Foreman’s and the Old Union Rep was wrong. Being I did buy the equipment/used it/maintained it/on the campus and performed very well, until there were issues of my health, and my machines motor was burned out on one side a $400 dollar value. The reason I’m writing this is only stating that you can offer help/equipment , do your job better than anyone, and the only thing you get in return is written up, used, and thrown away like trash, I did tell you your human trash in the eye’s of the gov.
Nice information, You must be surprised to know that as much as the defense budget of Germany, the American people spend on their animals.
Fact 26 is not true. HB did not design the uniforms, but produced them based on designs originating within the specific organizations. The management of HB were all dedicated Nazis, so they got the contracts based on insider connections.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Boss
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-15008682
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/nazi-vergangenheit-von-hugo-boss-braune-hemden-1.1146339
Hi there this website was very useful thanks for taking your time to do this! 😀
thank you this helped a lot for my school Project.
I think the number of castles in #36 is a bit low.
There is a castle every couple of kilometers.