The episode Loriot II, broadcast by Radio Bremen on 18 October 1976, included the sketch Zimmerverwüstung, room devastation. An attempt to straighten a crooked picture ends in chaos. Loriot himself was known for working with geradezu „preußischer“ Akribie und unermüdlichem Fleiß, almost “Prussian” meticulousness and tireless diligence. He is said to have worked on weekends and holidays too.
The Moose Test
On 21 October 1997 the new Mercedes A-Class tipped onto its side in an evasive maneuver test by the Swedish magazine Teknikens Värld. Daimler-Benz stopped sales, and production stopped on 11 November 1997. The company then fitted the electronic stability program ESP as standard equipment. It also retrofitted every car already built with ESP and a modified chassis.
Always Better
Carl Miele and Reinhard Zinkann founded Miele on 1 July 1899 in Herzebrock, Westphalia. The two founders wrote their brand promise, Immer besser, always better, on their first machines. The company still uses it. Miele says its washing machines are designed to last about 20 years.
The Apprentice’s Record Book
Every apprentice in a recognized training occupation must keep a written or electronic training record, the Ausbildungsnachweis. Most people call it the Berichtsheft. The duty is set out in § 13 of the Vocational Training Act. Under § 43, an apprentice is admitted to the final examination only after presenting the record. The craft tradition also gave German the word Meisterstück, master’s piece. It first meant the work a journeyman made for the master examination. Today it also means a masterly achievement in any field.
Grades for Diligence and Order
Kopfnoten are school grades for something other than performance in a subject. The school system of the GDR used four of them: Ordnung, orderliness, Mitarbeit, participation, Fleiß, diligence, and Betragen, conduct. Saxony plans to keep its Kopfnoten after its 2024 school reform. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania also gives them. Hesse and Lower Saxony grade Arbeitsverhalten, work habits, and Sozialverhalten, social behavior.
Care Before Speed
In December 2020, Klaus Reinhardt, president of the German Medical Association, said that a review period of four weeks for a Covid vaccine was too long. A spokesperson for the Federal Ministry of Health answered that the care and reliability of the vaccine had oberste Priorität, top priority. The headline in the Deutsches Ärzteblatt on 4 December 2020 was Bei Impfstoffzulassung gilt Sorgfalt vor Schnelligkeit. In vaccine approval, care comes before speed.
Hazard Assessment
Under § 5 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, every employer must assess the hazards that the work brings for employees. The assessment decides which protective measures are needed. It is the Gefährdungsbeurteilung. A survey of the joint German occupational safety strategy found that the share of firms with such an assessment rose from 52 percent in 2015 to 68 percent in 2023/24. About a third of firms still have none.
Care in the Name of the Law
The Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz, the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act, took effect on 1 January 2023. The word Sorgfalt, care, is in its name. The law obliges large companies to observe due diligence duties in angemessener Weise, in an appropriate manner. On 1 January 2024 the threshold fell to companies with 1,000 employees. In September 2025, the federal cabinet approved a draft amendment. Under the draft, the annual reporting duty would be dropped, and fines would apply only to serious violations. The basic duties of care would remain. On 14 January 2026 the Bundestag debated the draft for the first time and sent it to its committees.
The New Germany Pace
On 17 December 2022, Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke at the opening of the first LNG terminal, in Wilhelmshaven. It had taken fewer than 200 days from planning to operation. Scholz called this das neue Deutschland-Tempo, the new Germany pace. He added: Das ist neuer Weltrekord. “That is a new world record.”