Fines going to the state in Germany is actually a problem imho. The damages you can expect for this are laughable, 40k is a typical payment to the family for wrongful death (cost of burial plus anguish). For video surveilance at the workplace you can expect a few hundred bucks at most, if the court even takes the case and doesn't dismiss it outright as minor.

If there were punitive damages awarded to the victims, a lot more illegal behaviour would be properly prosecuted. Officials like the state data protection officer are intentionally understaffed, so they only prosecute the most egregious problems. Private citizens and their attorneys could take up the slack if it were financially viable.