A German civil servant is appointed for life, but only after a long trial. Under the Federal Civil Service Act, the Beamter auf Probe, the civil servant on probation, normally serves at least three years before the appointment for life. The law sets the bar in one sentence: Für die Feststellung der Bewährung gilt ein strenger Maßstab. (A strict standard applies to establishing that someone has proven themselves.)
The Orchestra’s Trial Year
A musician who wins an audition for a German orchestra is not yet a member for good. The collective agreement for German orchestras allows a fixed-term trial contract of up to eighteen months. Before a musician is hired, before the contract is extended and before a dismissal, the orchestra’s board must find out the opinion of the orchestra. In one case, a violinist in the first violins at a state theater had a twelve-month trial from October 2013 to September 2014. The orchestra voted against her in June 2014, and her contract was not extended. In 2017, the Federal Labor Court ruled the fixed term invalid. Counting her earlier work with the same orchestra, the trial had been too long.
The Vocabulary of Keeping Quiet
Duckmäuser — the Duden defines him as a person who does not dare to say his opinion or to set it against an opposing one. The word is pejorative.
Jasager — the yes-sayer. In the Duden’s words, he always agrees at once with the plans and views of his superiors or of the stronger side.
Radfahrer — the cyclist, in its second meaning: a person who bows to those above him for his own advantage and bullies those below.
Kadavergehorsam — corpse obedience. The Duden calls it blind obedience.
Untertanengeist — the mind of a subject. The Duden calls it servile devotion.
Object Now or Lose the Right
In German private law, silence is in principle not a declaration of intent. Several rules make an exception, and they all reward the person who objects in time. A works council must be heard before every dismissal. If it has Bedenken, concerns, about an ordinary dismissal, it must state them in writing with reasons within one week. Äußert er sich innerhalb dieser Frist nicht, gilt seine Zustimmung zur Kündigung als erteilt. (If it does not respond within this period, its consent to the dismissal counts as given.) A shareholder who attended the annual meeting can, as a rule, challenge one of its resolutions in court only if he or she declared an objection for the minutes at the meeting. Between merchants, a letter confirming a deal counts as accepted unless the recipient objects without delay, and goods that are not inspected and complained about in time count as approved. A tenant who does not report a defect in the apartment promptly can lose the right to reduce the rent.
Words for Whose Job It Is
Dafür bin ich nicht zuständig — I am not responsible for that. It is the standard sentence for saying that a matter belongs to someone else.
Es fühlte sich niemand zuständig — nobody felt responsible. Duden gives this as an example sentence for the word.
Das ist nicht mein Bier — that is not my beer. In everyday speech it means “that is not my business.”
Das fällt in mein Ressort — that falls into my department. Duden defines a Ressort as a firmly outlined area of tasks and responsibility.
Kompetenzgerangel and Zuständigkeitsgerangel — wrangling over competence, wrangling over responsibility. Duden marks Kompetenzgerangel as colloquial and disapproving.
Zuständigkeitshalber — for reasons of responsibility. The word belongs to the German of official letters.
Each Minister’s Own Portfolio
Article 65 of the Basic Law lets the Chancellor set the guidelines of policy. Then it says: Innerhalb dieser Richtlinien leitet jeder Bundesminister seinen Geschäftsbereich selbständig und unter eigener Verantwortung. Within these guidelines, each federal minister runs his portfolio independently and on his own responsibility. German government calls this the Ressortprinzip, the portfolio principle. When two ministers disagree, the federal government as a whole decides. The principle goes back to the Prussian reforms. They abolished the old cabinet system and created a state ministry nach dem Ressortprinzip klar gegliedert, clearly organized by portfolio. The ministers for the interior, foreign affairs, finance, justice and war each answered to the king.
Management by Job Description
The Harzburger Modell was taught at the Akademie für Führungskräfte der Wirtschaft in Bad Harzburg, founded on March 26, 1956, by Reinhard Höhn. Its motto was Führung durch Delegation, leadership by delegation. Responsibility was delegated to the level of the hierarchy that held the authority to decide. Each employee’s area of tasks was in Stellenbeschreibungen fest umrissen, firmly outlined in a job description. By Höhn’s death in 2000, about 600,000 managers and junior managers had been trained at the academy. From around 1972, American management systems gained ground and the model lost importance. Critics said it favored an authoritarian and bureaucratic style. Höhn was a former SS-Oberführer, and his prominent role in the Third Reich also damaged the model once it became known.
Words for saying it plainly
Klartext reden — to speak plain text. Klartext is also a message that is not encrypted, so that anyone can read it.
Tacheles reden — to talk tachles, a word that came into German from Yiddish. Duden defines it as saying your opinion openly, without false consideration.
Butter bei die Fische! — butter with the fish! It is a regional call to stop holding back and settle the matter now.
Ross und Reiter nennen — to name the horse and the rider. You say openly whom and what you mean.
Um den heißen Brei herumreden — to talk around the hot porridge. It is a complaint about someone who does not dare to raise the real point.
Das geht gar nicht — that does not work at all. It is the everyday verdict on something that is plainly unacceptable.
The Friend Who Comes Back
Schiller wrote Die Bürgschaft in the summer of 1798, and it was first published in the Musenalmanach of 1799. Möros is sentenced to death for plotting against the tyrant Dionys. He asks for three days to see his sister married, and his friend stays behind as his surety. On the way back, a flood, robbers and thirst delay him. A servant tells him to turn around and save his own life. He goes on, because the tyrant must not be able to boast daß der Freund dem Freunde gebrochen die Pflicht, that a friend broke his duty to a friend. He arrives as the execution begins and cries out: »Mich, Henker«, ruft er, »erwürget! / Da bin ich, für den er gebürget!« (Strangle me, executioner! Here I am, the one he stood surety for!) The tyrant gives in: Und die Treue, sie ist doch kein leerer Wahn. (Loyalty is not an empty illusion after all.)
Barschel’s Word of Honor
On 18 September 1987, Uwe Barschel, the minister-president of Schleswig-Holstein, faced accusations at a press conference. He said: … gebe ich Ihnen, gebe ich den Bürgerinnen und Bürgern des Landes Schleswig-Holsteins und der gesamten deutschen Öffentlichkeit mein Ehrenwort – ich wiederhole: Ich gebe Ihnen mein Ehrenwort! – dass die gegen mich erhobenen Vorwürfe haltlos sind. (I give you, the citizens of Schleswig-Holstein and the entire German public my word of honor, I repeat, I give you my word of honor, that the accusations against me are groundless.) The sworn statements he presented turned out to be false. He resigned as minister-president on 2 October 1987.