The culture of Germany has been shaped by its central position in Europe and a history spanning over a millennium. Known for significant contributions to art, music, philosophy, religion, science and technology, German culture is diverse and influential. Germany remained in a state of Kleinstaaterei () for long periods, leading to a wide variety of regional customs and traditions. From the medieval Holy Roman Empire to the modern Federal Republic, German culture has absorbed influences from across the continent and beyond. Key aspects include a strong emphasis on education and craftsmanship, a long literary tradition featuring figures like Goethe and Schiller, a musical heritage from Bach to Beethoven, and a philosophical legacy including Kant and Marx. Germany is also known for its numerous festivals, regional cuisines, and a commitment to preserving its historical heritage while embracing contemporary trends in art, architecture, and popular culture.
Language
German is the official and predominant language of Germany. It is one of the 24 official and working languages of the European Union. EU institutions may determine how they implement their language arrangements internally. Under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, Germany recognises Danish, Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, North Frisian, Saterland Frisian and the Romani of the German Sinti and Roma as minority languages, while Low German is recognised as a regional language. The 2024 German microcensus shows 77% of private households spoke only German at home, and 17% used German plus another language. Turkish, Russian, and Arabic were most common among non-German-speaking households.
Standard German is a West Germanic language and is closely related to and classified alongside English, Dutch, and the Frisian languages. To a lesser extent, it is also related to the East (extinct) and North Germanic languages. Most German vocabulary is derived from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. Significant minorities of words are derived from Latin and Greek, with a smaller amount from French and most recently English (known as Denglisch). German is written using the Latin alphabet. In addition to the 26 standard letters, German has three vowels with Umlaut, namely ä, ö, and ü, as well as the Eszett or scharfes S (sharp s) which is written "ß" (not used in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, where it is written ss instead). German orthography has gone through a series of reforms, the most recent in 1996.
German dialects are distinguished from varieties of standard German. German dialects are traditional local varieties and can be traced back to the different German tribes. Many of them are not easily understandable to a speaker of standard German, since they often differ in lexicon, phonology, and syntax.
Around the world, German has approximately 100 million native speakers and also about 80 million non-native speakers. German is the main language of about 90 million people (18%) in the EU. 67% of German citizens claim to be able to communicate in at least one foreign language, 27% in at least two languages other than their first.
In the German diaspora, aspects of German culture are passed on to younger generations through naming customs and through the use of spoken and written German. The Goethe Institute seeks to spread the knowledge of German culture worldwide. A total of 15.5 million people are currently learning German as a second language.
Literature
German literature can be traced back to the Middle Ages, with the most notable authors of the period being Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach. The , whose author remains unknown, is also an important work of the epoch, as is the Thidrekssaga. The fairy tales collections collected and published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the 19th century became famous throughout the world.
Land der Dichter und Denker (Land of poets and thinkers) is a phrase used by many Germans to refer to Germany, though it is hardly known in non-German-speaking countries. It is occasionally used to describe certain cities as well (Stadt der Dichter und Denker), such as Tübingen and Jena.
Theologian Luther, who translated the Bible into German, is widely credited for having set the basis for the modern "High German" language.
Among the most admired German philosophers and authors are Lessing, Goethe, Schiller, Kleist, Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, Hoffmann, Brecht, Heine and Schmidt. Nine Germans have won the Nobel Prize in Literature: Theodor Mommsen, Paul von Heyse, Gerhart Hauptmann, Thomas Mann, Nelly Sachs, Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Böll, Günter Grass, and Herta Müller.
Philosophy
The rise of the modern natural sciences and the related decline of religion raised a series of questions, which recur throughout German philosophy, concerning the relationships between knowledge and faith, reason and emotion, and scientific, ethical, and artistic ways of seeing the world.
German philosophers have helped shape western philosophy from as early as the Middle Ages (Albertus Magnus). Later, Leibniz (17th century) and most importantly Kant played central roles in the history of philosophy. Kantianism inspired the work of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche as well as German idealism defended by Fichte and Hegel. Ludwig Feuerbach became one of the founders of modern atheism. Marx and Engels developed the communist theory in the second half of the 19th century while Heidegger and Gadamer pursued the tradition of German philosophy in the 20th century. A number of German intellectuals were also influential in sociology, most notably Adorno, Elias, Habermas, Horkheimer, Luhmann, Marcuse, Simmel, Tönnies, and Weber. The University of Berlin founded in 1810 by linguist and philosopher Wilhelm von Humboldt served as an influential model for a number of modern western universities.
In the 21st century Germany has been an important country for the development of contemporary analytic philosophy in continental Europe, along with France, Austria, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries.Searle, John. (1987). The Blackwell Companion to Philosophy, "Introduction". Wiley-Blackwell.
Military
Germany's military has historically influenced German society and culture. In the 18th century, Prussia rose as a military powerhouse under Frederick the Great, whose reforms entrenched a culture of Prussian virtues. German unification in 1871 created the Imperial German Army, which played key roles in World War I. The interwar Reichswehr evolved into the Wehrmacht under Nazi rule, leading to World War II. After 1945, Germany was demilitarized, later forming the Bundeswehr in 1955 as a NATO force.
Postwar West German military developed Innere Führung ("leadership development and civic education"), centred on the ideal of the "citizen in uniform" and intended to change soldiers' mindset into a liberal democratic form.Erler, Fritz (1962). "Politik und nicht Prestige". Sicherheit und Rüstung. Cologne: Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik. pp. 82–83, cited in Lider, Julian (1986). Origins and Development of West German Military Thought, Vol. I, 1949–1966. Aldershot/Brookfield, VT: Gower Publishing Company. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-566-00839-9.Abenheim, Donald (1990). "The Citizen in Uniform: Reform and its Critics in the Bundeswehr". In Szabo, Stephen F. (ed.). The Bundeswehr and Western Security. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-312-04145-8.
In East Germany, the National People's Army, founded in 1956, followed SED ideals. The NVA's Prussian traditions led West Germans to label East Germany "Red Prussia." At reunification, the NVA was disbanded under the process known as the ("Army of Unity") into the Bundeswehr.
Music
In the field of music, Germany claims some of the most renowned classical composers of the world, including Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, who marked the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music. Also, Germans developed many Lutheran chorales and hymns.
Other composers of the Austro-German tradition who achieved international fame include Brahms, Wagner, Haydn, Johann Pachelbel, Schubert, Händel, Schumann, Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Johann Strauss II, Bruckner, Mahler, Telemann, Richard Strauss, Schoenberg, Orff, and most recently, Henze, Lachenmann, and Stockhausen.
Germany is the largest music market in Europe, and third largest in the world. It has exerted a strong influence on rock and heavy metal music. Artists such as Herbert Grönemeyer, Scorpions, Blind Guardian, Rammstein, Nena, Unheilig, Xavier Naidoo, Tokio Hotel and Modern Talking have enjoyed international fame.
German musicians have contributed heavily to developments in electronic music, in synth-pop, electronic body music, trance and hardcore. Krautrock band Kraftwerk are considered to be the pioneers of synth-pop, electro, techno, and house music. Tangerine Dream's "Love on a Real Train" was a major influence on the development of synthwave.
German popular music of the 20th and 21st centuries includes the movements of Neue Deutsche Welle (Nena, Alphaville), Ostrock (City, Keimzeit), metal/rock, punk (Nina Hagen, Böhse Onkelz, Die Ärzte, Die Toten Hosen), pop rock (Beatsteaks), indie (Tocotronic, Blumfeld) and hip hop (Die Fantastischen Vier, Deichkind). A global trendsetter is the German techno and minimal scene (e.g. Ricardo Villalobos, Paul Kalkbrenner and Sven Väth).
Germany hosts many large rock music festivals every year. The Rock am Ring festival is the largest music festival in Germany, and among the largest in the world. German artists also make up a large percentage of industrial and Neue Deutsche Härte acts. Germany hosts some of the largest goth or dark culture scenes and festivals in the entire world, with events like Wave-Gotik-Treffen and M'era Luna Festival attracting up to 30,000 people. In addition, the country hosts Wacken Open Air, the biggest heavy metal open air festival in the world.
Since about 1970, Germany has once again had a thriving popular culture, now increasingly led by its reinstated capital Berlin, and a self-confident music and art scene. Germany is also very well known for its many renowned opera houses, such as Semperoper, Komische Oper Berlin and Munich State Theatre. Richard Wagner established the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.
One of the most famous composers of the international film business is Hans Zimmer. The year 2020 was designated "Beethoven Year" to mark 250 years since the composer was born.
Cinema
German cinema dates back to the very early years of the medium with the work of Max Skladanowsky. It was particularly influential during the years of the Weimar Republic with German expressionists such as Robert Wiene and Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. Austrian-based director Fritz Lang, who became a German citizen in 1926 and whose career flourished in the pre-war German film industry, is said to have been a major influence on Hollywood cinema. His silent movie Metropolis (1927) is referred to as the birth of modern Science Fiction movies. Founded in 1912, the Babelsberg Film Studio is the oldest large-scale film studio in the world.
In 1930, Josef von Sternberg directed The Blue Angel, which was the first major German sound film and it brought world fame to actress Marlene Dietrich. Impressionist documentary Berlin: Symphony of a Great City, directed by Walter Ruttmann, is a prominent example of the city symphony genre. The Nazi era produced mostly propaganda films although the work of Leni Riefenstahl still introduced new aesthetics to film.Leni Riefenstahl, Filmbug Movie Stars. Retrieved 13 April 2007.