Our Basic Law - Blog
The foundation for our freedom and peace since 1949
The Basic Law is now 75 years old and has ensured that we can live together freely and in peace. The fathers and mothers of the Basic Law wrote it under the impression of Nazi rule and the consequences of the Second World War. They experienced back then what none of us want to experience today: lack of freedom, dictatorship, tyranny, political persecution, racial discrimination and much more. And they succeeded. Our democracy has been one of the strongest democracies in the world ever since. While during the Nazi era the people were everything and the individual counted for nothing, the makers of the Basic Law in 1949 put the individual and his dignity and rights at the center. As the basis for our future coexistence. The current social developments that are endangering our democracy in Germany should be an opportunity for us to perhaps take another look at the Basic Law. Because it states which rights and duties we still have today and on what basis our coexistence has functioned peacefully for over 70 years.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier 2022
"The Basic Law and its interpretation, which it has experienced over many decades through the jurisprudence of the Federal Constitutional Court, make it one of the most stable constitutions of all. Let us ensure that it stays that way! This can only be achieved through civic engagement. Every citizen is empowered to participate. But they must draw the strength from within themselves to use this opportunity for the benefit of all. This begins with reading the Basic Law. It continues with participation."
In our blog we regularly present individual paragraphs of the Basic Law that are particularly important for our daily lives.
The preamble
Im Bewusstsein seiner Verantwortung vor Gott und den Menschen, von dem Willen beseelt, als gleichberechtigtes Glied in einem vereinten Europa dem Frieden der Welt zu dienen, hat sich das Deutsche Volk kraft seiner verfassungsgebenden Gewalt dieses Grundgesetz gegeben.
Die Deutschen in den Ländern Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein- Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, Sachsen, Sachsen- Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein und Thüringen haben in freier Selbstbestimmung die Einheit und Freiheit Deutschlands vollendet. Damit gilt dieses Grundgesetz für das gesamte Deutsche Volk.
Die Grundrechte - Art. 1
(1) Human dignity is inviolable. It is the duty of all state authorities to respect and protect it.
(2) The German people therefore acknowledge inviolable and inalienable human rights as the foundation of every human community, of peace and justice in the world.
(3) The following fundamental rights bind the legislature, the executive and the judiciary as directly applicable law.
The Fundamental Rights - Art. 2
(1) Everyone has the right to free development of his personality,
as long as it does not violate the rights of others and does not violate the constitutional
violates the moral order or the moral law.
(2) Everyone has the right to life and physical integrity.
Personal freedom is inviolable. These rights may only be infringed
intervention on the basis of a law.
Die Grundrechte - Art. 20
(1) The Federal Republic of Germany is a democratic and social federal state.
(2) All state power emanates from the people. It is exercised by the people in elections and referendums and through special legislative, executive and judicial organs.
(3) The legislature is bound by the constitutional order, the executive and the judiciary are bound by law and justice.
(4) All Germans shall have the right of resistance against any person attempting to abolish this order if no other remedy is possible.
