This is falsch. No true German would be upset to be asked to pass judgement on someone or complete paperwork.
Germans no doubt have a single compound word for Annoyed-I-Am-Asked-To-Be.
No.
But at least for work references, we are legally not allowed to say negative things about an employee, which is kind of bonkers.
It just creates a very specific language of what is mentioned and how emphatically things are expressed and how things are formulated.
We wish him all the best in his future endeavors: he sucks
We wish him continued success in his career: he was a good employee.
We all regret his decision to leave and look forward to maybe work with him in the future: he was an outstanding employee.
…or it could mean anything else. You don’t know which secret code book the author used or if there even was a screening process.
In essence, references are meaningless. They don’t contain any useful information.
This is because the whole calling and writing to references everytime you look for a new job is not a thing in Germany.
Danish: I can confirm