Language is important to the study of Germania.  Many excellent translations and original works are available in English, but none can carry the precise intent and spirit of the German originals.  A different level of understanding can be reached in the original language.

-  Learning

   -- Whether you're a beginner, brushing up on a college course, or digging into the finer points of the language, you will find a wealth of useful information at www.german.about.com.  Language lessons, translation, current reading and listening references and more are presented in an easily-navigated format.


-  Dictionaries - be warned: when a dictionary is called "German-English", it usually means "UK English", which is not precisely the same as "US English".  Most of the differences are merely humorous or just incomprehensible alternative definitions.

   -- One of the best dictionaries, with over 400,000 references, is LEO, an acronym for "Link Everything Online".  LEO is a project of the Technical University of Munich (Technische Universität München). In addition to its definitions, the reason that I like it the most is the fact that it links its definitions to the Swiss site, Canoo, which displays all different forms of the word (e.g., declination of verbs).  LEO is located at dict.leo.org

   -- Translation Dictionary G-E, at http://www.dict.cc , with over 400,000 references, includes many phrases in addition to individual words.

   -- TU Chemnitz G- E Dictionary, with over 177,000 translactions, is one that I find enjoyable to use.  Give it a try at
http://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/.

   -- TU Dresden New G-E Dictionary is another nice one, and proves over 190,000 references.  You can find it at
http://www.iee.et.tu-dresden.de

   -- Student-Online Dictionary, with more than 280,000 definitions, provides another alternative for translating between German and English at http://www.student-online.net

   -- QuickDic G-E Dictionary - 250k has over 280,000 definitions and a different user interface that may appeal to some.  Uniquely, QuickDic is also available as a downloadable desktop program that may be run offline.  Find it at
 http://www.quickdic.de/index_e.html

   -- DWDS German Dictionary, for the advanced student, is a German dictionary.  It is written entirely in German, and explains German words using the German language.  I found that using this dictionary seemed to speed up the learning process for me by removing the intermediate step of translating to English.  LEO (above) also links to this dictionary.  It is located at
 http://www.dwds.de/cgi-bin/portalL.pl?search=übersetzen
 
-  Grammar Reference
   -- Canoo.net  -  One of the greatest challenges in learning the German language lies in being able to recognize different forms of a word when going from present tense to past tense, or active voice to passive, or using a subjunctive expression.  The difficult ones can be avoided in speaking, but not in listening or reading.  "ei" can change to "ie", "ie" changes to "ei", and even more puzzling changes can occur. 
The greatest aid that I have found is the site a www.canoo.net , which allows you to enter any form of a word, and returns not only the base but all forms of that word.  If you have ever run across the book, "501 Verbs in German", you have an idea of what Canoo provides ... but Canoo goes way beyond what was in the book.  I use Canoo as the entry point for a word, and use its link to LEO (above) to find the definitions.

 

Recent history, particularly the 20th century, including the
-  short-lived experiment in democracy known as the Weimar Republic
-  rise of Hitler and the National Socialist (Nazi) Party,
-  Third Reich and the Holocaust.
 

Ancient history of
-  the Germanic tribes and their wanderings
-  meetings and conflict between Germans and Romans
 

Maps, political divisions (past and present), roadmaps, more

-  1789 map of German territories

-  German national map, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), Osnabrueck, Melle, and Buer in the Bus'd'ker family section, and more

-  Europe and Switzerland, increasing in detail down to the town of Herzogenbuchsee, Canton Bern.

-  Interactive maps of the World, Europe, and USA
 

Arts, including

-  Literature

-  Music, folk and classical
 

Culture

-  Folklore

-  Magazines


 

  -- German Life (English language), six issues per year covering German life, history, places, food and events in  the US as well as Germany, Austria and Switzerland.  Well-worth the price of $22.95 per year ($24.10 in MD, $32 in Canada).

-  Newspapers

   -- Süddeutsche Zeitung (German language) - a less formal, more relaxed newspaper that reminds me of the old New York Herald-Tribune.  Read it at www.sueddeutsche.de

   -- Frankfurter Allgemeine  (German language) - the Frankfurt am Main based German equivalent of the New York Times, located at www.faz.net

   -- Handelsblatt  (German language) - Germany's Wall Street Journal is at  http://www.handelsblatt.de