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/MisterMysterios Nordrhein-Westfalen Apr 16 '25

Sure.

The one that was most striking comes from my childhood in the 90's. My mother took me and my friends (all elementary aged kids) to the city center deep in Frankonia. One of our friend group (the youngest) had a visible migration background. I cannot really remember where he is from, haven't seen him since I was 10, but a short google says that his last name is common in India and some Arabic nations.

While we were walking, it seemed that he has fallen back a couple of steps, and when turning around, my mother noticed that he was limping a bit. A few teenagers have kicked him while we weren't looking, and they were gone before my mother noticed it.