The geographic term Western Germany (German: Westdeutschland) is used to describe a region in the west of Germany. The exact area defined by the term is not constant, but it usually includes, but does not have the borders of, North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse. The Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate are also sometimes included, but usually considered South-Western.
In contrast, from 1949 to 1990, when two German states existed, West Germany was used in English as a common informal name for the Federal Republic of Germany. The states in East Germany, properly called German Democratic Republic (GDR), acceded in 1990. The enlarged Federal Republic is simply called Germany again since.
Today, Western Germany is the Western part of Germany, and the term should not be identified with certain states. That said,
- Northrhine-Westphalia,
- Western Lower Saxony,
- Saar,
- Rhineland-Palatinate,
- Hesse and
- Baden-Wurttemberg are a major part of Western Germany. West of the Harz in Central Germany, or the line Hamburg-Munich, is the Western part, though again these distinctions can only be assigned very loosely, and never in a political sense.
Politically, Germans often still identify the term Westdeutschland with the Bonner Republik, the Cold War West Germany. Therefore, the English-language distinction between "West Germany" and "western Germany", is often not made in German. However, the latter can be specified as der Westen Deutschlands "the West of Germany".
Famous quotes containing the words western and/or germany:
“Signal smokes, war drums, feathered bonnets against the western sky. New messiahs, young leaders are ready to hurl the finest light cavalry in the world against Fort Stark. In the Kiowa village, the beat of drums echoes in the pulsebeat of the young braves. Fighters under a common banner, old quarrels forgotten, Comanche rides with Arapaho, Apache with Cheyenne. All chant of war. War to drive the white man forever from the red man’s hunting ground.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)
“It is the emotions to which one objects in Germany most of all.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)