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.
The Winter Olympics have just kicked off in Italy and if you’re keen to follow along you can stream the games for free with ARD or ZDF.
Watching the coverage on German public media means you’ll be hearing all the commentary auf Deutsche of course, but this can make for a decent passive learning opportunity.Â
You could also think of it as a way to get a bit more value out of that tv tax you’ve been paying as well.
Team Germany tends to do pretty well when it comes to winter sports, and this year there are high hopes for German athletes bringing home medals in sports like luge, bobsleigh, biathlon, figure skating and alpine skiing.
But not everyone who tunes into the Olympics is strictly interested in sport. For the fashionistas among us, an interesting aspect of the games is seeing how modern trends and traditions are blended in the teams’ national uniforms.Â
Unfortunately this year the critics are already coming for Germany’s Olympic outfits.
To put it nicely, you might say Germany’s 2026 winter games outfits, which were designed by Adidas, are practical and function-forward.
Putting it much less nicely, a scathing review published by Welt called the uniforms a “fashion disaster,” adding that the country’s top athletes will be made to feel like “Kai Wegner on a hiking tour in the Spandau Forest.”
Interestingly, Adidas also helped design for team Great Britain this year, creating a uniform that was ranked among the best by Vogue fashion magazine.
Other teams with highly praised uniforms included Mongolia, the USA and Italy.Â
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Making the most of the cold
Speaking of sports, have you had a chance to take advantage of all the ice and snow we've been having?
It's not always fun and games: Just this week frozen runways saw flights out of Berlin airport cancelled on Thursday and Friday, and there were also disruptions on railways and roads.
But the upside of being present for what is apparently Germany's coldest winter in 16 years is a chance to participate in some rare and exciting opportunities -- like ice skating on Tempelhofer Feld in Berlin or skiing down the hill in the middle of Nuremberg.
IN PICTURES: People in Germany make the most of freezing weather
Video of the week:
@patrickschonwieder Millerntor Skigebiet in Hamburg. Bitteschön. #ski #skilife #wintersport #winter #hamburg ♬ Originalton - patrickschonwieder
The video above is an imaginative visualisation made with AI, but it seems to have fooled more than a few viewers at first glance.
It helps that the idea of a German artist / figure skater creating a ski hill in the middle of the city is somehow just crazy enough to happen in a place like Hamburg.
...And back to work
If you did manage to get away from the daily grind for a bit of snow play this week, the government would like you to get back to work.
On last week's Inside Germany, we spoke about a renewed push by conservative leaders to tighten rules around part-time work and sick notes from doctors in a purported effort to strengthen the economy.
This week a new ZDF poll shows that a clear majority of Germans would say they are 'already working enough, thank you'.
In response to suggestions from Christian Democrat Union (CDU) leaders that people in Germany are working too little, only 20 percent of those surveyed agreed, and less than half said that more work being done would help to boost the economy.Â
Around 60 percent of 60+ year olds said they thought overtime work was important for the economy whereas just 36 percent of 18 to 34-year-olds said as much.
The bottom line being that most people in Germany don't appear to be on board with the CDU's push to get those working hours up. And – as was explained in this opinion piece we published this week – continuing to double down on the issue and step on workers' morale risks further empowering the far-right.
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