DoubleDTown

  Unless of course there are extenuating circumstances like a victim that was literally asking for it.   "Following a new trial ... a regional court agreed with the initial verdict not to impose the maximum 15-year sentence because the victim had a death wish. It sentenced Günzel to eight years and seven months"   https://www.thelocal.de/20161213/cannibal-cop-convicted-of-murder-of-willing-victim-in-retrial  

  I see your point, that explains the light sentence for "A 94-year-old former Auschwitz death camp guard ... convicted of being an accessory to the murder of 170,000 people at the end of a four-month trial ... Reinhold Hanning was sentenced ... to five years in prison for his role in facilitating the slaughter at the Auschwitz death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/17/auschwitz-guard-reinhold-hanning-jailed-holocaust-auschwitz   Hanning wasn't a murderer, just an accessory 170,000 times. 

If there's another thread, please move this, but I didn't find it.  Just read this today (June 21, 2017) in that hotbed of cutting issues, TheLocal.de: "Both of the culprits were sentenced to seven years and six months in jail on Tuesday by the state court in Cologne. The sentence went further than the punishment called for by prosecutors. The culprits kicked their victim to death, aiming at his head and stomach, the court heard. They then burned him to try to eradicate the evidence."   So, they kicked a guy to death and the prosecutors didn't even ask for 7.5 years?  

It was an ever-changing list of documents.  The online Arbeitsagentur Antrag system said one thing during the filling out of the form, then the "Checklist" from the Arbeitsagentur after the Antrag was submitted partially overlapped that, then somone from the Arbeitsagentur asked for something else.  Just keep getting the docs and throwing them at them as they ask for it until they stop asking.  It will be stuff like old contract, new contract, confirmation of when you stopped working, confirmation of insurance and what it costs, confirmation of rentenversicherung contribution amounts, if Kindergeld is involved then confirmation of the kids' Steueridentifakationnummern etc.  It sounds complicated, but if somebody said to you "here's an envelope with several hundred/thousand Euros in it -- all you have to do is get me documents X, Y, and Z, and maybe also documents A, B, and Q.." wouldn't you do it? 

  It's great not to "need" money, but as long as it's being handed out for free (sort of, there is a hassle to deal with), don't leave it on the sidewalk. 

Even if you have a new job lined up, even if you left your prior position voluntarily, socialist Germany will pay benefits, including Kindergeld, Krankenversicherung and Rentenversicherung, during the gap.  It's a pain to collect all the necessary documents and to deal with Arbeitsagentur, but if you invest a few hours in it you can collect a significant percentange of your prior salary even as you languish unemployed between the prior job and already-arranged for next spot.  The easiest way to go is to not deal with it, but it would be time well spent if you do deal with it.  I have seen this work both in Berlin and in Saxony.

but in any case, get a lawyer.  this is nothing to fool around with.

I agree with the be very clear about expectations part.  That holds true forever, by the way.  Getting it in writing might seem extreme, but it's a handy way of pointing out 12 months from now "hey, I told you I want screens on the windows so we can open them after dark and air conditioning when the temperature gets over 28 degrees and yeah, I might need to spend 1,000 Euros to visit my family once a year - you knew this" 

Okay, I get it that it is news that "German soldier 'disguised himself as refugee to carry out terror attack"  (https://www.thelocal.de/20170427/german-soldier-disguised-himself-as-refugee-to-carry-out-terror-attack)    But shouldn't an equally big part of this story be:  a German that doesn't know Arabic managed to con his way through the system to not only collect support payments under a fake identity as a Syrian but to actually obtain asylum without being able to speak Arabic?

I never met an Erdnussflip in the U.S.   But marshmallow fluff, that is a rarity here in Germany.

  I can't say whether or not you should be worried, but I do think you should expect this to continue.  Right or wrong, that's how it is in Germany.

  Genau.   Most Laender have Herkunftssprachlichen Unterricht ("HSU") programs that are supposed to provide free instruction through grade 12 for heritage languages.    I can say from personal experience that Saxony has dumped English in the past two years as they are overwhelmed with (can you guess?) Arabic in addition to the existing Russian, Vietnamese, and Turkish demand.  Plus, another excuse Saxony makes for lowering the priority of HSU English is that English is the first Fremdsprache, so  kids get it anyway and thus are not robbed of their heritage.  Good grief.

  I have seen a hospital cafeteria in Dresden closed for lunch.  Yes, that's right, the cafeteria closed at lunch time.  Every day.  Those cafeteria workers gotta have a proper lunch you know.  Admittedly, that was 12 years ago and the hospital has since then changed that practice, but it really truly existed.   p.s.:  I don't think U.S. "bureaucratic offices" close for lunch, but the bureaucrats might disappear to lunch and that might have a similar effect

W i n d o w   s c r e e n s  and  s c r e e n d o o r s  as STANDARD equipment, and perhaps just as much, family and friends that understand that.

  I'm not saying I agree with Someonesdaughter, but I do think it is important to be aware that even in non-muslim America there is a pretty shockingly high incidence of very underage marriage.  And I write this now because it seems to me sr5dnptylno's post suggests it is very unusually rare in the U.S.    I can't say I know of any instances of it personally, but:   check out this Washington Post article on married underaged Americans.  Yikes.   https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/02/10/why-does-the-united-states-still-let-12-year-old-girls-get-married/?hpid=hp_hp-cards_hp-posteverything%3Ahomepage%2Fcard&utm_term=.fb47e9d40939    Many of the children married between 2000 and 2010 were wed to adults significantly older than they were, the data shows. At least 31 percent were married to a spouse age 21 or older. (The actual number is probably higher, as some states did not provide spousal ages.) Some children were married at an age, or with a spousal age difference, that constitutes statutory rape under their state’s laws. In Idaho, for example, someone 18 or older who has sex with a child under 16 can be charged with a felony and imprisoned for up to 25 years. Yet data from Idaho — which had the highest rate of child marriage of the states that provided data — shows that some 55 girls under 16 were married to men 18 or older between 2000 and 2010. Many of the states that provided data included categories such as “14 and younger,” without specifying exactly how much younger some brides and grooms were. Thus, the 12-year-olds we found in Alaska, Louisiana and South Carolina’s data might not have been the youngest children wed in America between 2000 and 2010.