Portal:Germany/Did you know/Archive

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The following items were presented in the "Did you know" box on Portal:Germany. Most, but not all of them were also on Template:Did you know on Wikipedia's Main page.

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...that German Luftwaffe fighter ace Walther Dahl shot down 128 enemy aircraft in the Second World War, including a USAAF B-17 that he rammed in 1944?
...that the Bienwald (satellite image pictured) is a large forested area in the southern Pfalz region of Germany, near the towns of Kandel and Wörth am Rhein?
...that German toymaker Richard Steiff's invention of a toy bear received highest honors at the 1904 Saint Louis World's Fair?
...that Walter Arthur Berendsohn, who succesfully nominated Nelly Sachs and Willy Brandt for their respective Nobel Prizes, wrote Die humanistische Front, the seminal book on German exile literature?
...that Richard Strauss helped the German composer Heinz Tiessen obtain a job at the Berlin State Opera in 1917?
...that Lothar-Günther Buchheim, author of the 1973 novel Das Boot, refused to give his Expressionist paintings to a museum unless it would also display his collection of curiosities?
...that the Göttingen Academy of Sciences (pictured), founded in 1751 by King George II of Great Britain, is the second oldest of seven academies of sciences in Germany?
...that the German submarine U-777 was sunk in October 1944, less than 7 months after being launched?
...that the illumination method used in modern light microscope design was invented by 27-year-old German graduate student August Köhler in 1893?
...that four artillery submarines were among many uncompleted U-boat projects planned by Nazi Germany?
...that after one group he founded was banned, the neo-Nazi leader Michael Kühnen began a policy of regularly starting up new organizations in order to confuse the authorities?
...that Sausenburg Castle in Germany was destroyed in 1678 by the army of French Marshall Creque during the Franco-Dutch War?
...that Gerhard Schröder sponsored a star for Dieter Hildebrandt on the Walk of Fame of Cabaret during his time as Chancellor of Germany ?
...that in 1263 Fürstenfeld Abbey was founded by Ludwig the Severe of Bavaria as a penance for killing his wife?
...that the Berlin Stadtbahn is built mostly as an elevated railway line with viaducts totalling eight kilometres of length, including 731 masonry viaduct arches?
...that students who finish a doctorate at the Georg-August University of Göttingen traditionally kiss the Gänseliesel (pictured), a statue in the center of Göttingen?
...that the standing army created during the Thirty Years' War by Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, developed into the Prussian Army?
...that the German actor Heinz Rühmann was 42 years old when starring as a high school student in the 1944 film Die Feuerzangenbowle?
...that the medieval Margraviate of Brandenburg was called "the sandbox of the Holy Roman Empire"?
...that NV Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw was a firm created by Germany in 1922 to illegally manufacture submarines?
...that Murderers Among Us was the first German post-World War II film?
...that Andreas Joseph Hofmann proclaimed the first republican state in Germany on March 18, 1793?
...that the Blohm und Voss Bv 144 was an attempt by Nazi Germany to develop an advanced commercial airliner for post-war service?
...that the German physicist Otto Laporte discovered what is known in spectroscopy as the Laporte rule?
...that St. Clement's Church in Büsum, Germany (pictured) is furnished with items looted from Pellworm by the pirate Cord Widderich?
...that the medieval pirate Cord Widderich occupied Eiderstedt and made the Pellworm church tower his base?
... that during the siege of Mainz, Goethe was a military observer and later wrote a book about it?
...that German poet and playwright Klabund was charged with treason for writing an open letter calling for the abdication of William II?
...that the Free Association of German Trade Unions was the only trade union in Germany to reject the Burgfrieden, a civil truce between the socialist movement and the German state during World War I?
...that Xanten Cathedral (interior pictured), entitled basilica minor by pope Pius XI, may be the biggest cathedral between Cologne and the North Sea?
...that the Blauhöhle, a huge cave system with more than 50m high caverns, is accessible by diving through the Blautopf, the source of the Blau?
... that count Ulrich III purchased the towns Markgröningen (1336) and Tübingen (1342) and incorporated them into the County of Württemberg?
...that Luftwaffe ace Erich Rudorffer flew more than 1000 missions during World War II, and was shot down sixteen times by enemy flak and fighters?
...that Paul Haenlein was the first to create a dirigible airship which was powered by an internal combustion engine?
...that Philipp Jenninger resigned as President of the Bundestag after his speech commemorating Kristallnacht caused a political scandal?
...that the theme of the Kyffhäuser Monument (pictured) suggests a connection between the Holy Roman Empire and the German Empire?
...that Ulrich IV, Count of Württemberg reigned the County Württemberg together with his brother Eberhard II, but wanted to divide the county between both of them?
...that Hermann Klaatsch was one of the first scientists to advocate a clear division between religion and physical anthropology?
...that Ernst Kitzinger, a historian of Byzantine art, was forced to leave Germany in 1934 and England in 1940 because he was Jewish and German respectively?
...that Russian Jewish painter Marc Chagall created the windows of the St Stephan church in Mainz as a sign of Jewish-German reconciliation?
...that the Frankfurter Judengasse was the earliest Jewish ghetto in Germany?
...that Theo Osterkamp was the first German reconnaissance pilot to fly a land-based aircraft to England during World War I?

...that in 2003, German authorities foiled a plot by a neo-Nazi group to set off a bomb at the Ohel Jakob synagogue cornerstone ceremony?
...that the gate of the ruined Palais Strousberg was built into the modern British Embassy in Berlin - the only part of it left after the Second World War, complete with the old British coat of arms?
...that the Pariser Platz in Berlin is named after the French capital in memory of Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813?
...that the village of Mödlareuth was called "Little Berlin" because it too was divided by a wall during the Cold War?
...that the President of the Bundestag is ranked ahead of the Chancellor of Germany according to the German order of precedence?
...that Richard Stücklen was the longest serving member of the German Bundestag, winning election 11 times between 1949 and 1990?
... that Gustav Killian performed revolutionary treatments on the bronchi?
... that in 1919, the discharge of the chief of police of Berlin led to a general strike and accompanying fighting known as the Spartacist uprising, in which over 500,000 workers took part?
...that Eilhart von Oberge's German poem Tristrant, dating to the late 12th century, is the earliest complete version of the Tristan and Iseult legend in any language?
...that the German television comedy series Verstehen Sie Spaß, the German equivalent of Candid Camera, has been running non-stop since 1980?
...that funding for the Prussian Academy of Sciences was originally provided by giving it a monopoly on the sale of calendars?
...that modernization of the Ostkreuz station in Berlin, the busiest interchange station of the city's transportation system, has been proposed since 1937 and is due to start next year?
that the Deutschhaus building in Mainz was the seat of the first democratically elected parliament in Germany during the Republic of Mainz?
that DELAG is considered to be the world's oldest airline?
that the Mainz Sand Dunes are a rare example of steppe vegetation in Germany?
that the Neues Museum in Berlin, which was almost completely destroyed in World War II, is scheduled to be reopened in 2009, at which point it will house the bust of Nefertiti?
that an estimated 600 or approximately half of the originally manufactured Duesenbergs are still on the road as classic cars or "Oldtimers" and valued at about one Million dollars (US) each?
that the names for Germany in other languages have six separate roots?
that the orphanage in Düsseldorf-Düsseltal (founded in 1822) was financed in part by the sale of "original" Eau de Cologne - made of water taken from the Düssel?
that Operation Epsilon referred to a program by Allied forces at the end of World War II to determine how close the Germans had been to constructing an atomic bomb by listening to their conversations?
that the long-running German TV show Aktenzeichen XY... ungelöst is the only German television format to have entered the United States, where it is produced by Fox as America's Most Wanted?
that the Antique Temple at Sanssouci was commissioned by Frederick the Great to house his collection of antique artefacts, coins and gems?
that Wormatia Worms was one of the first football clubs to display advertising on their jerseys?
that according to legend, the money for the construction of Lübeck Cathedral came from a diamond-encrusted crucifix borne by a deer shot by Henry the Lion?
that in the late 1700s the Lilienthal Observatory was the best equipped observatory in the world?
that Bad Frankenhausen is the only one of the five German Barbarossatowns that never saw the Emperor Frederick I "Barbarossa"?
that the organ of St. Stephan's Cathedral in Passau is the largest cathedral organ in the world, with 17,774 pipes and 233 registers?
that in 1939 the Riesaer SV's Willi Arlt was the youngest ever German national team football player, at age 17?
that the moving of the Abu Simbel temple complex was done by Hochtief AG, the same company that built the Führerbunker?
that Heilbronn is nicknamed Käthchenstadt after Heinrich von Kleist's play?
that the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania is a political party holding an absolute majority in the city council of Sibiu?
that one of the oldest buildings of the University of Potsdam was built for the Gestapo and later used by the Stasi?
that because of the way it looks Munich's Allianz Arena is nicknamed Schlauchboot (Ger. for inflatable raft)?
that the Thomaskirche in Leipzig is famous for being the place where Johann Sebastian Bach worked as cantor?

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Portal:Germany/Did you know/Archive

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