Very interesting. Thanks, jeroen.
I'd liked to have worked at John Lewis :D
On 20th December around 7 pm a car drove into a crowded Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, killing 6 people and injuring about 300. I live in Magdeburg, and have for the past few years. I had left for Spain that afternoon, just a few hours before the attack.
The last sentence doesn’t quite have the weight that it should. If I hadn’t left for vacation that Friday afternoon, it’s very likely I’d have gone to the Christmas market. When we were planning the trip we had to decide between leaving on Friday or Saturday, and chose Friday on a whim.
The car drove deep into the Christmas market, it traveled 400 meters through the crowd. I could show you the picture of the path the car followed, but again it won’t mean much unless you have, like myself, walked on that path many times. It is a strange thing, there are many moments in life where things could end in total disaster, but you miss the disaster by the finest of margins, and the disaster doesn’t exist for you, at least physically.
There were a number of unique things about this terrorist attack which I would like to discuss here, mostly because it seems like the only way to process it. As an Indian I have, I’m sure like many of you, heard of many terrorist attacks in my lifetime, but never this close. Terrorism by its very nature isn’t exactly rational, but the levels of unexplainability attached to this attack make it worth looking into.
1. The attack:
Magdeburg is a tiny, unknown city in the middle of Germany, a couple hours west of Berlin. It is a standard European city, old cathedral from the 1200s, a massive river flowing through the center, and an old university. Although it’s a state capital, its population is barely a quarter of a million.
What I’m trying to say that this is the last place you’d expect a terrorist attack to happen, not that it should happen anywhere. By Indian standards it won’t even qualify as a city, barely a town, when I cycle I’m out of the city and into villages in barely 15 minutes.
The attacker lived about 50 kms away from Magdeburg, why he chose this place is beyond me when he could’ve chosen much more famous cities like Leipzig or Berlin that are just a bit more farther away.
One potential reason could’ve been the incompetence of the local police that allowed this attack to happen. In 2016 there was a similar attack in Berlin, and since then all Christmas markets have had increased protection in terms of barriers all round them, stopping cars from driving through.
There were barriers all round Magdeburg’s Christmas market too, except for one point where they had left an opening for emergency vehicles. That sounds logical, but the police car which was supposed to plug that opening as a sort of movable barrier was parked somewhere else, leaving a massive gap for the car to fly through.
I understand, again, that Magdeburg is a nothing city, why would anyone attack it? But the police should’ve known better, this whole tragedy could have been so easily prevented, it could so easily have been a terrorist being as incompetent as terrorists are, and crashing his car into a block of concrete while no innocents died.
2. The aftermath:
But it happened, and the aftermath was even more illogical than the story has been so far. AfD, the neo-Nazi party whose propaganda radicalized the attacker, organized numerous neo-Nazi protests in Magdeburg after the attack.
I was not in the city for the next 10 days, but I asked my friends and they talked of there being a foul atmosphere of hatred and fear everywhere. Everyone was asked to stay indoors as much as possible, if you had to go out, and if you were non-white, you were suggested to not go out alone. I’m sure these instructions were given in good faith, but they only increased the paranoia.
Nothing happened in the end, there were a few racist incidents, but this is East Germany, such incidents happen all the time. AfD cleary tried their best to get as much publicity as possible from this attack, while simultaneously trying to distance themselves from the attacker and the fact that he was a supporter of theirs. There are elections happening in Germany in 2025, it would be quite interesting to see what happens, and how this event shapes that reality.
3. The redemption?
We returned from Spain on 31st December, we were expecting things to still be ugly, but our first experience getting off the train was a bunch of Asian girls wishing us happy new year. In the aftermath of the attack the Magdeburg government had advised people not to light firecrackers, not just to honor the victims, but also because with 300 injured almost all hospital capacity in Magdeburg was already used, and they couldn’t afford to handle new burn victims.
But I’m glad to say there were firecrackers, and more firecrackers than I’ve ever seen in Magdeburg. I have never seen firecrackers lit with such emotion, it felt like a statement was being made against the terrorist attack, they were everywhere, the sound was deafening, and it was beautiful. My respect for this city went up quite a lot that night. I do know that, like everywhere else, the racist idiots are only a small minority making a lot of noise, but it felt good to have that shown in fire and light and sound.
Since then I have cycled frequently inside and outside the city, and the people are as nice as always. There is a shrine next to the tram stop where the attack happened, and it’s always full of gifts and flowers remembering those who lost their lives to such a meaningless act of insanity. Magdeburg has gone from being an unknown city to being an infamous one, and the scar will always live on.
Who knows what’s going to happen in 2025, AfD has already come to power in a different state in Germany, and it’s not inconceivable that it would happen in Magdeburg too. I know that Indians are usually quite some way down on the list of hate from racists, we just fix computers and keep our head down, but I’m sure I have sufficiently shown the illogicity of hate in this article.
It would really suck to be attacked by someone just because that idiot isn’t sufficiently intelligent to be racist towards the right minority. But I am not that concerned about racism on a personal level, my main worry is about institutional racism. Yes it hurts when someone tells you to “get back on the boat” or some other stupid thing that takes you a minute to figure out is supposed to be racist, but that’s nothing against the power of bureaucracy, the power of being a faceless cog in a massive machine that can be turned to crush you with surprising ease.
It is quite ironic that we are talking about a neo-Nazi party coming into power in Germany of all places, but that’s the unfortunate reality of the situation. I lived in London when Brexit happened, and I’m here when this madness is going down. Perhaps I’m cursed, my apologies to the people of Britain and now Germany. Hopefully we can get through this together.
You've penned it very thoughtfully. I had no idea you were in the same town where the attack happened, and I am glad that you were not in the town on that fateful day.
It would seem as if the whole world is getting radicalized and losing the will and ability to coexist with each other but your description of the new year festivities gives us hope, that while the insane may be shouting the loudest, there is vast majority out there standing with each other shoulder to shoulder.
Oh and please don't come to US. This place is a tinderbox already lol:
Thanks @RiderZone for sharing your thoughts. It is indeed thought provoking on what is going on in Germany overall.
I have been living in Germany since 2014 and can echo your thoughts. While I am read this article, earlier today I read about the attack on a 2 year old child and 41 year old man in the small town of Aschaffenburg. I think these sadist people have identified the vulnerable small towns against the large towns where police are on high alert and controls are tight. For them sending a message of hatred is all that matters regardless a big town or small.
Just like you, I too am very worried about the institutional racism which is on a rampage and looking forward to the outcome of the elections next month.
Stay strong my friend !
The USA does not practice cesarian births willy-nilly like India does. Natural birth is preferred and recommended by the doctors.
Emergency pre-term birth is only for emergencies.
This news, even if it's true, won't change that.
Unless the prospective parents go to a private no-questions-asked facility or a quack, in which case they truly are unfit to be parents.
