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    a newbie's experiences

    posted by  Jack H in Germany forum 

    I'm a eurasian Australian who has been here in Southern Germany for 5 years now. I look decidedly non German. I haven't had the time to read the entire thread but I wanted to share my own experiences.

    Are Germans racist? I think Germans on the whole are extremely xenophobic - which displays itself as racism in many cases. I have met some wonderful people since moving here, but I have met some of the biggest assholes on the planet as well.

    Where I live, it's not (any more) surprising for me to walk into a small store or cafe and have people loudly exclaim how it suddenly stinks of soy sauce, or have a whole shop start laughing when someone says 'we didn't order any Chinese takeaway'. I've had a butcher tell me that he doesn't sell dog so I shouldn't bother even asking. Is this supposed to be funny? This is not some 3000 strong country village - this is a middle sized city in the affluent south.

    I've heard women in the marketplace remark about my (German) wife 'What's the problem with her that she couldn't find a German man to be with? Their kids will ruin our community'.

    A friend of a friend comes from Ghana. He was bashed for no reason because he walked past the wrong pub one night. The police told him he should go back to Africa because it would stop him 'causing more trouble'. This is the official word of the Polizei!

    I speak german reasonably well, I work, I try and be friendly to everyone, but it doesn't often get you far here. The strange thing is, they will deny they are racist until they are blue in the face. I don't even bother discussing these things with my wife anymore because she just tells me I'm being paranoid. And if I dared bring up their historical record I'd be the most awful inappropriate person on the planet.

    Like I said, I've met some fantastic folk, but I don't know if I will ever be happy in this country, and I go to sleep every night wishing my wife would reconsider trying to live in Australia again.

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