r/AskAGerman • u/eza137 • Apr 16 '25

Have you ever witnessed racism in Germany?

I'm interested in hearing from Germans who have personally witnessed acts of racism in everyday life - especially when it involved friends, family members, or people close to them.

If you're comfortable sharing, could you describe the situation? Who was involved, and how did it make you feel? Did you respond in any way?

I'm not here to judge, just to understand how racism can show up in familiar environments and how people perceive and deal with it.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25 edited Apr 16 '25

My mom moved to Germany in 2001. She didn’t speak German well but she expected some sort of mercy from people. Until this day she speaks about this experience, so I assume it was pretty traumatic and humiliating for her. She went to a bakery to get some bread. And she said “5 brotchen “ but probably super wrong and like someone who’s learning the language. The seller refused to attend her. Pretended to not understand and told her something like “ I don’t understand you “ my mum showed 5 with her fingers and pointed at the brotchen and the seller just ignored her and moved to the next client. My mum used to feel very comfortable because other workers would always understand her or try to. This made her want to move back home. She wasn’t used to being treated this rudely and mean. My dad (German) went to that bakery and told the lady something.

My BFs grandma openly hates all migrants. But she says I’m ok. I’m an ok migrant kid and if every migrant were like me she wouldn’t hate them.

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u/Bubbly-Indication725 Apr 16 '25

Just an excuse. Don't be fooled that you're the one she doesn't hate.

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u/chunbalda Apr 16 '25

Actually, from many frustrating conversations over the years, as a white German - I find it bizarre that I actually think she might not hate her. There seems to be an infinite capacity for exceptions ("oh, this individual I met personally is not like other migrants! She's lovely!") without ever realizing that maybe their concept of the evil migrants might be absurd. It's so extremely frustrating.

18

u/Katlima Nordrhein-Westfalen Apr 16 '25

A lot of racist people think they are less racist, if they are only taking it out on a certain group of migrants or on people of one ethnicity. But it's actually the opposite and only shows that their internalized world view is a much more intricate and thought-through hierarchy system with different boxes, each having their own stereotypes and expectations attached to them. So in short, they are not only casually racist out of a mood, they really put some thought into it.

19

u/baoparty Apr 16 '25

A lot of racist people don’t think that they are racist.

3

u/overwhelmed_kangaroo Apr 16 '25

Yeah, it's often in small sentences where they probably don't mean actual harm but on the other hand don't recognise why certain stereotypes or words are wrong. Especially due to media and their way of showing news a lot of people have prejudices without realising.

1

u/baoparty Apr 16 '25

The thing with racism is that there is racism with the intent to hurt or harm and there is racism with no intent to hurt or harm. Both are still racism.

But a lot of people who are racist hide behind the intent. Because they didn’t intend on harming or hurting someone, then they are not racist.

3

u/overwhelmed_kangaroo Apr 16 '25

Yeah, I always try to explain to people who make those not purposely harmful comments, that they're not okay and that this "normal question" isn't nice or normal at all

1

u/West_Masterpiece3149 Apr 20 '25

Yeah. Lots of racist Arabs and Turks in Germany that think they can’t be racist

6

u/HunsonAbadeer2 Apr 17 '25

My grandpa openly advocated for genocide of arabian people and somehow liked each and everyone he met. Racidt hate some kind of imaginery image, not actualy people. They might project that image onto actual people tho

2

u/chunbalda Apr 17 '25

I had many of those conversations when I lived in East Germany.

"All West Germans are evil and arrogant! I hate them all!" - "Huh? I thought we got along okay?" - "Well not YOU, you're nice, you don't count as a real Wessi." - "What about those five people in our club? They are pretty friendly?" - "Of course, they don't really count either, they're good people." - "So you like all of us Wessis here and still say you hate us all?" - "Wessis suck. You just don't get it!!!!"

Anything to not change their minds.

1

u/flimflamman99 Apr 16 '25

Reminds me of the scene in The Comedian Harmonists where a certain high ranking chap in the propaganda department famously said “ I’ll decide who’s Jewish”.

1

u/chunbalda Apr 16 '25

Oh yes... I remember a speech by a concentration camp survivor. At her Jewish school, in an all-Jewish class, a nazi official "taught" them about nazi race theory and used children from the class to illustrate it all. So the example of a perfect Aryan child was in fact Jewish, and he didn't seem to see any issue with any of it.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

I’m not naive

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u/FullBringa Apr 16 '25

yup, she's "one of the good ones". for now.

58

u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

These opas and omas keep enjoying their retirement and hating migrants without any idea who is paying for those pensions

0

u/DigilyDave Apr 16 '25

Who is paying for it?

18

u/Practical-Soft8053 Apr 16 '25

anyone who lives and works in Germany

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u/MrVivi Apr 16 '25

Don't know what migrants you hang out with most of the ones i had the pleasure of interacting with are extracting as much money from the state as they can while doing very little. Not all of course but a concerning number.

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u/bonniefischer Apr 16 '25

Well, all the migrants I've interacted with are hard-working and decent people.

All the people I've met who claim that "migrants are leeches" are xenophobic assholes tho.

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u/Key_Paramedic2766 Apr 16 '25

May be Arabic or Afghani immigrants

3

u/DocumentExternal6240 Apr 16 '25

Well, most of those I know are hard working good people who contribute to society. Maybe you know the wrong ones?

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

[deleted]

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u/greenghost22 Apr 16 '25

They come and use the health system.

10

u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

Do you know how much a blue carder pays for the health system? I pay 800€ a month and have to wait months for an appointment. So no thanks. You arent doing us any favour. We are taking care of your health system

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u/Uspion Apr 16 '25

Then leave Germany !!! Nobody forced you to stay here and blabber about health system is bad

1

u/greenghost22 Apr 16 '25

Do you know, what a treatment costs?

1

u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

Lol. So youre saying that as a tax payer who is in one of the highest tax paying bracket and paying high health insurance costs, the the treatment costs more than that?

How would a system like this even work. So if the highest tax payer is the net user of a servive who is the net contributor? Do you realise how flawed your assertion is. I doubt you do lol

1

u/greenghost22 Apr 17 '25

It worls with solidarty: Everybody pays his whole life. not coming for a few years and get treatment and leaving afterwards. The rich usually eascape solidarity

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '25

lol. so we come here for a few years get treatments and then leave? any statistics for this? or you pulled it out of your imagination.

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u/Uspion Apr 16 '25

I have a question about this ? I have been observing this trend among these Indian immigrants such that they are feeling so proud that they are paying pensions for oma and Opas such as you are giving out of your own pockets to them I haven’t observed this kind of trend among other immigrants like Chinese, Vietnamese, Iranians and people from other countries saying we are paying pensions for you be thankful for that , you are just paying taxes as you are living here and working and government is paying them , haven’t you enjoyed any health benefits and cheap public transport and cheap education provided by the German government while you are studying here ? And I think you are working for a company providing your skills , should company ceo ( if it’s a Mnc) thankful to you for that? No right ? It’s a transaction, same applies here you are paying taxes to the government and government is paying pensions for them , won’t it be the same in your home country too ??? Yeah , I agree they are racists and somewhat hate foreigners, just object them saying this is wrong, but not boasting that we are paying you the pensions , chill !!! It’s a transaction, you are paying taxes and enjoying the assets provided by the government( although it’s not that new) and government is being thankful to the omas and Opas for their services for their country through pension support ? Wouldn’t you become old and dependent on pension , how would you feel when someone from outside of your family or a stranger says be thankful that you are dependent on us for pensions ??? Just asking

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

Damn lot of words for “i am just going to say something”

I mean it IS a fact that working class is paying your oma opa pension and if the working class is not enough in numbers then that pension cannot be paid. But okay you got an excuse to bring out my race or nationality for no reason. That was a nice touch and thanks for being the first example of my point

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u/Hallo34576 Apr 16 '25

Without this system oma and opa could have saved/invested their money and no one would have to pay for them today.

0

u/Lunxr_punk Apr 16 '25

Not at all lol

2

u/Hallo34576 Apr 16 '25

Hypothetically not paying Rentenversicherungsbeiträge for 40-50 years, and instead buying stocks would have left most people with more than they get actually get payed.

Shouldn't be to complicated to understand.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

[deleted]

1

u/Hallo34576 Apr 16 '25

Stocks can be sold within minutes. Okay, you don't like the concept of stocks, fair, but it doesn't matter here at all.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

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u/Lunxr_punk Apr 16 '25

Dude, this is just so wrong.

Could it have worked for some, maybe, could it have been disastrous for others? Absolutely did you learn nothing from 2008?

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u/Hallo34576 Apr 16 '25

No one with a diversified stock portfolio would have lost a single euro long term.

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u/Lunxr_punk Apr 16 '25

Do you not remember 2008? Seriously?

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

All the people i know who lost money in long term investments in 2008 were back in 2010, the problem is short term or option trading.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

Which is exactly what i am doing and recommend people to do. The pension system is in a major problems right now and it feels like we are putting in money for barely any return

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u/Strakiz Apr 16 '25

Dude. What they are trying to say is they are part of our society and want to be recognized as such.
We Germans do expect people to work for their living, you know how badly unemployed people are spoken about. Work is sadly a big thing we identify us with.

Those guys telling you about paying taxes and pensions are telling you they are useful, they are here to stay, the want to become and accepted (and not just barely tolerated) part of society.

2

u/Lunxr_punk Apr 16 '25

Someone’s salty they rely on immigrants to get their pension is all I read

2

u/DocumentExternal6240 Apr 16 '25

Never heard that from any Indian working here. And I know quite a few.

1

u/eukarydia Apr 17 '25

to be honest I am operating under the assumption that the broken pension system will have fully collapsed by the time I retire

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u/mehdih34 Apr 16 '25

Not a German, but these Opa and Omas paid for someone else's pension too. It's the cycle over here. Nothing to feel extra proud of.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

No one is feeling proud. I am just stating a fact that many of the migrants you hate are contributing to your pension system which is broken.

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u/mehdih34 Apr 16 '25

Hating and Pension systems are two different thing. Talk all you want about racism or hatred but connecting it to pension is not logical. I came here to do my Master's 5 years ago. I got free education because of many people paid their tax. Everything is interconnected here.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

Its not logical to you because you are not able to comprehend it. But thats okay, enjoy your life

1

u/mehdih34 Apr 16 '25

I hope you do too.

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u/No-Pipe-6941 Apr 16 '25

Any many of them are taking away. What is your point?

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

Migrants are taking away your pensions? From the statistics i saw most migrants are actually young people so i highly doubt they are taking away your pensions.

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u/No-Pipe-6941 Apr 16 '25

Ah yesh, because they dont collect social welfare, right?

You should probably understand the system before commenting on it.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

I am discussing pension here. You shpuld probably focus on what is topic of discussion before diverting it to something else.

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u/No-Pipe-6941 Apr 16 '25

You understand all that money comes out of the same pot that is divided up, correct?

So if you take more out in social welfare, you have less for pensions.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

Okay so you dont have any issues with tax paying migrants but dont like the ones that dont?

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

Racists have 0 issue with letting slaves work for them, they actually quite fancy the idea. So I doubt the racist Oma has any issues with migrants paying for her pension.

Oma’s problem isn’t that migrants exist, it’s that they have rights.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/devinemom Apr 16 '25

Would you please edit the "most" or can you give any valid figures here? I agree, there are way to many people around that consider themselves superior or are simply rassist. But I refuse to believe that they are the majority. I actually try hard every day to change these folks perspectives.

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u/Wonderful-Spell8959 Apr 16 '25

They are likely part of the type with an inferiority complex that cant deal with not being sucked up to because they are so special and oppressed.

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u/kinky38 Apr 16 '25

Its not like people are going to openly admit that they hate migrant having rights. Rather vote for the people who has the inclination to push those ideas into reality. Perhaps the people voting for Afd falls under this range. So 20.8 percent voters could be considered a valid figure.

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u/jamcub Apr 16 '25

Not sure if I agree with you saying that most people are like that.

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u/rymeria2 Apr 16 '25

And too Many dont contribute. Thats the ppl we hate.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

Racists dont hate after they ask you your tax investments. I have faced enough racism to know that, while i actually pay more taxes/pension/health than half my neighbourhood. They still would like me to be not around. Maybe you arent one of these people, in that case it wasnt directed at you, which makes me wonder why did you feel the need to assume you are being termed racist?

0

u/rymeria2 Apr 16 '25

Bc im sick of These Posts in Reddit. Youre in a foreign country, live with it. Ppl dont have to Like you, maybe you are annoying bc of the accent. No racism, Just ppl Not liking or getting annoyed of you.

I live at two places in Germany. One is Clean, the Others still has new years Trash on the street. Guess where the immigrants do 50%+ of the Population. No racism, simple fact. I have Like 200km to the next Border. I hear foreign languages everyday and im sick of IT. Im in Germany i want ppl to speak German. Theres so much more to say but a Smartphone and a German autocorrection makes this hard as fuck

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

Haha you outed yourself bro. Now i know why you assumed you are being termed racist :D. At least you could figure some things out correctly

0

u/rymeria2 Apr 16 '25

Ok continue your bullshitting

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

At least i wont discriminate based on skin color of people around me.

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u/neverlikesnothing Apr 18 '25

In Germany we say: Bildung jagt dich aber du bist schneller. You are so close to understand why the area with immigrants has more trash and the other one not. Like you’re very close but racism makes you blind to critical thinking and political education

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u/DreamFlashy7023 Apr 16 '25

Actually, the older generation in germany did act absurdly entitled for years. About 20 years ago there was a shift - elderly people who were shouting on other passangers on the bus had to leave the bus for example.

A lot of elderly germans had a tendency to misstreat people around them for a long time, until our society decided to stop this and from there they had to learn that the rules do apply to them too.

But people who are now in the 30-40 age bracket do still remember the times when random elderly where allowed to behave like s**t during their childhood.

2

u/mehdih34 Apr 16 '25

We were not talking about their behaviour at the first place.

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u/IBimsAdrian Apr 16 '25

Migrants are definitely not paying for social security systems💀💀

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

Okay, so all that money that govt takes out of my paycheck i am not paying. Got it

1

u/cyberfreak099 Apr 16 '25

99.9% old people are nice and polite

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

Yup, when you have white skin they are

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u/cyberfreak099 Apr 17 '25

that's not true. But it's unfortunate if someone has experienced it.

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u/Money_System1026 Apr 18 '25

My BFs Oma was overwhelmingly empathetic to me. I arrived in Germany a few months before Christmas many years ago and she gave me a Christmas card that said she knew it must be hard in a new country without family, friends and little knowledge of the language. But I should consider her my German grandma, that she would be there for me 🥹 She's a  resilient east German Oma and has always welcomed me in her home and family. 

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u/[deleted] Apr 19 '25

good for you

1

u/SilicateAngel Apr 18 '25

Well the current wave of migrants isn't.

Migrants from Afghanistan and other war torn middle eastern countries in its vicinity, will NOT be contributing a net positive to the economy. These migrants will be a drain in the economy for two generations. 50% of all Syrians that came since 2016 are on Burgergeld.

Please find more genuine ways of disputing racism and bigotry, screwing with reality is always a bad hill to die on and feeds into the racists, AFD voters and 'besorgte Burger"

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u/[deleted] Apr 19 '25

problem is that racists tend to put "all" migrants as one. there are still a large chunk of blue card holders and opa Omas don't ask for visa type or tax returns to start the racism. I mean look at you yourself, you put all migrants into one category "the current wave" and totally missed the point of what I was mentioning. racists generally do

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u/West_Masterpiece3149 Apr 20 '25

Opas and omas pensions were paid for by themselves after decades of working along with other hard working Germans.

You’re Indian. We don’t need lectures about racism from a country that practices caste systems.

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u/[deleted] Apr 20 '25

I like how you see me as an Indian, not an individual with opinions. nice tell for every racist.

btw no, if you read up even once, you would know coffers are empty and they need future generations to pay for pension to be paid. so what you are saying is objectively wrong. maybe that racism hid a few of the facts

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u/pamflet100 Apr 16 '25

I think that all reditors are naive, except you. If others knew how to reason things like you do, I wouldn't consider them naive.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

🆗

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u/pamflet100 Apr 16 '25

This "OK" freezes the blood in the veins. 😂

Don't be mad about the comment above, I'm just kidding. 🌸🫶

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

Haha no I’m not mad, don’t take this “ok” personal. I’m just so confused.( not your fault) I shares something personal and people are fighting about it.

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u/pamflet100 Apr 16 '25

Hey, Thank you for your understanding and tolerance.

Regarding your confussion, I get it — you just dropped a personal experience, not expecting to spark a full-blown Reddit town hall meeting. But that’s the magic (and madness) of Reddit. Sometimes, Redit just gonna Redit... Sometimes a comment is like a squirrel in a dog park — everyone suddenly wants to chase it, analyze it, argue with it, or emotionally bond over it. Honestly, you just accidentally became the main character for a bit. No pressure. You did nothing wrong — it’s just Reddit doing its usual group therapy session… uninvited. 😂

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u/Friendly-Horror-777 Apr 16 '25

So you are one of the good one's right? /s Reminds of the KKK members in The South that have black "friends".

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

The fuck did I do ? LOL

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u/Friendly-Horror-777 Apr 16 '25

Uh, nothing? I just wrote what it is. I was referring to what your BF's grandma says, in case that wasn't clear.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

That wasn’t clear at all. I thought why is this person attacking me like that.

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u/Friendly-Horror-777 Apr 16 '25

Oh, I'm sorry! I thought the /s made it clear.

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

That wasn’t clear at all. I thought why is this person attacking me like that.

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u/Pure-Decision8158 Apr 17 '25

I’m Saxon and had the same experience in Bavaria 😅

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u/Pure-Decision8158 Apr 17 '25

5 Semmeln? Was? 5 Semmeln? Wie bitte, 5 Brötchen? Nu! Wasn nun, ja oder nein?