(Assuming of course it is under represented, and a glut of German cheese varieties has seemingly passed me by).
When I think of “major cheese producing nations in Europe” I think of France, Italy and the UK, with each of those countries producing hundreds of varieties of cheese. Yet, Germany, despite being more populous and larger in sheer land mass than any of those three countries seems woefully under-represented. Am I correct? Going by a quick look at Wikipedia, which lists 10 German cheeses at the most, it seems so. Truth be told, I can name more Danish and Dutch cheeses than German, despite them being a fraction of the size.
Germany is here listed as the second-largest cheese producer by weight (after the US) and the second-largest cheese exporter by value (after France)… but the largest exporter by weight.
Germany is also the largest importer and fourth-largest per capita consumer of cheese; they eat a lot of it but aren’t satisfied with their own production.
So Germany is very active indeed in the cheese market, but perhaps with cheaper/less distinctive cheeses?
Looking at a list of cheeses actually produced in Germany, I see many varieties associated with neighboring countries–Camembert, Edamer, Emmentaler, so on. So maybe you actually eat German cheese sometimes without realizing it.
As part of the war preparations the Third Reich pursued a policy of autarky in many areas. This included attempts to maximize the utilization of the agricultural output. In 1937 the government forced farmers to sell milk to central dairies. That wreaked havoc with independent cheese making and resulted in a less diverse, more industrial market.
Also, as Peremensoe said, much of the cheese produced and consumed in Germany is of varieties that originated in neighboring countries. Some of these ‘knock-offs’ have a long tradition and arguably their own identity. (e.g. Allgäuer Emmentaler)
The thing is with Australia, New Zealand, and (as noted above, but not to the same degree) Germany, there is no distinctive native cheese making tradition to draw on, despite having the raw materials to do so. So the primary products in Australia and New Zealand are cheddars, aimed at the export market. Now, there have been producers making other cheese styles in these countries, but this is now somewhat fraught with difficulty as PDOs and GPIs mean changing names of traditional cheeses to new ones that do not have any form of recognition. Similar things have happened in the wine markets, with sparkling wines having a variety of labels (before PDOs, they would have been labelled as a Champagne).
If you live in Germany you will be amazed at the wide variety of cheeses available at every deli and supermarket and specialty cheese stores.
That said, what others have said is true - much of it is a “copy” of other cheeses from other nations. Then again, they also have lots of direct imports from those neighboring countries - so you can buy original French or Dutch or Italian cheese at just a slightly higher price than the locally produced cheese. Usually you can’t really tell the difference between the German variation or the original - they are pretty good at duplicating the process.
One thing they will do is make slight variations to create “new” cheese flavors - adding herbs and switching up the process to give new flavors. However, i don’t know if these slight variations would be worth the time and trouble to export as they haven’t exactly re-invented the wheel of cheese, just gussied it up a bit.
The same could be said for cold cuts - they have their own variations of bologna, salami and liverwurst etc. that are often regional specialties and are also often found only during certain seasons. I can remember some great liverwurst with truffles and another variation with small pieces of apricot!