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Most of the time German nouns remain the same in declension apart from the genitive exception of "+s". But are there any other exceptions? I'm thinking of something that would look like Volk -> Volken, Volkem or something similar, i.e. a change that applies not only to the article but to the noun itself. Or were there any examples in Old German?
I'm asking because in Slavic languages nouns decline in all cases and not just the genitive. Is the +s genitive the only one that's survived?
I take it that you are talking about singular dative or accusative. Plural changes most German nouns anyway. This is information that is found in declension tables. I'll summarize this on a general level with some examples.
There are nouns with an irregular declension:
der Herr / des Herrn / dem Herrn / den Herrn
das Herz / des Herzens / dem Herzen / das Herz
In weak declension, some words use -en for singular cases:
der Junge / des Jungen / dem Jungen / den Jungen
Strong declension has some classes that have an older dative form that ends on -e. You can often encounter this in idioms, sayings or old texts:
der Mann / dem Manne ("Das Kind im Manne", idiom)
das Volk / dem Volke ("Dem deutschen Volke", inscription on the Reichstag building in Berlin)
der Berg / dem Berge ("Auf dem Berge, da wehet der Wind", Christmas carol)
Modern everyday dative of these words is the same as nominative: dem Volk, dem Berg, dem Mann.
