Originally Posted by
Ravenblade
Not in Munich, no. Munich and Oktoberfest are not representative for other regions and certainly not the Eastern regions. Munich is a very open metropolis and it's indicated by its attractiveness to foreigners and its economy. Which is quite the opposite to North-East Germany. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has about a quarter of the GDP than the entire Munich metropolitan region. I mean, I don't want to sound overly negative but I am not pulling my arguments from thin air when I say that there is extreme levels of xenophobia at Eastern fringes of the republic, especially the economically deserted ones, and that's not just a phenomenon since refugee crisis. That crisis just gave them the long-desired justification they needed since they were running out of fuel and ideological reserves for a while. Why am I saying this? Because I have lived on the Eastern part all my life and I find that the West has been amusingly naive ever since. There are regions where the police has no say anymore but Kameradschaften (local right-wing militias) do, where looking different (despite being German) or thinking differently can be a ticket to the next hospital or at least a harsh treatment. Even I have to know where I must tread lightly.