A new player in a German orchestra first wins an audition. In a judgment of 25 October 2017, the Federal Labor Court quoted the audition rules of one state theater orchestra. Das Probespiel ist kein Wettbewerb im üblichen Sinne, sondern eine Einstellungsprüfung. The audition is not a competition in the usual sense, but an entrance examination. The winner then gets a contract for a probation year, as a rule. Before the year ends, the section, the artistic council, the chief conductor and the orchestra board discuss the candidate and vote in writing and in secret. After that, every member of the orchestra has a week to cast a vote. The candidate needs an absolute majority of the votes cast.
The Vaccination Committee Answers a Minister-President
Germany’s Standing Committee on Vaccination, the STIKO, was set up in 1972. It is a volunteer group of experts. In July 2021 Bavaria’s Minister-President Markus Söder pushed for a faster general COVID-19 vaccination recommendation for children from 12. He contrasted the volunteer committee with the “professionals” of the European Medicines Agency. The STIKO answered publicly that the statements of Söder and other politicians were “ungewöhnlich und müssen korrigiert werden”, unusual and in need of correction. It works, it said, independently of the opinions and wishes of politicians and the pharmaceutical industry. On 16 August 2021 the committee recommended vaccination for everyone from 12. It named a careful evaluation of new scientific data as the reason.
Earning the Right to Edit
On German Wikipedia, changes made by newcomers do not appear to readers at once. An experienced author first checks them and marks the new version as gesichtet, sighted. A user earns the right to have his own edits appear at once after at least 30 days and 150 edits, together with some further conditions. The right to approve the edits of others comes after 60 days and at least 300 edits. Both rights can also be granted on request.
The Assistant Becomes National Coach
Helmut Schön became assistant to the national football coach Sepp Herberger in 1956. After eight years as assistant, he succeeded him in 1964. Jupp Derwall was assistant coach of the national team from 1970 and national coach from 1978 to 1984. Joachim Löw joined the leadership of the national team under Jürgen Klinsmann in 2004 and became national coach in 2006. Hansi Flick was Löw’s assistant from 2006 to 2014 and became national coach in 2021.
Experts No Boss Can Instruct
The professional code of German doctors says that doctors may not accept instructions from non-doctors on medical decisions. The Occupational Safety Act makes company doctors and safety specialists weisungsfrei, free of instructions, when they apply their expert knowledge. Company doctors are “subject only to their medical conscience.” A company’s data protection officer may receive no instructions on how to carry out the task. The Bundeswehr has a similar rule. A superior should not intervene in the medical or other specialist service of subordinates. The Federal Administrative Court explained in 2004 that the word “should” here means such intervention is forbidden in principle.
Who Chooses the Operating Method
In 2024 the Deutsches Ärzteblatt, the journal of the German medical profession, published a legal article on who may instruct whom among hospital doctors. The chief physician may give detailed instructions to junior doctors in training. That right shrinks as they gain expertise. “The more qualified the subordinate doctors are, the smaller the room” for instructions. If a senior physician masters an operating method that meets the medical standard, the chief may not require her to use the method the chief prefers. The author, a lawyer, describes this as the legal position. It is an interpretation, not a statute.
The Captain Who Graded His Coaches
In August 2011 Philipp Lahm, captain of the German national team, published a book, Der feine Unterschied (The Fine Difference). In it he judged Jürgen Klinsmann’s season as coach of Bayern Munich. Under Klinsmann, he wrote, the team did essentially only fitness training, with very little tactical discussion. The players had to meet before games to discuss how they wanted to play at all. After about eight weeks, all the players knew it would not work. National coach Joachim Löw objected that a player was publicly judging coaches who had long been successful. The German Football Association reprimanded Lahm.
Words for Two Kinds of Authority
In German workplaces, one employee can have two superiors.
der disziplinarische Vorgesetzte — the line manager, responsible for pay, leave and appraisals
der fachliche Vorgesetzte — the professional superior, who checks and judges the content of the work
die Sachautorität — authority that comes from knowing the subject
die Amtsautorität — authority that comes from the position
die Koryphäe — a leading authority in a field
Ahnung haben — to know what one is talking about
The Orchestra Chooses Its Own Members
The members of the Berlin Philharmonic have voted for more than a century on who may join them. In 1982 the chief conductor, Herbert von Karajan, brought in the clarinetist Sabine Meyer. The orchestra’s members then voted against her appointment by a large majority. Karajan sought complete power over auditions. Serious differences followed between him and the orchestra. The orchestra’s own history says that the collaboration of the late years was overshadowed by disputes and estrangement.
Knowledge and Education, Not Birth
After Prussia’s defeat by Napoleon, a regulation of 6 August 1808 redefined who could become an officer. Einen Anspruch auf Offiziersstellen sollen von nun an in Friedenszeiten nur Kenntnisse und Bildung gewähren, in Kriegszeiten ausgezeichnete Tapferkeit und Überblick. From now on, only knowledge and education shall give a claim to officer posts in peacetime, and in wartime outstanding bravery and overview. Aller bisher stattgehabte Vorzug des Standes hört beim Militär ganz auf. All privilege of rank that has existed until now ends completely in the military. In practice, men of common birth rose mainly in the engineers and the artillery. The cavalry stayed closed to them.