In the Bundeswehr, soldiers elect a Vertrauensperson, a person of trust, to represent them. Before a disciplinary superior decides on certain personnel measures, he is to hear this representative, unless the soldier concerned expressly refuses it. The law adds two sentences that turn a formality into an obligation: Das Ergebnis der Anhörung ist in die Personalentscheidung einzubeziehen. Über die Anhörung ist ein Protokoll anzufertigen, das zu den Akten zu nehmen ist. (The result of the hearing must be included in the personnel decision. Minutes must be taken of the hearing and placed on file.)
Over People’s Heads
Betroffene zu Beteiligten machen — make those affected into participants. It is a familiar rule of German change management. A podcast of the Bundeswehr’s staff college calls it a very frequently quoted sentence.
Jemanden ins Boot holen — to bring someone into the boat.
Mitspracherecht — the right to have a say.
Einen runden Tisch einberufen — to call a round table, so that all sides of a conflict sit down together.
Über die Köpfe hinweg entscheiden — to decide over people’s heads.
Jemanden vor vollendete Tatsachen stellen — to present someone with completed facts. Duden explains it as confronting someone with a situation created on one’s own authority.
Basta-Politik — politics by basta, that’s final. It is never praise.
Wutbürger — the enraged citizen. The Society for the German Language chose it as word of the year 2010, during the protests against the Stuttgart 21 rail project. It explained that the word expressed people’s outrage dass politische Entscheidungen über ihren Kopf hinweg getroffen werden, that political decisions are made over their heads.