After the Berlin Blockade of 1948 to 1949, the three Western city commandants ordered West Berlin in 1950 to keep stocks, the Senatsreserve. The goal was to keep normal life going for at least 180 days in case of a new blockade. The reserve held staple foods, medicine, coal, fuel, raw materials and everyday goods, among them 189,000 tonnes of grain and four million light bulbs. At one point there were more than 700 storage sites, most of them secret. The goods were rotated, and old stock was sold cheaply to Berliners. The reserve was dissolved in 1990.
The Compulsory Fire Brigade
In Germany, fire protection is a duty of the municipality. According to the German Fire Brigade Association, there are volunteer fire brigades in all municipalities. If too few people volunteer, state law has a next step. In Schleswig-Holstein, for example, the municipality must then set up a Pflichtfeuerwehr, a compulsory fire brigade, and residents aged 18 to 50 can be required to serve. In 2018, the Baltic Sea resort of Grömitz decided to set one up, after its active members had fallen from 210 to 150.
The Warning Day That Failed
On 10 September 2020, Germany held its first nationwide warning day. The alarm was planned for 11 a.m. The warnings in the apps NINA and KATWARN arrived on phones more than half an hour late. Many connected control centers had triggered warnings on their own, alongside the central one, and the system was overloaded. The agreed concept had provided for activation by the federal government only. Christoph Unger, president of the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance for 16 years, was replaced. The warning day of 2021 was canceled, while the office built a full test environment.
Required in Every Car and Every Home
Every car in Germany must carry a warning triangle and a first aid kit, and since 1 July 2014 a safety vest as well. Since a change in the rules in 2015, every applicant for a driver’s license must complete a first aid course of at least nine teaching units of 45 minutes. Smoke detectors are also required by law. Rhineland-Palatinate required them in new buildings from 2003, earlier than any other state. Today the duty applies in all 16 states. The last deadline for fitting them in existing homes ended in Saxony on 31 December 2023.
No Removal Without a Successor
Under Article 67 of the Basic Law, the Bundestag can remove a chancellor only by electing a successor at the same time, with an absolute majority. This is the constructive vote of no confidence. It answers the Weimar Constitution, which allowed parliament to bring down a government without electing a new one. The vote has been tried twice. In 1972, Rainer Barzel failed against Willy Brandt. Ten years later, Helmut Kohl replaced Helmut Schmidt.
Ninety Days of Oil
West Germany introduced compulsory oil stocks in 1966. Since 1978, the stocks have been held by the Erdölbevorratungsverband, the Petroleum Stockholding Association, a public body to which refiners and importers must belong. Section 3 of the Oil Stockholding Act requires it to hold stocks equal to at least 90 days of average daily net imports. The obligation was raised from 80 to 90 days in 1998. The members’ fees come to about 0.3 cents per liter of fuel or heating oil. The stocks have been released six times: in the Gulf crisis of 1990 to 1991, after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, in the Libya crisis of 2011, during low water on the Rhine in 2018, in March 2022, at the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine, and in March 2026. That time, the federal government released 19.5 million barrels as part of a joint release by the International Energy Agency.
The Gas Emergency Plan
The German gas emergency plan, the Notfallplan Gas, has three stages: the Frühwarnstufe, early warning, the Alarmstufe, alert, and the Notfallstufe, emergency. The early warning stage was declared on 30 March 2022, and a crisis team was set up. On 23 June 2022, after Russia sharply cut deliveries through Nord Stream 1, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs declared the alert stage. In the emergency stage, the Federal Network Agency would decide who receives how much gas. Private households, hospitals and other protected customers would be supplied until the very end.
Gas Without an Alternative
In March 2022, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs put Russia’s current share of German gas imports at 55 percent. Russia also supplied about half of Germany’s coal imports and about 35 percent of its oil imports. By mid-April, the share of Russian gas had fallen to about 35 percent. On 25 March 2022, the Bundestag passed a gas storage law. It fixed fill levels by date: 80 percent on 1 October, 90 percent on 1 November and 40 percent on 1 February. The law still sets fill levels by date. Since 2025, an ordinance has lowered the target for 1 November to 80 percent, and to 45 percent for some storage sites.
The reserve was written into law only after the gap had opened. It took the form of percentages tied to dates in the calendar.
Early Warning by Law
Since 1 May 1998, Section 91 of the Stock Corporation Act has required the management board to take suitable measures. In particular, it must set up a monitoring system, damit den Fortbestand der Gesellschaft gefährdende Entwicklungen früh erkannt werden, so that developments that threaten the company’s survival are detected early. The rule came with the KonTraG, the law on control and transparency in business. Since 1 January 2021, the restructuring law StaRUG has set out the duty of early crisis detection in statute for the managers of all legal entities, whatever their legal form.
Sewn twice holds better
Sewn twice holds better. A German proverb about redundancy, said approvingly. Alongside auf Nummer sicher gehen, to go on the safe number, and sicher ist sicher, safe is safe — which is a tautology, offered as a reason.