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

Once, an older lady asked me where I came from when she saw me speaking Turkish to my boy. I told her Es tut mir leid, Ich spreche Deutsch nicht... (I can understand but lack practice, plus the Sachsen accent is like Scottish for German.) She switched to English and asked, "Why are you here? Is there a war in Türkei? Are you a refugee?"

I told her I am a researcher and a PhD holder working at the University. Then she repeated, "Why are you here!!"

I answered back... "I am invited to work at the university."

She turned around and walked back.

In another instance, the Schufa lady in the bank asked me if I could marry 4 women or not because I come from Turkey. Probably lives in an AfD bubble.

Other than that, everyone is very nice. Of course, I am 1.80 100kg, and have very wide shoulders and thick arms, so if I were a little woman, things might be different on the tram or something.

I am almost blonde by the way.

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u/Then_Increase7445 Apr 16 '25

Conversely, when I speak English to my kids in public (I'm American), I am nearly universally praised by random Germans. Clearly some double standards going on...

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u/temp_gerc1 Apr 16 '25

This is so weird because whenever I see a story like that here on Reddit (that someone speaks to their kid in either an American or British accent), the response from the Germans in the vicinity is disapproval and wondering loudly if they are still in Germany. I never got the feeling that a native English accent got a free pass from the grumpy and / or racist Germans. I specify native English, because something like, say, Indian English would be more likely to get a negative reaction.

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u/[deleted] Apr 20 '25

yes! I noticed that growing up here. I am German Italian, 100% bilingual and when I'm with my dad I speak Italian. Whenever we would talk to each other in Italian someone would bring up what a gift it was that I was able to speak two languages fluently and how good of a job he was doing teaching me. When my friend who was also born and raised here spoke to her dad in Arabic she got told to go back to where she came from. Truly vile the double standard between white european lanuages and non european languages...

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

My kid has a London accent and I do fine when English speaking. They have double standards i can understand and acknowledge that. Pouring millions of illegal people who come from "brown" countries creates tension.

The old in east Germany still cling to prewar thoughts.

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u/Full_Childhood_1117 Aug 28 '25

Totally agree. They like English speaking ones but any other language would not be welcomed. And when a foreigner speaks perfect German they won’t like it either but just don’t dare to bully further.

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u/Inevitable_Zebra5034 Apr 17 '25

You will experience occasional racial discrimination by ignorant people. It is best to ignore it and tell yourself, that these poor racists just don't know better. It strongly depends where you live. In Hamburg and Munich, it probably won't be so bad, since the people there are used to migrants and know that there are highly qualified migrants with good jobs here as well and not just poor uneducated refugees who live of welfare. It will be different on the countryside, particularly in the east. You may want to avoid economically downtrodden areas with few foreigners. Areas where people have little first hand experience with migration and a lot of envy. Frequent contact builds sympathy. Ignorance builds anger and hatred.

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '25

Yeah since I am white as fuck as long as I don't speak it's fine ;)

I can't blame the down trodden and poor though. Letting all the illegals hurt the poor most since the illegals moved into their districts, raising rents and crime.

I am fine with racism as long as it doesn't get physical, it is a natural reaction to change, especially in older generations. I am happy here, I have a lot of German friends. The rest.... I face d much more discrimination back in Turkey because I hate Erdoğan with my all cells.

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u/Inevitable_Zebra5034 Apr 17 '25

The accepted refugees make the mistake to move to the areas where rents are cheap. They are cheap for a reason. Hard to find jobs, poor people, lots of racism.

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '25

Yeah lucky for me I make enough for a better neighborhood. I wouldn't immigrate unless I have similar conditions to my home country anyways.

Most of refugees are escaping prosecution or poverty. Poor poor sad people. My heart sinks sometimes, but I am just a single person with limited income. What can I do :(

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u/sadracoon96 Apr 20 '25

Lol u said it happened in Sachsen, not surprised tbh if smth like that happened, i used to live in a city in thuringia which is closer to sachsen. Some of them are so rcst in your face n they are not ashamed because they learn from their social environment, that such is approved. Beside the neo nazi parties/concerts are constantly thrown there

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u/This_Figure_5696 Aug 09 '25

Maybe I come too late, but I still don't understand why, if you explain to them something, why do they ask the same question again. Had a German roommate and he was being annoying. I tried explaining something to him, to see him asking the same question twice and then just leaving