Summer, sunshine, squabbling \u2013 trust the Germans to skip over trivial matters like a collapsing pension system, illegal migration or military support for Ukraine, and go straight to the real emergency: when the summer holidays should take place.<\/p>\n
In case you hadn\u2019t noticed, depending on which month you spend in the Med, you\u2019ll encounter different Teutonic tribes as towel war adversaries.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why? Well, it wouldn\u2019t be German if it weren\u2019t complicated. Individual states have responsibility for all things school-related, but exactly when their summer holidays fall is the result of long-term agreements among them \u2013 the result of many, many meetings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The current schedule runs until 2030. It is based on a \u201crolling system\u201d which was introduced in 1964. The idea was to avoid traffic jams and shortage of accommodation \u2013 in short:\u00a0 to stop all 83 million Germans descending on the Autobahn, the northern beaches or the flights to Mallorca all at once.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A worthy aim, but slightly farcical as all neighbouring countries using Germany as a drive-thru do not give a hoot about whether Hesse breaks up in June or Schleswig-Holstein in July.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But let\u2019s look at the scheme in more detail: The Bundesl\u00e4nder are divided into five groups that go on holiday at roughly the same time, to ensure the population is distributed as evenly as possible. Their six-week blocks take turns each year, starting early or late: The summer break can start as early as June 20 and end as late as September 15.<\/p>\n
However, German federalism being what it is, there are exceptions: Bavaria and Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg, the two southern states, have decided that rotation is for lesser Bundesl\u00e4nder. They always go last: August to mid-September.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Once upon a time, the justification was agricultural: kids were needed to spend their holidays helping with the harvest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But now Germany doesn\u2019t depend on child labour anymore and the areas around Munich and Stuttgart are much more famous for Mercedes, Porsche, Siemens, BMW and Audi than for Sauerkraut, wheat and barley. So the new line is that the southern states have long Pentecost holidays, often ending in mid-June \u2013 and it makes no sense to start summer break right after.<\/p>\n
This cherry-picking causes envy and tension. But Bavarian premier Markus S\u00f6der (CSU) is unyielding: The dates \u201cwork for us and are firmly embedded in Bavarian culture.\u201d This summer, he even claimed: \u201cOur holiday rhythm is part of Bavarian DNA.\u201d If you consider Lederhosen, Dirndl and large quantities of beer a genetic condition as well, it makes perfect sense. His party\u2019s view \u2013 if the other states don\u2019t like their slots, they should just shuffle among themselves \u2013 hasn\u2019t gone down well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
North Rhine-Westphalia\u2019s education minister had already hinted that, from 2030 onwards, there should be an equal system for all: \u201cNRW would also like a later holiday start.\u201d She was seconded by Lower Saxony, Thuringia, and Hamburg. And most Germans agree, too.<\/p>\n
A recent ZDF poll shows that 62% think Bavaria and Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg should join the system. Only 26% support their special status. What is shifting the weight in this battle, however, a bit like the US within Nato, is the interstate financial transfer where the rich subsidise the rest. Bayern pays more than half of all the redistributed billions, with Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg in second place.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So the identity politics of \u201cMia san mia\u201d (\u201cwe are who we are\u201d in Bavarian) means the other states will likely have to accept the status quo, albeit grudgingly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The latest voice to enter the debate is Hans Maier, now 94, who was Bavarian education minister back in the 1960s. He remembers the origins of the holiday system rather differently.<\/p>\n
According to Maier, no one wanted late holidays back then \u2013 they were seen as wet and miserable (this was before climate change). When Bavaria accepted the fixed August slot, it was seen not as a privilege but a sacrifice for the national good. More importantly, Maier reminded everyone that, really, there are other issues at hand. So true. Without yet another drawn-out scheduling debate, officials might actually address Germany\u2019s real school problems \u2013 staff shortages and cancelled lessons across the country.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, hats off to the rest of Europe, who somehow manage to go on holidays without such an intricate technique. Even the GDR coped, with all pupils off at the same time in July and August \u2013 despite the very limited range of destinations\u2026<\/p>\n
Most importantly: We may have rotating timetables, but we still get to the sunbeds before you. Have a great summer holiday!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Summer, sunshine, squabbling \u2013 trust the Germans to skip over trivial matters like a collapsing pension system, illegal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[2000,299,1824,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-302441","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-germany","11":"tag-travel"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114939128919891992","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}