Germany

Martin Luther (1483–1546), Protestant Reformer

Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany (1933–1945)

German-occupied Europe in 1942 during World War II

American, Soviet, British, and French occupation zones in Germany and the French-controlled Saar Protectorate, 1947. Territories east of the Oder-Neisse line were transferred to Poland and the Soviet Union under the terms of the Potsdam Conference.

The Berlin Wall during its fall in 1989, with the Brandenburg Gate in the background

German TPz Fuchs armoured personnel carrier

Frankfurt is a leading business centre in Europe and the seat of the European Central Bank.

An ICE 3 on the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line

Cologne Cathedral is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Heidelberg University is Germany's oldest institution of higher learning and generally counted among its most renowned.

The Hospital of the Holy Spirit in Lübeck, established in 1286, is a precursor to modern hospitals.

A typical German Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) in Dresden

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827), composer

The Brothers Grimm collected and published popular German folk tales.

Babelsberg Studio in Potsdam near Berlin, the world's first large-scale film studio

Bavarian Bratwurst with mustard, a pretzel and beer

Country in Central Europe.

- Germany

500 related topics

Berlin

Berlin Cathedral (left) and Berlin Palace (right), 1900

Berlin became the capital of the German Empire in 1871 and expanded rapidly in the following years.

Berlin in ruins after World War II (Potsdamer Platz, 1945)

The Berlin Wall (painted on the western side) was a barrier that divided the city from 1961 to 1989.

The fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989. On 3 October 1990, the German reunification process was formally finished.

The coat of arms proposed in the state contract

The outskirts of Berlin are covered with woodlands and numerous lakes.

Aerial photo over central Berlin showing City West, Potsdamer Platz, Alexanderplatz and the Tiergarten

Panorama of the Gendarmenmarkt, showing the Konzerthaus Berlin, flanked by the German Church (left) and French Church (right)

Breitscheidplatz with Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is the center of City West.

Rotes Rathaus (Red City Hall), seat of the Senate and Mayor of Berlin

Berlin's 12 boroughs and their 96 neighborhoods

Berlin is a UNESCO "City of Design" and recognized for its creative industries and startup ecosystem.

Deutsche Bahn, the world's second-largest transport company, is headquartered in Berlin.

The new building of Axel Springer SE which is heardquarted in Berlin

Berlin Hauptbahnhof is the largest grade-separated railway station in Europe.

The Berlin U-Bahn (Metro) at Heidelberger Platz station

Flights departing from Berlin serve 163 destinations around the globe.

Airports in Berlin, including those that are no longer used (as of November 2020)

Café customers in Berlin Mitte using Wi-Fi devices

The Humboldt University of Berlin is affiliated with 57 Nobel Prize winners.

The Free University is one of Germany's eleven "Universities of Excellence".

The WISTA Science and Technology Park in Adlershof is home to several innovative businesses and research institutes.

The Alte Nationalgalerie is part of the Museum Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The alternative Holzmarkt, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg

The Jewish Museum presents two millennia of German–Jewish history.

The reconstructed Ishtar Gate of Babylon at the Pergamon Museum

The Berlinale is the largest international spectator film festival.

The French Cathedral during the annual Festival of Lights

Hanukkah festival at the Brandenburg Gate

Sir Simon Rattle conducting the renowned Berlin Philharmonic

The Olympiastadion hosted the 1936 Summer Olympics and the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final.

The Berlin Marathon is the world record course.

The Federal Chancellery building, seat of the Chancellor of Germany

Schloss Bellevue, seat of the President of Germany

Prussian House of Lords, the seat of the Bundesrat of Germany

Headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service

Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population.

Ruhr

Gamete of Dortmund, old market square with St. Reinold's Church

Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001

View of the redeveloped Duisburg Inner Harbour in 2010

Dortmund is the largest city of the Ruhr

Essen is the second largest city of the Ruhr

Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts

Main building of the Folkwang University in Essen-Werden

Located in the East of the Ruhr is Dortmund Airport

The Ruhr (Ruhrgebiet ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Switzerland

Landlocked country at the confluence of Western, Central and Southern Europe.

Founded in 44 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus, Augusta Raurica (near Basel) was the first Roman settlement on the Rhine and is now among the most important archaeological sites in Switzerland.

The Old Swiss Confederacy from 1291 (dark green) to the sixteenth century (light green) and its associates (blue). In the other colours shown are the subject territories.

The Act of Mediation was Napoleon's attempt at a compromise between the Ancien Régime and a Republic.

The first Federal Palace in Bern (1857). One of the three cantons presiding over the Tagsatzung (former legislative and executive council), Bern was chosen as the permanent seat of federal legislative and executive institutions in 1848, in part because of its closeness to the French-speaking area.

Inauguration in 1882 of the Gotthard Rail Tunnel connecting the southern canton of Ticino, the longest in the world at the time

General Ulrich Wille, appointed commander-in-chief of the Swiss Army for the duration of World War I

In 2003, by granting the Swiss People's Party a second seat in the governing cabinet, the Parliament altered the coalition that had dominated Swiss politics since 1959.

Köppen–Geiger climate classification map for Switzerland

The Swiss Federal Council in 2022 with President Ignazio Cassis (bottom) standing on an abstract, reduced railway lines map and positioned at their respective political origins

The Federal Palace, seat of the Federal Assembly and the Federal Council

The Landsgemeinde is an old form of direct democracy, still in practice in two cantons.

The colour-reversed Swiss flag became the symbol of the Red Cross Movement, founded in 1863 by Henry Dunant.

A Swiss Air Force F/A-18 Hornet at Axalp Air Show

Swiss-built Mowag Eagles of the Land Forces

A proportional representation of Switzerland exports, 2019

The city of Basel (Roche Tower) is the capital of the country's pharmaceutical industry, which accounts for around 38% of Swiss exports worldwide.

The Greater Zürich area, home to 1.5 million inhabitants and 150,000 companies, is one of the most important economic centres in the world.

The University of Basel is Switzerland's oldest university (1460).

Some Swiss scientists who played a key role in their discipline (clockwise):
Leonhard Euler (mathematics)
Louis Agassiz (glaciology)
Auguste Piccard (aeronautics)
Albert Einstein (physics)

The LHC tunnel. CERN is the world's largest laboratory and also the birthplace of the World Wide Web.

Members of the European Free Trade Association (green) participate in the European Single Market and are part of the Schengen Area.

Switzerland has the tallest dams in Europe, among which the Mauvoisin Dam, in the Alps. Hydroelectricity is the most important domestic source of energy in the country.

Entrance of the new Lötschberg Base Tunnel, the third-longest railway tunnel in the world, under the old Lötschberg railway line. It was the first completed tunnel of the greater project NRLA.

Population density in Switzerland (2019)

Percentage of foreigners in Switzerland (2019)

Urbanisation in the Rhone Valley (outskirts of Sion)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was not only a writer but also an influential philosopher of the eighteenth century.

Roger Federer has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles, making him among the most successful men's tennis players ever.

Fondue is melted cheese, into which bread is dipped

Switzerland is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east.

Northern Germany

Uerdingen line: ich ("I") and ik isogloss

Holy Roman Empire
Saxony in yellow (circa 1000 AD)

Northern Germany (Norddeutschland) is the region in the northern part of Germany, whose exact area is not precisely or consistently defined.

Frankfurt

Most populous city in the German state of Hesse.

Often stereotyped as a financial city, Frankfurt is multifaceted, including the entertainment district at Bahnhofsviertel.

The legend of the Frankenfurt (ford of the Franks)

View of Frankfurt am Main, including the Alte Brücke (Old Bridge), by Gustave Courbet (1858)

Frankfurt as seen by the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2A

The 46 Stadtteile (city districts) of central Frankfurt

The central Innenstadt district, as seen by a SkySat satellite

The New Frankfurt Old Town was completed in 2018, including 15 reconstructed historical buildings.

Alte Oper, now a concert hall, at Opernplatz

Upper section of the Main Tower with a public observation deck at 200 metres

Frankfurt skyline in June 2013, view from south-west

Skyline at dusk, seen from Deutschherrnbrücke (2014)

Top of the Europaturm, a 337 m communications tower

Zeil, Frankfurt's central shopping street

A "Frankfurt kitchen" in the version of 1926 in an Austrian museum

Frankfurt Airport (with the fourth runway under construction in 2010) and the Frankfurter Kreuz (lower right corner)

The new headquarters of the European Central Bank in the Ostend district

Westend Tower, also known as Westendstraße 1 or Crown Tower, headquarters of DZ Bank

Opernturm, headquarters of UBS Germany, at the Opernplatz

Bull and bear in front of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange

Messeturm seen from the trade fair premises

Two Lufthansa Airbus A380s at Frankfurt Airport

Westhafen Tower, home to the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA)

Editorial department building of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

The Waldstadion (currently known as the Deutsche Bank Park), home of the football club Eintracht Frankfurt

Its 763,380 inhabitants as of 31 December 2019 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany.

Netherlands

Transcontinental country located in north-western Europe with overseas territories in the Caribbean.

The name of the historic County of Holland is currently used as a pars pro toto for the Netherlands.

Oak figurine found in Willemstad (4500 BC)

Franks, Frisians and Saxons (710s AD) with Traiecturm and Dorestad in the middle

Rorik of Dorestad, Viking ruler of Friesland (romantic 1912 depiction)

A Medieval Tombe of the Brabantian knight Arnold van der Sluijs

Map of the Habsburg dominions. From 1556 the dynasty's lands in the Low Countries were retained by the Spanish Habsburgs.

Dutch East India Company factory in Hugli-Chuchura, Mughal Bengal by Hendrik van Schuylenburgh, 1665

Winter landscape with skaters near the city of Kampen by Hendrick Avercamp (1620s)

Map of the Dutch colonial empire. Light green: territories administered by or originating from territories administered by the Dutch East India Company; dark green: the Dutch West India Company. In yellow are the territories occupied later, during the 19th century.

The submission of Diponegoro to General De Kock at the end of the Java War in 1830. Painting by Nicolaas Pieneman

Rotterdam after German air raids in 1940

Former Prime Ministers Wim Kok, Dries van Agt, Piet de Jong, Ruud Lubbers and Jan Peter Balkenende with Prime Minister Mark Rutte, in 2011

The Christmas flood of 1717 was the result of a northwesterly storm that resulted in the death of thousands.

Map illustrating areas of the Netherlands below sea level

The Delta Works are located in the provinces of South Holland and Zeeland.

Common seals on Terschelling, a Wadden Sea island

The Binnenhof, where the lower and upper houses of the States General meet

De Wallen, Amsterdam's red-light district, offers activities such as legal prostitution and a number of coffeeshops that sell marijuana, symbolising the Dutch political culture and tradition of tolerance.

The Netherlands has a culture of respectful and friendly debate. From left to right, members of the House of Representatives Sander de Rouwe (CDA), Ineke van Gent (GL), Han ten Broeke (VVD), Kees Verhoeven (D66) and Farshad Bashir (SP), 2010

Provinces and territories of the Netherlands

The Peace Palace (Vredespaleis), in The Hague

General Onno Eichelsheim is the current Chief of Defence.

Zr. Ms. Holland, a Royal Netherlands Navy offshore patrol vessel

Historical GDP per capita development (Our World in Data)

A proportional representation of Netherlands exports, 2019

The Netherlands is part of a monetary union, the Eurozone (dark blue), and the EU single market.

Natural gas concessions in the Netherlands. Today the Netherlands accounts for more than 25% of all natural gas reserves in the EU.

The Groningen gas field whose discovery in 1959 transformed the Dutch economy, generating €159 billion in revenue since the mid-1970s.

Population of the Netherlands from 1900 to 2000

Population pyramid of the Netherlands in 2017

In Rotterdam almost half the population has an immigrant background.

Population density in the Netherlands by municipality. The largest urban area, the Randstad is clearly visible along the west coast.

Knowledge of foreign languages in the Netherlands, in per cent of the population over the age of 15, in 2006

An international primary school in The Hague

View on the Utrecht Science Park of Utrecht University. The building in the centre is the library.

Portrait of Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723), known as "the father of microbiology"

A regional train operated by Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS)

Bike passage at Rotterdam Centraal station

Dutch people in orange celebrating King's Day in Amsterdam, 2017

Johan Cruyff Arena, the largest Dutch concert venue

Dutch star football players Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie during a game with the Netherlands against Denmark at Euro 2012

New Amsterdam as it appeared in 1664. Under British rule it became known as New York.

Eustachius De Lannoy of the Dutch East India Company surrenders to Maharaja Marthanda Varma of the Indian Kingdom of Travancore after the Battle of Colachel. (Depiction at Padmanabhapuram Palace)

A Dutch doctor vaccinating Indonesian patients

In Europe, the Netherlands consists of twelve provinces, and borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, with a North Sea coast-line to the north and west.

Poland

Country in Central Europe.

A reconstruction of a Bronze Age, Lusatian culture settlement in Biskupin, 8th century BC

Poland under the rule of Mieszko I, whose acceptance of Christianity under the auspices of the Latin Church and the Baptism of Poland marked the beginning of statehood in 966.

Casimir III the Great is the only Polish king to receive the title of Great. He built extensively during his reign, and reformed the Polish army along with the country's legal code, 1333–70.

The Battle of Grunwald was fought against the German Order of Teutonic Knights, and resulted in a decisive victory for the Kingdom of Poland, 15 July 1410.

Wawel Castle in Kraków, seat of Polish kings from 1038 until the capital was moved to Warsaw in 1596.

King John III Sobieski defeated the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Vienna on 12 September 1683.

Stanisław II Augustus, the last King of Poland, reigned from 1764 until his abdication on 25 November 1795.

The partitions of Poland, carried out by the Kingdom of Prussia (blue), the Russian Empire (brown), and the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy (green) in 1772, 1793 and 1795.

Chief of State Marshal Józef Piłsudski was a hero of the Polish independence campaign and the nation's premiere statesman from 1918 until his death on 12 May 1935.

Polish Army 7TP tanks on military manoeuvres shortly before the invasion of Poland in 1939

Pilots of the 303 Polish Fighter Squadron during the Battle of Britain, October 1940

Map of the Holocaust in German-occupied Poland with deportation routes and massacre sites. Major ghettos are marked with yellow stars. Nazi extermination camps are marked with white skulls in black squares. The border in 1941 between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union is marked in red.

At High Noon, 4 June 1989 — political poster featuring Gary Cooper to encourage votes for the Solidarity party in the 1989 elections

Flowers in front of the Presidential Palace following the death of Poland's top government officials in a plane crash on 10 April 2010

Morskie Oko alpine lake in the Tatra Mountains. Poland has one of the highest densities of lakes in the world.

The wisent, one of Poland's national animals, is commonly found at the ancient and UNESCO-protected Białowieża Forest.

The Sejm is the lower house of the parliament of Poland.

The Constitution of 3 May adopted in 1791 was the first modern constitution in Europe.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, located in Warsaw

Polish Air Force F-16s, a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft

A Mercedes-Benz Sprinter patrol van belonging to the Polish State Police Service (Policja)

The Old City of Zamość is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

PKP Intercity Pendolino at the Wrocław railway station

Physicist and chemist Maria Skłodowska-Curie was the first person to win two Nobel Prizes.

Nicolaus Copernicus, the 16th century Polish astronomer who formulated the heliocentric model of the solar system.

Population of Poland from 1900 to 2010 in millions of inhabitants

Dolina Jadwigi — a bilingual Polish-Kashubian road sign with the village name

John Paul II, born Karol Wojtyła, held the papacy between 1978-2005 and was the first Pole to become a Roman Catholic Pope.

The Polish White Eagle is Poland's enduring national and cultural symbol

All Saints' Day on 1 November is one of the most important public holidays in Poland.

Lady with an Ermine (1490) by Leonardo da Vinci. It symbolises Poland's cultural heritage and identity.

Selection of hearty traditional comfort food from Poland, including bigos, gołąbki, żurek, pierogi, placki ziemniaczane, and rye bread.

Traditional polonaise dresses, 1780–1785.

Andrzej Wajda, the recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Golden Bear Awards.

Headquarters of the publicly funded national television network TVP in Warsaw

The Stadion Narodowy in Warsaw, home of the national football team, and one of the host stadiums of Euro 2012.

The country is bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukraine to the east, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to the south, and Germany to the west.

The Weimar Republic (Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich (Deutsches Reich), was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclaimed itself, as the German Republic (Deutsche Republik).

France

Transcontinental country spanning Western Europe and overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.

One of the Lascaux paintings: a horse – approximately 17,000 BC. Lascaux is famous for its "exceptionally detailed depictions of humans and animals".

Vercingetorix surrenders to Caesar during the Battle of Alesia. The Gallic defeat in the Gallic Wars secured the Roman conquest of the country.

The Maison Carrée was a temple of the Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day Nîmes) and is one of the best-preserved vestiges of the Roman Empire.

With Clovis's conversion to Catholicism in 498, the Frankish monarchy, elective and secular until then, became hereditary and of divine right.

Joan of Arc led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453), which paved the way for the final victory.

Metropolitan France territorial evolution from 985 to 1947

The Château de Chenonceau, nowadays part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was built in the early 16th century.

Louis XIV, the "Sun King", was the absolute monarch of France and made France the leading European power.

Ouverture des États généraux à Versailles, 5 mai 1789 by Auguste Couder

The Storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789 was the most emblematic event of the French Revolution.

Le Serment du Jeu de paume by Jacques-Louis David, 1791

Napoleon, Emperor of the French, built a vast empire across Europe. His conquests spread the ideals of the French Revolution across much of the continent, such as popular sovereignty, equality before the law, republicanism and administrative reorganisation while his legal reforms had a major impact worldwide. Nationalism, especially in Germany, emerged in reaction against him.

Animated map of the growth and decline of the French colonial empire

French Poilus posing with their war-torn flag in 1917, during World War I

Charles de Gaulle took an active part in many major events of the 20th century: a hero of World War I, leader of the Free French during World War II, he then became President, where he facilitated decolonisation, maintained France as a major power and overcame the revolt of May 1968.

The May 68 protests, a massive social movement, would ultimately led to many social changes, such as the right to abortion, women empowerment as well as the decriminalisation of homosexuality.

Republican marches were organised across France after the January 2015 attacks perpetrated by Islamist terrorists; they became the largest public rallies in French history.

A relief map of Metropolitan France, showing cities with over 100,000 inhabitants

Mont Blanc, the highest summit in Western Europe, marks the border with Italy.

Geological formations near Roussillon, Vaucluse

Reed bed on the Gironde estuary, the largest estuary in Western Europe

Köppen climate classification map of Metropolitan France

Marine (blue), regional (green) and national (red) parks in France (2019)

The lands making up the French Republic, shown at the same geographic scale

The National Assembly is the lower house of the French Parliament.

The basic principles that the French Republic must respect are found in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

88 states and governments are part of La Francophonie, which promotes values of democracy, multilingualism and cultural diversity. France has been a key member of this global organisation since its inception in 1970.

The European Parliament in Strasbourg, near the border with (Germany). France is a founding member of all EU institutions.

Examples of France's military. Clockwise from top left: nuclear aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle; a Dassault Rafale fighter aircraft; French Chasseurs Alpins patrolling the valleys of Kapisa province in Afghanistan; a Leclerc tank

La Défense (as seen from the Eiffel Tower) was in 2017 ranked by Ernst & Young as the leading Central business district in continental Europe, and the fourth in the world.

Composition of the French economy (GDP) in 2016 by expenditure type

Champagne is from the Champagne region in Northeast France.

The Eiffel Tower is the world's most-visited paid monument, an icon of both Paris and France.

The Château de Marqueyssac, featuring a French formal garden, is one of the Remarkable Gardens of France.

Belleville Nuclear Power Plant. France derives most of its electricity from nuclear power, the highest percentage in the world.

A TGV Duplex crossing the Cize–Bolozon viaduct. The train can reach a maximum speed of 360 km/h.

Air France is one of the biggest airlines in the world.

France is in 2020 the biggest national financial contributor to the European Space Agency, which conceived the Ariane rocket family, launched from French Guiana (Ariane 5 pictured).

The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble

Population density in France by arrondissement. The main urban areas are visible, notably the Paris (centre-north), Lille (north), Marseille (southeast) and Lyon (centre-southeast) urban areas.

Notre-Dame de Reims is the Roman Catholic cathedral where the Kings of France were crowned until 1825.

The Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, a teaching hospital in Paris, is one of Europe's largest hospitals.

The École normale supérieure (ENS) in Paris, established in the end of the 18th century, produces more Nobel Prize laureates per capita than any other institution in the world.

Eugène Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People (1830) portrays the July Revolution using the stylistic views of Romanticism. Since Liberty is part of the motto "Liberté, égalité, fraternité", as the French put it, this painting has become the primary symbol of the French Republic.

The Louvre Museum, widely recognised as one of the finest art museums in the world, was in 2019 both the largest and the most-visited museum in the world.

Claude Monet, founder of the Impressionist movement

Le Penseur by Auguste Rodin (1902), Musée Rodin, Paris

Saint Louis's Sainte-Chapelle represents the French impact on religious architecture.

Place de la Bourse in Bordeaux, an example of French baroque architecture

The Capitole de Toulouse hosts Toulouse City Hall.

French literary figures. Clockwise from top left: Molière is the most played author in the Comédie-Française; Victor Hugo is one of the most important French novelist and poet; 19th-century poet, writer and translator Charles Baudelaire; 20th-century philosopher and novelist Jean-Paul Sartre

René Descartes, founder of modern Western philosophy

Serge Gainsbourg, one of the world's most influential popular musicians

Daft Punk, pioneers of the French house movement

A Palme d'Or from the Cannes Film Festival, one of the "Big Three" film festivals alongside the Venice Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival

Louis de Funès, often called "France's favourite actor", has played over 130 roles in film and over 100 on stage.

Chanel's headquarters on Place Vendôme, Paris

The Parisian headquarters of Agence France-Presse, one of the world's oldest and leading news agencies

Le Figaro was founded in 1826; many of France's most prominent authors have written in its columns over the decades, and it is still considered a newspaper of record.

Admittance of Germaine Tillion, Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz, Pierre Brossolette and Jean Zay at the Pantheon, a mausoleum for distinguished French people, in 2015

Sculpture of Marianne, a common national personification of the French Republic

French wines are usually made to accompany French cuisine.

Starting in 1903, the Tour de France is the oldest and most prestigious of Grands Tours, and the world's most famous cycling race.

Pierre de Coubertin, father of the modern Olympic Games

Zidane was named the best European footballer of the past 50 years in a 2004 UEFA poll.

France borders Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Andorra, and Spain in Europe, as well as the Netherlands, Suriname, and Brazil in the Americas via its overseas territories in French Guiana and Saint Martin.

East Germany

On the basis of the Potsdam Conference, the Allies jointly occupied Germany west of the Oder–Neisse line, later forming these occupied territories into two independent countries. Light grey: territories annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union; dark grey: West Germany (formed from the US, UK and French occupation zones, including West Berlin); red: East Germany (formed from the Soviet occupation zone, including East Berlin).

West Germany (blue) comprised the Western Allies' zones, excluding the Saarland (purple); the Soviet zone, East Germany (red) surrounded West Berlin (yellow).

GDR leaders: President Wilhelm Pieck and Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl, 1949

SED First Secretary, Walter Ulbricht, 1960

Erich Honecker, head of state (1971–1989)

Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) Helmut Schmidt, Chairman of the State Council of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) Erich Honecker, U.S. president Gerald Ford and Austrian chancellor Bruno Kreisky signing the Helsinki Act

Karl Marx monument in Chemnitz (renamed Karl-Marx-Stadt from 1953 to 1990)

Demonstration on Alexanderplatz in East Berlin on 4 November 1989

SED logotype: the Communist–Social Democrat handshake of Wilhelm Pieck and Otto Grotewohl, establishing the SED in 1946

GDR flag at the United Nations headquarters, New York City, 1973

The Palast der Republik, seat of the Volkskammer

Poster with the inscription "Berlin – Hauptstadt der DDR", 1967

Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation Emblem (13 December 1948 – August 1990)

Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation Parade

Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation uniform

East Berlin: XII Parliament of the FDJ During the opening in the Great Hall of the Palace of the Republic.

Pioneer choir "August Bebel" Zwickau of the pioneer house "Wilhelm Pieck" in Zwickau (Schwanenschloß)

A woman and her husband, both medical students, and their triplets in East Germany in 1984. The GDR had state policies to encourage births among educated women.

Districts of the German Democratic Republic in 1952

Uni-Riese (University Giant) in 1982. Built in 1972, it was once part of the Karl-Marx-University and is Leipzig's tallest building.

East German Nationale Volksarmee changing-of-the-guard ceremony in East Berlin

Angola's José Eduardo dos Santos during his visit to East Berlin

The Trabant automobile was a profitable product made in the German Democratic Republic.

A 1980 meeting between representatives of the BEK and Erich Honecker

Katholikentag, Dresden, 1987 (left to right) Bishop Karl Lehmann and Cardinals Gerhard Schaffran, Joseph Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI) and Joachim Meisner

Pop singer Frank Schöbel (center) giving autographs in 1980

The East German football team lining up before a match in June 1974

Gerhard Behrendt with character from the stop-animation series Sandmännchen

Percentage of Zweitstimme for Die Linke in the 2017 federal election

Standard of the Chairman of the Council of State 1960–1990

Service flag of the National People's Army

Service flag for combat ships and boats of the People's Navy

Service flag for auxiliary ships and boats of the People's Navy

alt=Service flag|Deutsche Post (1955–1973)

Service flag for ships and boats of the Border Brigade Coast

Flag of the Ministry of State Security (Stasi), East Germany, until 1990

Emblem of the Ministry of State Security (MfS) (Stasi) of the GDR (until 1990)

Coat of arms of National People's Army of the German Democratic Republic (from 1956 until 1990)

Emblem of the Ground Forces of National People's Army (1956-1990)

The coat of arms of the People's Navy with the Order of Karl Marx (between 1956 and 1990)

Emblem of Air Force of the National People's Army of the German Democratic Republic before 1959 (until 1956 the People's Police Air of the GDR)

Emblem of aircraft of National People's Army of the German Democratic Republic (1959–1990)

Emblem of the Grenztruppen used for vehicles (1949–1990)

The national ensign of the GDR Volkspolizei-Bereitschaften (from 1962 to 1990)

Combat Groups of the Working Class coat of arms of the fighting groups of the working class, without oak leaves (between 1953 and 1990)

Emblem of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (1950–1990)

Flag of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (1950–1990)

Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation Flag (13 December 1948 – August 1990)

East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; Deutsche Demokratische Republik,, DDR, ), was a state that existed from 1949 to 1990 in middle Germany as part of the Eastern Bloc in the Cold War.