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92-491: The Strategic Railway Embankment ( German : Strategischer Bahndamm ) is a railway line between the Ruhr and the south-western border of Germany, which was never finished. This name is derived from the section of this line that runs over a railway embankment between Neuss and Rommerskirchen , which was built as part of the northern section of the line. At the beginning of the 20th century, railways were increasingly involved in

184-465: 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

276-402: 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

368-612: 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

460-421: A cinema, the entrance to former section 1 ( Ost/Ost ) and 203 metres (666 ft) of tunnel more or less in its original condition. Visitors can see the two MAN gates as well as the air locks used to bypass them with the corresponding decontamination rooms, followed by several steel doors and several offices and dormitories. A partially authentically furnished medical unit is also on display. Original equipment from

552-631: A former road underpass enclose a small vineyard. The line would have reached the Ahr Valley Railway near Rech. The embankment is still visible, as is the left retaining wall at the former access to the Herrenberg tunnel. The tunnel entrance has been blown up. [REDACTED] Southeast of the proposed Ringen station, the route to Rech and Bad-Bodendorf branches from the Strategic Railway Embankment. The line of

644-559: 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

736-563: A length of about 13 km between Holzheim and Rommerskirchen. The line from Rommerskirchen via Niederaussem to Liblar was already traffickable and the Bergheim District railway ( Bergheimer Kreisbahn ) had operated over it for several years. Sections of the line were also completed in the Rheinbach/ Meckenheim area (such as embankments and cuttings) and flyovers and a railway tunnel at Ahrweiler. Piers were built for

828-458: 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

920-696: 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

1012-483: 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

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1104-601: 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

1196-612: 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

1288-558: 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

1380-478: 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

1472-430: 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

1564-535: 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

1656-611: 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

1748-565: 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

1840-692: Is now used as a sports field. German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] ) 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

1932-435: 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

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2024-597: 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

2116-401: 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

2208-525: 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

2300-578: 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

2392-485: 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

2484-602: Is used only by freight trains and is used primarily to connect to the power station in Niederaussem. The only portion that is used by passenger trains is between Bergheim Martinswerk (formerly a junction, still a point where the chainage changes) and Horrem station . This section is now part of the Erft Railway . The line between Niederaussem and Martinswerk was demolished for the Bergheim open cut lignite mine and

2576-689: 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

2668-569: The Ahr Valley between the towns of Ahrweiler and Dernau , it was one of the best kept secrets of West Germany. It was built between 1960 and 1972 inside two abandoned railway tunnels that were built as part of the Strategic Railway , maintained and kept in a working condition for about 30 years and decommissioned in 1997. A small part of the once-secret site is now open to the public as Government Bunker Documentation Site , while

2760-639: 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

2852-537: 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

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2944-417: 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

3036-522: 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

3128-746: 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

3220-666: 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

3312-676: 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

3404-550: 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

3496-513: 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

3588-469: 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

3680-707: The Adenbach valley. Only the pillars of the viaduct were built. The eastern portal of the Silberberg tunnel remains. A memorial has been established to commemorate the protection provided to the inhabitants of Ahrweiler during air raids in the Second World War. A path runs along the old railway line from the west entrance of the Silberberg tunnel to the Kuxberg tunnel. The old portals of the Kuxberg tunnels and Trotzenberg tunnel were replaced by backup systems for

3772-723: 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

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3864-709: The Federal Constitutional Organs for the State of Crisis or State of Defence to Maintain their Ability to Function" was a massive underground complex built during the Cold War era to house the German government, parliament and enough federal personnel needed to keep the government working in the event of war or severe crisis. Located only about 25 kilometres (16 mi) south of Bonn , Germany (the government seat of pre-unification West Germany ), in

3956-748: 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

4048-483: 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

4140-451: 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

4232-681: 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

4324-655: 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

4416-1033: The Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and 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

4508-518: 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

4600-543: The Ringen–Bad Bodendorf section would have initially run via Bengen to Nierendorf, then run around Birresdorf on a long curve and into an s-shaped curve through Grafschaft and past Nierendorf again, running not far from Kirchdaun via Gimmigen to Bad Bodendorf, where there would have been a junction with the Ahr Valley Railway. The total length of the line would have been 15 km. Intermediate stations were also planned at Nierendorf, Kirchdaun and Gimmigen. The planning of

4692-494: The bunker hermetically within seconds. Drinking water was drawn from two deep wells. Air filters, supplies, kitchens, medical units, dentist's surgeries, etc. would have allowed for survival without contact with the outside world for up to 30 days. In the event of a nuclear attack it would have been possible to continue governing and lead the West German Armed Forces from inside the bunker. In its final capacity

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4784-517: The bunker would have accommodated up to 3,000 people of which all but the federal president and chancellor would have slept in multi-bed dormitories fitted with only very basic furniture. In the event of a defence situation the bunker would have accommodated the federal president, the chancellor, the joint defense committee, the president of the constitutional court, various ministries as well as civilian and military personnel. Briefings would have been held in large conference and map rooms situated next to

4876-473: The chancellor's office. Part of the A61 motorway (Autobahn) near the village of Gelsdorf had been designed for use as a runway and would have been used as an airport for the bunker with spacious aircraft parking spaces at both ends disguised as roadside car parks. Every two years exercises took place in the bunker as part of NATO Wintex whereby staff actually worked inside the hermetically sealed bunker for up to 30 days. Such exercises, for instance, involved

4968-423: The construction at Ahrweiler of a facility intended to serve as an alternate seat of government during an emergency, known as the government bunker ( Regierungsbunker ). The bunker was abandoned in 1997 and it was largely gutted by 2006. The Government Bunker Documentation Site ( Dokumentationsstätte Regierungsbunker ) museum is now housed there. Between Ringen and the Silberberg tunnel, the line would have crossed

5060-566: The decision to move the capital and government seat of re-unified Germany to Berlin, it was decided to abandon the bunker as no concept for civilian use could be found. Only few parts of the fire safety installations had been upgraded, which was a decisive criterion that deterred potential investors. The costs of continuous operation of DM 20 million (about EUR 10 million), however, could have been reduced in event of civil use as preparations for potential nuclear attacks would no longer have been required. It also would have been possible to use only one of

5152-410: The descent of the line down the Ahr valley was a major challenge, as the line would have fallen about 130 metres in altitude from Grafschaft to Bad Bodendorf. In 1918, construction began of the section from Ringen to the planned Nierendorf station between Nierendorf and Leimersdorf. The trackbed of the Ringen–Nierendorf section was completed in the autumn of 1926. Construction then stopped. Disputes over

5244-430: 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

5336-404: 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

5428-407: The disused railway tunnels were used to farm mushrooms to gain independence from having to import French fungi. During the later phase of World War II several arms manufacturing companies occupied the tunnels and a huge concentration camp for forced labourers was erected outside the protective cover of the tunnels, which was also referred to under the code name Lager Rebstock (Camp Vine). Inside

5520-602: The doors have been welded shut. Only 203 metres (666 ft) of the original bunker exist today near the town of Ahrweiler and have been converted into a museum of the Cold War . It was opened on 29 February 2008. The German government still owns this remaining part of the bunker and has invested €2.5million for its conversion into a museum. The investment was approved because the estimated costs of €30million for deconstruction were undercut considerably, costing only €16million in total. The Dokumentationsstätte Regierungsbunker museum (Government Bunker Documentation Site) features

5612-435: 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

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5704-431: The five independent sections. Over the following years the tunnels were cleared out, gutted and sealed, costing €16 million in total. In 2001 deconstruction was interrupted briefly due to considerations whether it might be sensible to have a bunker following the September 11 attacks . All that remains now are the gutted, concrete-lined tunnels. The access buildings above the Kloster Marienthal vineyard still exist, although

5796-454: The government bunker. The former eastern portal of Kuxberg tunnel is now the entrance to the documentation site. In the photograph below it is obscured by trees. Further south, the line ran to the Sonderberg tunnel. It is now used for storage. A few metres away from the north portal, the line is protected by old towering brick arches, not seen in the photograph. The top image shows the south portal. The embankment has been removed, but vestiges of

5888-434: The high level of secrecy. The bunker built beneath 110m of slate rock consisted of two sections named Ost (East) and West which were separated by a valley and connected by a 60m deep passageway. The eastern section was partitioned again into two independent parts ( Ost/West and Ost/Ost ) and the western section into three parts ( West/West , West/Mitte [Centre] and West/Ost ), each with tunnels parallel to and crossing

5980-435: 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,

6072-417: 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

6164-453: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Government bunker (Germany) The Government Bunker (Regierungsbunker) in Germany , officially named Ausweichsitz der Verfassungsorgane des Bundes im Krisen- und Verteidigungsfall zur Wahrung von deren Funktionstüchtigkeit (AdVB), in English: "Emergency Seat of

6256-431: The main tunnels. All tunnels were concrete-lined and most had two floors, with several exits and emergency escape routes. The main portals were sealed by manoeuvrable steel and concrete gates built by MAN , each weighing 25 tonnes. The bunker housed 897 offices and 936 dormitories and had 25,000 doors in total. It even had an underground hairdresser's salon. Huge gates and ventilation lids were installed that could seal off

6348-402: 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

6440-455: The neutral-sounding name Dienststelle Marienthal (Office Marienthal) was constructed inside the existing tunnels which had never been used for the purpose they had initially been built for. Additional tunnels of a total length of 17.3 km were driven and blasted into the soft slate mountains along the Ahr Valley to build an emergency seat for the federal government that would allow up 3,000 people to survive an attack for at least 30 days. At

6532-423: 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

6624-603: The passing of bills by an emergency parliament of 22 members, including a mock chancellor and president. The bunker was used for the first time in October 1966 during the course of the NATO high command exercise Fallex 66, and for the last time in 1987. The Berlin Wall came down two years later. About 180 staff working in three shifts were required for maintaining, repairing and operating the bunker. In 2008 it became publicly known that

6716-462: 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

6808-420: The route of the lines, the expected high costs due to the necessary bridges and tunnels, and not least the declining strategic importance of the lines meant that work stopped. Tracks have never been laid on the Ringen–Bad Bodendorf section of the line. Part of the A 61 autobahn is now built on the route to Nierendorf station, but the line is still visible in many places. The site of the proposed Nierendorf station

6900-499: The shelter would have just about withstood the detonation of a 20 kiloton bomb, comparable to the destructive force of the Hiroshima bomb. Secret surveys conducted as early as 1962 had found that 250-times more powerful weapons were to be expected and it had been made clear that the bunker would collapse if ever hit by a nuclear bomb. Despite this known fact, however, construction was continued for political reasons. In 1997, following

6992-546: 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,

7084-566: The strategic considerations of the military, particularly for the rapid deployment of German troops against France. Under the influence of the Chief of the Imperial German General Staff , Alfred von Schlieffen , a whole series of new railway lines were planned as strategic railways and partly built. The Strategic Railway Embankment (or "Ruhr–Moselle relief line") was one of them. The imperial government determined that

7176-437: The strategic railway between Neuss and Rommerskirchen is now used as a foot and bridle path and is a heritage site. Streets and lanes were built over bridges to avoid intersections. These structures like the railway embankment have been largely unused for about 80 years. The Museum Insel Hombroich is near its northern end. Today two sections of this railway project are still used. The line between Rommerskirchen and Niederaussem

7268-632: The strategic railway would be double track from its junctions with the railways of the Ruhr and bypass the railway bottlenecks of Düsseldorf and Cologne , running from Neuss via Rommerskirchen, Niederaußem , Horrem , Liblar and Rheinbach to Rech in the Ahr valley . Trains would then run via the Ahr Valley Railway and the Eifel Railway to the Saarland and Lorraine . In 1915, it

7360-500: 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

7452-508: The time of construction the total length of all tunnels probably amounted to 19 km. The facility was designed to withstand attacks with nuclear weapons and was fitted with autonomous supplies of electric power, fresh air and drinking water. Unlike other fortifications or military bunkers, however, there were no defence systems and it would have been protected by military units stationed nearby. The costs of construction were estimated at DM 3 billion, although no precise figures are known due to

7544-417: The tracks south of Horrem were closed. The route between Liblar and Ringen was used for the construction of the A 61 autobahn . A viaduct and five railway tunnels were required at Ahrweiler for the line to descend the 100 metres down to the Ahr Valley Railway. Some tunnels have been blown up or now serve to store material. Between 1960 and 1972, during the Cold War , two tunnels on the line were included in

7636-536: The tunnels was a construction facility for manufacturing ground equipment and mobile launch pads for the V-2 rocket . With increasing Allied air raids at the end of the war, the tunnels served as makeshift air-raid shelters. In the days of cold war, when Germany was on the front line between NATO and the Warsaw Pact , it became apparent that a nuclear war fought on German soil was a very real possibility. Therefore, it

7728-447: The vast majority is abandoned and sealed. The bunker complex below the vineyards and forests along the river Ahr was built inside two disused railway tunnels of a former strategic railway line built in preparation of World War I but never entered into service. After the war, during years of recession, the German state railway company lost interest in the line which was of no economic value and finally abandoned it. Between 1930 and 1939

7820-422: The viaduct over the Adenbach valley near Ahrweiler. When construction was stopped, scaffolding had already been prepared for pouring concrete for the arches. Rails had not yet been laid. Individual station buildings had been erected. For example, the station building at Altendorf near Meckenheim was built in 1920 and served as a residence until it was demolished in 1968/69 for Autobahn construction. The section of

7912-555: 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

8004-600: 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

8096-429: 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

8188-651: Was also decided that the "Ruhr–Moselle relief line" would connect in a southerly direction over the Ringen–Bad Bodendorf section, continuing via the Ahr Valley Railway directly to the Rhine valley lines ( West and East Rhine Railways ) and the Remagen railway junction. Construction of the line started in 1904. After the First World War , France prevented its completion in 1924. An embankment, including bridges for crossing over transport routes, had been completed over

8280-547: 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

8372-457: Was decided that some form of emergency seat was needed for the federal government, should Bonn become the target of an attack. After some deliberations the two tunnels were selected as the site for such an installation due to their proximity to Bonn and the rural surroundings which, unlike urban areas, would not attract air raids or missile attacks. Construction of the bunker began in 1960 and lasted until 1972. The government bunker, also known by

8464-492: 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

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