Germany Archives - Page 4 of 334

The Doer

When Helmut Schmidt died on 10 November 2015, obituaries traced his reputation back to February 1962. As Hamburg’s senator for the interior, he coordinated the rescue work during the storm flood. The Berliner Zeitung wrote: Dieser Einsatz begründet Schmidts Ruf als entschlossenen Macher. This work founded Schmidt’s reputation as a decisive doer.

The portal deutschland.de, which presents Germany abroad, summed him up in one line. Der Altkanzler galt als Macher und Krisenmanager. The former chancellor was seen as a doer and a crisis manager.

The Problem Behind the Invention

A German patent application includes a description of the invention. Section 10 of the Patent Ordinance sets out what the description must contain. Besides, where needed, the technical field and the state of the art, the applicant must state das der Erfindung zugrunde liegende Problem, the problem on which the invention is based. After it comes the invention for which protection is sought.

The problem may be left out only if it already follows from the solution described or from the stated advantages of the invention. It must be stated in particular wenn es zum Verständnis der Erfindung oder für ihre nähere inhaltliche Bestimmung unentbehrlich ist, when it is indispensable for understanding the invention or for defining its content more closely.

Eight Levels of Problems

The German Qualifications Framework sorts qualifications from the different areas of education into eight levels. The higher levels are described by the problems a person can handle. Level 6 speaks of umfassenden fachlichen Aufgaben- und Problemstellungen, comprehensive professional tasks and problems. Level 7 speaks of neuen komplexen Aufgaben- und Problemstellungen, new complex tasks and problems. Level 8 speaks of developing innovative solutions and methods.

Expertise Means Solving Problems

The framework curricula for Germany’s vocational schools are adopted by the state education ministers. They name the goal of training as Handlungskompetenz, the competence to act. Its first part is expertise, Fachkompetenz. A curriculum of 2009 defines it as the readiness and ability Aufgaben und Probleme zielorientiert, sachgerecht, methodengeleitet und selbstständig zu lösen und das Ergebnis zu beurteilen. That is, to solve tasks and problems in a goal-oriented, appropriate and methodical way, independently, and to judge the result.

Almost the same definition stands in curricula for very different trades. It appears in the 1999 version of the curriculum for media and information services and in 2009 in the curriculum for works fire fighters.

Solving Problems Mathematically

Germany’s national education standards for mathematics name the process-related competences that mathematics teaching is to build. The standing conference of the state education ministers first adopted them in 2003 and 2004 and revised them on 23 June 2022. The list includes Probleme mathematisch lösen, solving problems mathematically, and Mathematisch modellieren, modeling mathematically. In the primary school standards of 2004, Problemlösen, problem solving, comes first.

The standards describe the first competence step by step. It starts vom Erkennen und Formulieren mathematischer Probleme, from recognizing and formulating mathematical problems. It goes on to choosing suitable heuristics and developing a way to the solution. Modeling, they say, is about das Lösen eines realen Problems mit Hilfe von Mathematik, solving a real problem with the help of mathematics.

Facts at the Center

The Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Hannover published an interview with the intercultural trainer Nancy Rienow on presenting to audiences in the United States. The article opens: In Deutschland präsentiert man gerne fakten-zentriert. In Germany people like to present with the facts at the center. A presentation is built on figures, data and studies. Rienow adds that the presentation style of German business people is very serious.

She notes one more habit. Bei deutschen Präsentationen wird sehr gerne auf die lange Tradition des Unternehmens verwiesen. German presentations very often refer to the company’s long tradition.

Behind the Newspaper

Dahinter steckt immer ein kluger Kopf. There is always a clever head behind it. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has used this advertising slogan since 1961. Since 1995 its campaign has shown well-known people photographed behind the open newspaper. In 2010 one of them was Joachim Gauck.

The paper itself has had no editor-in-chief from the start. A board of publishers sets its line. In 2009 the board had five members. When the paper turned 60 that year, one of the publishers, Berthold Kohler, said it would celebrate quietly. Uns selbst zu feiern ist noch nie so recht unsere Art gewesen. Celebrating ourselves has never really been our way.

The Author Who Is Not There

Patrick Süskind’s novel Das Parfum, Perfume, has sold millions of copies and has been translated into 45 languages. Its author turns down public appearances, interviews and even some prizes. After his essay Über Liebe und Tod, On Love and Death, appeared in 2006, he withdrew from public life completely.

When he turned 70 in 2019, his publisher stated: Er ist kein Phantom. Es gibt ihn wirklich. He is not a phantom. He really exists. In 2012 a newspaper printed a photograph of him that showed only his left eye and ear.

The Hidden Orchestra

In the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth, the audience cannot see the orchestra. The pit is covered. It is called the mystischer Abgrund, the mystic abyss. Among opera houses, the hidden pit is unique to Bayreuth. The festival was first held in 1876.

The festival’s own magazine explains why. Richard Wagner wanted the Mühe der Tonerzeugung, the effort of producing the sound, to remain invisible. The musicians were not to be seen by the audience, and no light from the pit was to reach the auditorium. The listener should fall under the spell of the music ohne jegliche Ablenkung, without any distraction.

The Robe

German judges wear a robe in court, the Amtstracht. In 2015 the Bavarian justice system published a press release of the local court in Augsburg about a lawyer who had appeared without one. The robe, it said, marks judges and lawyers as independent organs of the administration of justice. Denn die Person tritt hinter dem Dienst an Gesetz und Recht zurück. For the person steps back behind the service to law and justice.

On 18 February 1970 the Federal Constitutional Court upheld the duty of lawyers to wear the robe. The court said that the robe contributes to jener Atmosphäre der Ausgeglichenheit und Objektivität, that atmosphere of balance and objectivity. This, it said, is of at least indirect use in finding the truth and the law in a trial.