In 1961 the brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht ran about 300 discount stores together. That year they decided to go separate ways. The best-known reason is a dispute over cigarettes. Theo wanted to sell tobacco for its higher margins, and Karl refused. Many experts doubt that this alone caused the split. Since then Germany has had Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd. The line between their territories is called the Aldi-Äquator, the Aldi equator. It runs from the lower Rhine near Mülheim across large parts of Hesse to north of Fulda and Bavaria. The two firms are separate companies, and they still work together in some central areas.
The Video Referee’s Narrow Area
The video assistant referees of the Bundesliga work at a broadcasting center in Cologne. Their area is narrow. Nur bei Toren, Elfmetersituationen, Platzverweisen und Spielerverwechslungen darf der VAR intervenieren. The video assistant may intervene only for goals, penalty situations, sending-offs and mistaken identity. Even then he does not decide. Der Schiedsrichter auf dem Platz hat die Entscheidungsgewalt. The referee on the pitch has the power to decide. In November 2017 Lutz Michael Fröhlich replaced Hellmut Krug as head of the video referees. Fröhlich said: Der Schiedsrichter auf dem Feld muss gestärkt werden. The referee on the field must be strengthened.
The Bakery That Dropped Two Checklists
A German craft bakery chain has 145 stores and more than 1,350 employees. Many of its workers said they disliked being monitored through checklists. The firm then removed two of these checklists in half of its stores, chosen at random. Economists from Cologne and other universities studied the results. Sales in the stores without the checklists rose by 2.7 percent on average. Turnover among trained staff fell by 35 percent. In team surveys, employees named spürbare Wertschätzung, appreciation they could feel, as the reason. The co-author Matthias Heinz summed it up. Wer Mitarbeitende zu stark kontrolliert, schadet dem Unternehmen. Whoever controls employees too much harms the company. The effect was not the same for everyone. Unskilled workers left more often after the checklists were gone.
Drivers May Trust That Others Follow the Rules
German traffic law has a Vertrauensgrundsatz, a principle of trust. A driver may rely on other road users to follow the rules. No statute states it in so many words. The courts derive it from Section 1 of the road traffic regulations. A driver with a green light may expect cross traffic to stop at red. The Federal Court of Justice puts the condition plainly. The principle holds solange die sichtbare Verkehrslage zu keiner anderen Beurteilung Anlass gibt, as long as the visible traffic situation gives no reason to judge otherwise. Children, older people and people in need of help are an exception. Toward them, Section 3 of the regulations requires drivers to behave dass eine Gefährdung dieser Verkehrsteilnehmer ausgeschlossen ist, so that any danger to them is ruled out.
The Doctor Decides Alone
The German Football League, the DFL, has a protocol for head injuries in the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. The form has signature lines for the club, the head coach, the person responsible for sport and the team doctor. The examination and treatment of a player on the pitch may take up to three minutes. Die Entscheidung obliegt allein dem/der Mannschaftsarzt/-ärztin. The decision rests with the team doctor alone. Trainer/-in, Schiedsrichter/-in und Spieler dürfen die Beurteilung und Entscheidung des Arztes/der Ärztin nicht beeinflussen. The coach, the referee and the player may not influence the doctor’s assessment and decision. The player may go on only if the doctor expressly confirms that he is able to. If a concussion cannot be ruled out, he takes no further part in the match.
Who Secures the Christmas Market
On 20 December 2024, an attacker used a vehicle to strike the Christmas market in Magdeburg. He killed six people and injured about 300 others, some seriously. A committee of inquiry of the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt examined the attack. In May 2026, ZDF reported on its final report. Die Lücke, die der Attentäter mit dem Fahrzeug nutzte, fiel bei der Kontrolle weder Polizei, Veranstalter noch der Stadt Magdeburg auf. Neither the police, nor the organizer, nor the city noticed the gap the attacker used. According to the report, the protection concept against vehicle attacks had been out of date. A ZDF reporter in Magdeburg said that responsibility had been pushed back and forth between the city, the organizer and the police. In November 2025, the next market was not approved for the time being, although setup had begun at the end of October. The state administration office had found defects in the organizer’s security concept, and the city had been instructed not to approve it. The organizer saw the police and the authorities as responsible. On 12 November, ZDF reported an agreement between the city, the state administration office and the police. Für die Umsetzung der vereinbarten Maßnahmen seien die Veranstalter und die Stadt Magdeburg verantwortlich. The organizers and the city of Magdeburg were to be responsible for carrying out the agreed measures.
Who Closes the Pitch
The town of Griesheim has written rules for its grass football pitches, the Richtlinien zur Bespielbarkeit der Rasenplätze, rules on the playability of the grass pitches. The mayor names one town official, the Sportplatzbeauftragter, for all questions of playability. Each club names two contacts. On match days the decision should be made by 11 a.m. if possible, so that the visiting team can be told in time to save its travel costs. Die Entscheidung über die Bespielbarkeit des Platzes wird grundsätzlich abschließend durch den Beauftragten der Stadt Griesheim getroffen. As a rule, the town’s official makes the final decision. Once the match has started, the decision passes to someone else. Während des Spiels obliegt die Entscheidung über die Bespielbarkeit allein dem Schiedsrichter. During the match, the referee alone decides, and he must be aware of his responsibility for possible damage. The town’s official cannot stop a match in progress on his own. From 15 December to 28 February all grass pitches are closed. The official may decide on exceptions.
The referees of the Württemberg football association have guidance for the case where the two disagree. If the owner closes a pitch that the referee thinks is playable, the referee must walk the field and test it in football boots, with sprints, stops and jumps. He must then describe in detail in the match report how he examined the field.
The Responsible Electrician
Many companies that run electrical installations are led by managers who are not electricians. A training guide on the verantwortliche Elektrofachkraft, the responsible electrical specialist, notes that such a manager kann die Fachverantwortung nicht übernehmen, cannot take on the technical responsibility. The company therefore appoints a qualified electrician to that role in writing. The role is based on the standard DIN VDE 1000-10. KomNet, the occupational safety advice service of North Rhine-Westphalia, explains what the appointment means. Eine verantwortliche Elektrofachkraft unterliegt hinsichtlich der Einhaltung der elektrotechnischen Sicherheitsmaßnahmen keinen fachlichen Weisungen. On electrical safety measures, she takes no technical instructions. Für die elektrische Sicherheit sind nur die verantwortlichen Elektrofachkräfte und nicht die ausschließlich disziplinarischen Vorgesetzten verantwortlich. Only the responsible electrical specialists are accountable for electrical safety. Superiors who manage her only as personnel are not. A model appointment certificate from the statutory accident insurer VBG states that she is hinsichtlich der fachlichen Aufgaben weisungsfrei, free of instructions in her technical tasks. Both the company management and the appointee sign it.
The Coordinator Without Authority
On a German building site, each trade works under its own contract and its own employer. When employees of several employers work on one site, the client must appoint a safety and health coordinator, the SiGeKo. The rule has applied since the building site ordinance took effect on 1 July 1998. The coordinator draws up the safety plan and coordinates how the firms work together. He is not their boss. The Bavarian model contract for public building projects gives him no power to issue instructions. Except in imminent danger, he reports problems: In allen anderen Fällen sind der Objektüberwacher und der Auftraggeber auf kurzem Wege zu informieren. In all other cases, the site supervisor and the client are to be informed directly.
Barking Dogs at 9:42 p.m.
Noise from neighbors in Germany is a matter for the municipal Ordnungsamt, the public order office, not automatically for the police. Berlin tells residents which office owns which noise. For neighbors, parties and animals, Zuständig ist das Ordnungsamt des jeweiligen Bezirks, the public order office of the district is responsible. In Cologne, police had a locksmith open a door at 9:42 p.m. to take away dogs that had been barking for a long time. They had not contacted the city’s public order service, which could be reached until after midnight. In 2010 the administrative court of Cologne ruled the action unlawful. Only when the public order office could no longer be reached would responsibility have passed to the police. The police had to pay the locksmith themselves.