149-421: Gastarbeiter ( German for 'guest worker'; pronounced [ˈɡastˌʔaʁbaɪtɐ] ; both singular and plural) are foreign or migrant workers , particularly those who had moved to West Germany between 1955 and 1973, seeking work as part of a formal guest worker program ( Gastarbeiterprogramm ). As a result, guestworkers are generally considered temporary migrants because their residency in
298-524: A Braille representation of the notes denomination), colour-shifting ink (on the DM ;500 and DM 1000 denominations), a see-through registration device and ultraviolet-visible security features. First to be issued were the DM 100 and DM 200 denominations on 1 October 1990 (although the banknote shows " Frankfurt am Main , 2. Januar 1989"). The next denomination was DM 10 on 16 April 1991, followed by DM 50 on 30 September 1991. Next
447-465: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it
596-402: A second language , and 75–100 million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220 million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90 million people, or 16% of
745-612: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become
894-702: A "right to reside" may still receive many social benefits. They may attend schools, receive medical insurance , be paid children's benefits, receive welfare and housing assistance. In many cases guest workers integrated neatly into German society, in particular those from other European countries with a Christian background, even if they started out poor. For example, Dietrich Tränhardt researched this topic in relation to Spanish guest workers. While many Spanish that came to Germany were illiterate peasants, their offspring were academically successful (see: Academic achievement among different groups in Germany ) and do well in
1043-516: A Muslim student sued a Gymnasium headmaster, because she was not allowed to wear a hijab in school. After the division of Germany into East and West in 1949, East Germany faced an acute labour shortage, mainly because of East Germans fleeing into the western zones occupied by the Allies; in 1966 the GDR (German Democratic Republic) signed its first guest worker contract with Poland . In contrast to
1192-728: A colorless inorganic oxide mixture applied to the security thread. Banknotes featuring that were designated BBk Ia within the Bundesbank. All banknotes of the third series bore the penalty for counterfeiting and forgery on the upper right corner of the reverse, from German penal code section 146: " Wer Banknoten nachmacht oder verfälscht, oder nachgemachte oder verfälschte sich verschafft und in Verkehr bringt, wird mit Zuchthaus/Freiheitsstrafe nicht unter zwei Jahren bestraft. " ("Who falsifies or counterfeits banknotes, or procures falsified or counterfeit banknotes and releases them into circulation,
1341-501: A form of developmental aid. It was expected that guest workers would learn useful skills which could help them build their own countries after returning home. Since West Germany and Italy were both founding members of the ECSC and later EEC , recruitment of Italian workers dropped sharply soon, as the Treaty of Rome signed in 1957 provided for freedom of movement for workers , which in
1490-559: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from
1639-452: A greatly expanded market for German exports. Overnight, consumer goods appeared in the stores, because they could be sold for higher prices. While the availability of consumer goods is seen as a giant success story by most historians of the present, the perception at the time was a different one: prices were so high that average people could not afford to shop, especially since prices were free-ranging but wages still fixed by law. Therefore, in
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#17327808508061788-820: A guest worker from outside Europe, from China, Afghanistan , Vietnam , Angola , Mozambique , and Ethiopia . In contrast to such words as gastrolle ( гастроль , сoncert tour), gast professor (invited to read the course at another university), which came to Russian from German, the word gastarbayter is not neutral in modern Russian and has a negative connotation. In current day, guestworker programs extend beyond Europe as well, with state-run migrant-worker programs established in over fifty countries worldwide. The Serbian rock band Riblja Čorba has 2 songs referring to Gastarbeiter , Gastarbejterska Pesma , released in 1996 and Gastarbejterska 2 , released in 1999. German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] )
1937-596: A guest worker were not automatically entitled to citizenship, but were granted the Aufenthaltsberechtigung ('right to reside') and might choose to apply for German citizenship later in their lives, which was granted to persons who had lived in Germany for at least 15 years and fulfilled a number of other preconditions (they must work for their living, they should not have a criminal record, and other preconditions). Today, children of foreigners born on German soil are granted German citizenship automatically if
2086-554: A historical term however, referring to the guest worker programme and situation of the 1960s, is neutral and remains the most correct designation. In literary theory, some German migrant writers (e.g. Rafik Schami ) use the terminology of "guest" and "host" provocatively. The term Gastarbeiter lives on in Serbo-Croatian ( Serbian , Bosnian , Croatian and Montenegrin ), Bulgarian , Macedonian , and Slovene languages, generally meaning 'expatriate' (mostly referring to
2235-778: A mint mark, indicating where the coin was minted. D indicates Munich, F Stuttgart, G Karlsruhe and J Hamburg. Coins minted during the Second World War include the mint marks A (Berlin) and B (Vienna). The mint mark A was also used for German mark coins minted in Berlin beginning in 1990 following the reunification of Germany. These mint marks have been continued on the German euro coins . Between 1 July 1990 (the currency union with East Germany ) and 1 July 1991, East German coins in denominations up to 50 pfennig s continued to circulate as Deutsche Mark coins at their face value, owing to
2384-458: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained
2533-467: A number of advantages. For example, only those holding German citizenship may vote in certain elections. Also, some jobs may only be performed by German citizens. As a rule these are jobs which require a deep identification with the government. Only those holding German citizenship are allowed to become a schoolteacher, a police officer, or a soldier. Most jobs, however, do not require German citizenship. Those who do not hold German citizenship but instead just
2682-512: A number of countries, such as Turks, Moroccans and Tunisians, a so-called Rückkehrprämie ('repatriation grant') or Rückkehrhilfe ('repatriation help') if they returned home. A person returning home received 10,500 Deutsche Mark and an additional 1,500 Deutsche Mark for their spouse and also 1,500 Deutsche Mark for each child if they returned to their country of origin. There were 2 coups d'état between 1960 and 1971 in Turkey and
2831-458: A period of one or two years before returning to their home country in order to make room for other migrants. Some migrants did return, after having built up savings for their return. The recruitment treaty was changed in 1964 so that the Turkish guest workers could stay longer. For Turks, Tunisians and Moroccans, special rules applied: only unmarried people would be recruited; family reunification
2980-415: A poor command of either German or Turkish, and thus had either low-skilled jobs or were unemployed. Most are Muslims and some are presently reluctant to become German citizens. Germany used the jus sanguinis principle in its nationality or citizenship law, which determined the right to citizenship based on a person's German ancestry, and not by place of birth. Accordingly, children born in Germany of
3129-696: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In
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#17327808508063278-652: A rate of 1:1 for the first M 4,000 and 2:1 for larger amounts. Before reunification, each citizen of East Germany coming to West Germany was given Begrüßungsgeld (welcome money), a per capita allowance of DM 100 in cash. The government of Germany and the Bundesbank were in major disagreement over the exchange rate between the East German mark and the German mark. France and the United Kingdom were opposed to German reunification, and attempted to influence
3427-549: A rather short life. While previously damaged notes could be replaced from reserve stocks, this stock was also coming to an end, necessitating a reprint. Typical security features at the time were guilloches, a multi-level head watermark and a security thread. Note numbers that fluoresced under UV light and green, yellow, and blue. 27 fluorescent fibers embedded in the paper appeared on most banknotes; however, some specimens without these features were in circulation. Starting in 1976, banknotes were equipped with machine-readable feature -
3576-688: A recruitment agreement with Spain, but compared to West Germany and Switzerland, the wage level in Austria was not attractive to many potential Spanish job-seekers. However, the agreements signed with Turkey (1963) and Yugoslavia (1966) were more successful, resulting in approximately 265,000 people migrating to Austria from these two countries between 1969 and 1973, until being halted by the early 1970s economic crisis. In 1973, 78.5% of guest workers in Austria came from Yugoslavia and 11.8% from Turkey. In September 2024, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Kenyan President William Ruto signed an agreement that opened
3725-483: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it
3874-519: A second generation from the former Yugoslavia or Bulgaria born or living abroad). The South Slavic spelling reflects the local pronunciation of gastarbajter (in Cyrillic : гастарбаjтер or гастарбайтер ). In Belgrade 's jargon, it is commonly shortened to gastoz ( гастоз ) derived by the Serbian immigrant YouTube star nicknamed Gasttozz . The Croatian equivalent to this shortened term
4023-540: A small number of D-Mark coins or bills, e.g. Gib mir mal ein paar Märker ("Just give me a few marks") and Die lieben Märker wieder ("The lovely money again", with an ironic undertone). The subdivision unit is spelled Pfennig ( masc. ; [ˈpfɛnɪç] ), which unlike Mark does have a commonly used plural form: Pfennige ( [ˈpfɛnɪɡə] ), but the singular could also be used instead with no difference in meaning. (e.g.: ein (one) Pfennig , dreißig (thirty) Pfennige or dreißig (thirty) Pfennig ). The official form
4172-410: A temporary shortage of small coins. These coins were legal tender only in the territory of the former East Germany. In colloquial German the 10pf coin was sometimes called a groschen (compare: groat ). Likewise, sechser ('sixer') could refer to a coin of 5pf. Both colloquialisms refer to several pre-1871 currencies of the previously independent states (notably Prussia ), where a groschen
4321-536: A warm welcome in Germany and were extremely popular with their work colleagues. After 1961 Turkish citizens (largely from rural areas) soon became the largest group of guest workers in West Germany. The expectation at the time on the part of both the West German and Turkish governments was that working in Germany would be only "temporary". The migrants, men and women alike, were allowed to work in Germany for
4470-661: Is gastić , which can be heard in capital city of Zagreb . Sometimes, in a negative context, however, they would be referred as gastozi or Švabe , after the Danube Swabians that inhabited the former Yugoslavia, most of whom now live in German-speaking countries. This is often equated to the English term "rich kid/spoiled brat" due to the unprecedented wealth that these former Yugoslavian gastarbeiters accumulate compared to their relatives that still live in
4619-717: Is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and
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4768-601: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as
4917-547: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German
5066-558: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic
5215-478: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German
5364-539: Is compared to other currencies, as in its 53-year history, the purchasing power of the German mark was reduced by over 70%. The first Deutsche Mark coins were issued by the Bank deutscher Länder in 1948 and 1949. From 1950, the inscription Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany) appeared on the coins. These coins were issued in denominations of 1pf, 2pf, 5pf, 10pf, and 50pf. The 1pf and 2pf coins were struck in bronze clad steel (although during some years
5513-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25 million speak it as
5662-535: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in
5811-611: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as
5960-500: Is intended for circulation. Commemorative silver DM10 coins have also been issued which have periodically found their way into circulation. Unlike other European countries, Germany retained the use of the smallest coins (1pf and 2pf) until adoption of the euro. denomination below denomination below The weights and dimensions of the coins can be found in an FAQ of the Bundesbank . Unlike other countries (such as Australia) there
6109-565: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are
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6258-772: Is liable to imprisonment for at least two years". The third series banknotes entered circulation on 10 February 1961, with the DM 20 note. DM 100 and DM 50 followed next year, and DM 5 and DM 10 in 1963. High-denomination DM 1000 and DM 500 followed in 1964 and 1965, respectively. The banknotes were printed exclusively in West Germany; in Bundesdruckerei in West Berlin and in Giesecke+Devrient in Munich . The third series banknotes ceased to be legal tender on 30 June 1995, when
6407-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and
6556-597: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as
6705-497: Is part of a proper name, while the noun "Mark", like all German nouns, is always capitalized. The English loanword "Deutschmark" has a slightly different spelling and one syllable fewer (possibly due to the frequency of silent e in English, or due to English's lack of adjectival endings), and a plural form in -s . In Germany and other German speaking countries, the currency's name was often abbreviated as D-Mark ( fem. , [ˈdeːmaʁk] ) or simply Mark ( fem. ) with
6854-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German
7003-525: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c. 1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period
7152-578: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish
7301-433: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers
7450-689: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to
7599-609: The Deutsche Bundesbank . The Deutsche Mark earned a reputation as a strong store of value at times when other national currencies succumbed to periods of inflation . It became a source of national pride and an anchor for the country's economic prosperity, particularly during the years of the Wirtschaftswunder in the 1950s. The population in the Saar Protectorate rejected in a referendum
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#17327808508067748-639: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as
7897-622: The Christian churches are allowed to collect church tax in Germany, Muslim mosques are not able to do so as they are not as yet organised in a cooperative association (which is sometimes criticised as forcing Christian organisation-style on non-Christians). While German universities have educated Jewish , Catholic and Protestant clerics and religious teachers, in the past none of the German universities have offered education for Muslim teachers and clerics. However, today such university courses exist. Muslims were often also not pleased to find
8046-537: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share
8195-417: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language
8344-706: The French franc . On 9 July 1959 the Deutsche Mark replaced the Saar franc at a ratio of 100 francs = DM 0.8507. The Deutsche Mark played an important role in the reunification of Germany. It was introduced as the official currency of East Germany in July 1990, replacing the East German mark ( Mark der DDR ), in preparation for unification on 3 October 1990. East German marks were exchanged for Deutsche Marks at
8493-659: The German gold mark was based on gold rather than silver (at 2.79 marks per gram of fine gold), a fixed exchange rate between the Vereinsthaler and the mark of 3 marks = 1 Vereinsthaler was used for the conversion. The first mark, known as the Goldmark , was introduced in 1873. With the outbreak of World War I , the mark was taken off the gold standard. The currency thus became known as the Papiermark , especially as high inflation , then hyperinflation occurred and
8642-522: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout
8791-746: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in
8940-545: The Middle East , these two coups and the 1980 Turkish coup d'état were sometimes referred as foreign interventions made by CIA to integrate or sway countries (like Turkey) more into NATO as part of Operation Gladio which was formed in 1956 and dissolved in 1990. While Turkey was in this process of turmoil of events and economic collapse, the agreement between West Germany and Turkey ended in 1973 but few workers returned because there were few good jobs in Turkey. Half of
9089-666: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c. 765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in
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#17327808508069238-632: The Ostmark —literally Eastmark ) was introduced a few days afterwards in the form of Reichsmark and Rentenmark notes with adhesive stamps to stop the flooding in of Reichsmark and Rentenmark notes from the West. In July 1948, a completely new series of East German mark banknotes was issued. Later in 1948, the Bank deutscher Länder ("Bank of the German States") assumed responsibility, followed in 1957 by
9387-596: The Soviet Union to stop it. However, in late 1989 France extracted German commitment to the Monetary Union in return for support for German reunification. The German mark had a reputation as one of the world's most stable currencies; this was based on the monetary policy of the Bundesbank . The policy was "hard" in relation to the policies of certain other central banks in Europe. The "hard" and "soft"
9536-427: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung
9685-422: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit. ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this
9834-400: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German
9983-408: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from
10132-478: The 165,793 Italian job seekers who came to West Germany, 107,030 (64.6%) were recruited through the commission, whereas from 1966 on, no more that 8% per year were recruited through the commission, and in 1972, only 2,092 out of 154,184 (1.4%) were. The first guest workers were recruited from European nations. However, Turkey pressured West Germany to admit its citizens as guest workers. Theodor Blank , Secretary of State for Employment, opposed such agreements. He held
10281-416: The 1950s and 1960s, West Germany signed bilateral recruitment agreements with a number of countries: Italy (22 November 1955), Spain (29 March 1960), Greece (30 March 1960), Turkey (30 October 1961), Morocco (21 June 1963), South Korea (16 December 1963), Portugal (17 March 1964), Tunisia (18 October 1965), and Yugoslavia (12 October 1968). These agreements allowed the recruitment of guest workers to work in
10430-418: The 1960s gradually came into force. Thus by 1962, Italians no longer needed a visa to enter West Germany (an identity card would suffice), and both the recruitment agreement and the German recruitment commission for Italian workers declined in importance. Also, by 1964, the priority of domestic workers was abolished, and from 1968, a work permit was no longer required for citizens of EEC member states. In 1961, of
10579-402: The 2pf was issued in solid bronze) while 5pf and 10pf were brass clad steel and the 50-pfennig was in cupronickel . In 1950, cupronickel DM1 coins were released, while a cupronickel DM2 and a .625 silver DM5 were released in 1951. Cupronickel replaced silver in the DM5 in 1975. The DM2 and DM5 coins have often been used for commemorative themes, though typically only the generic design for the DM5
10728-479: The Allies each zone was governed independently as regards monetary matters. The US occupation policy was governed by the directive JCS 1067 (in effect until July 1947), which forbade the US military governor "to take any steps to strengthen German financial structure". As a consequence a separate monetary reform in the U.S. zone was not possible. Each of the Allies printed its own occupation currency . The Deutsche Mark
10877-403: The Bundesbank decided to issue a new series of Deutsche Mark banknotes. The colours for each denomination remained unchanged from the previous series but the designs underwent significant changes and a DM 200 denomination was introduced. Famous national artists and scientists were chosen to be portrayed on the new banknotes. Male and female artists were chosen in equal numbers. The buildings in
11026-438: The Bundesbank in Germany. Banknotes and coins can even be sent to the Bundesbank by mail. In 2012, it was estimated that as many as 13.2 billion marks were in circulation, with one poll from 2011 showing a narrow majority of Germans favouring the currency's restoration (although only a minority believed this would bring any economic benefit). Polls in the early 2020s indicated only a minority of Germans supported reintroduction of
11175-460: The Christian cross displayed in German classrooms, something that at the time was relatively common. The fact that most schools offer Catholic and Protestant religious education and ethics but no Islamic religious education has also been criticised (especially because religious education is compulsory, replaceable by ethics). Students are allowed to wear a normal headscarf in school, however in 2010
11324-623: The DM 5 coin used to be also called a Heiermann , whereas in Bavaria the DM 2 coin was called Zwickl and this expression is now used for the €2 coin in the region. There were four series of German mark banknotes: The notes with a value greater than DM 200 were rarely seen. A reserve series (BBk II) was commissioned on 1 July 1960, consisting of DM 10, DM 20, DM 50 and DM 100 banknotes. 670 million BBk II banknotes in value of 25 billion marks were printed. The notes were printed between 1963 and 1974 in fear if
11473-596: The Deutsche Mark. A mark had been the currency of Germany since its original unification in 1871. Before that time, the different German states issued a variety of different currencies, the most common being the North German thaler and the South German gulden . By 1857, both currencies were linked to the Vereinsthaler , a silver coin containing 16 + 2 ⁄ 3 grams of pure silver. Although
11622-550: The Eastern Bloc would start systematically counterfeiting the BBk I series of banknotes to cripple the economy, then they would quickly be replaced by emergency notes. Another reserve series for West Berlin (BBk IIa) was commissioned on 1 July 1963, consisting of DM 5, DM 10, DM 20, DM 50 and DM 100 banknotes. 115 million West Berlin banknotes were printed, total value 4 billion marks. 15 billion marks worth of
11771-723: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In
11920-748: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of
12069-479: The German labor market to up to 250,000 skilled and semi-skilled migrant workers from Kenya . There are concerns about brain drain in Kenya, as professionals such as doctors and nurses could leave for better-paying jobs in Germany. The German government has already signed or is negotiating migration partnerships with Morocco , Nigeria , India , Colombia , Kyrgyzstan , Uzbekistan , Georgia and Moldova . Today
12218-483: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of
12367-451: The German states; the invention of the printing press c. 1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of
12516-681: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by
12665-655: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are
12814-865: The Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ), the Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German
12963-518: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c. thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c. 1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy
13112-532: The Nazis, and which the Allies had not removed. He did this, as he often confessed, on Sunday because the offices of the American, British, and French occupation authorities were closed that day. He was sure that if he had done it when they were open, they would have countermanded the order. The introduction of the new currency was intended to protect western Germany from a second wave of hyperinflation and to stop
13261-715: The Turkish guest workers returned home, others brought in their wives and family members and settled in ethnic enclaves. In 1981 legal restrictions on the relocation of families to West Germany came into effect. In 2013 it was revealed that ex-chancellor Helmut Kohl had plans to halve the Turkish population of Germany in the 1980s. Several SPD politicians, such as former chancellor Helmut Schmidt and his chief of staff Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski , as well as Hesse Minister-President Holger Börner were also in favor of restricting migration of Turks. By 2010 there were about 4 million people of Turkish descent in Germany. The generation born in Germany attended German schools, but some had
13410-513: The U.S. and Britain launched an airlift of food and coal and distributed the new currency in West Berlin as well. Since the 1930s, prices and wages had been controlled, but money had been plentiful. That meant that people had accumulated large paper assets, and that official prices and wages did not reflect reality, as the black market dominated the economy and more than half of all transactions were taking place unofficially. The reform replaced
13559-604: The Vietnamese government and made a contract about repatriation which stated that repatriation could be forced if necessary. By 2004, 11,000 former Vietnamese guest workers had been repatriated, 8,000 of them against their will. The children of the Vietnamese Gastarbeiter caused what has been called the "Vietnamese miracle". As shown by a study while in the Berlin districts of Lichtenberg and Marzahn, where those of Vietnamese descent account for only 2% of
13708-462: The advance of forgery technology, the Bundesbank decided to introduce additional security features on the most important denominations (DM 50, DM 100 and DM 200) as of 1996. These were a hologram foil in the center of the note's obverse, a matted printing on the note's right obverse, showing its denomination (like on the reverse of the new euro banknotes ), and the EURion constellation on
13857-495: The background of the notes' obverses had a close relationship to the person displayed (e.g., place of birth, place of death, place of work), as well as the second background picture (Lyra and the musician Schumann). The reverses of the notes refer to the work of the person on the obverse. The new security features were: a windowed security thread (with the notes' denominations in microprinting), watermarks, microprinting, intaglio printing (viewing-angle dependent visibility as well as
14006-622: The banknotes were held in Bundesbank's custom-built underground bunker in Cochem in Rheinland-Pfalz , the rest was stored in Bundesbank's vault in Frankfurt . In 1957, with Bank deutscher Länder and the states' central banks merging to form the Bundesbank, new banknotes were being designed, as "Bank deutscher Länder" on the previous series was no longer correct. The previous series' notes had been made out of less durable paper and had
14155-534: The city which Germans were not allowed to enter — furthermore sexual relations with a German led to deportation. Female Vertragsarbeiter were not allowed to become pregnant during their stay. If they did, they were forced to have an abortion . or faced deportation . Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 and German reunification in 1990, the population of guest workers still remaining in
14304-456: The countries of former Yugoslavia, in which most of whom often struggle to financially stay afloat due to low employment rates across that region. In modern Russia, the transliterated term gastarbayter ( гастарбайтер ) is used to denote workers from former Soviet republics coming to Russia (mainly Moscow and Saint Petersburg) in search of work. These workers come primarily from Armenia , Azerbaijan , Uzbekistan and Tajikistan ; also for
14453-679: The country of immigration is not yet determined to be permanent. Other countries had similar programs: in the Netherlands and Belgium it was called the gastarbeider program; in Sweden, Denmark and Norway it was called arbetskraftsinvandring (workforce-immigration); and in East Germany such workers were called Vertragsarbeiter . The term that was used during the Nazi era was Fremdarbeiter (German for 'foreign worker'). However,
14602-582: The currency became exclusively made up of paper money. The Papiermark was replaced by the Rentenmark (RM) from 15 November 1923, and the Reichsmark (ℛ︁ℳ︁) in 1924. During the first two years of occupation the occupying powers of France, United Kingdom, United States, and the Soviet Union were not able to successfully negotiate a possible currency reform in Germany. Due to the strains between
14751-430: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with
14900-456: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in
15049-519: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of
15198-608: The economy. The currency reforms were simultaneous with the $ 1.4 billion in Marshall Plan money coming in from the United States, which primarily was used for investment. In addition, the Marshall plan forced German companies, as well as those in all of Western Europe, to modernize their business practices, and take account of the wider market. Marshall plan funding overcame bottlenecks in the surging economy caused by remaining controls (which were removed in 1949), and opened up
15347-516: The following year. On 31 December 1998, the Council of the European Union fixed the irrevocable exchange rate, effective 1 January 1999, for German mark to euros as DM 1.95583 = €1. In 1999, the Deutsche Mark was replaced by the euro; its coins and banknotes remained in circulation, defined in terms of euros, until the introduction of euro notes and coins on 1 January 2002. The Deutsche Mark ceased to be legal tender immediately upon
15496-479: The former East Germany faced deportation, premature discontinuation of residence and work permits as well as open discrimination in the workplace. Of the 100,000 guest workers remaining in East Germany after reunification, about 75% left because of the rising tide of xenophobia in former East German territories. Vietnamese were not considered legal immigrants and lived in "grey area". Many started selling goods at
15645-459: The fourth series notes had been in circulation for 3–5 years. There were a total of five issues of the third series, main differences being the dates, and signatures of the Presidents and Vice Presidents of Bundesbank: The design of German banknotes remained unchanged during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. During this period, forgery technology made significant advances and so, in the late 1980s,
15794-527: The general population, but make up 17% of the university preparatory school population of those districts. According to the headmaster of the Barnim Gymnasium [ de ] , for a university preparatory school ( Gymnasium ) that has a focus on the natural sciences, 30% of the school's freshmen come from Vietnamese families. On 28 December 1961, under the Raab - Olah agreement, Austria began
15943-592: The guest workers in West Germany, the guest workers that arrived in East Germany came mainly from Communist countries allied with the Soviets and the SED used its guest worker programme to build international solidarity among fellow communist governments. The guest workers in East Germany came mainly from the Eastern Bloc , Hungary, Poland, Algeria, Vietnam , North Korea , Angola , Mozambique , and Cuba . Residency
16092-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,
16241-580: The industrial sector in jobs that required few qualifications. There were several justifications for these arrangements. Firstly, during the 1950s, Germany experienced a so-called Wirtschaftswunder or "economic miracle" and needed laborers. The labour shortage was made more acute after the building of the Berlin Wall in August 1961, which drastically reduced the large-scale flow of East German workers. Secondly, West Germany justified these programs as
16390-481: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of
16539-426: The introduction of the euro—in contrast to the other eurozone states, where the euro and legacy currency circulated side by side for up to two months. Mark coins and banknotes continued to be accepted as valid forms of payment in Germany until 1 March 2002. The Deutsche Bundesbank has guaranteed that all German marks in cash form may be changed into euros indefinitely, and one may do so in person at any branch of
16688-418: The job market. Spanish Gastarbeiter were more likely to marry Germans, which could be considered an indicator of assimilation. According to a study in 2000, 81.2% of all Spanish or partly Spanish children in Germany were from a Spanish-German family. There were, and still are, some tensions in German society, because Muslim immigrants feel they have been religiously discriminated against. For example, while
16837-434: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark ( German: [ˈdɔʏtʃə ˈmaʁk] ; "German mark "), abbreviated " DM " or " D-Mark " ( [ˈdeːˌmaʁk] ), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later
16986-414: The latter term also often used in English. Like Deutsche Mark , D-Mark and Mark do not take the plural in German when used with numbers (like all names of units), the singular being used to refer to any amount of money (e.g. eine (one) Mark and dreißig (thirty) Mark ). Sometimes, a very colloquial plural form of Mark , Märker [ˈmɛʁkɐ] was used either as hypocoristic form or to refer to
17135-474: The latter term had negative connotations, and was no longer used after World War II . The term is widely used in Russia ( Russian : гастарбайтер , gastarbayter ) to refer to foreign workers from post-USSR or third-world countries. Following World War II there were severe labour shortages in continental northern Europe , and high unemployment in southern European countries including Turkey. During
17284-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted
17433-559: The name given to around 150 young Turkish citizens who came to Germany in 1958. They followed an invitation that the then Federal President Theodor Heuss had extended to Turkish vocational school graduates during a visit to Turkey in Ankara in 1957. The exchange, which was intended as a vocational training measure and began for some of the group as apprentices at the Ford plant in Cologne, became
17582-653: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from
17731-410: The note's reverse. Furthermore, the colours were changed slightly to hamper counterfeiting. The German name of the currency is Deutsche Mark ( fem. , German pronunciation: [ˈdɔʏtʃə ˈmaʁk] ); its plural form in standard German is the same as the singular. In German, the adjective "deutsche" (adjective for "German" in feminine singular nominative form) is capitalized because it
17880-406: The old money with the new Deutsche Mark at the rate of one new per ten old. This wiped out 90% of government and private debt, as well as private savings. Prices were decontrolled, and labor unions agreed to accept a 15% wage increase, despite the 25% rise in prices. The result was the prices of German export products held steady, while profits and earnings from exports soared and were poured back into
18029-475: The opinion that the cultural gap between Germany and Turkey would be too large and also held the opinion that Germany didn't need any more laborers because there were enough unemployed people living in the poorer regions of Germany who could fill these vacancies. The United States , however, put some political pressure on Germany, wanting to stabilize and create goodwill from a potential ally. West Germany and Turkey reached an agreement in 1961. The Heuss Turks were
18178-430: The parent has been in Germany for at least eight years as a legal immigrant. As a rule those children may also have the citizenship of the parents' home country. Those between 18 and 23 years of age must choose to keep either German citizenship or their ancestral citizenship. The governments of the German States have begun campaigns to persuade immigrants to acquire German citizenship. Those who hold German citizenship have
18327-413: The persons from certain countries living in Germany were jobless, some calculations were done and according to those calculations, paying unemployed foreigners for leaving the country was cheaper in the long run than paying unemployment benefits. A Gesetz zur Förderung der Rückkehrbereitsschaft ('law to advance the willingness to return home') was passed. The government started paying jobless people from
18476-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation
18625-583: The proposal to turn it into a "European territory". Despite French pre-referendum claims that a "no" vote would mean that the Saar would remain a French protectorate it in fact resulted in the incorporation of the Saar into the Federal Republic of Germany on 1 January 1957. The new German member state of the Saarland maintained its currency, the Saar franc , which was in a currency union at par with
18774-540: The rampant barter and black market trade (where cigarettes were used as currency). Although the new currency was initially only distributed in the three western occupation zones outside Berlin, the move angered the Soviet authorities, who regarded it as a threat. The Soviets promptly cut off all road, rail and canal links between the three western zones and West Berlin , starting the Berlin Blockade . In response,
18923-458: The recruitment agreement with West Germany was signed by the head of 1960 Turkish coup d'état (the first coup in Turkey) committee, Cemal Gürsel . And 6 years after the pro-military coalition governments created around Kemalist CHP were collapsed, the military intervened again with another coup in 1971 . In the years that Cold War era began, along with other coup d'états around Balkans and
19072-435: The reverse, which read Deutsche Bundesbank (instead of Bundesrepublik Deutschland ), as the Bundesbank was the issuing authority in this case. A total of one million gold DM 1 coins were minted (200,000 at each of the five mints) and were sold beginning in mid-2001 through German coin dealers on behalf of the Bundesbank . The issue price varied by the dealer but averaged approximately US$ 165. German coins bear
19221-440: The roadside. Ten years after the fall of the Berlin wall most Vietnamese were granted the right to reside however and many started opening little shops. After the reunification, Germany offered the guest workers US$ 2,000 and a ticket home if they left. The country of Vietnam did not accept the ones back who refused to accept the money, Germany considered them "illegal immigrants" after 1994. In 1995, Germany paid $ 140 million to
19370-479: The starting point for their immigration to the Federal Republic for some. A number worked at Ford until they retired in the late 1980s/early 1990s. It was the first large group of Turkish workers to come to Germany together, even before the start of actual Turkish immigration with the recruitment agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and Turkey in 1961. According to DOMiD reports, they were given
19519-546: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,
19668-405: The status of legal tender but were rarely seen outside of collectors' circles. On 27 December 2000, the German government enacted a law authorizing the Bundesbank to issue, in 2001, a special .999 pure gold DM 1 coin commemorating the end of the German mark. The coin had the exact design and dimensions of the circulating cupro-nickel DM 1 coin, with the exception of the inscription on
19817-620: The summer of 1948 a giant wave of strikes and demonstrations swept over West Germany, leading to an incident in Stuttgart where strikers were met by US tanks ("Stuttgarter Vorfälle"). Only after the wage-freeze was abandoned, Deutschmark and free-ranging prices were accepted by the population. In the Soviet occupation zone of Germany (later the German Democratic Republic ), the East German mark (also named "Deutsche Mark" from 1948 to 1964 and colloquially referred to as
19966-478: The term Gastarbeiter is no longer accurate, as the former guest worker communities, insofar as they have not returned to their countries of origins, have become permanent residents or citizens, and therefore are in no meaningful sense "guests". However, although many of the former "guest workers" have now become German citizens, the term Ausländer or "foreigner" is still colloquially applied to them as well as to their naturalised children and grandchildren. Thus
20115-730: The term Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund ('people with an immigration background') has seen extensive official and popular use. The term is thought to be politically correct because it includes both immigrants and those who, being naturalized, cannot be referred to as immigrants—who are colloquially called "naturalized immigrants" or "immigrants with a German passport". It also applies to German-born descendants of people who immigrated after 1949. To emphasize their Germanness, they are also quite often called fellowcitizens , which may result in calling "our Turkish fellow citizens" also those who are foreigners still, or even such Turks in Turkey who never had any contact to Germany. Gastarbeiter , as
20264-500: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in
20413-462: The unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was typically called the " Deutschmark " ( / ˈ d ɔɪ tʃ m ɑːr k / DOYTCH -mark ). One Deutsche Mark was divided into 100 pfennigs . It was first issued under Allied occupation in 1948 to replace the Reichsmark and served as the Federal Republic of Germany's official currency from its founding
20562-555: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during
20711-600: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching
20860-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of
21009-547: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially
21158-492: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which
21307-629: Was in respect to the aims of inflation and political interference. This policy was the foundation of the European Central Bank 's present policy towards the euro. The German mark's stability was greatly apparent in 1993, when speculation on the French franc and other European currencies caused a change in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism . However, it should be remembered that "hard" is relative only if it
21456-555: Was no attempt or proposal suggested for the withdrawal of the 1pf and 2pf coins. Both coins were still in circulation in 2001 and supermarkets in particular still marked prices to the nearest pfennig. This penchant for accuracy continues with the euro (while Finland or the Netherlands for example, price to the nearest 5 cents) with the 1-cent coin still encountered in Germany. There were a considerable number of commemorative silver DM 5 and DM 10 coins , which actually had
21605-506: Was not allowed; a health check and an aptitude test for work had to be passed; and they would not be allowed any extension past two years, and then would have to return to their home countries. Until 2015, Germany had not been perceived as a country of immigration ( kein Einwanderungsland ) by both the majority of its political leaders and the majority of its population. When the country's political leaders realized that many of
21754-405: Was officially introduced on Sunday 20 June 1948 by Ludwig Erhard . Large amounts were exchanged for 10 ℛ︁ℳ︁ to 65pf. In addition, each person received a per capita allowance of DM 60 in two parts, the first being DM 40 and the second DM 20. A few weeks later Erhard, acting against orders, issued an edict abolishing many economic controls which had been originally implemented by
21903-436: Was subdivided into 12 pfennig s, hence half a groschen into 6. After 1871, 12 old pfennig s would be converted into 10pf of the mark, hence 10pf coins inherited the groschen name and 5pf coins inherited the sechser name. Both usages are only regional and may not be understood in areas where a groschen coin did not exist before 1871. In particular, the usage of sechser is less widespread. In northern Germany
22052-472: Was the DM 20 note on 20 March 1992 (printed on 2 August 1991). The reason for this gradual introduction was, that public should become familiar with one single denomination, before introducing a new one. The change was finished with the introduction of the DM 5, DM 500, and DM 1000 denominations on 27 October 1992. The DM 500, and DM 1000 denominations were rarely seen in circulation due to value and all were introduced in one step. With
22201-465: Was typically limited to only three years. The conditions East German Gastarbeiter had to live in were much harsher than the living conditions of the Gastarbeiter in West Germany; accommodation was mainly in single-sex dormitories. In addition, contact between guest workers and East German citizens was extremely limited; Gastarbeiter were usually restricted to their dormitory or an area of
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