The Morbiditäts- und Mortalitätskonferenz is a regular hospital meeting about complications and deaths. A case that went badly is presented, and the team asks what happened. In 2016 the German Medical Association published a guide for these meetings. It says the discussion should be sach- und nicht personenbezogen, about the matter and not about the person. It should concentrate on facts and processes, not on people. The aim is to work through critical events free of blame. It should be possible to ask “Why?”, and doctors in senior positions must be ready to have their own mistakes discussed. Among the obstacles the guide lists is a discussion that focuses on blame and individual mistakes.
Two Minutes to Reply in the Bundestag
In a Bundestag debate, a member can ask for a Kurzintervention, a short intervention, after a speech. The rules of procedure limit it to two minutes. The speaker may then reply briefly once more. The rules name two purposes for which the president should grant it: to reject remarks made against one’s own person, and to correct one’s own remarks. Questions and remarks during a speech must be short and precise.
The Right to a Counterstatement
A person or authority directly affected by a newspaper report in Germany can demand a Gegendarstellung, a counterstatement. The press laws of the German states contain this right. In Bavaria the paper must print it in the same part of the paper and in the same typeface, without additions or cuts, and free of charge. The counterstatement may contain only statements of fact, not opinions. For the right to apply, it does not matter whether the original report was true or false. The editors may add a short note that they stand by their report. Princess Caroline of Monaco was the first person to obtain a counterstatement on a front page.
Reprimands the Paper Prints Itself
The strongest sanction of the German Press Council, the Deutscher Presserat, is the public reprimand, the öffentliche Rüge. The press code says it is part of fair reporting to publish the reprimand, above all in the publication concerned. Readers must learn what the reprimanded article was about and which principle it broke. Publishers commit themselves to the code voluntarily. In 2025 the council issued 102 public reprimands, the first time it went above 100. It had issued 73 in 2023 and 86 in 2024.
Complain at Once, or It Counts as Accepted
Under § 377 of the German Commercial Code, a business that buys goods from another business must inspect them without delay after delivery. If a defect shows, it must notify the seller without delay. If it does not, the goods count as approved, unless the defect could not have been found on inspection. For a company, this means incoming deliveries must be checked right away. The same principle appears in other areas of law. A company bidding for a public contract that recognizes a violation of the rules must complain to the contracting authority within ten calendar days, or it loses the right to a review. In a civil trial, a party that knew of a procedural error and did not object in time can no longer raise it.
A Party’s Report on Its Own Defeat
After the SPD’s defeat in the federal election of 2017, deputy party leader Olaf Scholz demanded a schonungslose Betrachtung der Lage, an unsparing look at the situation. There should be no more excuses in the search for causes, he said. The party leadership under Martin Schulz commissioned an outside working group to analyze the campaign. Its report appeared in June 2018 under the title Aus Fehlern lernen, learning from mistakes. “Die SPD ist in der Krise. In der womöglich tiefsten seit 1949.” The SPD is in crisis, possibly the deepest since 1949. The report says that crisis communication was not among the strengths of the Schulz team.
A Culture of Political Dispute, 1987
On 27 August 1987 the SPD’s commission on basic values and the Academy of Social Sciences of the SED, the ruling party of East Germany, published a joint paper. Its subject was the dispute of ideologies and common security. The paper called for eine Kultur des politischen Streits und des Dialogs, a culture of political dispute and dialogue. It said that mutual criticism must not count as interference in internal affairs, and that each system needed free information and open discussion. The East German party newspaper Neues Deutschland printed it. Intellectuals, parts of the opposition and the Protestant church in East Germany took it up. Its influence on the daily policy of the SED leadership remained marginal.
A Healthy Culture of Dispute
Streitkultur is the culture of disputing, the way people argue. Duden gives eine gesunde Streitkultur, a healthy culture of dispute, as an example of its use. In October 2019 Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke in Berlin at an event titled “Demokratie unter Druck – für eine neue politische Streitkultur.” It was time, he said, for new round tables in the country, “nicht zur Vermeidung von Streit, sondern zum Gelingen des Streits”, not to avoid dispute but to make dispute succeed. He asked for a way of arguing that lets us “dem Gegenüber auch am Tag nach dem Streit noch aufrecht in die Augen schauen”, still look the other person straight in the eye the day after the dispute.
Words for a Useful Quarrel
sich zusammenraufen — to tussle one’s way together. Duden: to reach an understanding step by step after more or less fierce arguments.
ein reinigendes Gewitter — a cleansing thunderstorm. Duden’s example: der Streit wirkte wie ein reinigendes Gewitter, the quarrel worked like a cleansing thunderstorm.
reinen Tisch machen — to make a clean table, to create clear conditions.
Nichts für ungut! — No offense meant. Duden: it is not meant badly. It is said after a blunt remark, and it does not take the remark back.
The Grade Ritter Sport Took to Court
At the end of November 2013 Stiftung Warentest, the German consumer testing foundation, gave Ritter Sport’s whole-nut chocolate the grade mangelhaft, deficient. The reason was the label “natural flavoring” for the flavor piperonal, which the testers said was produced chemically. Ritter Sport and its flavor supplier Symrise said the flavor was natural. The company went to court. The Munich Regional Court barred Warentest from repeating its claim, and the Munich Higher Regional Court rejected Warentest’s appeal. In September 2014 Warentest ended the dispute. It had not explained precisely and fully enough how it reached its verdict.