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New Year's Fireworks Injuries in Germany
We wish you a happy new year and hope this year brings you joy and success. We hope you and your family are safe and healthy as we start this new year.
Here are some statistics on injuries due to New Year's fireworks. This is also a reminder for us to stay safe and follow precautions when lighting fireworks.
Berlin:
Unfallkrankenhaus Berlin (UKB): 42 patients with severe injuries (hand, face, eye trauma)
Charité hospital: 49 cases characterized as "combat wounds" from illegal fireworks
35 police officers were injured, including blast traumas, and one serious leg wound
Baden-Württemberg:
A 42-year-old man lost three fingers.
3 people died in separate house fires.
4 people suffered minor injuries from smoke inhalation.
Other Regions:
Munich: Three children injured (ages 2, 11, 14), including hand amputations
Leipzig: A 16-year-old girl lost parts of two fingers
Near Rostock: A 14-year-old boy lost his left hand
Note: No comprehensive federal statistics are currently available from organizations such as the German Hospital Federation (DKG).
More than 150 people registered to win a free copy of our new book.
We will continue improving the book based on your feedback. If you are looking to start your own business in Germany, get this book to avoid any expensive and unpleasant surprises.
We have repeatedly mentioned in our newsletters that the German pension system is under significant strain. This makes it crucial that you start taking your retirement and financial planning seriously.
The number of retirees in Germany is increasing. This means fewer people are contributing to the pension system, and more people are claiming benefits.
The math doesn't work.
This means you can't rely solely on the public system. You must secure your retirement yourself.
Here are some ways you can do this.
Invest in diversified ETFs, such as the MSCI World ETF. You can open a free trading account and start an ETF savings plan to invest a fixed amount every month automatically. This is the best way to save for your retirement. Moreover, you don't pay tax on 30% of the capital gains from ETFs that are made up of mainly stocks.
Savings account. You can check savings accounts here*.
Buy gold. You can buy physical gold, ETFs, or ETCs. Your portfolio should consist of a mix of assets.
Private pension plans. We don't consider private pension plans the best option for saving for retirement. However, they work well for people who lack the discipline to invest a fixed amount each month.
How safe are your valuables in a bank's safe deposit box?
You might have heard about the recent heist at the Sparkasse bank branch in Gelsenkirchen. In this heist, thieves stole valuables estimated at €30 million from over 3,000 safe deposit boxes. [1]
Now the question is, who bears this loss?
Banks in Germany must implement adequate security measures, as required by law (§ 241, 823, and 933 BGB). These include reinforced structures, alarms, regular inspections, and protection against foreseeable threats like drilling or break-in attempts.
Suppose structural defects or inadequate precautions allow unauthorized access. In this case, unlimited liability applies to the bank. Unlimited liability also applies if the bank's gross negligence is proven.
Suppose investigators don't find any gross negligence from the bank. In this case, liability is typically limited to €10,000-€25,000 per safe deposit box. This means the customer, that is you, will bear the loss.
How can you protect yourself?
Get Bankschließfachversicherung to cover the damages beyond the standard insured limit of the banks. It is a specialized insurance policy for valuables stored in your bank safe deposit box. You can determine the insured sum. Insurers cover up to 0.5 million euros in valuables.
Banks also offer higher coverage at a higher cost. Check whether the bank's coverage is enough. Otherwise, get Bankschließfachversicherung.
Many home content insurance policies (Hausratversicherung) also cover up to €25,000 of damage. If you have a home contents insurance policy, check whether it covers the "Bank Safe Deposit Box" as well.
Getting a policy is not enough. You must also collect and retain proof of ownership for valuables. Here is how you do that:
Take photos of the contents (front and back). Include size proof. You can do this using a measuring stick or a similar tool visible in the pictures.
Original manufacturer's certificates or warranty documents (e.g., for valuable watches).
Keep the purchase receipts.
Appraisal by recognized experts. You need it when storing collectors' items or high-value heirlooms. This is important to determine the concrete replacement value.
Storing cash in a safe deposit box: Record the number of bills, their denominations, and the date of deposit.
You must store this evidence externally. The burden to prove ownership lies with you, even in the case of gross negligence by the bank.
As you may have noticed in recent newsletters, we have begun visualizing Germany's data. We believe a picture with data is worth more than a thousand words. This is why in 2026, we updated our mission to include sharing information about Germany through data visualizations. We have created a new category called "Visualize" to realize this.
The decline in gross electricity production is due to efficiency and declining production.
With AI and the need for industrialization, electricity production should increase, not decrease. This raises concerns about the future of the German industry.
In China, electricity production has been steadily increasing, reaching 9,880 billion kWh in 2024. This is 20 times higher than in Germany.
Reviews mean everything for online platforms, and GermanPedia is no different.
You can help us compete in Google search by leaving reviews on Google. These really (yes, really) help and are a vital part of Google's discovery and recommendation algorithms.
So, if you find what we are doing helpful, please leave a simple star rating or a short review on Google. This will help more users discover GermanPedia.
Nationwide protests in Iran due to economic collapse. The Iranian rial is collapsing in value. Inflation had reached 42.2%. Food prices had jumped 72%. [1]
President Volodymyr Zelensky has appointed Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, as head of the presidential administration [2]
Community Shoutouts! 📣
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New here? Check out GermanPediaDid someone forward you this? Subscribe to this newsletter. Click here if you are a bot. We'll stop sending you emails. Merry Christmas 🎄 As the year comes to an end, I want to take a moment to say thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for reading, learning, and growing with us. And most of all, thank you for your trust. GermanPedia exists because of you. Every message you read, every guide you use, reminds us why we started GermanPedia in the first...
New here? Check out GermanPediaDid someone forward you this? Subscribe to this newsletter. Click here if you are a bot. We'll stop sending you emails. Important changes Wero - European alternative to PayPal. Wero is the EU's first step towards becoming independent of American payment services such as Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal. [1] The ECB didn't change the key interest rates. This means the savings interest rate remains at 2.0%, which is below the inflation rate of 2.3%. This is why you...
New here? Check out GermanPediaDid someone forward you this? Subscribe to this newsletter. Click here if you are a bot. We'll stop sending you emails. 31 changes coming in 2026 you should know about Social security Social insurance: Significant increase in contribution assessment ceilings. This is the maximum income considered to calculate your insurance premium. Higher earners will feel the effect. Health and long‑term care: €66,150 to €69,750 Pension and unemployment insurance: €8,050 to...
