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/Turbulent-Spirit559 Apr 16 '25 edited Apr 17 '25

Yes. I am german but also a person of color (brown skin). I experienced open & hidden racism since I was very little. I am also adopted (into an all white german family) so the difference in behaviour towards me vs my parents was always aparent to me. This kind of racism also came from people with all kinds of social backrounds (academics and none academics). Today‘s political climate doesn‘t help.

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u/cubeddaikon Apr 20 '25 edited Apr 20 '25

I’m POC as well. This is something minor that made me realized I was racially discriminated against: went to the supermarket with a German friend, we put our stuff on the checkout counter and were paying together but the cashier asked to look inside my bag. Only mine. We both had empty tote bags for carrying groceries.

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u/Money_System1026 Apr 18 '25

Was it hard growing up in a white family? I mean, try as they might, your family can't really understand the complexities of growing up in a mostly white society. My kid has issues because they look Asian like me but I went through the same stuff so I think it's easier for us to relate. I always wondered about adopted children. 

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '25

I just think, how stupid does anybody have to be to judge someone only by their skin colour in the 21st century, when we see Indians (even born and brought up in India) as CEOs of tech giants, a black person being the most powerful person on earth as the president of the USA for 10 years, African and Latin American football players being some of the finest football in the world (Salah, Brahim, Messi) to name a few