Who are the German people?
Who are the German people?
German as a nationality has really existed for only about a hundred and fifty years.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Transcript
So, you’re German! Or at least you have German ancestry. But what exactly does that mean?
You probably know that Germany is a country in Europe, bordering France, Austria, Poland, and a bunch of other countries. But who is a German has always been a little harder to define. German as a nationality has really existed for only about a hundred and fifty years.
Before that, rather than being citizens of Germany, your ancestors might have been citizens of Prussia, Austria, Bavaria, Bohemia, or any number of other principalities that were once part of the Holy Roman Empire. Even as recently as the 1980s, Germany was divided into two distinct states, West Germany and communist East Germany, or the German Democratic Republic. Though today many of those historical divisions are part of a single German state, being German has for centuries really been a question of ethnicity--and ethnicity is often a question of language.
German — or Deutsch, in the German language — is spoken not only in present-day Germany but also in Austria, Liechtenstein, and parts of Switzerland and Luxembourg. It’s also closely related to English. English is what’s known as a Germanic language, and it has borrowed plenty more words from Germany over the years.
In the 19th century, the various German principalities were organized into a loose alliance called the German Confederation. War, religious conflict, and famine in the confederation led millions of Germans to leave their home countries. Later, the World Wars, the division of Germany into East and West, and the building of the Berlin Wall would prompt even more Germans to seek new homes. While most of them settled close by, the Americas saw a huge influx of ethnic Germans, especially in two countries: the United States and Brazil.
In the United States today, 40 to 50 million people identify as having German ancestry, more than any other ethnic group. Meanwhile, it is estimated that some 11 million people in Brazil identify as German-Brazilians. Significant German populations can also be found in Argentina, Canada, and even Australia!
Germanic ancestry ties these millions of people to one of the world’s great cultural traditions. Think about the musical tradition in German-speaking Europe. Bach might have been the greatest composer in history, except that he has to compete with Beethoven. And poor Beethoven has to compete with Mozart! Engineering? Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler changed the world with their developments in automobiles. Philosophy? Immanuel Kant virtually invented modern philosophy, and then Heidegger reinvented it, and that’s not even mentioning Leibniz, Hegel, or Schopenhauer. And food? Nobody competes with the Germans on beer and sausage, just ask any crowd at Oktoberfest.
Does your community preserve German foods, language, or celebrations? Be proud of your German ancestry and learn more about it — there’s plenty more to discover!
You probably know that Germany is a country in Europe, bordering France, Austria, Poland, and a bunch of other countries. But who is a German has always been a little harder to define. German as a nationality has really existed for only about a hundred and fifty years.
Before that, rather than being citizens of Germany, your ancestors might have been citizens of Prussia, Austria, Bavaria, Bohemia, or any number of other principalities that were once part of the Holy Roman Empire. Even as recently as the 1980s, Germany was divided into two distinct states, West Germany and communist East Germany, or the German Democratic Republic. Though today many of those historical divisions are part of a single German state, being German has for centuries really been a question of ethnicity--and ethnicity is often a question of language.
German — or Deutsch, in the German language — is spoken not only in present-day Germany but also in Austria, Liechtenstein, and parts of Switzerland and Luxembourg. It’s also closely related to English. English is what’s known as a Germanic language, and it has borrowed plenty more words from Germany over the years.
In the 19th century, the various German principalities were organized into a loose alliance called the German Confederation. War, religious conflict, and famine in the confederation led millions of Germans to leave their home countries. Later, the World Wars, the division of Germany into East and West, and the building of the Berlin Wall would prompt even more Germans to seek new homes. While most of them settled close by, the Americas saw a huge influx of ethnic Germans, especially in two countries: the United States and Brazil.
In the United States today, 40 to 50 million people identify as having German ancestry, more than any other ethnic group. Meanwhile, it is estimated that some 11 million people in Brazil identify as German-Brazilians. Significant German populations can also be found in Argentina, Canada, and even Australia!
Germanic ancestry ties these millions of people to one of the world’s great cultural traditions. Think about the musical tradition in German-speaking Europe. Bach might have been the greatest composer in history, except that he has to compete with Beethoven. And poor Beethoven has to compete with Mozart! Engineering? Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler changed the world with their developments in automobiles. Philosophy? Immanuel Kant virtually invented modern philosophy, and then Heidegger reinvented it, and that’s not even mentioning Leibniz, Hegel, or Schopenhauer. And food? Nobody competes with the Germans on beer and sausage, just ask any crowd at Oktoberfest.
Does your community preserve German foods, language, or celebrations? Be proud of your German ancestry and learn more about it — there’s plenty more to discover!