München



Munich, located at the river Isar in the south of Bavaria, is famous for its beautiful architecture, fine culture, and the annual //Oktoberfest// beer celebration. Munich's cultural scene is second to none in Germany, with the museums even considered by some to outrank Berlin in quality. Many travelers to Munich are absolutely stunned by the quality of the architecture. Although it was heavily damaged by allied bombing during World War II, many of its historic buildings have been rebuilt and the city center appears mostly as it did in the late 1800s including its largest church, the Frauenkirche, and the famous city hall (Neues Rathaus). Munich is also a major international center of business, engineering and research exemplified by the presence of two research universities, several multinational companies and worldclass technology and science museums like the Deutsches Museum, BMW Museum and Siemens Forum.
 * Munich** (German: //München//) [|[1]] is the capital city of [|Bavaria]. Within the city limits, Munich has a population of more than 1.3 million, making it the third most populous city in [|Germany]. The Munich metropolitan region including cities like [|Augsburg] or [|Ingolstadt] had a population of more than 5.6 million in 2008.

After World War I, the city was at the center of much political unrest. In November 1918 on the eve of revolution, the royal family fled the city. After the murder of the first republican premier of Bavaria in February 1919, the Bavarian Soviet Republic was proclaimed, but it was put down on 3 May 1919 by conservative troops. While the republican government had been restored, Munich subsequently became a hotbed of extremist politics, among which Adolf Hitler and the National Socialism rose to prominence. In 1923 Hitler and his supporters, who were then concentrated in Munich, staged the Beer Hall Putsch, an attempt to overthrow the Weimar Republic and seize power. The revolt failed, resulting in Hitler's arrest and the temporary crippling of the Nazi Party, which was virtually unknown outside Munich. The city once again became a Nazi stronghold when the National Socialists took power in Germany in 1933. The National Socialist Workers Party created the first concentration camp at Dachau, 10 miles (16 km) north-west of the city. Because of its importance to the rise of National Socialism, Munich was referred to as the Hauptstadt der Bewegung ("Capital of the Movement"). Munich was also the base of the White Rose, a student resistance movement from June 1942 to February 1943. However, the core members including Hans and Sophie Scholl were arrested and executed following a distribution of leaflets in Munich University. The city was heavily damaged by allied bombing during World War II. After US occupation in 1945, Munich was completely rebuilt following a meticulous plan which preserved its pre-war street grid. In 1957 Munich's population passed the 1 million mark. Munich was the site of the 1972 Summer Olympics, during which Israeli athletes were assassinated by Palestinian terrorists in the Munich massacre.

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