German authorities are investigating reports that dozens of Arab men sexually assaulted female patrons at bars and restaurants in downtown Frankfurt on New Year's Eve 2016.
The attacks, in which mobs of migrants harassed women in a "rape game" known as "taharrush gamea" (Arabic for "collective sexual harassment"), are said to have mirrored the mass sexual assaults of women in Cologne and other German cities on New Year's Eve 2015.
Germans protesting the New Year's Eve 2015 mass sexual assaults wave flags, alongside a banner saying "Rapefugees Not Welcome," on January 9, 2016 in Cologne. (Image source: Getty Images)
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A report published by
Bild on February 5
alleged that some 900 migrants, many of whom were intoxicated, gathered at the central train station in Frankfurt on December 31, 2016. Police blocked their access to the Mainufer, a downtown pedestrian area along the Main River and the site of a large New Year's celebration, so the migrants walked to the Fressgasse, another downtown pedestrian zone known for its restaurants and bars.
Witnesses said that groups of up to 50 migrants of "Arab or North African" appearance entered several establishments and began sexually assaulting female patrons. They also stole handbags and jackets, threw bottles and firecrackers, and, for good measure, finished their victims' drinks.
Frankfurt Police
insist they did not know about the incidents until
Bild, the newspaper with the largest circulation in Germany, reported on them. It remains unclear why the victims waited more than a month before coming forward with their complaints. A police spokesperson
said the claims are "worrying" and "cannot be excluded."
Some say the incidents in Frankfurt harken back to those in Cologne, where police
covered up the sexual assaults for several days, apparently to avoid fueling anti-immigration sentiments, until local media reported on them. Others
question why no cellphone videos or photographs surfaced on social media to corroborate the claims.
Previously, the police in Frankfurt
reported only one assault on New Year's Eve: a 30-year-old migrant from Afghanistan attacked a 25-year-old woman at the Mainufer.
Frankfurt's Mayor, Peter Feldmann,
said: "There is zero tolerance for any abuses. I have great confidence in our police. They should always be contacted immediately. Only then can they do their work."
Christoph Schmitt, security spokesman for the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU),
said: "It is unacceptable that women have been treated this way. If mobs of male refugees are making the city unsafe, then we need more police on the streets and more video surveillance."
Mayoral candidate Volker Stein
said: "While we had high contingent of police at the Main River, the rest of the city was left to the rampaging hooligans. Whoever behaves in his host country as the reports suggest has not only lost any claim to our hospitality, but also their right to asylum!"
Other German cities also reported sexual assaults on New Year's Eve 2016, despite an increased police presence and crowds that were far smaller than on New Year's Eve 2015.
- In Berlin, at least 22 women were sexually assaulted during New Year's Eve celebrations at the Brandenburg Gate, despite the presence of 1,700 police officers. Police initially reported six assaults, but raised that number after an inquiry from the Berlin-based Tagesspiegel.
- In Hamburg, at least 14 women were sexually assaulted on New Year's Eve, despite the presence of more than 500 police officers, and crowds that were said to be half the size of those in 2015.
- In Cologne, some 2,000 male migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East gathered at the central train station and the square in front of the iconic Cologne Cathedral, where the mass sexual assaults occurred in 2015. A heavy police presence appears to have served as a deterrent. Police reported three sexual assaults.
- In Dortmund, Essen and Hanover, thousands of mostly North African migrants clashed with police. There were no reports of mass sexual assaults.
Police reports show that Germany's migrant rape crisis continues unabated, although accurate statistics are notoriously non-existent, this in one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. German authorities have repeatedly been accused of
underreporting the true scale of the migrant crime problem in the country.
According to Federal Criminal Police Office (
Bundeskriminalamt, BKA)
data (page 14), in 2013, migrants (
Zuwanderer) committed 599 sex crimes, or an average of two a day. In 2014, migrants committed 949 sex crimes, or around three per day. In 2015, migrants committed 1,683 sex crimes, or around five per day. During the first three quarters of 2016, migrants
committed 2,790 sex crimes, or around ten per day.
In fact, the actual number of migrant-related sex crimes in Germany is at least two or three times higher than the official number. For example, only 10% of the sex crimes committed in Germany appear in the official statistics,
according to André Schulz, head of the Criminal Police Association (
Bund Deutscher Kriminalbeamter, BDK).
In addition, the BKA data includes only crimes that have been solved (
aufgeklärten Straftaten). According to police statistics, on average only around half of all crimes committed in Germany in any given year are solved (
Aufklärungsquote).
Moreover, BKA crime statistics do not include data from North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state in Germany and the one with the largest number of migrants, or from Hamburg, the second-largest city in the country.
German police also deliberately downplay the true scale of the migrant crime problem by referring to migrant criminals with politically correct euphemisms such as "southerners" (
Südländer), men with "dark skin" (
dunkelhäutig, dunklere Gesichtsfarbe, dunklem Hauttyp) or a combination of the two: "southern skin color" (
südländische Hautfarbe).
An even more toxic practice is for police deliberately to omit any references to migrants in crime reports. This lapse makes it impossible for German citizens to understand the true scale of the migrant crime problem.
A German nurse, for instance, was sexually assaulted by a mob of migrants in Hamburg on January 7, 2017. The official Hamburg police report, dated January 8, reads as
follows:
"Robbery in Hamburg-St. George, witnesses wanted!
"A 28-year-old was attacked and robbed in a park by several men last night. The injured party heard calls for aid from the Lohmühlenpark. As she went to the park to help, she was attacked by several men, fell to the ground and lost consciousness. After the victim regained consciousness, she alerted her rescuers. Apparently the victim was robbed. Since there were also indications of a sexual offense, the LKA 42 (Office of Criminal Investigation) took over further investigations.
"Witnesses who observed the attack or are able to provide information on the perpetrators are kindly asked to call the telephone number 040 / 4286- 56789.
"The interrogation of the injured party is still pending. The investigations continue. Further information cannot be given at present."
That day,
Bild reported a completely different version of the same crime:
"Sex Attack on Nurse: A disgraceful crime.
"In the evening a woman is lured into the Lohmühlenpark by means of calls for help. Then several men ambush her. They strike their victim unconscious, and apparently also sexually assault her!
"It is about 9:45 pm, when the 28-year-old is going to her car. According to BILD information, she is a nurse at the Asklepios-Klinik St. Georg. She had parked her vehicle in the parking lot there.
"When she heard the screams from the adjacent park, she immediately hurried in that direction. In the park, she was attacked by five black Africans (ages 20 to 30). A giant man (over 180 cm) is said to have worn a green garment. He had bright spots on both cheeks. Then she lost consciousness.
"When she regained consciousness, she dialed emergency 112. Firemen found her, parts of her clothes were torn from her body. Her attackers did not speak German.
"The perpetrators also robbed the young woman. The police are asking witnesses to call 428 65 67 89."
Germany's sclerotic justice system, stymied by concerns over privacy, exacerbates the problem by imposing seemingly interminable delays in bringing perpetrators to justice. The following cases are just from January 2017:
- January 2. Police in Dresden published a composite image of a "southerner" (Südländer) who exposed himself to an 11-year-old boy on August 31, 2016. Police did not say why it took them more than four months to release the image to the public.
- January 12. Police in Duisburg published a photo of a man who assaulted a 40-year-old woman at the central train station on October 7, 2016. Police did not say why it took them more than three months to release the image to the public.
- January 17. Police in Essen published a photo of a man who sexually assaulted a 30-year-old woman in an underground metro station on August 12, 2016. Police did not say why it took them more than four months to release the image to the public. The perpetrator was arrested on January 18, one day after the photograph was made public. This raised the question of whether the perpetrator could have been apprehended much sooner.
- January 21. Police in Neubrandenburg announced that they would begin collecting saliva samples from 469 migrants from ten different countries. Police are looking for a 20 to 40-year-old "southern-looking" man (südländisch aussehen) who attempted to rape a 35-year-old woman in October 2016.
- January 26. A 22-year-old migrant from Tunisia turned himself in after police in Karlsruhe published a surveillance camera image of the man, who is suspected of sexually assaulting five women in the city. City police urged German media to delete any images of the suspect. A note for editors stated: "The legal basis for publishing the surveillance photo has been dispensed with. We strongly urge you to take this into account in future reporting and to remove and/or make changes to existing publications." The photo remains online.
The apparent apathy by the German government and the public regarding the migrant rape crisis engulfing the country has prompted some commentators to
question whether German society is tolerating a rape culture (
Vergewaltigungskultur) in order to sustain a politically correct stance on mass migration.
Sexual Assaults and Rapes by Migrants in Germany, January 2017
January 1. A 23-year-old migrant from Iraq
sexually assaulted a 30-year-old woman in
Glücksburg. A 24-year-old asylum seeker from Pakistan
sexually assaulted a 46-year-old woman in
Regensburg. A 31-year-old migrant from Iraq
exposed himself to women in
Augsburg. Three migrants from Afghanistan
sexually assaulted two women in
Augsburg. Two migrants from Afghanistan
sexually assaulted a 22-year-old woman in
Neumarkt. A 19-year-old migrant from Gambia
assaulted a 25-year-old woman in
Ulm. A "North African" migrant exposed himself to a 29-year-old woman in
Ulm.
January 1. A "foreign-looking" taxi driver (
ausländisches Erscheinungsbild)
sexually assaulted a 34-year-old woman in
Wiesbaden. A man with an "Eastern European accent" (
osteuropäischer Akzent)
sexually assaulted a 49-year-old woman in
Coesfeld. A "southern European-looking" man
sexually assaulted a 42-year-old woman in
Hanover. A "dark-skinned" man (
dunkle Hautfarbe)
sexually assaulted a 19-year-old woman in
Trier. A "dark-skinned" man (
dunkelhäutig)
assaulted a 24-year-old female jogger in
Bergkamen.
January 2. An "Arabic-looking" man (
arabischem Aussehen)
accosted three girls aged between 10 and 13 in
Rottenburg. A "brown-skinned" man (
braunen Hautteint) speaking broken German
sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy in
Seckach. Three "southerners" (
Südländer)
assaulted three girls, ages 14 and 15, in downtown
Chemnitz. A man of "Arab origin" (
Mann arabischer Herkunft)
sexually assaulted an eight-year-old girl at a movie theater in
Leipzig. He remains at large.
January 2. Three "southern-looking" men (
südländisches Erscheinungsbild)
sexually assaulted a 29-year-old woman in
Taunusstein.
January 3. A "southern European-looking" man (
südosteuropäisches Aussehen)
sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl on a train near
Wesel.
January 4. An "Asian-looking" man (
asiatisches Aussehen)
exposed himself to two women at a bus stop in
Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt.
January 5. Two migrants (ages 18 and 19) from Libya were arrested for
raping a 22-year-old woman in
Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz. A "southern-looking" man (
südländisches Aussehen)
exposed himself to a 15-year-old girl who was riding her bicycle in
Kranenburg.
January 6. A 13-year-old migrant from Syria
sexually assaulted two girls at a school in
Schwerin. Two "southern-looking" men (
südländisch Aussehen)
sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl in
Linden. The girl was riding a city bus. When she got off at her stop, the two men also got off the bus. She began running but the men caught up with her and attacked her.
January 7. A group of five "Black Africans" (
Schwarzafrikanern)
sexually assaulted a 28-year-old woman in
Hamburg. The woman, a nurse at the Asklepios-Klinik St. Georg, was walking to her car after her shift ended when she heard someone screaming for help in an adjacent park. When she went to help she was ambushed by the men and assaulted and robbed.
January 7. A 27-year-old migrant from Afghanistan
sexually assaulted a 14-year-girl at a public swimming pool in
Düsseldorf-Flingern. Two migrants (ages 21 and 39) from Libya
sexually assaulted three girls, ages 13 and 14, at the train station in
Niederwiesa. A "dark-skinned" man (
dunklerer Teint)
sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl in
Oberhausen.
January 8. A 23-year-old migrant from Syria
attempted to rape a 23-year-old woman in
Kleve. The woman phoned her father for help after she sensed she was being followed while walking home. The father got on his scooter and was able to rescue his daughter just as the Syrian was dragging her into the bushes.
January 8. A 20-year-old migrant from Afghanistan
sexually assaulted a 19-year-old woman on a street car in
Leipzig. A 21-year-old migrant from Iraq
sexually assaulted a 24-year-old woman in the restroom of a discotheque in
Bad Segeberg. A "North African-looking" man
sexually assaulted a 22-year-old woman in downtown
Stuttgart. A "Turkish or North African" man (
türkischer oder nordafrikanischer Herkunft)
exposed himself to a woman at the train station in
Mainz-Kastel. A "dark-skinned" man (
dunkler Hautfarbe)
sexually assaulted a young woman in
Bern (Switzerland).
January 9. Four "Arab-looking" men (
arabisch aussehend)
sexually assaulted a 25-year-old woman at a bus stop in
Weiterstadt. Three "southern-looking" men (
südländisch aussehende) attempted to rape a 16-year-old girl in
Gelsenkirchen. They fled after a passerby intervened to help the girl.
January 10. A man speaking broken German
exposed himself to a woman in the parking lot of a train station in
Ludwigsburg.
January 11. A "dark-skinned" man (
dunkelhäutigen Mann)
sexually assaulted a 22-year-old woman in
Lüneburg. A "North African" man
sexually assaulted a 30-year-old woman on a train on a train between Gelnhausen and
Fulda. A 42-year-old migrant from Libya
exposed himself to several women in
Schneeberg. A man speaking a foreign language
sexually assaulted a 21-year-old woman in
Salzgitter. A man speaking German with an accent
sexually assaulted a 34-year-old woman in
Michelbach. A migrant from Bulgaria
sexually assaulted two teenage girls at the train station in
Meschede. A man speaking broken German
sexually assaulted a woman who was shopping at a supermarket with her young daughter in
Aachen.
January 12. A 34-year-old migrant from Algeria
sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl at the central train station in
Wolfsburg. The perpetrator was arrested after he returned to the same time location the following day. A "dark-skinned" man (
dunkelhäutiger Mann)
sexually assaulted a 17-year-old woman at the train station
Crailsheim. A "dark-skinned" man (
dunklere Hautfarbe)
sexually assaulted a 45-year-old woman in
Düsseldorf. An "Arab-looking" man
exposed himself to a woman at a public park in
Schwabach.
January 13. A "southern- or Arab-looking" man (
südländisches oder arabisches Aussehen)
sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl at a train station in
Freiburg. A "southern-looking" man (
südländisch)
exposed himself to two women in
Alzey. A 39-year-old migrant from Russia
sexually assaulted two women at a subway station in
Munich. A man speaking German with a foreign accent
assaulted a 27-year-old woman at knifepoint in
Raunheim.
January 14. A "southern-looking" man (
südländisch aussehende Mann)
attempted to rape a 23-year-old woman in
Karlsruhe-Bulach. Four "southern-looking" men (
südländischen Aussehens) tried to
assault a young woman in
Gießen. A Moroccan migrant was arrested for
sexual assault in
Speyer. A "southern-looking" man (
südländisches Aussehen)
sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl in
Kamp-Lintfort. An "Oriental-looking" man (
orientalisches Erscheinungsbild)
exposed himself to a 68-year-old woman on a bicycle path in
Lindenholzhausen. A 21-year-old migrant from Somalia
sexually assaulted a 19-year-old woman on a train in
Hanau.
January 15. A man with a "foreign, unknown dialect" (
ausländischen, unbekannten Dialekt)
sexually assaulted a woman near the city hall in
Metelen. Five migrants from Syria (between 11 and 14 years old)
sexually assaulted two girls, aged 12 and 13, at a public swimming pool in
Bockum. Two "presumably African" men (
mutmaßlichen Afrikaner)
sexually assaulted two women near the central train station in
Bielefeld. A "southern European" man (
Südeuropäer)
exposed himself to two women in
Ulm.
January 16. A man calling himself Ahmed
exposed himself to a woman at a bus station in
Singen.
January 17. A "dark, nearly black-skinned" man (
dunkle, fast schwarze Hautfarbe)
sexually assaulted an 11-year-old girl on a street car in
Magdeburg.
January 18. A 30-year-old asylum seeker
raped a 31-year-old woman in
Dortmund. Two "southern-looking" men (
südländisches Aussehen)
sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl in
Rastatt. A "southern-looking" man (
südländisches Aussehen)
sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl at a bus stop in
Salzgitter. A 30-year-old asylum seeker
raped a 31-year-old woman in
Dortmund.
January 19. An "Eastern European-looking" man (
osteuropäischem Aussehen)
exposed himself to a 27-year-old woman on a train in
Stuttgart. A man
exposed himself to an 11-year-old girl on a bus in
Stuttgart. An "English-speaking" man
sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl at the train station in
Crailsheim.
January 21. Two men "speaking a foreign language"
sexually assaulted two women in
Osnabrück. The attackers fled after one of the women used pepper spray on them. A migrant
physically assaulted an 18-year-old woman in
Uelzen after she rejected his advances. A "southern-looking" man (
südländisches Aussehen)
sexually assaulted a 23-year-old woman after he followed her off a train in
Karlsruhe. An "Arab-looking" man (
arabischer Herkunft)
assaulted a 27-year-old woman at the train station in
Friedrichsdorf.
January 22. Two migrants from Algeria
sexually assaulted two women in the female restroom of a bar in
Schweinfurt. A "dark-skinned" man (
dunkelhäutig)
assaulted a 20-year-old woman at the central train station in
Bochum after she rejected his advances.
January 23. A "dark-skinned" man (
dunkleren Teint)
exposed himself to a 13-year-old girl in
Stuttgart-Heumaden. A "dark-skinned" man (
dunkelhäutigen Mann)
sexually assaulted two women in
Minden.
January 24. A 44-year-old migrant from Syria was arrested on charges of
sexually assaulting more than 20 women in
Wetzlar. The man, who among other offenses repeatedly licked unsuspecting women in the face, justified his behavior as a custom from his Arab homeland to show women his affection.
January 24. A 26-year-old migrant from Somalia
sexually assaulted several women in downtown
Gießen. He also exposed himself to a nurse outside the city's Catholic Hospital. A "southern-looking" man (
südländisch aussehen)
sexually assaulted five women in
Karlsruhe. A 14-year-old Turkish boy
raped a 13-year-old boy and attempted to rape a 13-year-old girl in
Herzogenburg (Austria).
January 25. A "southern-looking" man (südländischem Aussehen)
exposed himself to a 51-year-old woman in
Kamp-Lintfort.
January 26. A "dark-skinned" man (
dunkelhäutig)
assaulted a 46-year-old woman on a train in
Stuttgart. After the woman asked the man to take his feet off the seat, he smashed her head against the window. A "southern-looking" man
sexually assaulted a 17-year-old woman on a train in
Öhringen. A group of 12 "dark-skinned" men (
dunklen Teint)
assaulted a 16-year-old girl in
Gelsenkirchen.
January 27. A 25-year-old woman was
raped in a female restroom at the Ludwig Maximilian University in
Munich. A "southerner" (
südländischen Typs)
sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl in
Chemnitz-Altendorf. A 27-year-old migrant from Pakistan
exposed himself to an 18-year-old woman on a train between Gelsenkirchen and
Essen. A migrant (
südländischen Migrationshintergrund)
exposed himself to a 77-year-old woman in
Wangen.
January 28. Three "dark-skinned" men (
dunkelhäutig)
sexually assaulted a 19-year-old woman in
Dortmund. Two "dark-skinned" men (
dunkelhäutiger Männer)
sexually assaulted two 12-year-old girls in
Bietigheim-Bissingen. A man speaking a foreign language
sexually assaulted a 24-year-old woman in
Bonn. A 40-year-old migrant from Morocco
sexually assaulted a 41-year-old woman on a train in
Düsseldorf. A "southern-looking" man (
südländische Erscheinung)
sexually assaulted a 20-year-old woman in
Hamburg.
January 29. A "southern-looking" man (
südländischem Aussehen)
sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl in
Neubrandenburg. A 23-year-old migrant from Eritrea
sexually assaulted several women on a train in
Munich. A 36-year-old migrant from Gambia
sexually assaulted several woman on a train near
Freiburg. A man speaking Turkish
sexually assaulted a 26-year-old woman on a train near
Dormagen.
January 30. Süleyman D., a 25-year-old German of Turkish descent, was
arrested for raping one woman and attempting to rape two more at the Ludwig Maximilian University in
Munich. A 24-year-old migrant from Armenia
sexually assaulted two women on an express train between Hamburg and
Kassel. A man speaking broken German
exposed himself to three women in
Offenbach.
January 31. A "dark-skinned" man (
dunkelhäutigen)
sexually assaulted a 28-year-old woman who was walking with her four-year-old child near the train station in
Bad Krozingen.
Court Cases involving Migrants Accused of Sexual Crimes, January 2017
January 7. Asif M., a 26-year-old asylum seeker from Pakistan,
appeared in court on charges he raped one woman and attempted to rape five others in
Berlin-Steglitz. He
insisted that he was the victim: "As a refugee, it is difficult to find a girlfriend."
January 11. Ralph Q., a 24-year-old asylum seeker from Ghana, was
sentenced to three years and two months in prison for raping a 15-year-old girl in
Duisburg-Neumühl.
January 18. A 27-year-old Kosovar was sentenced to one year and ten months of probation for
sexually assaulting a 27-year-old woman in
Freiburg. The man followed the woman into a restroom at a night club, told her that he was a narcotics detective, forced her to undress and then tried to rape her.
January 18. Ali M., a 34-year-old asylum seeker from Syria, was
sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for raping 15-year-old girl in
Bonn-Bornheim. The man plied the girl with drugs and alcohol during at a party at his home. The girl passed out and after the other guests left the party he raped her. The man subsequently tried to bribe the girl into silence.
January 19. Qaisar S., a 38-year-old migrant from Pakistan, was
sentenced to three years and ten months in prison for raping a 19-year-old woman in
Zwickau. The court heard how the man, who has Hepatitis C, bit the woman on the lip in a deliberate effort to infect her with the virus.
January 20. The trial began of Abubaker C., a 27-year-old Pakistani man who
strangled 70-year-old Maria Müller in her bed in
Bad Friedrichshall, and then painted verses from the Koran on her bedroom walls. Prosecutors said the murder was religiously motivated: The Sunni Muslim murdered the woman because she was a devout Roman Catholic.
January 21. A 47-year-old asylum seeker from Syria was
sentenced to one year and nine months in prison for raping a 44-year-old mentally disabled woman in
Soest. The suspect, who has been living in an asylum shelter in Welver at German taxpayer expense since 2003, had 23 previous convictions for offenses including assault, robbery and fare evasion. A neurologist who has attended the Syrian during his 13-year stay in Germany told the court that the man is "untreatable" (
Therapieunfähig). "When he is drunk, he is unpredictable," she said.
January 23. The trial began of Merwan B., a 29-year-old Tunisian who
stabbed to death his 35-year-old ex-girlfriend, Julia B., and their unborn baby. Prosecutors said the couple split after the man refused to take responsibility for the child, but that he later changed his mind after learning that the child would boost his prospects for permanent residency. The woman refused to get back together with him. The prosecutor said: "He did not want to accept this separation. He wanted to kill Julia B. because he could not accept that she would be living in Germany with his child after he was deported."
January 23. The trial began of Kashif M., a 32-year-old Pakistani man charged with
raping two women, ages 22 and 52, in
Chemnitz.
January 24. A 21-year-old migrant from Gambia was sentenced to five years in juvenile detention for
raping two women in
Freiburg and
Bad Krozingen. A 36-year-old migrant from Nigeria appeared in court on charges of
raping an 18-year-old woman in
Neusäß.
Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter.
