- published: 17 Jul 2015
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Coordinates: 51°N 9°E / 51°N 9°E / 51; 9
Germany (/ˈdʒɜːrməni/; German: Deutschland [ˈdɔʏtʃlant]), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland, listen ), is a federal parliamentary republic in West-Central Europe. It includes 16 constituent states and covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres (137,847 sq mi) with a largely temperate seasonal climate. Its capital and largest city is Berlin. With about 81.5 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state in the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular migration destination in the world.
Various Germanic tribes have occupied northern Germany since classical antiquity. A region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation.
Horst Ludwig Georg Erich Wessel (9 October 1907 – 23 February 1930) was a Nazi Party (NSDAP) activist known for writing the lyrics to the "Horst-Wessel-Lied". His death in 1930 was used by the party for propaganda purposes.
Wessel first joined the German National People's Party (DNVP), but by 1926 was removed for being too extremist. He then joined the NSDAP, where he wrote songs for Nazi events. He rose to command several SA squads and districts. On 14 January 1930, he was shot in the head by two members of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). Albrecht Höhler was arrested and charged with his murder. He was initially sentenced to six years in prison, but was executed after the Nazis came to power. Wessel's funeral was given wide attention in Berlin, with many of the Nazi elite in attendance. After his death, he became a major propaganda symbol. His name was used for several civilian and military purposes during the time of the Third Reich.
Horst Ludwig Georg Erich Wessel was born on 9 October in 1907 in Bielefeld, Westphalia, as the son of Wilhelm Ludwig Georg Wessel (born 15 July 1879), a doctor and Lutheran minister at the Nikolai Church, one of Berlin's oldest churches. Wessel's mother, Bertha Luise Margarete Wessel (neé Richter), also came from a family of Lutheran pastors. Wessel's parents were married on 1 May 1906. He grew up alongside his sister Ingeborg Paula Margarethe (born 19 May 1909) and his brother Werner Georg Erich Ludwig (born 22 August 1910). The family lived in the Judenstraße ("Street of the Jews"), which in medieval times had been the centre of Berlin's Jewish community. Wessel's refusal to follow his father into the ministry was the subject of many father and son conflicts.