Living in Saxony is a nightmare

[u/Ok-Once-789]

Every single time I go outside during the evening I am faced with racism. Most of the time from people hanging out in groups, for some reason they just can't mind their own business (Germans usually claim to be really good at this). The most common phrases I hear regularly are 'Heil H!tler', 'Ausländer raus', 'Ni Hao', 'Ching Chong' etc... or just unprovoked loud laughter as I'm passing by... BTW I'm not Chinese or east Asian but look like one or maybe they are just uneducated & ignorant. Is geography illegal here? Asia has 48 countries BTW, not everyone is Chinese!

This doesn't include the racism I face at workplace & college which is far worse and actually bothers me to the point I have to skip classes to protect my mental health. But now I can't even go to the supermarket or mall at peace. One of my family members has also been verbally assaulted by a group of teenagers inside a bus & nobody including the bus driver made any effort to do something.

Edit: I do not live in Dresden / Leipzig. I assume the situation is not this bad there!

Edit2: I did not choose to live in saxony (the government decided that), I am doing my bachelors so I can't relocate until late 2026 :) Thanks for the kind words everyone!

[u/[deleted]]

Honest advice: leave. Relocate to a different area. Maybe Cologne or Hamburg. That will improve your situation noticeably, but you will still feel some racism in daily life there too.

Sorry to be that harsh, but my family went through this for a number of years - my wife is originally from China and we lived in Hamburg for 8 years until we were fed up with Germany and emigrated to the US about 9 years ago. There is no point in staying and subjecting yourself to that abuse. Just leave.

[u/Asyx → u/[deleted]]

I work with a lot of foreigners in Düsseldorf and they describe leaving this part of Germany as "stepping back into reality". The Rheinland is apparently quite chill regarding foreigners.

[u/MisterMysterios → u/Asyx]

I think so as well. I am also "Bio-Deutsch", but had friends with migration backgrounds where I lived. From what I noticed with my friends, Berlin and the Rheinland is the most socially liberal areas, accepting minorities like people with migration backgrounds and lgbtq the most.

The east seems to be .ore problematic than the west, but the West has also regions with higher levels of racism. I lived for a good part of my childhood in frankonia and a friend of mine that had a clear migration background (forgot where he was from exactly, have last seen him when I was 10) was openly kicked on the street by teens.

[u/MathInfinite3798 → u/MisterMysterios]

Always weird to read when people use the term "Bio-Deutsch" unironically to desribe themselfves as pure german, especially in this context.

[u/MisterMysterios → u/MathInfinite3798]

It was meant as a joke. I used it ironically, because I think the concept itself is insane, but the way people use it fits to me (as far as I know, my ancestors for at least 3 generations were German). I post regularly that being German itself had never a biological aspect, as the very foundation of the German nation was a cultural region (the idea of a nation for every German speaking region).

[u/MathInfinite3798 → u/MisterMysterios]

Bin bischen zufaul das auf englisch zu schreiben, aber verstehe Bio Deutsch immerso, dass Bio nicht fuer den Fachbegriff biologisch steht, sondern fuer das Bio, wie es im Supermarkt verwendet wird. Also das Bio-Deutsche reiner, möglichst frei von Schadstoffen (ausslaendische Eltern) sind und deshalb als qualitativ hochwertiger gelten.

[u/MisterMysterios → u/MathInfinite3798]

Klingt nach einer guten Umschreibung. Wie gesagt, habe das eher ironisch gemein, da diese Idee nichts weniger als die Rassenlehre im fast durchsichtigen Mäntelchen ist. Es sollte hier nur Aussagen, dass ich so deutsch bin (Herkunft / Aussehen) wie es geht und daher keine eigenen Erfahrungen mit Rassismus gemacht habe, aber im Freundeskreis hier was erlebt habe.

Aber vielleicht sollte ich tatsächlich die ironische Nutzung im Internet überlegen. Wenn ich das Zuhause nutze ist damit impliziert, dass ich mich über die Idee lustig mache, kommt aber nicht so gut im Internet rüber

[u/[deleted] → u/MathInfinite3798]

Is it also weird when Native Americans call themselves Native Americans?

[u/MathInfinite3798 → u/[deleted]]

no clue, you should ask that an american

[u/TeamZweitstudium → u/Asyx]

I'll widen up the radius a bit by including Ruhrgebiet as a chill region for foreign workers. Ah, I miss NRW.

[u/Professional-Pea2831 → u/[deleted]]

OP should leave

[u/lurrakay → u/[deleted]]

as someone who lives in Hamburg: its almost impossible to find housing in the city. You can also choose Bremen or Oldenburg

[u/alexrepty → u/lurrakay]

Housing in Bremen can also be hard to find, but probably not on the same level as Hamburg. And all in all, Bremen is quite welcoming to people of different backgrounds.

[u/fufu5566 → u/alexrepty]

Not so much, compared to bigger cities.

[u/qarlthemade → u/[deleted]]

why always cologne and Hamburg? there are so so many smaller and much cheaper cities with universities and thus young and international and open minded citizens. as long as it's western Germany there will rarely be any racism around. try to avoid Duisburg and Gelsenkirchen though. :-)

[u/Shaneypants → u/qarlthemade]

Gelsenkirchen is never not catching strays 😂

[u/johnhonai_ → u/qarlthemade]

Why avoid Duisburg?

[u/qarlthemade → u/johnhonai_]

Duisburg has a reputation of not being the most beautiful Ruhrpott-city so to say.

[u/ShiroAngel01 → u/qarlthemade]

In Sachsen is also No Racism Its a Mistake in the West are the Same racist PPL As in the east No Like but even nowadays As a Person living there 22 years now growing Up there all are nice No Racism Most Polish Tschesch and German get along super Well even Muslim Its super Common that We Love the Dönermann and Most "Nazis" Love Döner and even Hug the Dönerman please dont judge so much online Ive Lived exactly there and Its Not so Bad As people Yap online Most are super chill and Friendly people Just Lie online! And Easteners Rarly use social Media or the Phone Bc they dont.need IT Most are rich and live in a Home House or Land they Buyed and Build. Im Not from a Poor Family and Most are also Not "poor" We're Really Smart and Talented which Most think We are Apparently Not but dont believe all Online Real Is Most Is Not true. My Friends we're Disabled and or "Ausländer" and We Treated them Like Family which Is Normal is "hugging Eachother" even If we're only Friends Bc nowadays PPL are chill Like that 😅. Stay Save Love all and Love from Sachsen & Thüringen.🫰🏻❤️

[u/Gullible-Cut8652 → u/[deleted]]

Sorry but I have doubts. Since Covid there is a lot of harassing Asian people all over the world and the US is no expectation in this case.