Identity Archives - understand-culture

Criticize the Work, Not the Person

Hart in der Sache, weich zum Menschen — hard on the matter, soft on the person. A common German rule for criticism. The SPD’s party school uses the variant Hart in der Sache, fair zu den Menschen, hard on the matter, fair to the people.

sachlich bleiben — to stay factual, to keep to the matter

sachliche Kritik — criticism of the matter

Kritisieren Sie immer die Verhaltensweisen — always criticize the behavior, never the traits, as a management guide for dental practices advises

The first motto is the German form of a principle from the Harvard negotiation method of Roger Fisher and William Ury, published in 1981 as Getting to Yes.

Whoever Dishes It Out

austeilen — to hand out. Duden gives an informal sense: to criticize sharply, as in sie kann ganz schön austeilen, she can really dish it out.

Wer austeilt, muss auch einstecken können. — Whoever dishes it out must also be able to take it.

einstecken — to pocket: to accept something without fighting back. Duden’s examples include Kritik einstecken, to take criticism.

ein dickes Fell haben — to have a thick hide, to be thick-skinned

keine Kritik vertragen — to be unable to take criticism

unter aller Kritik — beneath all criticism, very bad

Two Levels of a Conversation

die Sachebene — the level of the matter.

die Beziehungsebene — the level of the relationship. The pair is used to say where a problem lies: Das Problem liegt auf der Beziehungsebene. The problem is on the level of the relationship. It is also used to bring a meeting back: Bleiben wir auf der Sachebene. Let’s stay on the level of the matter.

nachtragend — carrying something after you, holding a grudge. People say of themselves Ich bin nicht nachtragend, I don’t hold grudges.

Schwamm drüber! — Sponge over it! Let it be wiped away and forgotten.

A Novel About the Death of a Critic

In 2002 Suhrkamp published Martin Walser’s novel Tod eines Kritikers, Death of a Critic. The critic who is supposedly murdered in the novel was modeled on Marcel Reich-Ranicki of the FAZ. Frank Schirrmacher, an editor of the FAZ, refused to print the novel in advance in his paper. He called it an Exekution, an execution, and a Mordfantasie, a murder fantasy. He wrote that its repertoire of antisemitic clichés was, unfortunately, impossible to overlook. The debate was no longer only about a book. It was about Walser and Reich-Ranicki themselves.

Not the Same Spirit

In 1529 Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli met at Marburg to settle their dispute over doctrine. Andreas Osiander, a Lutheran who was present, wrote down what happened. During the talks, Osiander noted, Zwingli’s eyes filled with tears, and everyone saw it. When Martin Bucer asked Luther what he disliked in their teaching, Luther answered das wir nicht ainerley gayst haben, that we do not have the same spirit. Zwingli’s side also asked, for God’s sake, to be regarded as brothers: wir solten sy für brüeder halten. The Lutherans refused.

A popular story says that Luther also refused to shake Zwingli’s hand. Osiander’s report does not mention a handshake.

Booed Staging, Cheered Singers

In July 2016 large parts of the audience at the Bayreuth Festival loudly booed Frank Castorf’s staging of Wagner’s Siegfried. On the same evening they cheered the singers frenetically. The conductor, Marek Janowski, received a Jubelsturm, a storm of cheers.

Six Parties Promise Not to Get Personal

Before the 2025 federal election, the SPD, CDU, CSU, Greens, FDP and Die Linke agreed on rules for a fair campaign. They wrote: Wir debattieren im Respekt voreinander, verzichten auf persönliche Herabwürdigungen. We debate with respect for one another and do without personal disparagement. The agreement also rules out attacks on the personal or professional circle of politicians. The BSW decided not to take part. The AfD was not asked.

The Elephant Round

On the evening of a federal election, the leaders of the parties meet on television. The program is known as the Elefantenrunde, the round of elephants. On 18 September 2005, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder used it to attack the moderators and his challenger. He told the moderators: Ihr intellektuelles Problem in allen Ehren. With all due respect to your intellectual problem. He asked whether anyone seriously believed that his party would accept an offer of talks from Angela Merkel in this situation, in dem sie sagt, sie möchte Bundeskanzlerin werden, in which she says she wants to be chancellor. Schröder later judged his own performance: War nicht gut, ich weiß. It wasn’t good, I know. On 22 November 2005, Angela Merkel was elected chancellor at the head of a coalition of her CDU/CSU and Schröder’s SPD.

The Friendship Survived the Printed Dispute

Max Born and Albert Einstein disagreed about how to interpret quantum mechanics, and they argued about it in print. Born commented on this when their letters were published in German in 1969. Auch diese im Druck niedergelegte Meinungsverschiedenheit hat die Freundschaft zwischen uns nicht im leisesten gestört. This difference of opinion, too, set down in print, did not disturb the friendship between us in the least. He added that Einstein had explicitly acknowledged the warm tone of his article.

Fought Long, and Neither Won

In July 1794 Goethe and Schiller left a meeting of the natural science society in Jena together. Goethe explained his idea of the Urpflanze, the original plant. Schiller answered: Das ist keine Erfahrung, das ist eine Idee. That is not an experience, that is an idea. Goethe replied that he could only be glad to have ideas without knowing it. Goethe later described the argument: so ward viel gekämpft und dann Stillstand gemacht … keiner von beiden konnte sich für den Sieger halten. There was much fighting and then a pause, and neither could consider himself the winner. From that conversation grew one of the best-known friendships in German literature. It lasted until Schiller’s death.