The notary thing is insane. It's not a completely redundant profession, but it's not that far off. I suppose it's nice to have if two parties, non of whom the g

The notary thing is insane. It's not a completely redundant profession, but it's not that far off. I suppose it's nice to have if two parties, non of whom the government trusts, sign a contract with each other and you need a trusted witness. But for when you submit some documents to the government? Absolute bullshit. But the German government really does not like to make itself unpopular by making professions redundant, so notaries are going to stay around for a long time. It's all a part of the general conservatism that comes with having a high median age. Everything here moves slowly. And there are benefits to that, for people who for various reasons don't like change (and there are a lot of those).