The Puma is the German army’s new infantry fighting vehicle. It is considered highly modern, but its introduction suffered long delays and large cost increases. On 15 December 2022 an armored infantry brigade reported grave defects in all 18 Pumas used in a two-week exercise. All 18 had broken down after at most eight days. Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht then stopped the purchase of further Pumas. According to later reports, most of the problems came from a lack of trained personnel, spare parts and special tools. Only a cable fire in one vehicle counted as a serious fault. By early January 2023, 17 of the 18 vehicles had been repaired. On 5 May 2023 an order for 50 more Pumas was announced.
Quiet Repairs
German car owners know the official recall, when the Federal Motor Transport Authority orders a repair. Advice pages also describe a quieter kind, the stille Aktion, the silent campaign. It usually concerns comfort features such as the air conditioning or the multimedia system. The car magazine Auto Zeitung explains: Hier erfolgt die Reparatur heimlich beim nächsten Werkstattbesuch und ohne offiziellen Rückruf des Autos. (Here the repair is made secretly at the next workshop visit, without an official recall of the car.) Owners who do not go to an authorized workshop usually miss out. The magazine’s advice is to ask the dealer, who has access to the database.
The Day the A-Class Tipped Over
On 21 October 1997 the new Mercedes A-Class tipped over in a swerving test by a Swedish car magazine. Daimler-Benz stopped deliveries at once. It resumed them in February 1998, with electronic stability control fitted as standard, and it retrofitted the cars already sold. According to a report by the news agency dpa, fitting stability control as standard cost about 100 million marks a year. The reputation of the A-Class was damaged at first. The campaign that followed quoted the tennis player Boris Becker: Stark ist, wer keine Fehler macht. Stärker, wer aus seinen Fehlern lernt. (Strong is the one who makes no mistakes. Stronger is the one who learns from his mistakes.) Stability control later became standard in all Mercedes models.
The Train That Only Ran in Shanghai
The Transrapid maglev train was developed in Germany. Its only line in regular service opened at the end of 2002 in Shanghai. In Germany, three planned lines were abandoned after years of planning. In September 2006 a Transrapid on the test track in Emsland ran into a maintenance vehicle, and 23 people died. The cause was found to be human error. On 27 March 2008 the federal transport minister, Wolfgang Tiefensee, and the Bavarian premier, Günther Beckstein, ended the planned line to Munich airport. Its estimated cost had risen from 1.85 to 3.4 billion euros. Beckstein said: Damit hat sich das Thema leider erledigt. (With that, the matter is unfortunately closed.) The test track in Emsland was shut down at the end of 2011.
Instead, We Kept Silent
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.
Failure as Opportunity
On 13 March 1998 the theater director and action artist Christoph Schlingensief founded a party called Chance 2000 in a circus tent at the Volksbühne in Berlin. It was first also known as the Partei der letzten Chance, the party of the last chance. Its slogan was Scheitern als Chance, failure as opportunity. For one action Schlingensief invited six million unemployed people to bathe in the Wolfgangsee in Austria. In the federal election of 1998 the party received 0.058 percent of the vote.
Research That May Fail
The German Research Foundation funds Reinhart Koselleck-Projekte for besonders innovative und im positiven Sinne risikobehaftete Forschung, particularly innovative research that carries risk in a positive sense. A project receives between 500,000 and 1.25 million euros for five years. Only researchers with an outstanding academic record may apply.
The Vocabulary of Failure
der Rohrkrepierer
A shell that bursts inside the gun barrel. An initiative that harms the person who launched it.
die Bruchlandung
A crash landing.
Schiffbruch erleiden
To suffer shipwreck. To fail with a plan.
etwas in den Sand setzen
To drive something into the sand. To ruin a project, usually with money lost.
ein Schuss in den Ofen
A shot into the stove. An effort that achieved nothing.
sich die Finger verbrennen
To burn one’s fingers. To get hurt by a risky venture.
Gebranntes Kind scheut das Feuer.
A burnt child avoids the fire.
etwas unter den Teppich kehren
To sweep something under the carpet.
Set Theory in Primary School
On 3 October 1968 the conference of West German education ministers decided to introduce the “New Mathematics” in all types of school from the 1972/73 school year. The most spectacular change was in primary school. Mathematics no longer began with counting and arithmetic, but with set theory, the Mengenlehre. Parents and teachers resisted, and the reform was withdrawn after a few years. Der Spiegel headlined Große Verwirrung, great confusion, in 1972, and Mengenlehre: 3+5=5+3 in 1974.