The German Wikipedia was the second language edition to reach 1 million articles.
It passed the milestone on 27 December 2009, following the English Wikipedia. The millionth German-language article was about the Australian painter Ernie Wasson. This achievement marked a major stage in the growth of Wikipedia outside its original English-language edition.
The German edition was founded on 16 March 2001 and was the first non-English Wikipedia subdomain. Its early community developed a relatively selective approach to article creation, often preferring substantial coverage over very short stubs. That editorial culture helped distinguish it from some rapidly expanding editions whose article totals were boosted heavily by automated or semi-automated creation.
A frequent source of confusion is the difference between “second to reach one million articles” and “second non-English edition to contain articles.” Catalan Wikipedia was the second non-English edition to have articles, but German Wikipedia was the second overall edition to pass one million. Japanese, Spanish, and French later became major editions, but none reached the million-article threshold before German Wikipedia.