Inside Germany: Fireworks mayhem, an online visa portal and how to learn real German

Inside Germany is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in Germany that you might've missed. It’s published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article.

Germany sees explosive start to 2025

Happy new year to all of our members and readers - or as the Germans would say, frohes Neues! As is traditional in early January, many of us are repeating the "new year, new me" mantra as we make resolutions for a healthy, happier and altogether more successful year.

But as the old makes way for the new, there's one old debate that Germans just can't seem to get rid of: the endless back and forth about whether fireworks should be more tightly controlled on New Year's Eve.

This year - just three years after the end of the Covid fireworks ban - the Silvester anarchy was back in full force. According to Berlin police, around 330 people had to be taken into custody overnight, while 13 law enforcement officers suffered serious injuries as a result of the rocket-fuelled revelry.

Throughout the city, bus stops and shop windows were smashed to smithereens by the pyrotechnics, while 36 homes fell victim to the firecrackers and are now in an uninhabitable state. Tragically, five people died as a result of firework-related accidents across Germany - some after handling professional-grade F4 rockets or homemade devices. 

At the heart of the controversy this year were Kugelbomben - or ball bombs - which contain dangerous amounts of explosive black powder and are usually imported illegally from abroad. The question for many is how such a large number of banned fireworks keep getting into the country, despite the controls at the border.

For a lot of people, wild, cathartic explosive celebrations are all part of the joy of Silvester in Germany - and it wouldn't quite be the same without them. At the same time, it would be great to have one year without tragic fatalities and injuries. 

Tweet of the week

We love a hilarious German noise, and there's no better word for language learners than the universally understood 'hä?'. 

Hang out with native speakers for long enough and you're bound to pick up even more gems like this one. 

The difference between learning German from a textbook and learning it from actual Germans. pic.twitter.com/G2wBI65C0f

— Nic Houghton (@40PercentGerman) December 30, 2024

Where is this? 

Whoever came up with this brilliant idea at Berlin Zoo deserves a medal: each year, old Christmas trees are shared among the animals, who get to enjoy delicious festive treat in the aftermath of Advent.

Here, two giraffes are tucking into an upside-down Tannenbaum that has been strategically hoisted onto another tree. 

Is Germany finally succeeding in digitalisation? 

This week, there was some pretty major news in the world of German digitalisation: the Foreign Office has launched a brand new portal where internationals can apply for a visa online. 

Branded the Consular Services Portal, this nifty new tool is designed to speed up the process of applying for a visa by avoiding postal delays and creating a direct line of contact with the embassy. Following a successful pilot project, it is now connected to 167 German embassies and consulates worldwide. 

Though nobody has to use the portal, there are definitely some perks to doing so. Online forms are available for 28 different types of visa - including work, study and family reunification - and the new Visa Navigator tool can quickly guide you to the one you need.

For foreigners who need a visa to enter Germany, the portal looks set to make a huge difference.

Though applicants do still need to make a trip to the embassy, the online tool means they're far less restricted by where they live and can hopefully avoid long waiting times and unreliable postal services. And most surprisingly of all, the new portal was rolled out bang on schedule on January 1st this year - with no major hiccups reported yet. 

All of this begs a question: is Germany finally managing to catch up on its long digitalisation to-do list? Will the jokes about out-of-date tech in the Bundesrepublik finally feel out-dated themselves this year?

Though it may have been a long time coming, the announcement about the new portal has made us hopeful for better things to come in 2025. 

Incidentally, if you want to find out more about the portal and how to use it, we've put together a handy Q&A to guide you through it.