Strange German laws – DW – 08/12/2025

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From dance and movie bans on religious holidays to prohibitions on sandcastle building on Baltic beaches, Germany has some bizzare regulations.
Germany can appear relatively laissez-faire compared to other countries. It's still possible to smoke in some bars, sunbathe nude in public parks, while 16-year-olds can legally drink beer or wine — the age limit is 21 in the United States.
But Germany is also heavily regulated — especially on Sundays and public holidays.
From dancing bans to sandcastle building edicts and enforced silence on public holidays, the German rule book is also full of quirky, often outdated laws.
In most of Germany's 16 states, Good Friday is regarded as a "silent public holiday" where, since the middle ages, dancing has been forbidden. The capital Berlin has a relatively liberal approach to the dancing ban, or "Tanzverbot," which only happens from 4 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Good Friday. But in the southern, largely-Catholic state of Bavaria, the prohibition runs for 70 hours from Thursday till Saturday over Easter. Penalties can be as high as €10,000 ($11,600).
Many other noisy activities are forbidden on this day of silence and religious observance, including car washes, jumble sales and moving house.
Meanwhile, some 700 movies have been banned during silent public holidays in various German states. Among those listed under the "Public Holiday Index" are films such as "Ghostbusters," the seemingly harmless 1975 cartoon classic "Heidi" and Monty Python's 1979 religious satire, "Life of Brian."
But Germans have continued to demand their right to dance during the Easter period, and routinely protest the ban. Meanwhile, since 2013, an initiative in the city of Bochum in the west German state of North Rhine-Westphalia has held a public screenings of "Life of Brian" in protest against the rule.
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It's illegal to pick mushrooms in the forest at night in Germany, mainly to stop people disturbing nocturnal wild animals.
It's also illegal to remove wild garlic at the roots for your pestos and soups. That's because wild garlic, which grows in damp, shady forests and thrives in floodplains, can be easily confused with toxic plants such as lily of the valley.
Picking a hand bouquet of wild garlic leaves for personal use is generally allowed without a special permit in Germany. But uprooting the plants with their bulbs or picking leaves in nature reserves is verboten!
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Children cannot build sandcastles on many beaches on the holiday islands off the North Sea and Baltic Sea coast of Germany. As families flock to the ocean, the kids can swim but can't construct monuments out of sand or dig deep holes without risking a €1,000 fine.
Building a sandcastle on islands like Sylt are banned for good reason: All the digging and movement of sand can lead to beach erosion.
The Baltic resorts of Binz and Sellin on the island of Rügen allow sandcastles but a maximum height of 30 centimeters and a circumference of 3.5 meters.
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Starting up the lawnmower or even using power tools on a Sunday in Germany will earn you the wrath of your neighbors — and potentially the police.
The tradition of, or quiet time, still reigns supreme on a Sunday that was long set aside for families and religious observance. Generally, you are prohibited from using all motorized garden equipment, including lawnmowers, on Sundays and even public holidays. Those who want to make a racket could be fined.
The Sunday silence extends to the streets, with the or "Shop Closing Law," a federal German law in place since 1956, banning retail stores of all kinds from opening their doors on Sundays and public holidays. While individual states have been given more leeway to make their own rules since 2006, Sunday shopping remains largely a no go throughout the country, bar a few designated Sunday shopping days each year and very limited exceptions for certain shops. .
That's right, it's an offence to get stuck on the freeway in Germany when the fuel runs out.
In car-crazy Germany, drivers who don't adequately fill their tank before heading out on the Autobahn are regarded as negligent. They can therefore be fined for putting themselves and other drivers in danger as vehicles ironically roar past on highways without speed limits.
Stopping on a highway is only allowed during emergencies.