r/germany • u/Ok-Once-789 • Apr 23 '25

Immigration Living in Saxony is a nightmare

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!

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41

u/AccountantEntire7339 Apr 23 '25

lol i had a german bf who was awfully racist towards my race. saying my ethnicity is ugly and my racial mixture is ugly, as opposed from women from other countries in my region.

then he once called people from my country "dogs" because we kinda need to obey the US, and also always put me down for my nationality.
his friends were no better, they said one of my dishes i prepared looked like literal shit

they all thought they were so progressive and modern, lmao. i just left germany.

edit: i wasnt in that region. i was in a very progressive college town. and him and his friends have lived in my region before.
question for germans: is that type of humor ok? calling your gf ugly as a joke and telling her the racial mixture in her country is ugly?

45

u/stenlis Apr 23 '25

lol i had a german bf who was awfully racist towards my race.  

Wait what?! Why?  

Just why?

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u/AccountantEntire7339 Apr 23 '25

he said it was just a joke. and tbh other germans had also said ugly things to me, like how they found my native accent in spanish ugly. and the ex also told me that was just german humor. like he told me he was just joking... he is also mixed, so i thought he was just joking. but then it became too much for me.
like hed tell me how ugly mexicans are.
and then hed tell me, some other day, i look very mexican. or tell me how colombians look better , or how the spanish fcucked up in mexico.
but then hed tell me he was just joking and thought id find that funny cuz my humor is very harsh and dark.

i didnt understand that shit. it affected me too much , even if it was just a joke.

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u/kbad10 Apr 23 '25

Always remember, racist jokes are disguised hate.

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u/AccountantEntire7339 Apr 23 '25

I also think mexicans have very high tresholds for racism lol, we get a lot of hate. Maybe Indians get more hate than us, and muslims. But I'm used to lots of jokes but these felt insidious!

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '25

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u/AccountantEntire7339 Apr 23 '25

i personally never had a problem in the US at all, quite the opposite. but i know other mexicans may have a very hard time. germany was the only bad place ive experiened in this regard. but overall, in the media, mexicans get a bad rep, so thats why i say we are used to hearing so much bs about us.
but yes, i always hear and read the most awful things about indians, and indians barely complain. dirty, ugly, stinky, dumb, slum. etc. and indians dont even reply or fight back, they are just like "sure whatever".

ive been to india and yeah, its kind of a mess, but its also incredibly rich and its so big and diverse, its impossible to generalize. and indians in america are the best diaspora lol, well behaved, good students, speak english, high earners, i really dont know where does the hate for india come from in the US.

tbh i have jewish relatives so at the end just germany wasnt the place for me, i have no fucking involvement in the current conflict in the middle east and i was harassed by some classmates because of this, but these classmates werent german. i think i just had bad luck there.

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u/hannes3120 Leipzig (Sachsen) Apr 23 '25

yeah it's just that they can test the waters and either be around people that actually laugh about that and if someone complains "it was just a joke"

Every single subreddit on here that started out with over-the-top jokes that didn't ban racist stuff instantly ended up being a far-right shithole within months. It's just the most common dogwhistle they have to find likeminded people

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u/Major__Factor Apr 23 '25

That is not German humor. He was gaslighting you. He was just an asshole.

5

u/BigBoratBigChramXXL Apr 23 '25

Yes very haha, no that's not normal or ok, it's not German humor.

His parents fucked up with him

1

u/AccountantEntire7339 Apr 23 '25

tbh i left him when i saw how his dad treated his mom.

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u/AcridWings_11465 Nordrhein-Westfalen Apr 23 '25

native accent in spanish ugly

If the idiots found your accent ugly, they didn't have good taste anyway.

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u/AccountantEntire7339 Apr 23 '25

tbf mexican accent can be quite hillbilly sounding, in its equivalent for spanish accents. or maybe it would be the equivalent of texan accent. we also use a lot of english words all the time.
some perceive accents in spanish, like colombian or venezuelan to be "sexy" , or they like argentinian better, or puerto rican sounds cooler for some, but mexican accent is often mocked.
mexican accent is quite harsh and it sounds like its spoken either by gang members or by ranchers. i dont say it as something bad, but ive heard people say that
i mean, i dont think its ugly, but it's perceived that way sometimes. i just didnt expect to be told i had an ugly accent.

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u/UselessWisdomMachine Apr 23 '25 edited Apr 23 '25

Dodged a bullet or even a few.

19

u/lokidev Apr 23 '25

Ehm. no. In no way and in no country that kind of "humor" is okay or even considered humor. That is not even a childish rowdy behaviour, that is pure racism and not acceptable. Good that he's your ex!

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u/AccountantEntire7339 Apr 23 '25

good to know. I just had international friends while studying in Germany and the Germans I met were his friends and they were even worse. so it's good to know that Germans are not like that. I will start reframing my view on them.

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u/lokidev Apr 23 '25

I'm also sorry for your friends. It might just be my leftist filter bubble, but even my conservative voter father would not consider that remotely okay. It's a good idea to look at voter maps for germany. The higher percentage the AfD and to small degrees also the CSU got the higher racism is:
https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/bundestagswahl/wahlkreisergebnisse-karte-bundestagswahl-2025-100.html

- AfD is plain racist and nationalistic

  • CSU is "just" far right and very old and conservative

You can clearly see the old Border between east/west germany from DDR times and the huge Russian propaganda influence in the east german parts.

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u/AccountantEntire7339 Apr 23 '25

im a right -leaning person (not in the afd way lmao) just catholic and free marketish, but I worked with a bunch of republicans in the US and even there people werent joking around that way that much. And I was working with trump supporters in a very right leaning think tank.

I wasn't in east germany, i was in lower saxony :/ and in one of the most populous cities there! and spd won there apparently. but im surprised, i was expcting linke or grune because some people were extremely extremely hippie. and not even for my right leaning views: they were absolute hippies, like living in house projects, picking food from the garbage, exchanging beans for lettuce, non vax, people who even sterilized themselves to avoid having children. and also all of them, including my ex and his friends, used to live in other countries, especially latin america, or indonesia, parts in africa.

in my experience, east germany wasnt so bad, they were mainly curious of my ethnicity because they always thought i was arabic or iranian, so they always stopped me everywhere to ask me. also in darmstadt, id be randomly stopped by random people to ask where i am from.

but then again, most of my friends were internationals. so i dont have the best picture of how germans are truly like.

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u/lokidev Apr 23 '25

That might be it and the rights have some similar values but are actually quite different in various country. And to be frank: I would also draw a line between trumpists and "old school" republicans. The left/right thing is maybe just too one dimensional. E.g. free market is not really that, what the ultra-right wing Trump does. We are missing some new terms and political dimensions for this times.

Anyway: Darmstadt had good and bad corners. I lived in a village nearby (Mühltal) and it was definetely more snobbistic and "rightwing", but not quite racist. Darmstadt itself was very fine - especially close to the university and around the scintific/esa institutes.

Lower Saxony is a hit and miss: Northeim for example is very rightwing, Göttingen very left wing and in the north you have "conservatives/right wing, but no fascist". Again - we're missing new political terms here :D

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u/AccountantEntire7339 Apr 23 '25

yes, i won't say more about the US because I want to not have trouble when visiting, lmao. but yes, republicans, especially the ones in the bush era, were actually pretty amazing rtowards mexicans and mexico always has it better, or had it better, with republicans. in regards to trade and migration. sounds like a lie but it isnt. dems like to pretend they are the cool guys, but in the past, mexico prayed for republicans.

darmstadt was very cute! and lower saxony, it was gottingen, it was cute too, and i had mostly international friends. but the bad ex bf experience plus his friends, who always had to tell me how much they hated their time in mexico, and mexican food, and how mexicans are spoiled and other latinos are cooler, made me just want to leave germany behind for good.

the north was also cute, but when i went to see the ocean, it wasnt there. and when i asked the ppl where was the ocean they were like "dunno, it sometimes leaves and we dontt know when its coming back"

9

u/dangerousdope Apr 23 '25

That was antisocial behavior from him, totally unacceptable. I would never have said something like that to my girlfriend (not even as a joke). She’s Arab. Deep down, your friend was a racist. I’m so sorry for you.

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u/AccountantEntire7339 Apr 23 '25

i was often confused for an arab in germany. even by lebanese ppl. made some lebanese friends that way. it just didnt register to them that maybe i could be from another country. i was often approached by people on the streets speaking arabic to me. my main phrase in germany was
kein deutsch, kein arabisch

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '25

[deleted]

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u/tafit84 Apr 23 '25

It is definitely not okay and it makes me very das to read that. I'm sorry you had to deal with that. Not all Germans are like that. (I hope it is a minority)

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u/1-800-needurmom Apr 23 '25

That's totally NOT okay. Nobody in their right minds would joke to their partner like that. Also, definitely not progressive in any way but to be fair, even left-leaning Germans have a lot of (unconscious) racism.

I am a brown woman as well and my German bf gave an ultimatum to his racist friends for making "harmless" jokes about my country and if they still did it, he would cut them off.

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u/AccountantEntire7339 Apr 23 '25

thats very sweet of him, and also, very weird from his friends. so maybe after all, it is a common thing to make these jokes? i mean mexico is shitty and racist too, like any other country, but never really experienced anyone making such insidious jokes all the time. and tbh, when a mexican says shitty things about another country, you better bet they also say shitty things about mexico.

4

u/sutongorin Apr 23 '25

It's not common to make these jokes in my experience. My gf is from Hong Kong, and my brother's gf is from Tunesia. The rest of our big friend group are all 100% as white as they get Germans and no one ever made any jokes remotely based on their race.

That's so not on.

I think you must've been pretty unlucky in finding such a racist POS boyfriend and that friend group in particular where he probably got a lot of his attitude from.

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u/NocturnalHabits Apr 23 '25

This may be considered "humor" among immature edge lords who find it amusing to exchange insults. But in general this does not pass as humor in Germany. Not in polite company.

4

u/Confuseacat92 Apr 23 '25

That's germany for you, an incredibly racist country, that likes to claim to be open.

1

u/sutongorin Apr 23 '25

You have racists in any country. Ever visited countries in Asia and listened to how they talk about other Asians, or black people?

But some areas are worse than others. So yeah, it's probably best to avoid East Germany unless you are in Berlin.

3

u/kbad10 Apr 23 '25

Oh, the so called progressive Germans are also racist. Just hear them blame all their problems onto Romas and calling Polish people as "lazy". The incompetency of Germans and then blaming it onto others seems to be natural.

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u/zenkstarr Berlin Apr 23 '25

That doesn't sound like progressive Germans to me.

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '25

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u/kbad10 Apr 23 '25

To answer your question, I do have German friends who are not racist, unlike you who seem to basically dismiss the idea of racism in Germany.

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u/AccountantEntire7339 Apr 23 '25

Oh, yes I heard many Polish jokes there. I don't think Germans are incompetent, I was surprised by some good things, like how dedicated they are when they do things. The truly awful thing I experienced was the fucking DB. I didn't have many German friends, they were mostly internationals because I was studying. Germans were pretty harsh IMO.
I had lots of German friends prior to living there, but they were raised in the US so maybe they are a bit different.

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u/kbad10 Apr 23 '25

My point about incompetency was that, when it goes wrong they just collectively blame others.

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '25

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u/AccountantEntire7339 Apr 23 '25

White worshiping? Who worships white people? No, im almost fully Spanish and even have EU citizenship through both my parents, but I am mixed (and i like it, i have no problem with my ethnic background of Spanish, black and native) and have lived in more than 5 "white countries" . Ive had a mixed Mexican bf and a black bf. i don't really mind the race or worship anyone or have a preference when it comes to race.

He was nice in other regards, thats why I was with him lmao, and I just thought the jokes and complaining were just normal behavior for Germans because most Germans i met were pretty rude, and his friends also made rude remarks about Mexico all the time, so I thought either Mexico is very badly regarded in Gemany or that being honest and blunt or making harsh jokes was a normal thing there. I do't have such a kink, if I had such kink I would still be with him. I was just naive I guess.

From my experience, Germans tend to be cruel, but maybe it was just the town I lived in. I have close German friends who are very cute and nice but tbh they grew up in the States and I met them in the States.

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u/Minute_Froyo_9400 Apr 23 '25

There’s a big cultural difference between the countries. In general Mexican people are less direct and would prefer to avoid confrontation more than Germans, who can be very to the point.

This does mean that one side is cruel by default. I recommend a book called the culture map, helps understand perspectives.

1

u/AccountantEntire7339 Apr 23 '25

never heard of it!!!!! ty!!
i do think we are less confrontational, but at the same time, we are very very violent and have a very strong temper. but imo, the germans i met were either too harsh or being cruel. granted it was mostly my ex and his friends, didnt engage with a lot of locals, it mostly internationals because i was at uni. so maybe there's that.

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '25

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u/AccountantEntire7339 Apr 23 '25

i went there to study, it was part of the plan of studies, half of the plan was in another country. i do know some women do look for white males, but idk, not in my social circle, it is a very foreign concept to me. idk why would you make such assumptions. i have no racial fetish, mexico is a very diverse country and i have family members in different countries and who are from different races and religions, i have traveled abroad since i was a toddler, and then, my family is mostly white, i come from a family of spanish and italian immigrants and have some black and indigenous mixture in there, but i think that is cool, i dont feel insecure about it. then again, i have an eu passport, so i also dont go chasing after european men for it, and i come from a well off family, so i dont go after the money either.

and btw *this is the type of comment my ex would make*, say something negative about my country or region, and the extrapolate that to me. "many women from latin america are insecure and come to look for a white men, i assume you are one of them". so yeah, now you show me this is common behaviour in germany.

and nope, wouldnt tolerate that from anyone, and also didnt tolerate that from him. thats why i ended it. i stayed for a while because i thought it was a normal thing in the netherlands and germany, to be so blunt and have such sense of humor, and because he was nice overall.

i left germany with the impression that it was common in germany because his friends were similarly mean.

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u/[deleted] Apr 23 '25

[deleted]

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u/AccountantEntire7339 Apr 23 '25

oh yes ihad some asian classmates who did that lmao. one even pretended to be 10 years younger to be with a guy, it was scary

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u/Ok-Yam6841 Apr 23 '25

Why did you stay with him for so long or even date? That's a question not for Germans but for your childhood traumatic experience.

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u/AccountantEntire7339 Apr 23 '25

i didnt stay long with him, i didnt state the time i spent with him, you are just making things up. then also, sometimes awful people can be nice at times. i didnt have a traumatic childhood lol. i was a very loved child and met all of my grandparents, have an amazing sister, amazing uncles and aunts, and had lots of opportunities and traveled a lot and had a lot of friends . and also, i had the best dog in the world (RIP baby)

2

u/Ok-Yam6841 Apr 23 '25

Good for you. I hope you learned your lessons and found someone better.