In certain circles it is assumed that Germany as such does not exist.

Official evidence of this is repeatedly provided, which is particularly popular with the so-called “Reich citizens”. One of these pieces of evidence can even be found publicly on the Internet: Germany actually has 000 as its state code! Does that mean that Germany is not a state at all? Virtually a zero state?

The request for the state key
Screenshot: mimikama.org, A user asked us about it in our Facebook community

Screenshots are nice, but we prefer direct sources. For example, the state key can be found officially in a PDF from the Federal Office of Justice , and there too the state key is 000 for Germany.
At this point we can also debunk the questioner's statement: The USA does indeed have a state code.

The state code of the USA
Image source: Federal Office of Justice

[mk_ad]

What is the state key?

To do this, we have to travel back a little, to the beginnings of electronic data processing, or in short: IT.
Back in the 1970s, IT already existed, but the devices were still monstrous and storage space was always very limited. At that time, however, the Federal Statistical Office was pleased to be able to evaluate population and social statistics electronically. To do this, the countries each had to get their own state keys made up of numbers, as it would have taken up far too much memory to save the states as names.

The state key is there to electronically process the origin of the residents of Germany!

Why does Germany have the state code 000?

So, in order to save storage space on the magnetic tapes used at the time, the demographic and sociological values ​​were stored in numbers. Other examples of this are 1=male, 2=female or 1=single, 2=married.

Now guess how many residents of Germany have German citizenship. Correct: most of them!
That's why it makes sense to save residents with German citizenship with the state code 000, precisely because it takes up much less space on a magnetic tape than a three-digit numerical code.

And why is that still the case?

Nowadays, of course, we no longer have to worry about storage space, so it would easily be possible to give Germany a three-digit or even a thousand-digit state key if you wanted to.

The only question is: why should you do that?
The state key is only used for use within Germany. For international data exchange, ISO codes are used , for example de for Germany or at for Austria.

On forms you never see the 000 for Germans or 151 for Austrians, but rather the stated nationality of the resident. The numbers are therefore only used internally within Germany, and it would cost far too much work to change this number in all computer applications, but it would not really have any practical use (other than to reassure Reich citizens).

[mk_ad]

Summary

Germany has had the 000 as its state key since the 1970s because it saved storage space on magnetic tapes. 000 does not directly mean the country, but rather the nationality of a resident.


If you enjoyed this post and value the importance of well-founded information, become part of the exclusive Mimikama Club! Support our work and help us promote awareness and combat misinformation. As a club member you receive:

📬 Special Weekly Newsletter: Get exclusive content straight to your inbox.
🎥 Exclusive video* “Fact Checker Basic Course”: Learn from Andre Wolf how to recognize and combat misinformation.
📅 Early access to in-depth articles and fact checks: always be one step ahead.
📄 Bonus articles, just for you: Discover content you won't find anywhere else.
📝 Participation in webinars and workshops : Join us live or watch the recordings.
✔️ Quality exchange: Discuss safely in our comment function without trolls and bots.

Join us and become part of a community that stands for truth and clarity. Together we can make the world a little better!

* In this special course, Andre Wolf will teach you how to recognize and effectively combat misinformation. After completing the video, you have the opportunity to join our research team and actively participate in the education - an opportunity that is exclusively reserved for our club members!


Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )