In 1908 the sociologist Georg Simmel published a long chapter on the secret in his book Soziologie. He described an ideal sphere around every person. The further a person stands from the center of our personality, he wrote, the more easily we accept that they do not tell us the truth. Of an acquaintance, Simmel said that he knows that we are, not what we are. Die Kenntnis des »Daß«, nicht des »Was« der Persönlichkeit bedingt die »Bekanntschaft«. He defined discretion as the sense of what is right toward the sphere of another person’s immediate life.
The Teachers’ Room
In the film Das Lehrerzimmer, The Teachers’ Lounge, by İlker Çatak, a young teacher tries to solve a series of thefts at her school. She secretly films the staffroom. The matter moves outward, to the parents, the pupils and the school newspaper. An interview she gives to the school newspaper is printed out of context. The film won five German Film Awards in 2023, including Best Film, and was nominated for the Oscar for best international feature film in 2024.
Street View
Google launched Street View in twenty German cities in November 2010. Before the launch, residents could ask Google to blur their house. Google received 244,237 such requests, equal to 2.89 percent of households in the twenty cities. For about twelve years afterward, Google did not update its German Street View images.
What Stays in the Cabinet Room
The rules of procedure of the German federal government state that its meetings are confidential. In 2018 the Federal Administrative Court ruled on a journalist’s request for the record of a cabinet meeting held on 29 August 2012. The court refused access to the record of the discussion, to protect the core area of the executive’s own responsibility. It ordered the government to release the list of the people who took part. What was said in the room stayed in the room. Who was in the room did not.
The Secret Committee
The Bundestag oversees the intelligence services through a small body, the Parlamentarisches Kontrollgremium, the parliamentary oversight panel. The law that governs it says: Die Beratungen des Parlamentarischen Kontrollgremiums sind geheim. “The deliberations of the parliamentary oversight panel are secret.” Its members must keep secret what they learn there, and the duty continues after they leave the panel.
The Bank Reference
Every customer of a German bank agrees to its general terms and conditions. At Deutsche Bank, the terms first oblige the bank to keep silent about all facts and assessments that concern the customer. They then allow one exception, the Bankauskunft, the bank reference. It contains only general statements about the customer’s financial situation. It never gives amounts for account balances, savings or deposits. And the bank gives it only to its own customers and to other banks, and for private customers only with their consent.
The Family Firm’s Figures
German corporations, including limited companies, had to publish their annual accounts in the electronic Federal Gazette. For the financial year 2007, about 200,000 companies did not publish theirs on time. A 2009 article in a journal for business practitioners gave the reason many owners resist. Publication gives customers, suppliers and even the company’s own employees a view of its financial situation. Many of these companies belong to families or family branches.
Grades Are Not Read Aloud
In Saarland, a teacher may not read out a pupil’s grade in front of the class. A decree of the state education ministry of 9 July 2024 says this applies to all types of school, for reasons of data protection and teaching. In secondary schools, an anonymous distribution of grades may be shown only for written tests in core subjects. In March 2026 the state’s data protection commissioner, Monika Grethel, set out the conditions under which announcing individual grades in class could be lawful at all.
Thinking in Departments
das Ressortdenken — thinking only within one’s own area of responsibility. In 2000 the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported a Green politician’s complaint that Ressortdenken had spread in the government over non-wage labor costs.
das Silodenken — silo thinking. A dictionary defines it as an attitude that follows only one’s own interests and sets itself apart from other groups. It marks the word as pejorative.
das Abteilungsdenken — thinking in departments.
These words are used as criticism. German speakers name the habit of keeping information within one’s own unit, and they name it as a fault.
Herrschaftswissen
The Duden dictionary defines Herrschaftswissen as knowledge that a person has acquired through their position or official duties and that is not accessible to others. It serves the exercise of power over others. The DWDS dictionary defines it as knowledge gained through individual experience, or kept from the public by restricted access, that someone can use to their own advantage. German Wikipedia adds that in its widest, colloquial sense the word is critical and comes close to cunning. It then means a lead in knowledge that someone uses to secure their position.