In the winter darkness before Christmas, many communities light up with Christmas lights and Christmas markets. At the same time, in recent years, Christmas markets have become active targets for terrorists, something we’ve seen in several countries, including Germany. Samnytt wanted to investigate how Christmas markets in, for example, Eastern European Poland, with minimal immigration, differ from Christmas markets in Germany – a country that for many years has had mass immigration and has also been hit by several vehicle terror attacks. We therefore visited Christmas markets in both countries and spoke to visitors. We hope you appreciate our report ahead of the holiday season.

In the city of Szczecin in northwestern Poland, a country with very limited immigration from the third world, we found a safe atmosphere, and visitors expressed satisfaction with the secure feeling at the Christmas market.

– I feel safe here. There’s no reason for it to feel unsafe here, says a German visitor in Poland.

When asked if he thinks it feels safer in Poland than in his home country, he answers by pointing to the large concrete barriers against vehicle terror, which have become a common sight at German Christmas markets. On some of the barriers are also sprayed messages like “Danke Merkel” – a mocking greeting to former Chancellor Angela Merkel, who opened up Germany and the EU to mass immigration.

– In Germany, we have large concrete barriers. Here, there are none and I feel safe, the man tells Samnytt.

Samnytt also visited Germany’s capital, Berlin, and the large Christmas market on the anniversary of the terror attack on December 19, 2016. That was the day a Muslim terrorist drove a truck into a Christmas market at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in the city, killing 12 people and injuring 56. Among the dead was also the original driver of the truck, who was murdered hours before the attack.

The suspected perpetrator, 24-year-old Anis Amri from Tunisia, fled to Italy after the attack and was killed four days later in a shootout with police. The attack, for which the Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility, is one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Germany.

Last year, there was yet another vehicle attack against a Christmas market in Germany when a migrant drove a car into the crowd at the market in Magdeburg on December 20, 2024.

Several people were killed – including a child – and at least six people died and over 300 were injured in the attack, during which the driver was apprehended at the scene. 51-year-old Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen from Saudi Arabia was arrested and recently stood trial for the massacre. The event shook the country and led to increased security at public events.

In Germany, Samnytt spoke to several people at the Christmas market. A German woman described how her country has changed and that she no longer dares to be outside in the evenings, and even less so to use public transport.

– I don’t like traveling by public transport, especially alone in the evening or at night. I don’t feel particularly safe moving around as a woman alone in the city.

We asked her why she feels that way in her own country.

– I rarely see people I can talk to in my own language. I don’t feel safe and I have experienced two incidents – including having been the victim of an attempted rape in my own residential area.

WATCH THE REPORT

Join Samnytt in Poland and Germany and see how the Christmas markets differ – and what both locals and tourists have to say.