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LIVING IN GERMANY

Today in Germany: A round-up of the latest news on Monday

From a possible fireworks ban to Germany's first snow of the year, we take a look at what's happening around the country.

Published: 23 November 2020 17:26 CET
Today in Germany: A round-up of the latest news on Monday
Hikers trekking through snow in Tegernsee, Bavaria on Saturday. Photo: DPA

Germany is currently discussing banning firecrackers completely on New Year’s Eve. But the majority of Germans aren’t protesting the possibility.

According to a new survey from YouGov, almost two thirds of those surveyed are fully in favour of putting a halt to the explosive tradition this year, whereas only 25 percent are against it, and 10 percent have no opinion. 

Bavaria's State Premier Markus Söder (CSU) told public broadcaster ARD that Christmas should be “freer” in terms of restrictions, “but New Year's Eve should be more consistent again”. For Silvester (New Year’s Eve) he would like to see a ban on firecrackers or alcohol in large squares. 

Yet some politicians are pushing for the tradition that typically rings in the New Year throughout Germany.

“A general banning of firecrackers is not necessary,” Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) said. “Fireworks must be possible on New Year's Eve despite coronavirus.”

German vocabulary word: firecracker – (der) Böller

READ ALSO: Police and politicians call for ban on New Year’s Eve fireworks

Archive photo shows NYE fireworks in Berlin. Photo: DPA

Volunteers sought for Berlin vaccination centres

Berlin is looking for more than 1,000 assistants for the new coronavirus vaccination centres it’s planning by the end of the year. 

For each of the six locations, around 200 trained helpers will be needed, Albrecht Broemme, the coordinator for setting up the centre, told Berlin-Brandenburg regional broadcaster rbb on Saturday.

READ ALSO: Germany says coronavirus vaccinations 'could start before end of year'

The vaccination centres are to be set up in Exhibition Hall 11, in the closed-down airports Tegel and Tempelhof, in the Velodrom in Prenzlauer Berg, in the Erika-Heß-Eisstadion in Wedding and in the Arena in Treptow. 

According to Health Senator Dilek Kalayci (SPD), up to 20,000 people can be vaccinated daily in the six centres as soon as the vaccine is available.

Germany-wide, dozens of vaccination centres are being planned.

German vocabulary word: assistants – (die) Helfer

Price sinks for half a million flats in Berlin

The second level of the capital’s rent freeze law went into effect on Monday. The first of its kind in Germany, the new law forbids landlords to charge a rent that is above a certain price threshold.

In the first phrase of the law, in effect since February 23rd, rents for around 1.5 million capital city apartments have already been frozen at the June 2019 level until 2025. They may not rise again until 2022 – according to the current level, by a maximum of 1.3 percent annually. 

If an apartment is rented out again, the landlord must adhere to upper limits and the last rent.

As of Monday, rents must be reduced if they are more than 20 percent above the upper limits set by the city-state of Berlin. These are calculated on the basis of the year of construction, furnishings and location of the apartment and range between €3.92 and €9.80 per square meter.

German vocabulary word: rent freeze – (der) Mietendeckel

Tweet of the day

Temperatures around Germany took a nosedive on Saturday, reaching a chilly 0 to 3C in many places. Yet that’s not such a bad thing if you’re hiking through the scenic Bavarian Alps, as this tweet and photos from Munich-based Shelley Pascual shows. Amid the lockdown, many people in Germany are heading to their closest hiking trail.

Home Office Drawbacks

The benefits of working remotely in Germany have often been hailed but there are also drawbacks, a new survey revealed on Monday.

Thirty seven percent of the managers and personnel directors surveyed in an Ifo Institute survey believe that the general input of employees working from home has deteriorated. However, 44 percent felt productivity remained the same, whereas 18 percent saw better job performance than at the usual workplace.

READ ALSO: Home Office makes employees more productive and happy, study finds

Compared to personal contact at the workplace, 59 percent of those surveyed felt that collaboration at home suffers, with only seven percent finding it to be even better. 

Two-thirds of the companies surveyed said that they still wanted to make greater use of Home Office in the long term.

In addition, the respondents felt there was more difficult communication between employees, a lack of coordination, difficulties in combining work and childcare, as well as additional workload and stress for employees.

German vocabulary word: job performance/(die) Arbeitsleistung

Smartphone shutdown

Did you have trouble using your phone on Monday afternoon? You’re not alone, as more than 100,000 Vodafone customers lost connection to the Telecom provider due to regional disruptions, the company wrote on Twitter about the issue that affected 4G/LTE mobile data.

From 2pm on, tens of thousands of customers around Germany took to the Internet to complain about the disturbance.

German vocabulary word: disturbance – (die) Störung

Member comments

  1. Organised, public fireworks displays should be the way to go under normal circumstances. In 2020? A total ban.

    We don’t need more irresponsible, drunk people jeopardising and straining the fantastic front liners. Idiots and fireworks never mix well. Please ban all private use and purchase of fireworks this year.

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LIVING IN GERMANY

Living in Germany: Battles over Bürgergeld, rolling the ‘die’ and carnival lingo

From the push to reform long-term unemployment benefits to the lingo you need to know as Carnival season kicks off, we look at the highlights of life in Germany.

Published: 14 November 2022 09:54 CET
Living in Germany: Battles over Bürgergeld, rolling the 'die' and carnival lingo

Deadlock looms as debates over Bürgergeld heat up 

Following a vote in the Bundestag on Thursday, the government’s planned reforms to long-term unemployment benefits are one step closer to becoming reality. Replacing the controversial Hartz IV system, Bürgergeld (or Citizens’ Allowance) is intended to be a fair bit easier on claimants.

Not only will the monthly payment be raised from €449 to €502, but jobseekers will also be given a grace period of two years before checks are carried out on the size of their apartment or savings of up to €60,000. The system will also move away from sanctions with a so-called “trust period” of six months, during which benefits won’t be docked at all – except in very extreme circumstances. 

Speaking in parliament, Labour Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) said the spirit of the new system was “solidarity, trust and encouragement” and praised the fact that Bürgergeld would help people get back into the job market with funding for training and education. But not everyone is happy about the changes. In particular, politicians from the opposition CDU/CSU parties have responded with outrage at the move away from sanctions.

CDU leader Friedrich Merz has even branded the system a step towards “unconditional Basic Income” and argued that nobody will be incentivised to return to work. 

The CDU and CSU are now threatening to block the Bürgergeld legislation when it’s put to a vote in the Bundesrat on Monday. With the conservatives controlling most of the federal states – and thus most of the seats in the upper house – things could get interesting. Be sure to keep an eye out for our coverage in the coming weeks to see how the saga unfolds. 

Tweet of the week

When you first start learning German, picking the right article to use can truly be a roll of the “die” – so we’re entirely on board with this slightly unconventional way to decide whether you’re in a “der”, “die”, or “das” situation. (Warning: this may not improve your German.) 

Where is this?

Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Boris Roessler

Residents of Frankfurt am Main and the surrounding area will no doubt recognise this as the charming town of Kronberg, which is nestled at the foot of the Taunus mountains.

This atmospheric scene was snapped on Friday morning, when a drop in temperatures saw Kronberg and surrounding forests shrouded in autumnal fog.

After a decidedly warm start to November, the mercury is expected to drop into single digits over the weekend. 

Did you know?

November 11th marked the start of carnival season in Germany. But did you know that there’s a whole set of lingo to go along with the tradition? And it all depends on where you are. First of all, the celebration isn’t called the same thing everywhere. In the Rhineland, it’s usually called Karneval, while people in Bavaria or Saxony tend to call it Fasching. Those in Hesse and Saarland usually call it Fastnacht. 

And depending on where you are, there are different things to shout. The ‘fools call’ you’ll hear in Cologne is “Alaaf!” If you move away from Cologne, you’ll hear “Helau!” This is the traditional cry in the carnival strongholds of Düsseldorf and Mainz, as well as in some other German cities.

In the Swabian-Alemannic language region in the southwest of the country, people yell “Narri-Narro”, which means “I’m a fool, you’re a fool”. In Saarland at the French border, they shout “Alleh hopp!”, which is said to originate from the French language. 

Lastly, if someone offers you a Fastnachtskrapfe, say yes because it’s a jelly-filled carnival donut. And if you’re offered a Bützchen? It’s your call, but know that it’s a little kiss given to strangers!

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