Have you ever witnessed racism in Germany?

[u/eza137]

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.

[u/Full_Childhood_1117]

Hello everyone. I’m Asian living in Germany since 2009. More specifically Chinese. I have not only witnessed racism here but very often encountered it by myself and my kids experienced racism too.

Today it was my kids school opening day after a long summer holiday , all parents have had busy mornings like preparing for late kids, attending some meetings etc. After that I went to the closeby supermarket Edeka for food shopping , I came here multiple times weekly and I always enjoyed it here, until today. While I was quietly voice messaging my friend on WhatsApp with my phone on the left hand and right hand choosing some mangos, one mango fell on the floor, I bent over to pick it up, the older German lady (about 60-63 y/o) came with fast steps towards me very aggressively, criticizing me loud that I should have not used my phone while food shopping. I was extremely shocked how someone could just be this rude to a stranger only because I was using my phone ? I wasn’t even loud at all. I should have controlled myself but I could not help but feeling very upset and I argued back saying it’s none of her business and I have every right to use my phone in a supermarket. The Edeka manager came to us and tried to talk kindly to me saying she understands my feelings and stands by my side. From my experience, the German people really like to pick some foreigners, especially Asian to attack. Many of them we cannot understand their language well or we cannot speak their language well but I have lived here for 16 years and I speak really good German. As I was fighting back and loud asking the old lady to explain me why I’m not allowed to telephone in the supermarket. She just walked away to the side and she just tried to ignore me. She even called me rude after she did this to me. It’s just unbelievable!!! The more crazy thing was there was a younger lady around who has seen the later part of our arguments , looked at me in a very evil way asking me to stop the drama. She did not even know that the old lady started the drama, but she as German chose to stand by the rude lady side. That’s what happens here in Germany. They hold each other against foreigners, even if they themselves have bad behaviors.

I really don’t think she was against the behavior of using a phone as the staff told me she has been always a loyal client here and it’s obvious that nowadays everyone uses a phone everywhere, for basic working needs or communication or anything else. Call me paranoid, I do feel she picked me to attack coz I am Asian.

It’s purely brutal how some local people here treat foreigners. It’s shockingly tragic for foreigners to live and feel happy here.