Schiller wrote Die Bürgschaft in the summer of 1798, and it was first published in the Musenalmanach of 1799. Möros is sentenced to death for plotting against the tyrant Dionys. He asks for three days to see his sister married, and his friend stays behind as his surety. On the way back, a flood, robbers and thirst delay him. A servant tells him to turn around and save his own life. He goes on, because the tyrant must not be able to boast daß der Freund dem Freunde gebrochen die Pflicht, that a friend broke his duty to a friend. He arrives as the execution begins and cries out: »Mich, Henker«, ruft er, »erwürget! / Da bin ich, für den er gebürget!« (Strangle me, executioner! Here I am, the one he stood surety for!) The tyrant gives in: Und die Treue, sie ist doch kein leerer Wahn. (Loyalty is not an empty illusion after all.)
A Promise Without a Signature
In the second study scene of Goethe’s Faust I, Mephisto asks Faust for ein paar Zeilen, a few lines in writing. Faust is offended that his word is not enough: Auch was Geschriebnes forderst du Pedant? / Hast du noch keinen Mann, nicht Manneswort gekannt? (You want something in writing too, you pedant? Have you never known a man, or a man’s word?) Then he asks the hard question himself: Rast nicht die Welt in allen Strömen fort, / Und mich soll ein Versprechen halten? (Does the world not rush on in every current, and a promise is meant to hold me?) A few lines later he answers it: Beglückt, wer Treue rein im Busen trägt, / Kein Opfer wird ihn je gereuen! (Happy is the one who carries loyalty pure in his heart. He will never regret any sacrifice.)
What You Promised, You Must Keep
In the Grimms’ fairy tale Der Froschkönig oder der eiserne Heinrich, a princess loses her golden ball in a well. A frog brings it back after she promises him her companionship. When the frog later knocks at the castle door, she shuts the door on him. Her father, the king, tells her: Was du versprochen hast, das mußt du auch halten; geh nur und mach ihm auf. (What you have promised, you must keep. Go and open the door for him.)
Contracts in Das Rheingold
Wagner’s Das Rheingold was first performed on 22 September 1869 at the court theater in Munich. In the second scene, Wotan wants to get out of paying the giants for Valhalla. The giant Fasolt warns him to keep faith with contracts. Then he tells him why: Was du bist, bist du nur durch Verträge (What you are, you are only through contracts). Wotan cannot break the agreement without damaging the basis of his own power.
An Animal That May Promise
Nietzsche opens the second essay of Zur Genealogie der Moral (1887) with a question: Ein Thier heranzüchten, das versprechen darf – ist das nicht gerade jene paradoxe Aufgabe selbst … (To breed an animal that is permitted to promise, is that not the paradoxical task itself?) He calls the ability to keep a promise ein eigentliches Gedächtniss des Willens, a true memory of the will.
Answering for the Consequences
On 28 January 1919, Max Weber gave a lecture in a Munich bookshop called Politik als Beruf, politics as a vocation. An expanded text was published in July 1919. In it he names the Verantwortungsethik, the ethic of responsibility. Under this ethic, daß man für die (voraussehbaren) Folgen seines Handelns aufzukommen hat: a person must answer for the foreseeable consequences of what he does.
Let Your Yes Be Yes
In the Luther Bible, Matthew 5:37 reads: Eure Rede aber sei: Ja, ja; nein, nein. Was darüber ist, das ist vom Bösen. (Let your speech be yes, yes, and no, no. Anything beyond this comes from evil.) The verse asks for no oath and no extra assurance.
Filing for Insolvency on Time
When a German corporation can no longer pay its debts, or its debts exceed its assets, its directors must file for insolvency ohne schuldhaftes Zögern, without culpable delay (§ 15a InsO). The latest deadline is three weeks after the company becomes unable to pay, and six weeks after it becomes over-indebted. A director who does not file, or files late, faces up to three years in prison or a fine. The offense has its own name, Insolvenzverschleppung, delaying insolvency. The uniform rule has existed since 1 November 2008.
Concerns in Writing
The standard German terms for construction contracts, the VOB/B, set out what a contractor must do with a doubt. If he has concerns about the planned method, the materials supplied or another firm’s work, he must tell the client unverzüglich – möglichst schon vor Beginn der Arbeiten – schriftlich: without delay, if possible before work begins, and in writing (§ 4(3)). This document is the Bedenkenanzeige. A contractor whose work is obstructed must also report it in writing without delay (§ 6(1)). If he does not, he can claim the obstruction later only if the client clearly knew about it anyway. The contractor must also prove that he gave notice.
Four Everyday Duties to Report
Four everyday rules use the same word, unverzüglich, without culpable delay.
An employee who is sick must tell the employer unverzüglich that he cannot work and how long he expects to be away. If the illness lasts more than three calendar days, he must present a doctor’s certificate on the next working day at the latest (§ 5 EntgFG).
A tenant who finds a defect in the apartment must report it to the landlord unverzüglich. A tenant who does not report it must pay for the damage that follows (§ 536c BGB).
An employee who notices an immediate, serious danger to safety and health, or a defect in a protective system, must report it unverzüglich to the employer or the responsible supervisor (§ 16 ArbSchG).
A student who misses an exam because of illness must hand in a withdrawal and a medical certificate unverzüglich. At the University of Duisburg-Essen, a withdrawal within three days of the missed exam, not counting Sundays and holidays, usually still counts as unverzüglich. If the reason is not accepted, the exam is graded nicht ausreichend (5,0), a fail.