Every word spoken in a plenary session of the German Bundestag goes into the Plenarprotokoll, the plenary record. The stenographers note everything from speeches to interjections, applause and objections. They relieve each other every five minutes. By the next working day the complete record of a debate is available. Members may correct the text of their speeches. Korrekturen dürfen den Sinn der Rede oder einzelner Teile nicht verändern. Corrections may not change the meaning of the speech or of any part of it.
Not in the Files, Not in the World
Quod non est in actis, non est in mundo. What is not in the files is not in the world. In German the maxim reads Was nicht in den Akten ist, ist nicht in der Welt. It comes from written court procedure, in which nothing could be considered that was not in the court files. Berlin’s administration puts the same idea in a handbook for its officials. They must keep files and darin ihr Handeln vollständig, nachvollziehbar und transparent dokumentieren, document their actions in them completely, traceably and transparently. In 2017 the legal journalist Martin Rath called the maxim eine billige Weisheit, a cheap wisdom. He also wrote that the file is a Mittel der Vernunft, an instrument of reason.
In Black and White
In the study scene of Goethe’s Faust I, a young student asks for advice. Mephistopheles tells him to take notes as if the Holy Spirit were dictating. The student answers: Denn, was man schwarz auf weiß besitzt, / Kann man getrost nach Hause tragen. For what one has in black and white, one can carry home with confidence. Schwarz auf weiß, black on white, is the everyday German phrase for something in writing.
In the play the line is usually read as ironic. Mephistopheles is teasing a student who trusts paper.
The Written Rules of an Apartment Building
The Hausordnung, the house rules, settles the recurring questions of living together in a German apartment building. According to the German Tenants’ Association, it typically covers quiet hours, cleaning the stairwell, clearing snow, and where walkers, prams and bicycles may stand. It binds tenants when it is clearly part of the lease. A notice that only hangs in the hallway creates no obligations of its own. A landlord can answer repeated breaches with a formal warning and, in serious cases, possibly with termination without notice.
Where the apartments belong to several owners, their decisions are written down too. For every resolution since 1 July 2007, the property manager must keep a Beschluss-Sammlung, a collection of resolutions. Each entry is made without delay, numbered and dated, and every owner may inspect it. A question that was decided years ago stays decided, and anyone can look it up.
The Handover Record
When Germans move into or out of a rented apartment, tenant and landlord usually walk through it together, room by room. They record defects, meter readings and the keys handed over in an Übergabeprotokoll, a handover record, and both sign it. The law does not require it. Once it is signed, it binds. According to the homeowners’ association Haus & Grund in Frankfurt, a record signed by both sides that shows no defects counts as a negatives Schuldanerkenntnis, a negative acknowledgment of debt. The tenant can no longer claim that old damage existed at the handover. In a case reported by the insurer ARAG, a landlady later claimed damage from her tenant’s heavy smoking and kept the deposit. The local court of Leonberg held her to the record both had signed at move-out, which showed no damage.
No Car Toll
In the TV debate with Peer Steinbrück on 1 September 2013, Chancellor Angela Merkel said: Mit mir wird es keine PKW-Maut geben! With me there will be no car toll. On 27 November 2013, the CDU, CSU and SPD agreed in their coalition agreement to introduce one. On 27 March 2015, the Bundestag passed it. That day the SPD member Lothar Binding explained in a written statement why he voted yes. Fair dealing with agreements, including coalition agreements, required it. He added: Deshalb wird mit Angela Merkel heute die PKW-Maut in Deutschland eingeführt. That is why the car toll is introduced in Germany today, with Angela Merkel.
The spoken promise gave way. The signed agreement held.
Read Aloud, Approved, Signed
Germans who buy an apartment, found a limited company or sign a marriage contract go to a notary. There the whole deed is read aloud. The Notarization Act requires it. Der Inhalt der Niederschrift muss in Gegenwart des Notars den Beteiligten vorgelesen, die Niederschrift von ihnen genehmigt und eigenhändig unterschrieben werden. The content of the record must be read aloud to the parties in the presence of the notary, approved by them and signed by them in their own hand. Maps and drawings are shown to them instead. Before the appointment, a consumer who buys land from a company must as a rule receive the draft 14 days in advance. The Federal Court of Justice confirmed this in 2015.
Who Does What by When
German guides to meetings distinguish two kinds of minutes. The Verlaufsprotokoll records the course of the discussion. The Ergebnisprotokoll records only the results. For items about who handles which task, the Haufe Academy’s glossary puts it in four words: Wer macht was bis wann? Who does what by when? Its model table has columns for the person responsible, the deadline and the status. The office consultancy Büro-Kaizen adds a rule. Deshalb ist der erste Tagesordnungspunkt bei jeder Besprechung stets das Ergebnisprotokoll der letzten Sitzung. The first agenda item of every meeting is therefore always the results minutes of the last one.
The Class Council Looks Back
A procedure sheet from the Bavarian state school institute shows how a primary-school class council works. The pupils take the roles of chair, minute-taker, rule-keeper and timekeeper. The second step of every session looks back at the last one. Das letzte Protokoll wird verlesen. The last minutes are read aloud, and the children consider how the decisions were carried out. At the end, the new decisions are summed up. A supplier of school materials describes the same review: Die Klasse prüft, ob Aufgaben und Beschlüsse aus dem letzten Klassenrat umgesetzt wurden. The class checks whether the tasks and decisions of the last class council were carried out.
Item One: The Last Minutes
The municipal code of Bavaria says: Die Verhandlungen des Gemeinderats sind niederzuschreiben. The proceedings of the council must be written down. The minutes show the resolutions and the result of each vote. Every member may ask for the minutes to record how he or she voted. The chair and the secretary sign the minutes, and the council must approve them. Citizens may read the minutes of public sessions. On 13 May 2026, the council of Niederalteich in Lower Bavaria met. The first item on its agenda was Genehmigung der Sitzungsniederschrift vom 16.04.2026, approval of the minutes of 16 April 2026.