“German silver” beads

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German silver aka nickle silver has no silver. Copper nickle and zinc alloy

As other have said, German silver is a nickel alloy with no silver content.

It became popular because it is durable, cheap and shiny.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_silver

Do not use it for anything that is in prolonged contact with skin.

Nickel can cause contact dermatitis, and once you have it, it is chronic (and really annoying!)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_allergy

For that reason it is regulated in the EU (Denmark started in 1980, the rest followed suit soon after) but not in parts of the world where consumer safety is less prioritized.

Nickle bronze is the more accurate name

German silver is just a nickel alloy without any actual silver. Nickel is a very common allergen. If you work with it or wear it, you can develop an allergy to it which often causes a nasty skin rash.

It's not beads; it's wire. Jewelry wire comes in different levels of flexibility with dead soft just as it sounds and full hard the least flexible. Half-hard is the middle, and German wire is slightly softer than that. You can find lots of information on wire types and hardness.

If you're creating eye pins or wrapped loops for beadwork, German and half-hard wire are ideal as they are easy to work with but will keep their shape.

I haven't heard of it, but I'm imagining it's a less pure silver alloy but instead of mentioning the lower purity, the marketing notes the higher durability.

Again, this is all my conjecture