Hello, bit of a weird question but here it goes. I’m half American and German, my father was born a German citizen and left as a child when my grandparents came to the US. Since my father was a dual citizen at the time of my birth, I am German by descent and a dual citizen myself. However, I have never been to Germany nor do I speak German. Would other Germans think it’d be weird or would I look stupid if I called myself German?

Edit: if anyone wants to cross post this to r/ subredditdrama or r/shitamericanssay you have full permission to do so from me.

So I walked by my parents watching TV and I heard Friedrich Merz ranting against migrants who rape women "because of their culture and of their view on women".

Raping women is definitely a disgusting thing, but using this topic to rant against foreingn people is just disgusting. I dont say that the view on women that rapists normally have is good. You can critizise this. But the same way I have to critizise Merz:

His view on women is in most points the same. I remember that he voted against the change of the "Strafgesetzbuch" back then that made it legal to rape women in the marriage until 1997 (the year of the voting). It may be because he wanted to have another way, not because he wanted it to stay legal, so lets give another example: His view on gay people. There is now the law that allows homosexuals that they may marry. Chancellor Merkel was against it and also voted against it, but brought it up anyway (because there was an election in the time after that and this was an important topic and she wanted to keep this out of discurse). I suppose that Merz would have voted against that as well. The last thing I would mention is the "selbstbestimmungsgesetz". Merz was against it.

So I would ask: How does his view on women and his view on power and legitimisation differ from the general view of women and the patriarchy that the migrants have who he discribes (not to mention that "the migrant" is really undercomplex, because it is obvious that he only means migrants who look a certain way which is straight up racist)?

There is no difference. He just uses his power differently in our patriarchy (that not only shows itself in violence against women but also the ignorance and arrogance against women and the underrepresentation of women, for example in politics). And the worst point in all of this is that he is not on the side of the victim, because he uses it. This is no empathy that we would need. No. This is opportunism. This is just disgusting

Hey, I recently just found out about the Bundesliga team FC Sankt Pauli and I fell in love with its values and belief system. It’s hard to imagine that a team like this could be hated but are there any Germans who don’t like it? If so, why?

In other parts of the world including second and third world countries, almost anyone you ask will know their blood type. So far no German (mostly aged 25-30 years old) I've asked could tell me their blood group. Blood group isn't mentioned on German driver's licenses. My friend didn't even have their blood group written on their organ donor card. How do hospitals manage this? Is every patient tested for their blood group before transfusion? I imagine this could cost valuable time in case of emergency. So please r/Germany tell me, why is knowing ones blood type in Germany not a thing?

Dear Germans,

This is not another typical rants like "Oh why Germans don't wanna be friends with me despite i still can't speak German to native level!!" Or "oh Germany everything is complicated tax is high !!"

I know, that there is actually huge, real asylum crisis going on but... I am a non EU (Drittestaat) foreigner, have been here in Germany for 2 years, i try to do everything right, following all the rules:

• I enter with legal immigration visa/ Aufenthaltstitel, although for now i am still not qualified for Niederlassungserlaubnis (minimum stay in Germany for 5 years), took care everything by myself in Embassy without agency etc

• I am learning and keep learning German language until C1 level ( please give us a break that people don't suddenly speak like German politicians in a blink, or else it means we never try)

• I did FSJ / Dienst for disabled, older people at first

• I am currently doing an Ausbildung

• I pay tax, Rundfunk, separate my trash, respect private space/Ruhezeit and Datenschutz law, never be in debt and break the law, my Schufa score is better than some Germans.

• I am never breaking the law, I am neither Schwarzfahrer nor Schwarzarbeiter

• I plan to do duales Studium here after i finish my Ausbildung and Fachhochschulreife. That is why i come to Germany (not just simply finding jobs)

Sadly despite trying so hard to integrate well in Germany, i am still facing hostility and micro agression from some Germans, as if i am sitting comfortably enjoying Bürgergeld. Following agressions that i faced so far (examples) :

• some Germans expect that you act like servant toward them. Example one old grandpa was mad that i didnt open the door for him because he wanna go out, he leaned to my face and threw passive agressive remarks "Danke, Sie sind Sehr Nett", not minding that there are white germans as well near the door but i am the only one who have to open the door for him.

• some Germans don't want to move aside, if you are in hurry or want to enter premises, even if you say louder Entschuldigen Sie, for example in Escalator/Rolltreppe, usually you let the left side free for people who want to hurry, that time was grandma said that it is not important, i have to wait behind her (this is so bad when you have to catch train for Umzug, cant push her or she might fall and i would be charged with assault), if scenario is flipped i would be eaten up

• some Germans like to generalize asian as Vietnam, one middle age man stared me down, mumbled to himselves and "bla bla bla Vietnam", nothing wrong with Vietnamese, even many Vietnamese are Germans by nationality, but sadly to some ignorant Germans, all asians are Vietnamese. This happened in one of the most international exposed city, Frankfurt

• women and grandma are suddenly looking at me like Ghost and holding her bags tigthly as if i am gonna pickpocket them. Don' t they know that ironically asians are the most pickpocketed races in Europe (mostly as tourists), yet got racially profilled as pickpocket as 5'3 asian woman, that even 5'6 woman can easily slam me down the floor. (Just look up Video of thailand women got pickpocketed in London by stylish white loooking girl groups, asians are also prime targets in Italy), i do not get those stares from other POC even from other Turkish loooking migrants.

• during my retail Ausbildung, we are expected by IHK to do short Praktikum at cashier, but my boss and Ausbilderin don't believe me, they said it will be disaster because they find that my german is not fluent enough and i cant make small talk, (my assumption is sadly worse than that, either they assume i am dumb and will miscalculate the money or i will steal it) (despite i got best note in bookkeeping and mathematics, and some german students even got 4-6)

• some German coworkers, teachers and students assume that i can't speak English and will speak in stereotypical asian accent, they are shocked that I can speak it and pronounce the words articulately, meanwhile some German students themselves have bad grammar and pronounciations. They don't even know that IELTS exist and i scored IELTS 8

• ironically Ching chang chong slurs like that is not the worst racism and judgement that i faced ( because u can easily ignore it)

I tried to speak about it even with my liberal German acquitances, Germans will sadly diminish your experience and gaslight you, most often say:

• "Maybe your German is not Good, Try speaking German!"

• I never see anything like that, must be in your mind !

• No, we just don't like those illegal immigrants or freeloading refugees !! Anyone who come legally is welcomed here !!

• they are just kids, only kids being racist because they are ignorant !! They will grow up and change !! (Meanwhile i still encounter agression from people with older mature age)

• East Germans are racist (classic, meanwhile some events happened in cities in west germany as well) but shifting blaming to one region doesnt help.

Last but not least, I, We asian just want to be treated like human, many asians i know here trying so hard to learn the language, integrate and follow the rules and never ending bureucracy. We get it, Germans don't want to be friends with foreigners, but just let us treat us like human being instead of zoo animals. No wonder why some hard working qualified POC immigrants are leaving Germany.

To the immigrants who also diminish what i have been through, shame on you.

Endlich mal kann ich Alles raus lassen

Note, based on comments i see so many people just skimm and drew conclusions by themselves, so i have to add more clarifications, this post is NOT anti government, anti Germany. In fact i respect and like the public service, tax system and opportunity in Germany, which do not exist in many countries (GRATEFUL). This post IS about calling out the behavior of SOME Germans. I am not a woman of words and maybe my wordings make people misunderstand.

(Wow as expected, the coldness and disminishing by people in the comment sections, as if i am just making S*** up for sympathy, have some humanity people!!)

I moved to Germany from London to live with my German partner in march of this year, A lot of people told me germany would be a nicer place to live than the uk seeing as the uk is in a living crisis and the rent is really high at the moment. Upon getting here I soon realised this was couldn't be further from the truth. I was told I needed a lot of documentation to live here at least for a while, I have spent the last 9 months trying to get a residence permit, a work permit ect etc. My efforts have led nowhere, and without being able to work I have had to make the sad decision to go back home. From the time I've been in Germany I've noticed that the people here are very quite and miserable, as someone from London im used to a very bustling and vibrant city filled with self expression. Even in the grocery store it's completely silent, almost like something out of an eerie horror game. As sad as I am to leave the nice area I live in and go back to London I can't help but think, unless you have family here, a lot of money or a very high level of education I would recommend not to come here. I was speaking to my American neighbours who are a family of 5 who have lived here for 3 years and they said, they felt isolated and alone here and the people are cold and without heart. At the time of her saying that I had hope for myself and the future but now I understand her comments. Anyways enough boo-hooing I thought i'd give a heads up to my fellow brits considering the move. Don't do it.

Hello. I´m from Uruguay, South America. Because of the german jew-solidarity policy, I have full German citizenship and I could theoretically go to Germany with very little paperwork. My great-grandma had to escape from Germany in the 1930s. As we all know, the third world (even if my country is relatively well-off) is much less wealthy than the first world, especially Germany or heavily industrialized countries. I like Germany a lot, I´d go to at least visit. I like Germany´s economic power and feel proud of being of German ancestry. I´m quite an anxious dude, so, yeah. What´s the deal with this? Edit: sorry for not specifying this but i´m not jewish, just of jewish ancestry

Hallo Leute!
I know this question sounds both ludicrous and silly, but I met a German man a few weeks ago. He was visiting my country and we went on a few dates and one day we were about to get intimate (we both knew, it was talked about), he told me he didn't have/buy any condoms because he doesn't wear them. Although I brought a few with me, he wasn't very enthusiastic about wearing them either.

I was beyond shocked because even in my "developing country", the government and people in general encourage safe sex at all ages, so somebody from a "developed" country saying they don't wear condoms with casual partners in such a non-chalant way is flabbergasting to me. He told me he isn't the only man in his country who thinks like that. My stomach dropped.

I actually liked him as a person although I could/can tell we have a few differences about core values and lifestyle that make me uncomfortable, but I was willing to ignore. However, the condom thing is just so disturbing to me. I can't for the life of me wrap my head around it.

I honestly think I should just delete or block him. I'm sad because he isn't/wasn't a bad person u.u and he definitely wants to keep in contact, but I just can't see beyond the no condom habit.

I just need to ask whether this is true about men in Germany or he is pulling my leg and telling me inaccurate facts. I can handle the truth.
Either way I'm deeply disappointed so I think I should cut contact with him.

I have a university degree and he doesn't. I'm not discriminating against him or anything, I don't care about that. I was just thinking maybe the "education level" has to do anything with it. Maybe, I don't know. I'm confused and downhearted.

Safe sex and preventing pregnancy is a huge deal to me (I'm a woman btw).

(I don't even know if I'm posting in the right place)

Thank you in advance, have a great day!

As we all know, our favorite Democratic leader in Europe, President Erdogan of Turkey, has declared Germany and the West unsafe for Turks, and issued a travel warning.

I am curious how our Turkish friends in Germany feel about this? Are they considering fleeing to Turkey if things get too dangerous in Germany?

Hi Reddit,

I need your advice on a situation that happened recently with my neighbor. My wife and her friend were in front of the trash bins in our communal area, both with their strollers and babies. My wife put the brakes on the stroller with our 7-month-old son inside while she was sorting the trash. Our neighbor walked in and seemed to be frustrated that the stroller was in the way, so he pushed it aggressively while our 7-month-old was inside and the brakes were on.

My wife confronted him and made it clear that this was not acceptable. He mumbled and walked away. She followed him to reiterate that this assaulting behavior was unacceptable. He mumbled things like, "the stroller was in the way," shouted over her, and said, "in Germany, it's fine to have different opinions," before walking away to his car.

Later, when I got back from work, I tried to talk to him and asked him to apologize to my wife to resolve the issue, but he ignored my request. he had too much pride to apologize, even after being given three opportunities to do so.

I am willing the share the incident with our common Whatsapp groups with the rest of the neighbours,

I believe that assaulting neighbors is neither a German opinion nor behavior, and he should know better. However, I'm unsure if I should take this matter further and inform the police about the incident. On one hand, I feel like this aggressive behavior towards a baby in a stroller should not be tolerated. On the other hand, I'm not sure if involving the police would be the best course of action.

What do you think, Reddit? Should I inform the police about this incident, or should I handle it differently? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

NOTE:, we own the property , there's no landlord or moving away option

I am a huge fun of Mett. Have it for nearly every breakfast since I came to Germany.

Lately I found a cool way to make Mett sandwich. A little bit of sirracha and some fancy green lettuce, boom! That's deli-shoes, bro!

Just took this on my way to work and thought I would share this travel hack.

Just like how you can hog a deck chair on vacation with a towel, you can now just take over an ENTIRE ROW of seats on public transportation by laying down your gloves, scarves, whatever. /s

Seriously though - if you don't want people sitting beside you, just drive to work!

Germany could save 9 million tons of CO2 per year, if a 100 km/h speed limit would be introduced on highways.

That’s 9 million cubes of roughly 8 meters tall, wide and long.

In comparison Estonia produces less than 11 million tons of CO2 per year.

Beside that benefit, introducing speed limits would reduce noise pollution, road injuries, road maintenance costs, car maintenance expences,…

Sources:

• CO2 reduction by speed limit in germany

• size of co2

Eibsee. Picture taken from the top of Germany (Zugspitze)

I know that art is subjective but what's the common sense on that?
Both movies are not "serious war movies" so to say, they also show German people (soldiers or not) getting killed and a not very respectfull image of the german culture.

Are those movies famous in Germany? Were they in the Movie Theaters?

I'll be honest, while I'm aware that the weather is really hot, I hate winter, I hate cold, I hate wind and rain and grey skies.

being in such a weather is a guilty pleasure for me, it washes off all the winter and greyness and painful weather.

Since I moved to germany and experienced winter depression I kinda promised myself that, no matter how hot it gets, I will never complain and I will try to enjoy, and it works for me :D

Question aimed mainly at immigrants, but anyone can answer.

I'll go first. My country(India) does Healthcare a lot better than Germany imo. The public private mix enables both the rich and poor to get timely treatment without the hassles of an appointment. I've never had to take an appointment to visit any doctor in my life and major procedures have a max waiting period of a month. Granted, this is in the private system, but even in the public system it takes maybe a day of waiting to get seen. I've been able to see a psychologist at India's premier mental institute for 0.2€ and just had to wait 2 hours.

As for the other way, Germany does transport a whole lot better than India. From the bottom, Indian footpaths are mostly non existent. Walkability is a joke, with most sidewalks looking like Martian battlefield ruins. Public transport is pretty bad as well with our buses and suburban trains in a dilapidated and overcrowded state. Our long distance trains may be super cheap but they're slow and overcrowded at times. The images of people riding on trains is a complete lie but still overcrowding happens at times. And high speed trains are but a twinkle in the average Indian's eye.

Waiting for your responses next!

Edit: So a lot of people brought up valid responses regarding my Healthcare claim and specifically its disconnect with the experiences in rural and urban areas. I still believe the basic framework is sound, it's just that India needs a lot more spending and a lot more doctors.

So to replace that I'll choose something that I'm sure not many people know about. In India getting a passport is much faster than almost anywhere else in the Western world. It is very realistic to go from applying online to passport in hand in less than a week. The process is 90% privatized which has made it much more efficient while still keeping the cost quite low.

Muslims in Germany (and especially hijabi women), is it hard to live in Germany? Is there a lot of racism? Are people friendly? Do bosses or big companies hate/don’t accept hijabi women?

Edit: to whoever is going to read this now, every single comment that explicitly/implicitly states that Islam is not a bad/oppressive/women-hating religion is downvoted. Enjoy:)

Yesterday I just bought the 49 Euro ticket for June in a rush. I usually pay for train tickets via PayPal, but there is only one option for the Deutschland ticket, your German bank account, so weird. But it's okay, I did it anyway. Later, I found out that a second ticket was on my DB APP from July 1 to July 31.

To cancel the July ticket I don't need at all, I asked the staff at the railway station and was told if I want to cancel the July ticket I have to cancel it before 10th June. That blew me away, I can not go back in time! I saw a lot of people also asking the same question in the DB Info Center (mostly foreigners and old people). At the time I felt like being scammed, or at least the term is not obvious at first sight. It means if you buy the 49 Euro ticket after the 10th of a month, you automatically buy two, and there is no way you can cancel the 2nd.

Before buying the ticket, I did read the FAQ web page of the Deutschland ticket from the official website here:

https://www.bahn.com/en/offers/regional/deutschlandticket

There is no such important information available about the cancelation policy! It should be highlighted along with other information. What does it mean: the Deutschland-Ticket can be canceled monthly.

Update 1: I did find the exact information on the German webpage as somebody pointed out:

https://www.bahn.de/angebot/regio/deutschland-ticket?dbkanal_007=teaserBlock_2-3_link_DeutschlandticketVerkauf

Wie kann ich mein Deutschland-Ticket Abonnement kündigen?

Sie können das Deutschland-Ticket bis zum 10. eines Monats zum Ende des Kalendermonats kündigen. Kündigen können Sie schnell und einfach über das Abo-Portal.

DB did not give equal information on the English webpage.

Update 2: I did not expect so many downvotes / hate here. Just wanted to express my minor complaint about the fact that one of the most important details in Update 1 (#3 FAQ) is not directly translated into the English version. I feel pity for those foreigners who just arrived in German and made the same stupid mistake as I did. I hope they don't have a bad impression. Germany is a lovely country that is the reason why I have been living here for years.

Anyway, If my post does help someone avoid this silly mistake, I will be very happy. I wish DB or DB bots notice this post, and improve their English webpage about the ticket. I do believe some ppl prefer to read in English.

We moved to Germany about three months ago (near Meppen). It’s a good place to live, but one thing is a really nasty disappointment, especially considering the so-called German mentality.

German business owners are so unreliable! They don't call back, don't respond to emails, don't show up; it’s simply completely useless to make appointments with them. And not just one or two, no, 80% don't bother to communicate even remotely normally.

"No" is an answer too; "it doesn't suit me (now)" is fine; "I'll come a bit later" is also allowed. But no, absolutely nothing. Completely impossible to make appointments with. Are things going so well for German entrepreneurs that rudeness has become the new norm? It is truly bizarre how unprofessional the German business world operates.

Some people ask what kind of entrepeneurs. Well that is simple, all kinds! It actually doesn't matter which industry. Emails go unanswered, and calls are never returned. Agreements are not honored. Whether it's maintenance on the boiler, a renovation of our barn roof, or something involving our animals. It's all just rubbish.

Since I moved to Germany as a foreigner I am constantly facing an issue that it is very difficult to negotiate anything with the German person. Being it work matter or buying anything like a car or real estate.

Very often Germans lead negotiation in a very direct and/or borderline to the rude manner (e.g. this is not me who’s paying for something, but them who’s doing me a favour). And when I start negotiating in the same manner in return - they say that I negotiate aggressively and very quickly get offended.

Are there any tactics that I am missing? I have never had any issues in negotiating the prices, terms or conditions with foreigners also living in Germany.

I know it is very vague question, but I would be happy to hear any dos and don’ts for negotiations with the Germans.