this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2023
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Someone told police the group hiking through Saxony in eastern Germany were "foreigners".

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But when she got back to her hostel, she found that police officers were waiting for them.

Sounds like the police knew damn well it was just a karen complaint.

The local backpackers' hostel (which requires passports) is the right place to go chill if you want to catch up with some tourists.

It's probably not the right place to look for refugees sneaking over the border from Czechia.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Does the backpackers' hostel require passports from German citizens?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@orcrist all I know is, in that part of the world, hostels normally require guests to show passports.

Not sure how an exemption for Germans would work/be enforced, to be honest. Easier to just ask everyone.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And yet many Germans don't have passports because they don't need passports, and similarly many people from nearby countries can visit Germany legally without carrying a passport. There are other types of legal identification commonly used.

For travelers who are obviously coming from farther abroad, staff are likely to ask you for the passport, but it doesn't mean that you couldn't use another document instead, should you have an acceptable one on hand.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sure. I myself have used other forms of identification in hostels as well.

I don't understand where you are going with this, sorry. What is your main point about the police appearing in the hostel?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You made a claim about hostels requiring passports. I was pointing out that actually hostels don't require passports. Why would you write something that you know from personal experience is incorrect? It's very strange.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@orcrist all due respect you sound a bit paranoid.

I'm a New Zealander. Every time I have stayed in a Backpacker hostel in Germany or Austria they have asked to see my passport and made a note of its number. Sometimes in the past they "held" my other government-issued identification instead but always sighted the passport.

If you don't believe me, that's fine.

But I'm not interested in continuing this conversation. I find it deeply strange.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

It sounds like you're projecting. I hope you feel okay. Anyway, good luck.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As Germany struggles with labour shortages in many sectors, local business leaders regularly express concern that the rise of the AfD may be harming eastern Germany's economic prospects.

You say "labour shortages" but I hear "salary shortages". Oh well!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[–] OhmsLawn 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

20-some years ago I lived in a precarious situation in the back of an old Black Panther karate dojo (I know). Newly-minted urban white boy that I was, it was, culturally, quite a learning experience.

I remember one of the guys (an outdoorsman from Louisiana) told me that he was always armed when he went hiking or camping. I didn't get it at the time, but now I do. It wasn't bears or mountain lions he was afraid of. It was this shit.

[–] NIB 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It was this shit.

Police checking your papers for a couple minutes and leaving?

Having checked the hiking group's documents which proved the whole group was in Germany legally, police said they ended the operation.

[–] OhmsLawn 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No. The resolution of this specific circumstance in this specific location is not what I mean by this shit.

By this shit I mean the general danger of being the wrong color in nature.

In Europe, there's nearly zero chance of running into serious, life-threatening, interpersonal trouble on a hike, no matter your color. That is less certain in parts of the United States.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

If only all police were honorable and law-abiding and the laws were written to benefit the ordinary person. That would be an amazing world, wouldn't it? Ah well, it's important to have dreams.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No I'm sorry I don't get it, what's the plan here? Shoot at the cops? Threaten the racists with a gun? There must be a better answer to systemic racism than suicide by cop. A blank card with the words "not talking without lawyer present" would probably be a more sensible choice - against cops, not against mountain lions.

[–] OhmsLawn 1 points 1 year ago

I believe this is the same issue with the other comment, taking what I wrote as a specific solution to a specific problem.

This issue of getting the police called is emblematic of a problem that dark-skinned people have, where they're considered to be inappropriate for natural areas.

What I was getting at is that there are specific rural areas, with unhinged residents and poor policing, where no outsider should go. If I choose to go, I should expect to provide my own personal protection. Those locations would be vastly multiplied if I had dark skin, to the point that it might become more expedient to just always carry.

I'm certainly not saying it would be appropriate for anyone to arm themselves while hiking in the Alps, or when dealing with police or benign racism.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This is the best summary I could come up with:


On Thursday, journalist Riham Alkousaa was on a hiking holiday, walking with a group through the mountainous wooded region of Saxon Switzerland, in the eastern German state of Saxony.

But Ms Alkousaa was out walking with a registered German hiking club whose members are mostly Syrians living in Germany.

Its spectacular mountainous terrain is portrayed in the works of 18th and 19th century Romantic painters, such as Caspar David Friedrich.

In polls the AfD is either the most popular party, with around a third of the votes, or neck-and-neck with the incumbent conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

As a result, chancellor Olaf Scholz's left-leaning coalition has introduced spot checks on eastern borders with Poland and Czechia, where some migrants cross into Germany.

But critics suspect that when they are faced with the rise of the AfD, the move is more about cosmetic political action in the run-up to key elections across eastern Germany next year.


The original article contains 781 words, the summary contains 155 words. Saved 80%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] laskoune 5 points 1 year ago

the mountainous wooded region of Saxon Switzerland, in the eastern German state of Saxony.

Wait, is this in Switzerland or Germany ?

Well, I’ll be ….

Als Sächsische Schweiz wird der deutsche Teil des Elbsandsteingebirges in Sachsen bezeichnet.

[–] WidowsFavoriteSon 1 points 1 year ago

Oof. Not your best, bot. Not your best.

[–] interceder270 -1 points 1 year ago

gyyerrmanye