The Historikerstreit (Historians’ Dispute) of the 1980s. This major public debate among German historians centered on how to interpret and assign responsibility for the Holocaust and National Socialism. Two main camps—intentionalists (who argued for planned intent behind Nazi crimes) and functionalists (who emphasized structural and circumstantial factors)—relied heavily on documentary evidence, archival research, and systematic analysis to reconstruct the causes of these events. The dispute exemplified Germany’s insistence on rigorous, evidence-based inquiry and the search for historical truth, even in highly politicized contexts.
Cost-benefit relationship
Langlebig. Long lasting, to work over many years; effective over a long period of time; functional, usable over an extended period of time.
Germans prefer products which last a long time, rarely need repair or replacement, and pay for themselves several times over. The unstable economic times of the 20th century have taught the Germans to calculate precisely and carefully the relation between investment and use.
Residential homes and automobiles in Germany, for example, are much more expensive than in other countries. On the other hand they are often of higher quality, meet higher standards. The Germans will pay more, however, for many other kinds of products, such as furniture, household appliances, tools, and clothing.
Many well-known, but expensive brands continue to command customer loyalty. They are of high quality and solid durability. They offer a sense of security to the German consumer.
Although Germans in general like the newest in technology, they are bothered by the fact that many electronics – computers, television sets, mobile phones – are improved upon in ever shorter product development cycles. In those cases it is rarely worth it to invest in expensive models.
Durability, reliability, and quality are product attributes not easily distinguishable. Durability is a question of how long a product lasts. Reliability is about how well it performs. And quality is a general term encompassing many product attributes, but focused primarly on craftsmanship.
Wunderwerk
“Buy yourself a flatscreen tv!” was the advice given by one German graduate student to the other, after the latter struggled to carry his old television – Röhrenfernseher or cathode ray tube television – up several flights of stairs to his new, smallish, apartment. The old tv is, indeed, just that. Twenty years. It belonged to his grandmother, then to his parents.
This Wunderwerk deutscher Ingenieurskunst – wonder work of German engineering – a term once used ironically by a tv repairman – was built by a renowned German electronics company. Siemens. It continues to work flawlessly.
When the Röhrenfernseher – literally tube far see-er – some day gives up the ghost, it will be replaced by a flatscreen tv. But because the age-old German belief in not throwing anything out which still works applies to this truly durable German household appliance, it could see a few more schweißtreibende Umzüge – sweat-inducing apartment moves.
Crazy Germans!
When German engineers are bored
Engineering in Germany is prestigious. As a field of study it ranks among the most respected. Germany‘s economy, its sophisticated technical products, rely on an abundance of first-class engineers. More than 20% of all first-year university students major in a technical field.
No other European country has a higher percentage of engineers among the workforce than Germany. Nonetheless, industry and the media constantly warn of decreasing numbers of Germans willing to enter the engineering profession.
In order to attract more women to the engineering sciences, German schools and universities organize so-called Girls Day, hoping to fascinate young women with the prospects of a technical career. Engineers begin their careers with a yearly salary of roughly 45,000 Euros. Graduates in the humanities, in contrast, earn about 31,000 Euros per year.
Made in Germany
England in 1887 required all products imported from Germany to be labeled „Made in Germany.“ At the time German products were considered to be of substandard quality. Germany was a late-comer to the industrial revolution, much later than England. A famous German engineer admitted that German products were “cheap and nasty.”
Many were enraged, but it led to a national discussion and a quality offensive. At the beginning of the 20th Century, and especially in the post-World War II era, „Made in Germany“ took on a new meaning: high quality, newest technology. It became synonymous with West Germany‘s economic miracle of the 1950s.
The Germans recognized the importance of such a label, of the reputation of their products. They became particularly proud of their technical and economic achievements. Germans continue to view their products as having high quality, often as being the best in the world. From the early 1980s until recently Germany was the world‘s leading exporter.
The label “Made in Germany” is used less today than in the past, however. A minimum amount of a product’s parts must be produced in Germany before it can boast “Made in Germany.”
Modern German industrial and technology companies, however, have segmented their supply chains to include manufacturing sites and suppliers in many parts of the world. Nonetheless, the label “Made in Germany” remains a key, positive element in the self-understanding of every German.
Knowledge Society
Because Germany has few natural resources, its economy has had to produce high quality, high technology products and services.
In politics, economics and the media the Germans stress time and again the importance of maintaining a knowledge society, of education as its key resource. Germany‘s high standard of living, its high level of social welfare services, can only be financed if it can continue to develop and market high margin goods and services. The Germans stress, therefore, the need to produce generations of scientists and engineers.
There is consensus across the country on this point. Every chancellor, state governor, head of a major German company stresses time and again how critical it is to stay on the cutting edge of science, engineering, technology. Germany sees itself as the land of ideas, recognizes that its future depends on it producing breakthrough ideas.
Good old watering can
Gardena is located in Ulm, Germany. With approximately 420 million Euros in yearly revenues it is Europe’s leading maker of gardening tools. Owned by the Swedish Husqvarna-Group, Gardena was founded in 1961 by Eberhard Kastner und Werner Kress.
One of Gardena’s products is the Micro-Drip-System. The Gardena website says: “Water your yard the intelligent way!” Watering manually is hard work and it leads to “uneven results.”
The Micro-Drip-System is a great relief, “because you only need to turn on the water (faucet, spigot) or to give the command into the system’s on-board computer.”
“The system does the rest of the work itself.” Instead of watering too much or too little, the grass and plants get just the amount they need as determined by sensors which measure humidity and rainfall.
Gardena tools are so intelligent that they can decide themselves how much water is necessary for even and uniform growth. This also saves water.
Of course, the question remains if the proud homeowner would not prefer to demonstrate his or her gardening expertise by using the good old watering can.
Mechanicians. Musicians. Metaphysicians.
“The Yankees, the first mechanicians in the world, are engineers – just as the Italians are musicians and the Germans metaphysicians – by right of birth. Nothing is more natural, therefore, than to perceive them applying their audacious ingenuity to the science of gunnery.” Jules Verne
Does Verne mean with gunnery the making of weapons? And does he mean with them the Yankees (Americans) or the Germans?
Verne (1828–1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwrite best known for is adventure novels and his great influence on the literary genre of science fiction.
Warranty, guaranty not the same
Two-year warranty: Set by law in Germany allowing customers to return a defective product. The seller is obligated to either repair or replace the product.
Garantie. Guaranty. The promise, security that something is correct, right, works; a promise by the maker of a product that it functions as advertized; a contractual promise.
Worst Case Scenario. An English phrase used in Germany. The German consumer expects a product to always work as advertised, last long, meet fully their expectations.
German consumers often confuse warranty and guaranty, believing that they can return the product for repair or replacement during the two-year period regardless of the cause of the defect. The law, however, requires the maker/seller of the product to repair or replace a product based only on defects at the time of purchase. Misuse of the product or normal wear and tear are not covered.
If for example a television does not work perfectly after a year, the German consumer typically will return it to the store and demand repair, replacement or their money back. The retailer, however, is permitted to repair the product as often as he chooses without obligation to return the purchase price. Nor is the retailer obligated to supply a replacement product during the time of repair.
The mere returning of a product angers the German consumer. They expect near 100% reliability. Good customer service – friendly, fast, uncomplicated – can help things, but is seldom seen by the German consumer as an excuse for a technical defect. If the problems reoccur, the German consumer will quickly switch to a competitive product. Good technical service is best when it‘s not needed.
Very proud of their automobiles
German cars vs. American cars. Germans are very proud of their automobiles.
Comments in YouTube: “Telling Germans how to make cars is like telling Italians how to make pizza.” … “To anyone saying that we Germans don‘t have any humour: We do actually! We laugh at French and American cars!”
“German: Uses the most advanced tech known to mankind to build the fastest, safest and over all best cars ever. American: slaps wheels and v8 on coffin.” … “Built in USA: Can do cool stunts in Hollywood movies. Built in Germany: Can do the same but on a real autobahn.”