The sleeping pill Contergan was sold in Germany from 1 October 1957 to 27 November 1961. Under the drug law of the time, a manufacturer only had to register a new medicine. In 1961 the Hamburg doctor Widukind Lenz and others linked Contergan to severe malformations in newborn children. Other sources speak of about 4,000 affected children in Germany. After the scandal, Germany rewrote its drug law. The new law came into force at the start of 1978. Since then a medicine may be approved only after proof of its quality, its efficacy and its safety. The manufacturer, Grünenthal, apologized only in August 2012, at the unveiling of a memorial in its home town of Stolberg. Its managing director Harald Stock asked forgiveness that for 50 years the company had not found its way to the victims von Mensch zu Mensch, from person to person. Stattdessen haben wir geschwiegen. (Instead, we kept silent.) Victims’ associations criticized that the apology spoke only about the company’s lack of communication.
The Wheel That Never Came Back
At the end of 1991 the board of the Deutsche Bundesbahn decided to test rubber-sprung wheels under seven dining cars of the ICE high-speed train. Passengers had complained about rattling dishes and wandernde Gläser, wandering glasses. In October 1992 the board was asked to introduce the new wheels across the whole ICE fleet. On 3 June 1998, near Eschede on the line from Hanover to Hamburg, the tire of one of these wheels broke at about 200 kilometers per hour. Metal fatigue set off a chain of events, and 101 people died. Three days later the railway took all ICE 1 trains out of service and ran them again only after ultrasound checks of every wheel. The Federal Railway Authority ordered all of about 2,880 rubber-sprung wheel sets replaced. Two railway officials and an engineer of the tire manufacturer were charged with not testing the wheels enough. German Wikipedia notes that Deutsche Bahn has not reintroduced the rubber-sprung wheels, trotz ihrer technischen Vorteile, despite their technical advantages.
Words for the Long View
Weitsicht, Weitblick — far sight, far view. Both are praise for a person who decides.
kurzsichtig — short-sighted. It is said of a decision or a policy as often as of eyes.
Strohfeuer — a straw fire. It burns brightly and goes out at once. The word describes a success or an enthusiasm with no lasting effect.
Planungssicherheit — planning certainty. Businesses, schools and public bodies ask for it, and governments promise it.
Nach mir die Sintflut — after me, the flood. It describes a person who acts without regard for what comes later. The French original, après nous le déluge, is usually attributed to Madame de Pompadour, but the attribution is not proven.
An Empire for His Descendants
On 25 December 1887, Werner von Siemens wrote a letter to his brother Carl. The Siemens Historical Institute calls it the most important of his many letters. Siemens wrote that he saw the business only secondarily as a financial asset. For him it was ein Reich welches ich gegründet habe, an empire that he had founded. He wanted to hand it on undiminished to his descendants, so that they could continue to build in it. As early as 1863, he had written to Carl about founding eine dauernde Firma, a lasting firm.
Owned So It Cannot Be Sold
On 19 May 1889, Ernst Abbe founded the Carl Zeiss Foundation. In 1891 it became the owner of the optical company Zeiss and of part of the glassworks Schott. Abbe wanted to secure the companies for the long term. The foundation’s statute today says that the two companies are to be continued permanently. The foundation’s shares in them dürfen nicht veräußert werden, may not be sold, except to avert a threat to a company’s existence or if the foundation is dissolved.
Bosch is built in a similar way. The Robert Bosch Foundation holds about 94 percent of the capital of Robert Bosch GmbH, but has no influence on strategy. A trust company, Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG, holds about 93 percent of the voting rights. Its task is to safeguard the company’s long-term existence and in particular its financial independence.
Fit for the Grandchildren
Franz Haniel & Cie. has had its headquarters in Duisburg-Ruhrort since it was founded in 1756, and it is still entirely owned by the family. The company sums up its guiding principle in one word: enkelfähig, fit for the grandchildren. In its own history, the company explains the word as creating economic value and strengthening social fairness, so that later generations have comparable opportunities. Its company magazine carries the same name.
Safe for One Million Years
Germany is searching for a site to store its high-level radioactive waste. The Site Selection Act of 2017 requires the site to ensure the best possible safety für einen Zeitraum von einer Million Jahren, for a period of one million years. The money for storage has been set aside. On 3 July 2017, the energy companies paid a total of 24.1 billion euros into a state fund, KENFO, to finance interim and final storage. The schedule has not held. The law aims to fix the site in 2031. In August 2024, a study for the federal office for the safety of nuclear waste management found that, even under ideal conditions, a decision could be expected in 2074 at the earliest.
The Hundred-Year Flood, Plus Fifteen Percent
German flood protection is planned around a defined flood, the HQ100. It is a flood that occurs at a given place statistically once in a hundred years. Under the Water Resources Act, the states must designate by regulation the areas such a flood would cover. In 2004, Bavaria introduced a Klimaänderungszuschlag, a climate change surcharge, for planning flood defenses. It is a flat 15 percent added to the HQ100.
Hamburg After 1962
On the night of 16 to 17 February 1962, a storm surge reached 5.70 meters above standard sea level at the St. Pauli gauge in Hamburg. Dikes broke in more than 60 places, and about a sixth of the city was flooded. In Hamburg, 315 people died. More than 40,000 soldiers of the Bundeswehr were deployed, although the constitution did not provide for the armed forces to act at home. The police senator, Helmut Schmidt, had asked for them. Afterwards, the dikes in the Hamburg area were raised to at least eight meters above sea level. In 1976, the water rose much higher than in 1962. There were losses in the port, but the city itself suffered no significant losses.
West Berlin’s Secret Stores
After the Berlin Blockade of 1948 to 1949, the three Western city commandants ordered West Berlin in 1950 to keep stocks, the Senatsreserve. The goal was to keep normal life going for at least 180 days in case of a new blockade. The reserve held staple foods, medicine, coal, fuel, raw materials and everyday goods, among them 189,000 tonnes of grain and four million light bulbs. At one point there were more than 700 storage sites, most of them secret. The goods were rotated, and old stock was sold cheaply to Berliners. The reserve was dissolved in 1990.