Tyskland

Federal Republic of Germany

Formerly Federal Republic of Germany & The Peoples Republic of Germany

The German national flag.

Map of the Federal Republic of Germany

Our neighboring country to the south, and only country to whom we are connected by land.

In history we have had many quarrels with Germany, but here we also meet on the football field now a days.

Through history we have many bonds with Germany, of which the main one is our language who have very much in common. As the grammatical is one the same root, it is very much more easy for a Dane to learn German or vise versa, than it is to learn English, who is a different grammar.

Basically the way you structure a sentence in English, compared to Danish or German, is reversed.

When it comes to counting numbers, Danish & German ( and French ) count in batches of 20, were as in English you count in batches of 10.

A very interesting part of both Denmark and Germany is the region of Slesvig-Holstein, located between Kongeaaen and the Eider rivers.

Used to be 2 areas ruled by each their Hertug, and was first under the Danish Kingdom, then we lost it in a war to Germany in the 19'th century. Many Danish people emigrated to America from this area, before & during the 1'st world war to avoid going into the Imperial Prussian (German) army and the area was populated with Germans during this time.

After the 1'st world war Denmark requested to have the area returned. This was considered by the Wining parties of world war 1, and decided to be settled by the way of letting the people in Slesvig-Holstein vote on it,

Thus the present border between Denmark and Germany is the border decided by the people living in the region, at the vote they made in 1920.

To my knowledge this is the only time in history such a dispute have been settled in this civilized manner, perhaps it would be timely to use other places where you have border disputes.

Historic brief

will follow later, is very long....

Facts on Germany, see here

Now to some of my pictures from Germany, where I have been many times.

My first trips was to Flensborg, just across the border, which is a beautiful old town, but no pictures from there.

My first trip with photo's are from 1980, when we visited Berlin who at that time was divided into West & East Berlin. We went there by train from Aarhus, via Hamburg to Berlin. Unfortunately the weather was not that great, so the pictures look a bit dull, sorry about that.

Kurfurstedam, main street in West Berlin

with Gedechnish Kirche & Europa Center in the background

The old German Reichstag building ( Old Parliament house.)

Front of Reichstag building, which at the time was a museum.

Now the area of the new German Parliment building,

as Berlin again is the capital of a re-unified Germany.

The Olympic stadium 1936,

used by the Nazis for propaganda purposes & rallies,

but it was also here a Black American, Jesse Owens won 3 gold medals for USA in

100 meter in 10.3 sec

200 meter in 20.7 sec

Long jumping by 8.06 meters

to the visible irritation of the hosting Nazi government

Gedechnish Kirche,

today the old tower of this once grand cathedral remains,

while the new church is build just next to it.

The Cathedral was destroyed under world war 2.

Brandenbuger gate,

see for the West Berlin side, which is the back side of the gate....

Check point Charlie,

the border crossing between the American & Russian sector of Berlin.

Today a museum, about the former divided city.

The American zone ends just after the little white wood house, then there was a 2 km none man zone

before you arrived at the Russian check point, the tower in the back ground.

One of the view towers in the American zone of west Berlin,

facing the the wall dividing the city and the Russian zone 2 km across.

The wall build by the East German government in the 60'ties

the location here in just next to the Bunkers of the Nazi Government HQ

The bump in the center/left side of below picture are to surface remains of

the above/underground HQ of Adolf Hitler's Nazi government HQ

at the end of the 2'nd world war.

Alexanderplatz, East Berlin.

Before the division of Germany, this used to be the central square of Berlin.

East Berlin, view of the telecommunications tower

and a corner of the now former East German Parliament building, right.

I forgot the name of the cathedral in front, do you know it.?

The monument for the Russian army crushing the Nazi army in Berlin,

with the Russian soldiers changing guard & their unique style of marching.

The small statue symbolizing the surrender of defeat of the Nazi army in Berlin,

which was one day before the Nazi arm in Northern Germany & occupied Denmark surrendered to

allied forces lead by British General Montgomery, on 9'th of May 1945

There will be more pictures from Berlin in September,

incl. pictures of Challottenburg castle.

Berlin being one of my favorite European capital cities, a wonderful city with many sites to explore, and a history that few cities in the world can match

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