Typical German?

Intolerance, schadenfreude (spitefulness), stubbornness,
smugness (narrow-mindedness), nitpicking, bureaucracy, jealousy (©Wikipedia)

According to Rolf Sachs, his exhibition Typisch Deutsch? (Typical German?) at the Museum of Applied Art in Cologne is intended to clear up outdated prejudices about German traits. In taking his paternal ancestors' stringent trash separation practices for a ride, he places trash bins of various colors in front of the museum entrance. The bins are marked Intoleranz, Schadenfreude, Sturheit, Spießigkeit, Pingeligkeit, Bürokratie, Neid.

Sorry, which of those negative traits are really so typically German that we have to put them into the trash? You encounter intolerance, bureaucracy, and jealousy all over the world. Stubbornness is a unique feature, and narrow-mindedness often results from a strict upbringing. The cliché of stubbornness you usually find in novels, theater pieces, and movie plots where, e.g., at the happy (?) end, Irma la Douce has - not without difficulty - transformed the stubborn but honest cop Nestor Patou into a bon vivant.

That leaves nitpicking and schadenfreude. Many Germans are indeed Prozesshanseln (litigious persons); they like to go to court for nullities. A typical issue may be the neighbor's high tree casting a shadow on the plaintiff's lawn. In Germany, litigious persons are encouraged by the relatively small costs of court cases of a low Streitwert (amount involved).

As a student, I once set my goal never to see a doctor or a lawyer. As you may imagine, I could not avoid doctors but lawyers. I managed not to meet until three years ago when my neighbor took all the apartment owners in our building to court. The other owners and I did not like some iron bars he had placed - without authorization - in front of some windows in the entrance hall. Stepping out of our apartments made us feel like being in prison. 

We simply and courteously asked him to remove the iron bars. To make a long and ugly story short: I found myself in court for the first time in my life. Needless to say, our neighbor lost his case, but we all still had to pay our lawyer. Do you understand that I just say Good day and Goodbye to the guy who has changed the course of my life?

That leaves the trait of Schadenfreude being so typically German that the English-speaking world adopted the word, not having an equivalent in their language. There is even a German proverb: Wer den Schaden hat, braucht für den Spott nicht zu sorgen (The laugh is always on the loser).

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