The company Lilium, based near Munich, developed an electric air taxi and employed about 1,100 people. In 2024 it asked for a federal guarantee of 50 million euros on a loan from the state development bank KfW. Bavaria was ready to guarantee another 50 million. The federal transport minister supported the aid. The FDP budget politician Frank Schäffler opposed it: Mit Steuergeldern des Bundes darf nicht spekuliert werden. (Federal tax money must not be used to speculate.) The budget committee of the Bundestag did not approve the guarantee, and the Bavarian money fell through with it. Lilium’s chief executive had written that the initial investments were simply too high to be carried by private money alone. On 28 October 2024 Lilium filed for insolvency.
How a Business Letter Is Laid Out
Every German who learns to write a business letter meets DIN 5008. The standard sets rules for writing and layout. It deliberately does not regulate content or spelling. It goes back to rules for business mail and typing that an office association published around 1930. In April 1949 the German standards committee took these rules over as DIN 5008. Until 1996 the standard dealt only with the typewriter. From 1996 it also covered word processing on a computer. The 2020 edition describes electronic correspondence in more detail. It no longer mentions the typewriter at all.
The Calendar Without the Pope’s Name
In 1582 Pope Gregory XIII introduced a reformed calendar. The Protestant territories of the Holy Roman Empire refused it, because the reform came from the Pope. They adopted it only in 1700, after a decision of their own assembly, the Corpus Evangelicorum. To avoid the Pope’s name, they called it the Verbesserter Reichskalender, the improved imperial calendar. In the Empire, 18 February 1700 was followed directly by 1 March 1700. The calculation of the date of Easter remained different for more than 70 years.
Earning the Right to Edit
On German Wikipedia, changes made by newcomers do not appear to readers at once. An experienced author first checks them and marks the new version as gesichtet, sighted. A user earns the right to have his own edits appear at once after at least 30 days and 150 edits, together with some further conditions. The right to approve the edits of others comes after 60 days and at least 300 edits. Both rights can also be granted on request.
Building on the Old Street Plan
In the early 1970s, the architects Josef Paul Kleihues and Hardt-Waltherr Hämer shaped a concept called Kritische Rekonstruktion, critical reconstruction. Its aim is rarely an exact copy of what was lost. Usually it reproduces important features of the historic city structure. After reunification, Hans Stimmann, Berlin’s Senate building director from 1991 and again from December 1999 to October 2006, pressed for building in this sense. New buildings were to follow the historic street plan and the local building types. He was criticized several times. His critics said that his rules restricted architects too much. His supporters considered the strict rules necessary for a city like Berlin.