If you’re thinking about moving to Germany, or if you’ve only recently arrived, you might be wondering just what Germany is all about. As one of the biggest countries in Europe, it has had an enormous impact on food, culture, the arts and technology all over the world.
Some things haven’t established themselves overseas, but that hasn’t stopped Germany from embracing them and turning them into internationally recognised signifiers of Germanness. Here are a few of the things that Germany is famous for.
Beer is a huge part of German culture, with not only the alcoholic beverage itself being popular, but the many rituals and cultural events springing up around it being must-do events in Germany.
Oktoberfest is by far and away the most famous of these, where for over two weeks of the year, Munich is transformed by dozens of beer halls and beer gardens springing up throughout the city. Over 7 million litres of beer are served during the festivities! The hoppy drink also takes centre stage in hundreds of other beer festivals in towns and cities around Germany, such as the Cannstatter Volksfest in Stuttgart, the Freimarkt in Bremen and the Hannover Schützenfest.
German beer itself is closely regulated, thanks to its famous beer purity law (Reinheitsgebot), which was first passed in 1516. This ruled that beer could only be made using water, grain and hops, with yeast being added in a later amendment. The manufacture of beer is still regulated today, and any beer produced in Germany using anything other than these four ingredients cannot legally call itself Bier.
Germany is famous generally for its high-precision engineering and manufacturing, but nowhere is its dominance in that field more evident than with cars.
Since 1886, when German Carl Benz patented what is considered to be the first modern car, Germany has led the way in improving and revolutionising car technology. Today, Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, and Porsche join Mercedes-Benz as some of the most popular and well-known car brands around the world.
German-designed cars have won awards in the European Car of the Year, International Car of the Year and the World Car of the Year more times than any other country. In many countries, the Audi advertising slogan Vorsprung durch Technik is incredibly famous, and despite many people not knowing what it actually translates to – “progress through technology” – it still somehow evokes German engineering prowess.
German food may not have the same international reputation as French or Italian cuisine, but it is still famous the world over for being unapologetically stout and carb-heavy.
Sausages are one of the first foods people think of when they think of Germany. There are over 1.500 different types of Wurst in the country! Each region has its own speciality, although some have broken out and become popular country-wide. The first mention of a Bratwurst - the most typical German sausage - dates all the way back to 1313. Currywurst, dating from the 1940s, is one of the newcomers to the scene, but has already established itself as a firm favourite among Germans and tourists. It’s estimated that over 70 million Currywurst are eaten in Berlin every year!
Brezeln (pretzels) are another famous German food that has travelled around the world. While the true origin of the knotted, salty bread is lost, the pretzel has been the emblem of the baker’s guild in southern Germany since at least the 12th century. Pretzels are hugely popular in Germany today, and every bakery will sell a wide variety with different toppings like sesame, poppy, sunflower, pumpkin, or caraway seeds. Many towns in Germany even have pretzel festivals, usually just before Easter, as simple pretzels have long been considered a suitable food to eat during Lent fasting.
Another super-famous food that not everyone realises is German is the sweet manufacturer Haribo. Named after their inventor, Hans Riegel Bonn, these sweet, gummy bears have been made in Bonn since 1922, although they have factories in many other locations, too!
Historically, Germany has had a significant impact on the things that people all over the world read and listen to. From moving music and sinister stories to complex philosophy and revolutionary movements, these Germans have changed how the world thinks and feels.
Germans have long enjoyed wrestling with knotty problems and trying to unpick the very meaning of life. Some of the world's most famous philosophers are German, including Martin Luther, the priest and theologian whose beliefs found the basis of the Protestant Reformation; Immanuel Kant, a notoriously hard-to-read philosopher who focuses on the relationship between morals and reason; Karl Marx, a political philosopher whose books The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital started radical anti-capitalist movements; and Friedrich Nietzche, a seminal philosopher who explored nihilism and was famous for declaring the “death of God”.
If philosophy isn't so much your thing, you might be interested to know that some of the most famous books and plays ever written have come from Germany, including the Brothers Grimm, who brought us tales like Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, and Snow White; Thomas Mann, the winner of the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature; the radical playwright Bertolt Brecht; and Johann Goethe, who is often seen as the most influential German writer ever.
There are so many famous German musicians that we can't even go into detail about each of them, but even the most classical-music-averse people among us will have heard of world-class composers like Bach, Beethoven, Wagner, Weill, Haydn, Brahms, Schumann and Strauss! Into the modern day, Hans Zimmer is one of the most famous composers of film scores of all time, and his inimitable pieces have shaped the emotions of movie-goers around the world. Finally, the electro-pop art-project pioneers Kraftwerk come from Dusseldorf, and their 1974 album Autobahn took the entire world by storm, despite being entirely in German. Without Kraftwerk, there would be none of the synth-pop of the 1980s, and perhaps no electronic dance music at all!
It’s a cliché for a reason - the Germans have created many of today’s Christmas traditions. From Advent wreaths and Christmas trees to baubles and tinsel, so many Christmas traditions started in Germany.
The one that Germany still does better than anyone else is, of course, the Christmas market. As many as 3.000 different markets take place across Germany in the run-up to Christmas, and some of the largest ones will see millions of visitors!
Berlin, Nuremberg, Cologne and Munich have some of the biggest and most popular markets, while those in Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Ravenna Gorge are often described as the most atmospheric.
There is so much about Germany that is famous worldwide – we haven’t mentioned their world-class football team, jaw-dropping scenery, romantic castles or lederhosen! What are the things that spring to mind when you think of Germany?