When a German university wants to appoint a professor, the candidate receives the Ruf, the call. Then the Berufungsverhandlungen, the appointment negotiations, begin. The candidate and the university negotiate about funds for equipment, running budgets, staff and rooms. In December 2024 the German Association of University Professors published an analysis of a survey of these procedures. In about three quarters of cases, the whole procedure took longer than twelve months. Only 41 percent of the negotiations ended within three months.
Deals That Fall Through After the Show
In the television show Die Höhle der Löwen, the lions’ den, founders present their companies to investors. The show started on VOX in 2014. A deal is agreed in front of the camera within minutes. The investors check the company only after the recording, and many deals fail at this stage. Some companies did not pass the check because the founders had made false statements on air. The counts differ. The site deutsche-startups.de counted 11 failed deals out of 16 in the first season and 15 out of 21 in the second. The film site Filmstarts counted 35 deals in the first two seasons, of which 26 failed. A technology blog, citing Business Insider, gave a much lower figure: about 40 percent.
The Diaries Bought in Secret
In 1983 the magazine Stern presented what it said were the diaries of Adolf Hitler. The publisher’s management had bought 62 volumes for 9.34 million marks. Only a few members of the management and of the contemporary history desk knew about the purchase. On 25 April 1983, Stern held an international press conference. On 6 May 1983, news agencies reported that the diaries were forgeries. Experts of the Federal Criminal Police Office and of a federal materials testing institute had shown it beyond doubt. The German Wikipedia article names the editors’ greatest failure. The diaries vorschnell veröffentlicht wurden und man das BKA-Gutachten nicht abwartete. They were published too hastily, and the editors did not wait for the police report. In 1992 Helmut Dietl turned the affair into the satirical film Schtonk!.
Whoever Binds Himself Forever
Drum prüfe, wer sich ewig bindet, / Ob sich das Herz zum Herzen findet! / Der Wahn ist kurz, die Reu ist lang. So whoever binds himself forever should test whether heart finds heart. The illusion is short, the regret is long. The lines come from Friedrich Schiller’s Das Lied von der Glocke, The Song of the Bell, first printed in the Musen-Almanach for the year 1800. In the poem they are about marriage. Germans quote the first line for any commitment that is meant to last, such as a partnership, a long contract or a large purchase.
Gut Decisions
In 2007 the psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer published Bauchentscheidungen, gut decisions. He is director emeritus at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. The subtitle is Die Intelligenz des Unbewussten und die Macht der Intuition, the intelligence of the unconscious and the power of intuition. Gigerenzer argues that people make most decisions intuitively, by rules of thumb. In his view, following such gut decisions is itself a rational strategy, and good intuitions must ignore information. The magazine Bild der Wissenschaft gave the book its science book award.
The book does not praise haste. Gigerenzer separates a gut feeling from a random idea or from naivety.
Five Years in Münster and Osnabrück
The Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years’ War. In December 1641 the warring parties agreed in Hamburg to hold peace talks in Münster and Osnabrück. The envoys met there from 1643. Disputes over rank and titles delayed the opening of the congress for a long time. Then the sides took more than a year to exchange their demands. The real peace negotiations began in June 1645. Both treaties were signed in Münster on 24 October 1648. The ratifications were exchanged on 18 February 1649. A separate congress in Nuremberg then worked out how to carry out the peace, until July 1650. The treaty became a fundamental law of the Holy Roman Empire. Sources differ on how many delegations took part. German Wikipedia gives about 110 delegations from 16 European states. The Münster city museum speaks of envoys from more than 150 states and territories.
The Longest Government Formation
Germany elected a new Bundestag on 24 September 2017. CDU, CSU, FDP and the Greens then held exploratory talks, Sondierungsgespräche, for about four weeks. On 19 November 2017, the FDP ended them. CDU, CSU and SPD then held their own exploratory talks. They finished them on 12 January 2018 with a 28-page paper. On 7 February 2018 they agreed on a coalition agreement. The SPD put it to a vote of its members, and 66.02 percent of those who voted approved. On 14 March 2018 the Bundestag elected Angela Merkel chancellor for the fourth time. The Bundestag counted 171 days since the election, a new record. The previous record was 86 days, in 2013.
Two Weeks With the Draft
A German who buys an apartment from a developer signs the contract in front of a notary. The Notarization Act, the Beurkundungsgesetz, sets a waiting period before that appointment. The consumer should have ausreichend Gelegenheit …, sich vorab mit dem Gegenstand der Beurkundung auseinanderzusetzen, enough opportunity to study the deed in advance. The notary should send the draft to the consumer. Dies soll im Regelfall zwei Wochen vor der Beurkundung erfolgen. As a rule, this should happen two weeks before the notarization. If the period is shorter, the notary should write the reasons into the deed. The rule is a response to the so-called Mitternachtsnotare, midnight notaries. These notaries worked inside the sales networks of property agents. A sales agent called a potential buyer and praised an apartment. At the next meeting, the agent took the buyer to the notary to sign. Since October 2013 the notary must send the draft himself.
Fourteen Days to Change Your Mind
A salesman rings the doorbell, and the customer signs a contract in the living room. German law gives the customer 14 days to undo it. The Civil Code grants a right of withdrawal, the Widerrufsrecht, for contracts concluded outside business premises. Die Widerrufsfrist beträgt 14 Tage. The period of withdrawal is 14 days. Der Widerruf muss keine Begründung enthalten. The withdrawal does not need to give a reason. The rule goes back to the law on doorstep sales, which came into force on 1 May 1986 and gave the customer one week. Today the period is set by EU law. Since 2014, the German law also names Kaffeefahrten expressly, the bus outings on which the organizer sells goods to the passengers. The reason for the rule is surprise. The EU directive on doorstep sales of 1985 spoke of an Überrumpelungseffekt, an effect of being taken by surprise. The customer closes the deal ohne ausreichende Überlegung, without enough thought.
Sleeping On It
überschlafen — To sleep on something. Duden defines it as thinking over a matter that needs a decision, and taking time for it at least until the next day. Das muss ich erst noch überschlafen. I have to sleep on that first.
sich Bedenkzeit erbitten — To ask for time to think. Ich habe mir bis morgen Bedenkzeit erbeten. I have asked for time to think until tomorrow.
Kommt Zeit, kommt Rat. — When time comes, advice comes. With time, a solution will be found.
Blinder Eifer schadet nur. — Blind zeal only does harm.