1919
Bauhaus Movement
Follow the Bauhaus from its founding in Weimar through Dessau and Berlin, and see how its workshops changed design and architecture.
Read the profileGermany’s history: periods, people, and connections
Start with an era or a person, then follow the links between historical records, places, culture, and events. This hub is designed to make the collection useful for readers planning a visit as well as for readers seeking context.
Historical periods
A chronological way into the eras that shaped the German lands and the modern country.
German Reunification
Follow the opening of the Berlin Wall, the negotiations that followed and East Germany joining the Federal Republic on 3 October 1990.
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German Revolution
Follow the sailors, workers and political leaders whose 1918–1919 revolution ended the German monarchy and opened the Weimar era.
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800
Holy Roman Empire
Learn how the Holy Roman Empire governed its many territories, why its rulers needed negotiation and what its cities still reveal today.
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1871
The German Empire (1871-1918): A Complete Guide to the Second Reich
Follow the German Empire from unification in 1871 through industrial growth, colonial rule, the First World War and the monarchy ending in…
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The Holocaust
Understand Nazi persecution and the murder of six million European Jews, with context on other victims and the work of remembrance in…
Read the profileHistorical figures
Biographical guides to people whose ideas, work, and decisions connect to German history.
Theoretical Physicist, Mathematician
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was born in Ulm and developed relativity, while his work on the photoelectric effect earned the 1921 Nobel Prize in…
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Painter, Printmaker, Mathematician, Art Theorist
Albrecht Dürer
Nuremberg artist Albrecht Dürer built an international reputation through engravings, woodcuts and painting. Explore his travels, self-portraits and lasting print legacy.
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Polymath, Geographer, Naturalist, Explorer
Alexander von Humboldt
Alexander von Humboldt traveled through the Americas with Aimé Bonpland, measuring landscapes, climate and plant life. His work connected observations into a…
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Politician (former Chancellor of Germany), Physicist
Angela Dorothea Merkel
Angela Merkel, a physicist raised in East Germany, became Germany’s first woman chancellor and led the country from 2005 to 2021 through…
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Cheruscan Chieftain, Former Roman Auxiliary Officer
Arminius
Arminius led a Cheruscan-backed coalition against three Roman legions in 9 CE. Examine the Varus defeat, later Roman campaigns and the battle’s…
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Journalist, Editor, Pacifist
Carl von Ossietzky
Carl von Ossietzky (1889-1938) was a German journalist, pacifist, and courageous defender of democracy whose principled opposition to militarism and Nazism cost
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