Die Anstalt is a political cabaret show on ZDF. Max Uthoff and Claus von Wagner have presented it since 2014. It is comedy. Even so, ZDF publishes Der Faktencheck zur Sendung, the fact check for the show, with its episodes. The aim is to support every statement in the show with sources that are named openly. The fact check for the episode of 11 November 2025, on the housing market, runs to about 33 pages. Most lines from the show are followed by an extract from a source and a link.
A Rent Increase Needs Reasons
A landlord who wants to raise the rent to the local level must give reasons. Section 558a of the Civil Code says the request must be made to the tenant in text form and must be justified. The law names the usual kinds of evidence. Among them are the local rent index, the Mietspiegel, a rent database, a reasoned opinion by a publicly appointed and sworn expert, and the rents of comparable flats. For the last, naming three flats is enough. A landlord who ends a lease because of his own legitimate interest must also state the reasons in the letter. Other reasons count only if they arose later.
The Unstatistic of the Month
Since 2012, a group of scholars has chosen a statistic from the media every month and examined how it was interpreted. They are the economist Thomas Bauer, the psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer and the statistician Walter Krämer, later joined by Katharina Schüller. They call it the Unstatistik des Monats, the unstatistic of the month. Its stated aim is a factual and reasonable handling of data and facts. In September 2026 it asked whether the gender pension gap is 36 percent or 24.2 percent. Both figures are in the media, it explained, both come from the Federal Statistical Office, and both are correct. They measure different things.
Parties Must Give Their Reasons
The Federal Agency for Civic Education has offered the Wahl-O-Mat since 2002. It compares a voter’s answers on a list of political statements with the answers of the parties. For the federal election of 2025 it had 38 statements. Each party could add a reason of up to 500 characters to each answer. Users can read these reasons on pages such as Begründungen zu den Thesen, reasons for the statements. The answers come directly from the parties.
The Referee Explains
On 2 February 2025, in a match between Leverkusen and Hoffenheim, referee Robin Braun made the first stadium announcement of a video review in the Bundesliga. “Die Szene wurde überprüft, nach Ansicht der Bilder war es Abseits, deshalb die Entscheidung: Kein Strafstoß, Abseits.” The scene was reviewed. After viewing the images, it was offside. Therefore the decision is no penalty, offside. ZDF reported that the main purpose was more transparency for spectators, for whom video reviews had often been “wenig nachvollziehbar,” hard to follow. After a trial in nine stadiums, the German Football Association extended the announcements to all stadiums of the first and second divisions for the 2025/26 season.
Write It as an Opinion, Not a Verdict
German law students learn to write exam answers in the Gutachtenstil, the style of an expert opinion. It has four steps. The answer opens with a hypothesis in the subjunctive, such as “P könnte einen Anspruch gegen B aus § 433 I BGB haben,” P could have a claim against B. Then comes the definition of the legal rule. Then each element of the definition is checked against the facts. Only at the end comes the result. A first-semester guide of the Leipzig law faculty states the difference from a court judgment in one line. “Im Urteil wird begründet, im Gutachten geschlussfolgert!” A judgment gives reasons for a result. An opinion arrives at the result by reasoning.
Reasons for Every Dismissal
Before every dismissal, an employer must hear the works council. Section 102 of the Works Constitution Act requires it, and the employer must tell the council the reasons for the dismissal. A dismissal made without this hearing is void.
The rule applies in companies that have a works council. There, a dismissal without stated reasons has no legal effect.
The Vocabulary of Reasons That Hold
nachvollziehbar
able to be followed and reconstructed
Das kann ich nachvollziehen.
I can follow that.
einleuchten
to make sense, literally to shine in, like light. Seine Argumente leuchten ihr ein. His arguments make sense to her.
schlüssig
consistent, logically closed
stichhaltig
sound. The Duden says it originally meant able to withstand a stab with a weapon. A sound argument withstands every counter-argument.
Wie kommst du darauf?
How did you arrive at that?
The Benefit Must Be Calculated So Others Can Follow
On 9 February 2010, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the basic welfare rates known as Hartz IV were incompatible with the constitution. Much of its reasoning concerned how the amounts had been reached. The legislature must set the benefit “nachvollziehbar auf der Grundlage verlässlicher Zahlen und schlüssiger Berechnungsverfahren.” That means in a way others can follow, on the basis of reliable figures and consistent methods of calculation. The rate for children had been set as a fixed reduction from the adult rate. According to the court, it rested on “einer freihändigen Setzung ohne empirische und methodische Fundierung,” a figure set freehand, without an empirical or methodical basis. Estimates made “ins Blaue hinein,” at random, are not a realistic calculation. The legislature had until 31 December 2010 to pass new rules.
The Specialist Conversation
For a trainee Fachinformatiker, an IT specialist, the project part of the final exam ends with a Fachgespräch, a specialist conversation. The training regulation of 28 February 2020 sets the format. The trainee presents a project done in the company where he trained. Then the examiners ask questions. The trainee must show that he can present the results to his audience and justify how he carried out the project. The presentation may last at most 15 minutes. Presentation and conversation together may last at most 30 minutes.