On 7 November 2009, the Süddeutsche Zeitung published an interview with the Bayern Munich defender Philipp Lahm that the club had not approved. Lahm criticized the quality of the squad, the transfer policy and the lack of a clear philosophy: Man darf Spieler nicht einfach kaufen, weil sie gut sind. (You cannot simply buy players because they are good.) Two days later, Lahm met the board. He apologized for the way he had done it and for the tone, and he accepted a fine. The club’s statement said that Lahm has accepted that it would have been better to express his opinion directly to the board. Lahm later revealed in his book that the fine was 50,000 euros.
A Culture of Arguing With the Boss
In September 2015, after the emissions scandal broke at Volkswagen, the head of the works council, Bernd Osterloh, wrote to the company’s employees. He demanded a fundamental change: Wir brauchen für die Zukunft ein Klima, in dem Probleme nicht versteckt, sondern offen an Vorgesetzte kommuniziert werden. (In future we need a climate in which problems are not hidden but communicated openly to superiors.) And: Wir brauchen eine Kultur, in der man mit seinem Vorgesetzten um den besten Weg streiten kann und darf. (We need a culture in which people can and may argue with their superior about the best way.) In 2011, a VW technician had warned the head of engine development about illegal practices. An internal audit later left open why that warning had no consequences.
The Göttingen Eighteen
On 5 April 1957, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer told the press that tactical nuclear weapons were only a Weiterentwicklung der Artillerie, a further development of artillery. A week later, on 12 April, eighteen nuclear scientists published a declaration. Among them were the Nobel laureates Otto Hahn, Max Born and Werner Heisenberg. It began: Die Pläne einer atomaren Bewaffnung der Bundeswehr erfüllen die unterzeichnenden Atomforscher mit tiefer Sorge. (The plans to arm the Bundeswehr with nuclear weapons fill the undersigned nuclear researchers with deep concern.) They explained why they spoke: Deshalb können wir nicht zu allen politischen Fragen schweigen. (That is why we cannot stay silent on all political questions.) None of them, they wrote, would take part in making, testing or using nuclear weapons. Adenauer was outraged and rejected the scientists’ interference in politics. He met them on 17 April. The German Wikipedia states that public pressure led Adenauer to give in, and that the Federal Republic renounced nuclear weapons.
The Vocabulary of Concerns
Bedenken äußern — to voice concerns. German also says Bedenken erheben, geltend machen or anmelden: to raise, assert or register them, as one registers a claim.
Zu bedenken geben — to give someone something to consider. It is the polite way to put a concern on the table.
Bedenken ausräumen — to clear concerns away. It is the job of the person who wants the change.
Bedenkenträger — a carrier of concerns. The dictionary DWDS defines him as someone who has concerns, often exaggerated ones, about a plan or an innovation, and marks the word as often pejorative.
Wer schweigt, stimmt zu — whoever stays silent agrees.
Dissent on the Record
Since 21 December 1970, a judge of the Federal Constitutional Court may publish the dissenting opinion he or she held in the deliberations. This Sondervotum, separate opinion, is printed with the decision. When it was introduced, it was very controversial, because many feared the court would lose authority. In practice it stays rare. Of 1,714 decisions in volumes 30 to 101 of the court’s official reports, 108 carried a separate opinion. The council of economic experts that advises the federal government, the Wirtschaftsweisen, has the same rule by law. A minority with a different view may state it in the report. Peter Bofinger, a member from 2004 to 2019, often disagreed with his colleagues and wrote minority opinions in several reports. In 2017, he wrote: Im Rat der fünf Wirtschaftsweisen gibt es zu viel Konformismus und zu wenig Minderheitsvoten. (In the council of the five economic sages there is too much conformity and too few minority opinions.)
The Warning App That Changed Course
In April 2020, the federal government and the state premiers backed a design for the German coronavirus warning app that would store contact data centrally. On 24 April 2020, the Chaos Computer Club, the German Informatics Society and other organizations published an open letter to the government: Das von Ihnen präferierte Konzept für die App ist nicht der richtige Weg. (The concept you prefer for the app is not the right way.) In the night to 26 April, the government gave in. That morning it said it now preferred a decentralized approach, with contacts stored only on the phones. Linus Neumann, one of the Chaos Computer Club’s spokespeople, called it a sehr gute Entscheidung, a very good decision. The source code was published openly in May. The app was released on 16 June 2020, and it had 6.5 million downloads by the next day.
The Voting Computers
In the 2005 Bundestag election, voting computers were used in some constituencies. Two complaints were filed against the election. On 5 October 2006, the Chaos Computer Club and a Dutch group showed on Dutch television that the same type of machine could be manipulated without anyone noticing. The club examined the devices for the Federal Constitutional Court and published its report in June 2007. On 3 March 2009, the court ruled that the federal regulation on voting machines was unconstitutional. Because elections are public, the court said, the essential steps of voting and counting must be open to checking by citizens zuverlässig und ohne besondere Sachkenntnis, reliably and without special expert knowledge. The 2005 election was not repeated, because there was no sign of error or manipulation.
Words for saying it plainly
Klartext reden — to speak plain text. Klartext is also a message that is not encrypted, so that anyone can read it.
Tacheles reden — to talk tachles, a word that came into German from Yiddish. Duden defines it as saying your opinion openly, without false consideration.
Butter bei die Fische! — butter with the fish! It is a regional call to stop holding back and settle the matter now.
Ross und Reiter nennen — to name the horse and the rider. You say openly whom and what you mean.
Um den heißen Brei herumreden — to talk around the hot porridge. It is a complaint about someone who does not dare to raise the real point.
Das geht gar nicht — that does not work at all. It is the everyday verdict on something that is plainly unacceptable.
Spying among friends
In October 2013, reports said that the American intelligence service NSA had spied on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone. On 24 October, arriving at an EU summit in Brussels, she gave her comment about the United States: Ausspähen unter Freunden – das geht gar nicht. Spying among friends is simply not acceptable.
The jolt speech
On 26 April 1997, Federal President Roman Herzog spoke at the Hotel Adlon in Berlin. He listed the country’s problems without softening them: der Verlust wirtschaftlicher Dynamik, die Erstarrung der Gesellschaft, eine unglaubliche mentale Depression. The loss of economic dynamism, a rigid society, an incredible mental depression. He said that discouragement prevailed, and he gave the number of unemployed as 4.3 million. Then he said what had to happen: Durch Deutschland muss ein Ruck gehen. A jolt must go through Germany. The speech has been known ever since as the Ruck-Rede, the jolt speech.