I am also German and I never heard of that. In some buildings (I've seen that in office buildings) there are special windows for fire exit. Rooms with these win

I am also German and I never heard of that. In some buildings (I've seen that in office buildings) there are special windows for fire exit. Rooms with these windows must not be locked. While I've never seen a fake balcony, a faux balcony (actually literally called "french" balcony in German) is pretty widespread because it is damned cheap to build.