The German version of Sesame Street, the Sesamstraße, first aired on 8 January 1973. Its theme song, by Ingfried Hoffmann and Volker Ludwig, is a string of question words that ends with a rule: Wer nicht fragt, bleibt dumm! “Who doesn’t ask stays dumb!” Since 2012 the song has been sung by Lena Meyer-Landrut. When the program turned fifty, the magazine prisma used the line as its headline.
Why? What For? How Come?
Wieso? Weshalb? Warum?, “Why? What for? How come?”, is a series of children’s nonfiction books from the publisher Ravensburger. The books answer children’s questions. The series started in 1998. By the publisher’s account it is the most successful children’s nonfiction series in the German-speaking world. By 2018, almost 35 million copies had been sold in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Ignorance Is No Defense
Unwissenheit schützt vor Strafe nicht. “Ignorance does not protect from punishment.” Germans use the saying in everyday life, and it is also a principle of criminal law. Section 17 of the Criminal Code allows only one exception. A person who did not know that an act was illegal acts without guilt only if the mistake could not be avoided. If there was any doubt, the person had a duty to find out, and in complex matters may be expected to ask a lawyer.
On the Notice Board
German employers must make certain laws available at work. The Working Hours Act requires them to lay out or post a copy of the act zur Einsichtnahme, for inspection, at a suitable place in the company. The General Equal Treatment Act must be made known in the same way, together with the office that receives complaints. The employer delivers the text to the notice board or the intranet. Reading it is up to the employee.
Pay Information on Request
The Pay Transparency Act, in force since July 2017, gives employees in Germany the right to find out what colleagues of the other sex earn for similar work. The information is not given automatically. The employee must ask for it in writing, and the right applies only in establishments with more than 200 employees. Surveys in 2018 and 2022 both found that about four percent of employees had made such a request.
An EU directive of 2023 moves this obligation to the employer. Employers must tell staff about the right every year and state pay ranges when they hire. The member states had until 7 June 2026 to adopt it. As of September 2026, Germany had not yet passed the law to implement it.
Government Files on Application
Since 1 January 2006, the federal Freedom of Information Act has given everyone a right of access to the official information of federal authorities. Access comes through an application. The authority decides on it. Two states, Bavaria and Lower Saxony, have no freedom of information law of their own. In early July 2026 the coalition committee of the governing parties agreed to limit who may make a request under the federal act. Johannes Schätzl, the responsible member of parliament for the SPD, one of the governing parties, called the decision a de facto abolition of the law. As of late September 2026, the government had not yet presented a draft bill.
Your Own Stasi File
The Stasi, East Germany’s secret police, kept about six million files on individuals. Since January 1992, anyone can find out whether a file was kept on them and read it. The archive does not contact them. They must apply, with proof of identity. By the end of 2025, citizens had filed 3,499,663 applications. In 2025 alone, 31,120 people applied.
The Vocabulary of Fetching Information
sich erkundigen — to inquire, to go and find out
sich kundig machen — to make oneself knowledgeable
nachfragen — to ask again, to follow up with a question
in die Sprechstunde gehen — to go to someone’s office hours. Professors, doctors and class teachers hold a Sprechstunde, and the person with the question goes to them. A Duden example: zur Klassenlehrerin in die Sprechstunde gehen, to go to the class teacher’s office hour.
die Holschuld — the legal term for a debt that the creditor must collect. Duden gives a figurative example: Die Anleger haben eine Holschuld … und müssen sich dementsprechend informieren. “Investors have a duty to fetch and must inform themselves accordingly.”
Benefits on Application
German social insurance pays most benefits only when someone applies. The Social Code says so for health, pension, unemployment and long-term care insurance: benefits werden auf Antrag erbracht, are provided on application. Everyone has a right to advice. But the citizen must first know that a benefit exists, then ask for it.
In 2019 the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) estimated that about 60 percent of older people entitled to basic income support did not claim it. That is about 625,000 households. The institute named shame and lack of knowledge among the reasons.
From Fetch to Bring
In 2024 the federal family minister, Lisa Paus, defended her plan for a basic child allowance, the Kindergrundsicherung. The benefits were meant to reach families they had not reached before. She said the aim was to move von der Holschuld der Bürger zur Bringschuld des Staates, from the citizen’s duty to fetch to the state’s duty to bring. The plan failed within the governing coalition because of resistance from the FDP.