A German motorcycle license comes in steps. The Driving License Ordinance sets the minimum ages. Class AM, for mopeds, starts at 15. Class A1, for light motorcycles of up to 125 cubic centimeters and 11 kilowatts, starts at 16. Class A2, for motorcycles of up to 35 kilowatts, starts at 18. Class A has no such power limit. A rider who goes straight to class A must be 24. A rider who has held class A2 for at least two years may move up at 20. Two years on the medium class bring full access four years earlier.
A Prize That Buys Freedom
The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Preis is awarded every year by the German Research Foundation, the DFG. It has existed since 1986 and is called the most important research funding prize in Germany. Each winner receives 2.5 million euros. Winners can use the money for their research for up to seven years, nach ihren eigenen Vorstellungen und ohne bürokratischen Aufwand, according to their own ideas and without bureaucratic effort. Up to ten prizes can be awarded per year. The ten winners for 2026 were chosen from 144 proposals. By December 2025, twelve Leibniz winners had later received a Nobel Prize.
The Senior Journeyman Rule
In the German crafts that require a license, a business needs a master craftsman, a Meister. Section 7b of the Crafts Code opens a second way, known as the Altgesellenregelung, the senior journeyman rule. A journeyman who has passed the journeyman’s exam can receive the right to run such a business. He must have worked in the trade for six years in total, four of them in a leading position. The law defines a leading position as one in which the journeyman was given authority to make decisions on his own responsibility in a business. The experience must also be legal. In 2015 the Federal Administrative Court refused to count years in which a journeyman had run a business without the required registration. Otherwise, the court said, the claim would become an Ersitzungstatbestand for journeymen, a right acquired simply by holding it long enough. In 2020 the administrative court in Koblenz turned down a hairdresser who had led a salon without a master. She knew that the salon was illegal.
Three Years Before a Hunting Lease
Passing the hunting exam is not the last step for a German hunter. Under the Federal Hunting Act, only a person who holds an annual hunting license may lease a hunting ground, and that person must already have held one in Germany for three years. Young people aged 16 and 17 can receive only a Jugendjagdschein, a youth hunting license. It allows them to hunt only in the company of a parent or guardian, or of a supervisor whom the guardian has appointed in writing. The law adds: die Begleitperson muß jagdlich erfahren sein, the companion must be experienced in hunting. Holders of the youth license may not take part in group hunts, the Gesellschaftsjagden.
The Bronze Badge at the Pool Gate
The German swimming badge in bronze is still widely called the Freischwimmer, the free swimmer. To earn it, a child must swim for 15 minutes, or at least 200 meters, dive, and jump from the starting block or the one-meter board. The badge is often the condition for going to the pool alone, without an adult. By June 2026 the leisure pool in Werl, in North Rhine-Westphalia, admitted children aged 7 to 11 alone only if they held the bronze badge. Children aged 12 and older could come without an adult. Non-swimmers could use only the non-swimmers’ pool. The Federal Association of German Swimming Masters wants children under 16 without the bronze badge to enter outdoor pools only with a parent. Its president, Peter Harzheim, called the debate a wake-up call to parents. The Green politician Schahina Gambir warned that such a rule could have an indirectly discriminatory effect.
Words for Reckless Risk
Hasard spielen — To play hazard. The Duden explains it as being reckless and careless, and putting one’s luck at stake.
das Hasardspiel — The game of hazard. Its second meaning in the Duden is an undertaking in which someone stakes everything without regard for others or for himself. The Duden’s example is das Hasardspiel der Generäle, the generals’ game of hazard.
der Hasardeur — The man who plays it. Among the synonyms, the Duden lists Glücksritter, a knight of fortune, and Abenteurer, adventurer.
waghalsig — Daring to the point of danger. In the Duden’s words, it describes someone who does not shy away from dangers and risks, but often pays too little attention to them in a reckless way.
Übermut tut selten gut. — High spirits seldom do good. The Duden defines Übermut as exuberance that shows itself in reckless, wanton behavior. The proverb first referred to the older meaning of the word, arrogance.
Hochmut kommt vor dem Fall. — Pride comes before a fall. The saying comes from the Book of Proverbs in the Old Testament.
Schiller’s Diver
Friedrich Schiller wrote the ballad Der Taucher, The Diver, in 1797. It opens with a king’s challenge: Wer wagt es, Rittersmann oder Knapp, / Zu tauchen in diesen Schlund? Who dares, knight or squire, to dive into this abyss? The king has thrown a golden cup into a whirlpool. A youth dives and comes back with the cup in his hand. He reports: Da unten aber ist’s fürchterlich, / Und der Mensch versuche die Götter nicht. But down there it is dreadful, and man should not tempt the gods. The king then promises him his daughter in marriage, and the youth dives again. The ballad ends: Sie rauschen herauf, sie rauschen nieder, / Den Jüngling bringt keines wieder. They rush up, they rush down, and none brings back the youth. A teacher’s handbook on the ballad offers one reading: dass zu viel Kühnheit ins Verderben führt, that too much boldness leads to ruin.
A Chainsaw Course for Firewood
Germans can buy firewood that they cut themselves in a public forest, as a Selbstwerber, a self-harvester. Bavaria’s official service portal lists what is usually needed for a permit. The applicant needs proof of private liability insurance and proof of a chainsaw course recognized by the agricultural trade association, the Berufsgenossenschaft. The applicant also needs certified protective gear: a helmet with ear and face protection, gloves, a signal jacket, cut-protection trousers and cut-protection boots. In Saxony’s state forest, anyone working with a chainsaw must provide proof of competence. The state forest company’s sales terms add that firewood may not be cut by a person working alone.
Team Chief, Not National Coach
In 1984, Franz Beckenbauer took over the German national football team. He had won the World Cup as a player, but he had no coaching license. The German Football Association, the DFB, named him Teamchef, team chief, rather than Bundestrainer, national coach. Rudi Völler, who later led the team, had no coaching license either. In his first spell in charge, he was listed on the official match sheet not as coach but as Teamchef.
The License on Probation
Every first driver’s license in Germany is issued on probation. The Fahrerlaubnis auf Probe lasts two years. During that time, a new driver may not drink any alcohol at the wheel or start a drive under its influence. A driver who is ordered to attend a remedial course after offenses has the probation extended by another two years. Since 2011, federal law has let young people start even earlier, with Begleitetes Fahren ab 17, accompanied driving from age seventeen. The companion must be at least thirty, must have held a license for at least five years, and must be named in the test certificate. Lower Saxony ran a pilot project from April 2004. The scheme was tested in the states from 2004 before it became permanent federal law on 1 January 2011. The federal road research institute found 22 percent fewer accidents in the first phase of driving alone.