Role Archives - understand-culture

Four in Ten Volunteer

Since 1999 the German government has measured volunteering every five years in the Freiwilligensurvey. The fifth survey asked 27,762 people aged 14 and over. In 2019, 39.7 percent of them did voluntary work. That is about 28.8 million people. In 1999 the share had been 30.9 percent. People aged 30 to 49 are the most active, at 44.7 percent. Sport and exercise is the largest field, at 13.5 percent.

The federal family ministry presented the results on 18 March 2021. Its press release says: Der Anteil der freiwillig Engagierten in Deutschland ist weiterhin hoch. The share of volunteers in Germany remains high.

From Service Point to DB Information

In December 1994 Deutsche Bahn opened information desks called Service Point at 28 German stations. By 2008 there were more than 90 of them. Then the Bavarian CSU member of parliament Ernst Hinsken objected to the English sign Kiss & Ride for a short-stay parking zone at the station in Straubing.

DB’s chief executive Rüdiger Grube answered him in a letter. He promised to use fewer English terms. The Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on the letter on 16 February 2010. The railway would stop calling its leaflets Flyer and its customer phone line a Hotline. Brand names such as BahnCard would stay. In June 2011 DB began to rename the Service Points DB Information. The old English name stayed on the signs in small letters under the new one.

Words for Counsel

mit Rat und Tat
With counsel and deed. Duden explains it as with advice and practical help. Jemandem mit Rat und Tat zur Seite stehen. To stand by someone with advice and help.

jemanden zu Rate ziehen
To draw someone into counsel. To ask someone for advice. Duden’s example is einen Fachmann zu Rate ziehen, to consult an expert.

mit sich zu Rate gehen
To go into counsel with oneself. To think a problem through carefully.

Da ist guter Rat teuer.
Good counsel is expensive here. Duden explains it as a very difficult situation.

sich keinen Rat mehr wissen
To know no more counsel. To see no way out of a difficult situation.

The Pharmacist Must Ask

Section 20 of the German Pharmacy Operations Ordinance requires pharmacies to inform and advise customers about medicines. This is the pharmacist’s duty. Other trained staff may take it over only if the pharmacy manager has set this down in writing or electronically.

When a pharmacy hands over a medicine, it must ask. The rule says it must find out inwieweit dieser gegebenenfalls weiteren Informations- und Beratungsbedarf hat, whether the customer may need more information and advice, and offer that advice. For medicines bought without a prescription, there is a second check. The pharmacy must find out whether the medicine zur Anwendung bei der vorgesehenen Person geeignet erscheint, appears suitable for the person who will use it. It must also say when that person should see a doctor.

In 2018 the science program Quarks tested how well pharmacies give this advice.

Advice Before the Insurance Policy

Before a German insurance contract is signed, the insurer must ask and advise. Section 6 of the Insurance Contract Act says that the insurer must question the customer nach seinen Wünschen und Bedürfnissen, about his wishes and needs. It must advise him. It must also state die Gründe für jeden zu einer bestimmten Versicherung erteilten Rat, the reasons for each piece of advice about a particular insurance. How much advice is needed depends on how hard the product is to judge and on the customer and his situation. The effort should also be in reasonable proportion to the premium.

The duty continues during the contract when the insurer can see a reason to ask. A customer can give up the advice only in a separate written declaration. The insurer must warn him that this can weaken a later claim for damages. An insurer that breaks the duty must pay for the damage, unless it is not at fault.

The Bond Ruling

In March 1989 a married couple sat down with an adviser at their Volksbank. They had been customers for more than 20 years. Their savings of about 55,000 marks were in safe products such as fixed deposits and federal savings bonds. A bonus savings contract of 20,000 marks had just matured. The adviser showed them a list from the bank’s own program. On 16 March 1989 they bought 20,000 marks’ worth of bonds of Bond-Finance Ltd., a company of the Australian Alan Bond group. A rating agency had already downgraded the bond to B. It became practically worthless.

On 6 July 1993 the Federal Court of Justice ruled for the couple (XI ZR 12/93). No one had signed an advice contract. The court found that one existed anyway. The bank had accepted it stillschweigend durch die Aufnahme des Beratungsgesprächs, tacitly, by starting the advice meeting. The advice had to be anlegergerecht, suited to the investor, and the product had to suit him as well. German lawyers call the case the Bondurteil, the Bond ruling.

The End of the Servant Laws

For a long time German household servants and farm hands lived under special laws, the Gesindeordnungen. In Prussia a royal decree of 29 September 1846 introduced the Gesindedienstbuch, the servant’s service book. A servant who changed employers had to buy the book from the police for 10 Silbergroschen. He had to show it to each new employer. A servant who refused could be dismissed, fined up to 2 Reichstaler or jailed. When he left, the employer wrote into the book ein vollständiges Zeugnis über die Führung und das Benehmen, a complete report on his conduct and behavior. A book issued on 17 November 1858, now in a district archive in Saxony-Anhalt, shows that its holder worked four times as a maid.

On 12 November 1918 the revolutionary government, the Rat der Volksbeauftragten, published an appeal to the German people. One point read: Die Gesindeordnungen werden außer Kraft gesetzt, ebenso die Ausnahmegesetze gegen die Landarbeiter. The servant laws are repealed, and so are the special laws against farm workers.

The Bow Called a Servant

Duden lists four meanings for Diener. The first is a man who works for pay in a private household. Duden’s example is ein livrierter Diener bediente die Gäste, a servant in livery served the guests. A stummer Diener, a silent servant, is a serving table.

The second and third meanings are marked as elevated language. A Diener can hold a public office, as in ein Diener der Kirche, des Staates, a servant of the church, of the state. He can also place himself freely under a cause and work for it, as in ein Diener der Wissenschaft, der Kunst, a servant of science, of art.

The fourth meaning is a bow, especially by boys. Einen Diener machen means to bow when greeting someone. Duden marks this meaning as veraltend, going out of use. It traces the bow to the old polite formula gehorsamster Diener!, most obedient servant.

We. Serve. Germany.

In summer 2011 the Bundeswehr started a large recruitment campaign. Its motto was Wir. Dienen. Deutschland. We. Serve. Germany. Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière had presented the slogan in an interview with the newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

In March 2013 the Schwäbische Zeitung reported on a panel with de Maizière and Archbishop Robert Zollitsch. The paper wrote that the word dienen sounds old-fashioned and suggests servility. De Maizière gave his own definition. Dienen ist der Einsatz für andere. To serve is to commit oneself for others.

The word is also part of the oath in Section 9 of the Soldiers Act. Ich schwöre, der Bundesrepublik Deutschland treu zu dienen und das Recht und die Freiheit des deutschen Volkes tapfer zu verteidigen, so wahr mir Gott helfe. I swear to serve the Federal Republic of Germany faithfully and to defend bravely the rights and the freedom of the German people, so help me God. The religious ending is optional.

On its 66th anniversary in November 2021, the Bundeswehr published a video under the same motto.

Servants of the Whole People

Section 60 of the Federal Civil Service Act lists the basic duties of a German civil servant. It begins with one sentence. Beamtinnen und Beamte dienen dem ganzen Volk, nicht einer Partei. Civil servants serve the whole people, not a party. The next sentence explains what this means. Sie haben ihre Aufgaben unparteiisch und gerecht zu erfüllen und ihr Amt zum Wohl der Allgemeinheit zu führen. They must carry out their tasks impartially and fairly, and they must conduct their office for the good of the general public.

The idea is older than the Federal Republic. Article 130 of the Weimar Constitution of 1919 said: Die Beamten sind Diener der Gesamtheit, nicht einer Partei. Civil servants are servants of the whole, not of a party.