Deutschland uber Alles - or Not Quiz

Answer: Nordrhein-Westfalen

Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine Westphalia) is the most populated Bundesland in Deutschland. Major cities are the capital Düsseldorf, Aachen, Köln (Cologne), Dortmund, Leverkusen and Essen.
The Ruhr is one of the tributaries of the Rhein (Rhine). In the Ruhr valley, coal and iron ore are abundant, so it was also the region with most steel factories. After the Second World War, steel was much in demand to reconstruct housing and infrastructure. So the Wirtschaftswunder (economic miracle) was predominant in the Ruhr valley.

Answer: Bayern (Bavaria)

Bayern is the largest Bundesland of Deutschland, with about one fifth of the total area. The capital is München (Munich), and it consists roughly of four former historic regions.
Frankenland forms the northern part of Bayern, plus parts of the adjacent Bundesländer Hesse, Thuringen and Baden-Wurttemberg. It is divided in three Regierungsbezirke (administrative regions), with their respective capitals Ansbach, Bayreuth and Würzburg.
Schwaben is the western part of Bayern. Notable Swabians include (among many others) Alfred Einstein, the inventors Gottlieb Daimler and Rudolph Diesel, the philosopher Martin Heidegger.
The Pfalz was the quite dispersed possession of the Wittelsbach dynasty. In the eastern part of Bayern is the Regierungsbezirk Oberpfalz (Upper Palatinate), other parts are in more western Bundesländer such as Rheinland-Pfalz. The Oberpfalz has as regional capital Regensburg.

Answer: Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony)

Niedersachsen is one of the larger Bundesländer. It borders the Netherlands and the North Sea. Interesting cities in Niedersachsen include the capital Hannover (Hanover), Osnabrück, Braunschweig and Wolfsburg.
The Ostfriesische Inseln are seven inhabited islands and some uninhabited sand plates in the Wattenmeer (Wadden Sea). Due to tides and storms, these islands seem constantly on the move. For instance, the island Wangerooge has shifted from west to east over a distance equal to its size during the past four centuries.

Answer: Hessen (Hesse)

The busiest airport in Deutschland and one of the top five in Europe is Frankfurt am Main (IATA code FRA), and the busiest road junction lies near Frankfurt, too. Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (Frankfurt Central Station) is very busy, but it is apparently not the busiest railway station in Deutschland: that title goes to Hamburg Hauptbahnhof.
Hessen is a central Bundesland in Deutschland, without any national borders. Its capital is Wiesbaden, while Frankfurt is its largest city. Other important cities include Darmstadt, Offenbach and Kassel.

Answer: Sachsen

Sachsen is the most southern Bundesland situated in what once was East-Germany. It borders Poland and the Czech Republic.
The capital city Leipzig is known for a university founded in 1409, thus being one of the oldest universities in Europe and the second oldest in Deutschland.
Dresden is one of the tourist top attractions in Deutschland, especially after the reconstruction of the Frauenkirche (destroyed in the Second World War, completely rebuilt between 1994 and 2005).
Meissen is a rather small city, but it has worldwide fame for its production of porcelain.

Answer: Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate)

Rheinland-Pfalz is situated in the west, bordering Belgium, Luxembourg and France. One of the main tributaries of the Rhein in this Bundesland is the Mosel (Moselle), which has given its name to a major wine producing region. Viticulture is so important for Rheinland-Pfalz that the local government has a Ministry responsible for economy, transport, agriculture and viticulture. (The only other ministry of viticulture I found is a Luxembourgish national department. Neither France nor Italy have a Ministry of Viticulture). The capital of Rheinland-Pfalz is Mainz.

Other important cities include Trier, Koblenz, Worms and Ludwigshafen (the latter the site of the largest employer: the chemical plant BASF).

Answer: Schleswig-Holstein

Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost Bundesland, and the only one bordering Denmark. The capital is Kiel, and one of the most interesting cities is Lübeck - the former Hanseatic city, nowadays listed by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
Schleswig-Holstein consists of the former historic region of Holstein and the southern part of the former region of Schleswig. In 1920, the majority of Northern Schleswig voted for unification with Denmark. Since that time, the northern part of Schleswig is known as the county of South Jutland.
Tourists interested in colourful wooden houses should visit the island of Heligoland in Schleswig-Holstein. Heligoland is also a paradise for some wild animals such as grey seals or gannets.

Answer: Hamburg

The ranks differ from year to year, but Hamburg competes with the Dutch harbour Rotterdam and the Belgian harbour Antwerp for the three top spots in Europe regarding container traffic and total cargo.
None of these three biggest freight harbours in Europe is listed as a top harbour for passengers. Most passengers embark on a ship in Greece or Italy.
Hamburg is one of the three city-states in Deutschland. The other are Bremen (including its harbour Bremerhaven) and Berlin.

Answer: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

The Müritz (Lake Müritz) is the largest lake contained within the borders of Deutschland. At the end of the latest ice age it was a very substantial lake, but now it has been broken up into a system of several smaller water basins. The actual Müritz has a surface area of about 113 square kilometres, but it is connected to various other lakes.
The largest lake on German territory is the Bodensee, but that lake is shared with Switzerland and Austria.
All lakes that are connected with the Müritz, are situated in the most southern district of the northern Bundesland Mecklenburg - Vorpommern.
As you can derive from the name of the Bundesland, it consists of two different historic regions. The region Mecklenburg is the larger half, and Vorpommern is situated to the east of Mecklenburg.
The entire Bundesland borders the Ostsee (Baltic Sea) at the north. The Vorpommern part has a border with Poland.
Schwerin, Rostock and Stralsund are major cities in the Bundesland Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Schwerin is its capital.

Answer: Saarland

Let's briefly sketch the history of Saarland here. The French created a department Sarre (French for Saarland) in 1798. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the territory was largely attributed to Prussia. In 1870 the French King Napoleon III tried to seize the territory, but in vain: France was soundly defeated. So Saarland remained in what was renamed the German Empire.
After the Treaty of Versailles (1919), the Saarland returned to France - not as a separate department, but as a territory under French mandate (for a period of 15 years starting in 1920).
In 1935 Saarland voted for integration in Germany. But after the Second World War, it was once again placed under French administration as a protectorate. However, the highest political responsible in Saarland was from 1945 onwards a German speaking person.
France and Germany made a plan that Saarland would become a totally independent country, and as such Saarland had a separate delegation in the Olympic Games in 1952.
The people of Saar rejected the plan for full independence and opted to join the Bundesrepublik Deutschland.