Members of the Bundestag can commission studies from the parliament’s research service, the Wissenschaftliche Dienste. The study then belongs to the member or committee that ordered it, as a rule exclusively for four weeks. Only afterward does the Bundestag publish it on its website, a practice it began in 2016. Before that, they were not routinely published. In June 2015 the Federal Administrative Court ruled that they must be released on request. One of the cases concerned papers that Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg had used in his doctoral thesis.
The Reading Room
From 1 February 2016, members of the Bundestag could read the confidential negotiating texts of the TTIP trade agreement between the EU and the United States in a reading room in the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs. The Green parliamentary group described the conditions in a parliamentary question. Members were not allowed even to discuss what they had read with their own staff or with experts. Staff of the parliamentary groups were not admitted.
The Poison Cabinet
German libraries call their restricted holdings the Giftschrank, the poison cabinet, after the locked cupboard for poisons in a pharmacy. These are books that are not open to all readers. In East Germany, the Deutsche Bücherei in Leipzig decided centrally which books were restricted. They appeared in the catalog, marked with an inconspicuous triangle, and were available only under special conditions. After 1990, most of these holdings were opened and moved into the general collections.
The Educated Middle Class
German has a name for a social class whose rank rested on what it knew: the Bildungsbürgertum, the educated middle class. German Wikipedia describes it as an influential class defined neither politically nor economically, but by administration and culture. Its members included pastors, professors, teachers, doctors, lawyers, judges and senior civil servants. In these circles, the article says, the possession of knowledge counted as capital.
Everything You Must Know
In 1999 the literary scholar Dietrich Schwanitz published Bildung. Alles, was man wissen muß, Education: everything you must know. The book reached number one on the Spiegel bestseller list in 2000. One sentence drew sharp criticism: Naturwissenschaftliche Kenntnisse müssen zwar nicht versteckt werden, aber zur Bildung gehören sie nicht. “Knowledge of the natural sciences need not be hidden, but it is not part of education.” In 2001 the science historian Ernst Peter Fischer answered with a book of his own, Die andere Bildung, the other education.
The Doctor on the Identity Card
The German identity card lists the holder’s name, date of birth, address and a few other facts. Section 5 of the Identity Card Act also lists the Doktorgrad, the doctoral degree. A doctorate is the only academic qualification that can appear on the card, whatever job the holder does.
In Germany, a tendency to know-it-all is spreading. That could be politically dangerous
NZZ. December 2022. Germans don’t tend towards extremism – actually. But in the political and media sphere, know-it-alls and paternalism are increasingly noticeable. Contempt for the normal is a cause for concern.
For a long time, modern Germany was not a country to worry about from a democratic point of view. According to a study by the Allensbach Institute for Public Opinion from this year, 25 percent of Germans place themselves exactly in the middle of the democratic opinion spectrum; 36 percent slightly to the left, 29 percent slightly to the right of this center. That’s 90 percent between center-left and center-right. Actually calming.
The eternal know-it-all of Western Europe
Berthold Löffler lived in Poland for a long time. He explains how Eastern Europeans think of Germans
The Weingarten professor is an Eastern Europe expert. In an interview, he explains why countries like Poland and Hungary see the EU on the wrong track.
“Professor Löffler, when it comes to taking in refugees, Germany is usually alone in the lead. The countries of Eastern Europe refuse this humanitarian act. Do you understand that?”
“Absolutely, because politicians should first and foremost represent the interests of their own country. This is exactly what the governments in Warsaw or Budapest are doing. But the Eastern Europeans also have Europe in mind. From this point of view, too, they consider Angela Merkel’s policies to be naïve and without prospects.”
Know-It-All: dealing with Dr. Clever
Every company has them, nobody particularly likes working with them and they can drive every colleague to the brink of despair: know-it-alls. They have to give their two cents on every topic, have a different opinion on everything and no matter who makes a suggestion, the know-it-all will certainly have a better idea ready in his eyes.
You can certainly imagine how quickly this behavior overstrains the nerves of colleagues. But what can you do to defend yourself against the constant know-it-all attitude? Which colleagues tend to be particularly know-it-alls and how you can deal with a Dr. Bypass smartness in your department?
After the presidential election in France: German know-it-alls don’t help
German nagging at the European policy proposals of the victorious French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron is counterproductive.
Had Marine Le Pen been elected President of France, it would probably have spelled the end of the EU. This warning could be heard all over Europe until last Sunday evening – not least in Germany. Now the social liberal Emmanuel Macron is the new head of state in the neighboring country, and what is happening in Germany?
After the first sigh of relief, a reflexive debate is held as to whether or not the frowned upon euro bonds will come with the change of power in Paris. On the one hand this is a phantom discussion, on the other hand it is a symptom of Franco-German alienation.