On 1 May 1890, workers in the German Reich demonstrated for the eight-hour day for the first time, together with workers in other countries. The public broadcasters’ knowledge program Planet Wissen gives the old slogan of the eight-hour movement, first raised by construction workers in Australia in 1856, in German as Acht Stunden Arbeit, acht Stunden Erholung, acht Stunden Ruhe, eight hours of work, eight hours of recreation, eight hours of rest. In 1894 Rosa Luxemburg wrote: Der 1. Mai verkündet die Losung des achtstündigen Arbeitstages. May Day proclaims the slogan of the eight-hour working day. In November 1918 the Council of People’s Deputies introduced the eight-hour day by decree. Employers’ associations and unions had agreed on it beforehand in the Stinnes-Legien Agreement. In December 1923 a new decree kept eight hours as the norm but allowed many exceptions.
politics
Six Parties Promise Not to Get Personal
Before the 2025 federal election, the SPD, CDU, CSU, Greens, FDP and Die Linke agreed on rules for a fair campaign. They wrote: Wir debattieren im Respekt voreinander, verzichten auf persönliche Herabwürdigungen. We debate with respect for one another and do without personal disparagement. The agreement also rules out attacks on the personal or professional circle of politicians. The BSW decided not to take part. The AfD was not asked.
The Elephant Round
On the evening of a federal election, the leaders of the parties meet on television. The program is known as the Elefantenrunde, the round of elephants. On 18 September 2005, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder used it to attack the moderators and his challenger. He told the moderators: Ihr intellektuelles Problem in allen Ehren. With all due respect to your intellectual problem. He asked whether anyone seriously believed that his party would accept an offer of talks from Angela Merkel in this situation, in dem sie sagt, sie möchte Bundeskanzlerin werden, in which she says she wants to be chancellor. Schröder later judged his own performance: War nicht gut, ich weiß. It wasn’t good, I know. On 22 November 2005, Angela Merkel was elected chancellor at the head of a coalition of her CDU/CSU and Schröder’s SPD.
The Rapporteur’s Recommendation
Why do the members of a parliamentary group usually vote the same way? In 2022 Jakob Blankenburg, an SPD member of the Bundestag, answered this question from a citizen on the platform abgeordnetenwatch.de. The members have divided the committees and topics among themselves, he wrote. No single member can study every topic in detail. Dementsprechend geben die sogenannten Berichterstatter:innen … in der Fraktionssitzung eine Empfehlung zur Abstimmung ab. Accordingly, the so-called rapporteurs give a voting recommendation at the group meeting. He also named shared values as a reason.
Nobody Had Asked About a Wall
On 15 June 1961, the East German leader Walter Ulbricht gave a press conference. Annamarie Doherr of the Frankfurter Rundschau asked whether the state border would be set up at the Brandenburg Gate. Ulbricht answered: Mir ist nicht bekannt, dass eine solche Absicht besteht. I am not aware of any such intention. Then he added: Niemand hat die Absicht, eine Mauer zu errichten! Nobody intends to build a wall! None of the journalists present had asked about a wall. In the night to 13 August 1961, the East German leadership began to seal off the sector border in Berlin.
The Federal Agency for Civic Education notes that Khrushchev had not yet agreed to closing the border, and that Ulbricht was probably still aiming at a separate peace treaty. Whether he was already lying that day is uncertain.
When the Minister Called It War
On 2 April 2010, Good Friday, soldiers of the Fallschirmjägerbataillon 373 from Seedorf were ambushed in Afghanistan. Three of them were killed: Nils Bruns, Martin Augustyniak and Robert Hartert. After the battle, Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said in an interview that one could speak umgangssprachlich von Krieg, colloquially of war. The Bundeswehr’s own website describes this as plain speaking: Zu Guttenberg spricht Klartext. The plain word still came with a qualifier: colloquially.
Nine Years on Assisted Suicide
On 13 November 2014 the Bundestag began its work on assisted suicide with an orientation debate of about four hours. Party discipline was lifted. Almost a year later, on 6 November 2015, the members voted on a law, again without party discipline.
On 26 February 2020 the Federal Constitutional Court struck down the 2015 law, and the work began again. The Bundestag held a new general debate on 18 May 2022. On 6 July 2023 it rejected both cross-party bills.
A Debate Before Any Bill
On 28 November 2018 the Bundestag held a debate of two and a half hours on organ donation. No bill had yet been submitted. The debate was open as to its result, and party discipline was lifted.
Groups of members from different parties then wrote their own bills. On 16 January 2020 the Bundestag rejected the proposal that everyone would count as a donor unless they objected. 379 members voted against it and 292 for it. The Bundestag chose another solution instead. Citizens are to be approached about organ donation at least every ten years when they collect their identity card.
The Fight Over Shopping Sundays
In January 2020 the president of the German retail association HDE called for a change to the Basic Law to make Sunday opening easier. The services union ver.di answered: Wir lehnen eine Grundgesetzänderung strikt ab. We strictly reject a change to the Basic Law. A spokesman for the Catholic bishops said that the alternation of work and rest belongs to human life. In July 2026 the e-commerce association bevh, the HDE and the chambers of commerce, DIHK, pressed again for more Sunday opening. In a representative YouGov poll, 43 percent favored more frequent Sunday opening and 50 percent were against. About a year earlier, 34 percent had been in favor and 59 percent against. For ver.di, Sunday is der einzige verlässlich planbare freie Tag, the only free day that can be reliably planned.
Changing Majorities Are Excluded
Wechselnde Mehrheiten sind ausgeschlossen. Changing majorities are excluded. The sentence is from the coalition agreement that the CDU, CSU and SPD signed in November 2005. The parliamentary groups of the coalition vote together in the Bundestag and in all bodies to which it sends members. In practice, this rules out either partner seeking majorities with the opposition.
Disputes go to the coalition committee. The agreement gives it a clear task. It führt in Konfliktfällen Konsens herbei. In cases of conflict, it brings about consensus.