Germany for Kids

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Germany is situated in the heart of Europe and has the largest population in the European Union: about 82 Million people live there. Germany shares its borders with nine neighboring countries: Denmark to the north, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg and France to the west, Switzerland and Austria to the south, and the Czech Republic and Poland to the east.

For many years following World War II, there were two German states. The Cold War led to the division of Germany into an eastern part, the German Democratic Republic (GDR, also called East Germany), and a western part, the Federal Republic of Germany; a border divided the two sections. The GDR was a product of the Soviet Union. Under its strict system, people made several attempts to gain more freedom. But it was not until 1989 that the mass demonstrations triggered the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the autumn of that year, tens of thousands of East German citizens fled to the West through other countries. On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall was opened; one year later, East Germany joined West Germany to become one country.

Today, all Germany is a democratic republic. It has a house of representatives, called the Bundestag and a second chamber, called the Bundesrat, which represents Germany's 16 federal states. Unlike the U.S., however, the Federal Republic has both a president, who acts as head of state, and a chancellor, who runs the federal government.