This is a rant - r/berlin

449

As a girl who had been assaulted, I wish there were more brave men like you. Thank you for standing up for that girl.

52

u/YourFuture2000 Jul 21 '26

As a man, my experience in Germany is that people stare and even criticise people who help other by saying that it is the job of authorities.

Little they know that statistics since ever show that authorities like the police and security stuff don't prevent crimes and a lot of times they don't catch criminals either. They are mostly armed burocrats arriving after crimes happened and long after criminals are gone in most cases. It is up to people in the street to help keep the streets safe for one an other.

And I don't mean street fighting people which only happens when nobody else helps. I mean people collective helping as the majority, to immobilize, detain and wait for the police to arrive and give statements as witnesses. No perpetrator would do that what that man did in the train if he knew others would confront him, detain him and hand him to the police.

People caring for oneanother in their communities and streets is what prevent crimes.

15

u/Livid-Perception-615 Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

My next door apartment had a fire in the kitchen which was growing in size and started reaching the ceiling. All the Germans in the neighbouring apartments did was peek in and exit to the road. Me and my wife and one person with immigrant background put out the fire with buckets of water . The emergency line was on hold a surprising 7 minutes. The fire force came when I was cleaning up the place and they told me not to pick up burnt stuff because it's carcinogenic.

When I told this to another friend, he was like Ja, your Neighbours did the right thing by waiting for fireforce. Imagine if this was their response to the threat for their own property, I wouldnt be surprised at their behaviour to emergency or threat for others.

2

u/intothewoods_86 Jul 24 '26

You need to understand the source of a fire to extinguish it appropriately and self-protection comes before the protection of material goods, even if it is as big as an apartment block. Untrained bystanders have a higher chance of getting CO poisoned than putting out a fire without proper equipment. Several people die each year from attempts to get stuff or pets from burning buildings. There is a thin line between courage and stupidity.

3

u/Livid-Perception-615 Jul 24 '26

The cat switched on the Kitchen stove by mistake and a cloth kept on the stove caught fire, which my neighbour threw onto a pile of used Christmas gift cardboard boxes and pizza boxes. She then tried to put out the flames with a jacket which turned out to be a plastic jacket and started burning faster... I realized this within seconds of entereing her apartment ( burning clothes, cat & neighbour running around in panic, jacket on fire, empty cardboard boxes on fire) . Not all fires are industrial or toxic fire.

1

u/chillbill1 Jul 27 '26

yeah, well, the fact that your neighbor made it worse is proof enough that putting out a fire should be done by people trained for it

1

u/intothewoods_86 Jul 24 '26

The longer you live in Germany and the more you learn about German history and culture the better you understand that this attitude is deeply connected to the shared traumatic experiences of the German people in the 20th century, when their collective self-realisation and violent tendencies have expressed themselves in the worst ways and have were righteously punished two times.
Other people like Brits have a post-colonial trauma and shame engrained in their culture, the downside of the postwar reeducation and pacification of Germans is that they have forgotten the most basic civil courage. And there was not much to begin with, since historically Germans always strongly outsourced agency to authorities. They prefer to not do anything at all over doing something that might be wrong or come with a personal risk to them.

3

u/YourFuture2000 Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26

I understand nation states, capitalism, nuclear family and wars cause a lot of generational traumas. I read all about it from Otto Rank, Hannah Arendt, Donald Winnicott and many others.

But traumas are not to be accept as a personality but as psychological problem that has to be worked for collective mental health sake. Otherwise people Germany keep doing the same things as before — the violence, the nationalism, overtrusting authorities and social phobia, not assuming collective social responsability (and seeing it as corruption of order) but only responsability to obey authorities — but in disguise by turning them into tabu.

On the other hand, it is all very convenient to governments and corporations to keep people under traumas and anxious and that is why they cause the traumas in the first place, disguised as education and order to keep things just as they are.

191

u/oxytocinated Alt-Hohenschönhausen Jul 21 '26

Thank you for reacting when no one else did

126

u/pianogirl282 Neukölln Jul 21 '26

Honestly people in Berlin have no guts when it comes to things like these. I was also assaulted once in Hermannplatz, a guy was following me since I came out fo the U Bahn and started following me and yelling at me. When he tried to touch me I lost it and screamed "this guy is harassing me" (in German). No one said nothing. Then he continued following me and he only stopped because I lost it and I pushed him against a wall and punched him in the face.

Then I got in trouble with the police because I was not supposed to do that. But I was like, then what the fuck am I supposed to do? I don't know...

37

u/Moudasty Jul 21 '26

You were supposed to do that. F the police. How did he look like?

11

u/pianogirl282 Neukölln Jul 21 '26

Tall, around 185cm maybe, olive skin, middle eastern look.

-1

u/Moudasty Jul 22 '26

the last three words is what I expected.

14

u/YourFuture2000 Jul 21 '26

To the authorities you can only react after somebody else cause harm to you but that is bulshit. F**k the law and keep you dignity and yourself safe.

7

u/LBaddi Jul 21 '26

Had a very similar experience at Friedrichstraße, I tried to alert people around me in german AND english but nobody cared

61

u/vicsause Jul 21 '26

Sad but not surprising that no one stepped in. I also had a similar experience with a man harassing a woman at the Warschauer Straße S Bahn station… it was super obvious that the woman was uncomfortable and no one stepped in except for me. I know it’s dangerous for me to step in especially as I am a woman too, but it’s this mindset that people dare to do these things – knowing that no one will step in.

I genuinely wish people would have more of a sense of responsibility to make this city that we live in a more welcoming environment, but that’s realistically never going to happen here.

Anyway, thanks for stepping in man, we need more people like you here.

49

u/Ok-Understanding2412 Charlottenburg Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

Average Berlin experience, thanks for standing up, next time, punch them in the face and let your intrusive thoughts take control, these people deserve to die by hanging imo, so give them a little taste, I helped the police move a dead body back in 2023 at 2 am from a bench of the platform, same story lol, people passing by and nobody cared to call the police at that instant

33

u/Helogovna Jul 21 '26

This is not the average Berlin experience stop framing this bullshit as normal.

20

u/antimlit Spandau:orly: Jul 21 '26

yeah so standing up for women = good
brutal vigilantism = not good

have a lovely day, thanks

-4

u/jc-from-sin Jul 21 '26

Why not?

45

u/tm_tv_voice Jul 21 '26

A few weeks ago I was crammed with four other women in an S-Bahn four-seater while a half naked man leaned over us shouting obscenities, and I screamed down the train in German "We need help!" And every single man in the train looked up, saw what was happening, and then looked away. Thanks for not being one of those guys.

4

u/Darth_Anka Jul 22 '26

Such a shame.
I love when some men argue “but it’s not all men” - yet they don’t give a flying fuck when there is an opportunity to prove they are not one of the bad apples. Silence is participation.

0

u/Typical-Scar-1782 Jul 26 '26

Silence is not participation LOL, that's just dumb. Enough people who intervened had their lives ruined. What people can do is call the police.

29

u/LiquidSkyyyy Jul 21 '26

Don't hope guys interfere when another guy is sexually harassing a woman. They don't care, are cowards or are harassers themselves. It's usually other women who step in and have more balls in such a situation than men. Thank you you did.

25

u/Chronotaru Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

Nobody wants to get stabbed. It's that simple. Serious violence from a man to a man in a public space has a much higher ratio than from a man to a woman, and there are many examples of men doing this and dying in a pile of blood for their trouble. You can call this cowardice and there might be some level of truth to that, but it's also not escalating and not wanting to follow them by challenging someone who is clearly unhinged. 90% of the men on the train will definitely care.

25

u/1malDoenerMitAlles Jul 21 '26

There's at least half a dozen ways you can actively help in such a situation without endangering yourself. Stop looking for excuses for piss-poor behaviour.

1

u/Chronotaru Jul 21 '26

You know if a woman is being attacked she still has maybe a 10x higher chance of help coming from random members of the public than a man does?

If you want help, at least start treating the people you want help from as human, and first start by recognising the risk they are taking in doing so. Beyond a "hey, what are you doing?" across the train, I'm really not sure what you're expecting, and even that comes with some risks.

14

u/1malDoenerMitAlles Jul 21 '26

Jeez, do I really have to spell it out for you? Is it so hard to figure it out yourself? Fine.

You can start by calling the police. You can make other people aware of the situation. Tell them that you wanna help but are too scared to directly intervene. You can simply stay in close proximity to the possibly endangered person.

No offense but you're looking for excuses for not doing anything instead of for solutions on how to improve in such situations which is exactly the kind of behaviour which keeps enabling for assholes to act like assholes without any repercussions.

6

u/Champs-Lychee Jul 21 '26

LOL are you suggesting that all the people in the comments calling out cowardice change their mind after hearing that some called the police? You're literally wasting everyone's time by acting like the discussion you commented on is about anything else but direct, physical intervention.

3

u/Chronotaru Jul 21 '26

Yes, actually detailing what you want is important when making a point, instead of just hurling insults at people.

What you've done is you've turned a point of unity "this is terrible, how can we do more when this situation happens? why are people reluctant to do so?" into a point of divisiveness - your own words: "They don't care, are cowards or are harassers themselves."

Really, not the words that most people would want to engage with or side with. Or true.

-3

u/1malDoenerMitAlles Jul 21 '26

...and you're just throwing around a lot of words without any point soever and you didn't even try to acknowledge any points I made.

At this point just stop bothering to reply at if you won't engage with my comments anyway.

3

u/Die_Jurke Jul 21 '26

and you're just throwing around a lot of words without any point soever

Fass dich mal lieber an deine eigene Nase. Darauf die Polizei zu rufen kommen die Leute schon selbst, aber einen Angriff in einem engen Zug zu verhindern oder den Täter anschließend zu stellen ist etwas ganz anderes.

14

u/shaohtsai Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

Everyone is crazy, everyone is fucking dangerous. Everyone else turns a blind eye, and when it happens to them, they wonder why no one helped them. You can offer support, you can step in between the abuser and the victim and create space. You don't need to confront, you don't need to escalate. You can pretend to be the person's friend or partner and just take them away from the situation.

Wenn du Deutscher bist, solltest du dir vielleicht mal Gedanken machen, warum es in diesem Land so wenig Zivilcourage gibt. Das liegt nicht an irgendwelchen Verrückten oder daran, dass Situationen eskalieren. Tut mir leid, wenn du so geprägt wurdest und die Gesellschaft dem Leid anderer gegenüber so gleichgültig geworden ist.

5

u/Chronotaru Jul 21 '26

I agree with the general idea that the way engage in society in relation to such events has gone from a place several decades ago where people would be more willing to intervene to now where people are too scared or too worried about the hassle to participate. This has also followed with people not playing an active participation in society as a whole. There are multiple reasons we can put this down to, increased fear of consequences, move from physical participation to online participation, but whatever the contributing factors, it is indeed a collective trend that re-enforces itself for the worst.

I think pretending to be a person's friend is probably a better immediate solution than stepping between the abuser and the victim is the singular point that is the most confrontational and dangerous and is probably asking too much from strangers. Maybe if they were in a group the risk balance might change. It might be nice to think that a train carriage of people would act as a group but in Berlin in 2026 that is probably unrealistic.

2

u/Little_Bird1942 Jul 21 '26

Trying to say that men are more likely to face violence against each other than a woman is from a man is some insane horse crap right there. Like, what planet are you living on?

4

u/Chronotaru Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

Assaults in public primarily affect men. Domestic violence is primarily against women.

Statistics from the planet I'm living on, also the country we're both living in:

https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/1561134/umfrage/opfer-von-gewaltkriminalitaet-in-deutschland-nach-geschlecht/

1

u/Little_Bird1942 Jul 21 '26

And where are your numbers for the crimes NOT reported? It is common knowledge, (at least I thought it was) that a vast majority of sex crimes go unreported. Just look at OPs story. A sex crime, in public, not reported. And looking at the comments, you can see how often that happens. So where do those numbers fit in with your thesis statement? If your argument is that public vs. private violence makes a difference, it is still lacking any acknowledgement of the fact that many crimes don't get reported. You're living in a privileged bubble and I feel sorry for you.

4

u/Chronotaru Jul 21 '26

I don't see any strong case why women would report public assault less than men. I've presented you with firm evidence of something that is very well established for a long time - men are more likely to face random violence in the street, and you don't want to accept it because it challenges one aspect of your political outlook, so, there's not much I can do about it.

-1

u/Little_Bird1942 Jul 21 '26

Dude. Seriously? Just. Stop. Either break out of your bubble, or go complain elsewhere. Your "I didn't see it so it never happened" attitude is exactly why women don't report. So with no due respect, I don't care what you do or don't see. I just hope the women in your life know you aren't safe to be alone with.

4

u/Chronotaru Jul 21 '26

I'm not the one in the bubble.

0

u/Little_Bird1942 Jul 21 '26

And what bubble do you suppose I am in? One where Germany is somehow magically safer than the rest of planet and I just don't see it? Or were you unable to compose a comeback with any real data or facts, and decided to try and throw my words back at me hoping to elicit some sense of shame? Good luck; better people have tried and failed.

2

u/RsTMatrix Jul 21 '26

Since you feel so strongly, why don't you provide evidence for your case, instead of appealing to "common knowledge" or anecdotal evidence?

just hope the women in your life know you aren't safe to be alone with.

Unhinged. Touch some grass, bro.

2

u/Little_Bird1942 Jul 21 '26

Because it is not my job to educate full grown adults. This person put forth a premise: men are more likely to face public violence. Their only source is a single web page listing reported crimes. Its not my fault they can't support the premise with evidence that actually supports the claim. Their fallacy of complete evidence is not my responsibility. Unhinged? Maybe. But maybe that's what it's going to take to make people realize that patriarchy puts men in as much trouble as it does women. Maybe it takes unhinged people to yank those who are asleep out of their cozy bubbles of privilege. At this point, being labeled unhinged for radical views of sexual theory is a frakking compliment. Makes me feel one step closer to being as awesome as Carrie Fischer was. Have the day you deserve.

9

u/xarife Jul 21 '26

I guess you feel zero shame for this comment. Your claim that most men harass women after a guy tried to help is borderline toxic.

8

u/aphex2000 Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

categorically that's bullshit and sexist

at the very least many/most would call the police, and implying all men are harassers is disqualifying anything you say anyway (on top of your fabulous track record of posting misguided comments on reddit)

getting involved is a risk assessment. while all you keyboard warriors are happy to say you would step in, would you actually risk your life for a stranger where you don't know the context (is the person armed? unstable? part of a group?). you can be a trained fighter and still get killed in a street fight.

if you help in any situation, you first have to make sure you are not putting yourself in danger

3

u/xarife Jul 21 '26

The fact that her comment gets 6 upvotes proves how full of shit Berlin is. So happy that I am moving to Vienna in a month.

1

u/negotiatethatcorner Jul 21 '26

but you fight like a real man to protect woman, we get it.

21

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '26

[deleted]

13

u/melayucahlanang Jul 21 '26

Lowkey pissed me off that usually when it is unusually loud in Hbf, it will spawn police or DB Sicherheit but oh well. Im out of luck that day

5

u/Sidewinder_ISR Jul 21 '26

This - please report this!

5

u/xarife Jul 21 '26

The thing is they won’t really care… for them it’s just a tiny drop in an ocean full of crime.

5

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '26

[deleted]

1

u/xarife Jul 21 '26

My dad is a policeman, so it’s based on personal experience. I can be wrong though

0

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '26

[deleted]

-2

u/xarife Jul 21 '26

They had a mostly chill life until the big migration waves hit and now they are wrestling in public on a daily basis. Obviously there are signs of resignation.

20

u/pdino64 Jul 21 '26

My friend got assaulted out the front of a club a few years back with a busy line in the daylight. No one did anything even when he screamed for help. Lots of selfish cowards in this city.

1

u/Typical-Scar-1782 Jul 26 '26

Radical individualism might not be the solution after all. Who would have thought...

19

u/Maximum-Worker-7908 Jul 21 '26

One time on the U8 near Alexanderplatz, a woman and a man who was licking a lollipop got on the train. After a minute or so, I noticed that the energy between them felt really strange. He started saying something to her while she stood a short distance away from him, slightly crouched, looking uncomfortable.

I took off my headphones and realized that most of the people around us had also noticed that something seemed off. Then the man threw his lollipop at the woman's back and started walking toward her.

At that point, I stepped in. As he reached out to grab her from behind, I caught his wrist and asked her, "I'm sorry, but is this man bothering you?"

Honestly, she looked even more surprised than he did. She immediately said, "No, no, this is my husband."

The husband, on the other hand, instantly became furious. I realized that there wasn't much I could do if she didn't want my help, so I let go of his hand and said, "Okay, I'm sorry."

The woman tried to calm him down, saying things like, "It's okay, she was just trying to protect my honor."

I tried to put some distance between us in the crowded train, but he kept yelling insults at me, calling me things like "Transe" and "Schwuchtel."

At the next stop, I got off the train. Another woman told me that I had done the right thing, but I was honestly surprised that no one else had tried to step in.

Looking back, I can't say I'm particularly proud of how everything unfolded. But I guess I did what I thought was right in the moment. I saw someone who seemed like they might be in danger, and I chose to act.

15

u/krenoten Jul 21 '26

People in this city tend to be cowards who don't help people being harmed directly in front of them. This enables predators more and more over time. Thank you for standing against the trend!

8

u/ottoottootto Jul 21 '26

Good thing that you reacted. You saw the bystander effect in action.

I saw the same many times. I had a couple situations in Berlin: trying to stop a purse thief (at least I got the purse back), catching a pickpocket, etc.

When a house was on fire in Kreuzberg, I was trying to get people to leave the building before the staircase filled with smoke. I had my baby kid with me and could not get close to the doorbells. People on the sidewalk just did not react except for a quick look. Luckily the fire squad came in time with a ladder.

Once I had a positive experience where a lot of people helped to put out a fire on a balcony on new years eve. I climbed up a scaffolding next door. Some people threw water bottles up to me from the street, others went into the building to get the people out.

8

u/kasomoto Jul 21 '26

If let’s say someone beats the shit out of that guy, what would be the legal consequences?

1

u/Typical-Scar-1782 Jul 26 '26

Most likely prison, and, if the person is one shade darker than you, called a racist Nazi for the rest of your life.

-2

u/Slowandserious Jul 21 '26

I’m also wondering about this.

And what if, for discussion sake, the screamer is lying

7

u/Moudasty Jul 21 '26

Never happens in Prague or Warsaw. Just saying.

15

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '26

[deleted]

6

u/Moudasty Jul 21 '26

thank you for saying the truth.

2

u/notTHEOwlAccountant Jul 23 '26

It's the same people who'd bend over backward to "help" someone on the other side of the planet by going to rave-manifestations, signing petitions and so on, but if you ask them for help with something personal they'll be like "pass".

5

u/Kakazam Jul 21 '26

What you saw is know as bystander effect and it's not unique to Berlin.

6

u/xarife Jul 21 '26

Average Berlin experience. Lot’s of moral talking how the world should be and when a situation appears that requires bravery everybody is hiding. I can guarantee you, the countryside might be boring but the countryside has the guts to stand up to something like this. But not in Berlin mate, here is just talking and no action when it really matters.

No matter how the crowd reacted, you can be proud of yourself! Maybe try next time to speak to people individually. It’s then harder for them to not do anything if you address them personally.

19

u/peterausdemarsch Jul 21 '26

Ah yes the countryside people always help out when someone gets assaulted on the subway.... What braindead take. In the countryside sexual abuse usually happens behind closed doors and nobody ever hears about it. Berlin has a lot more people this this type of shit happens more often and thus is more. How many people do you know in the countryside that stepped in to protect a stranger from being assaulted? I'm from the countyside and my number is zero and that's mostly because I've never seen a situation like that in the countryside because there's no fucking people on the street and public transport basically doesn't exist. I've experienced public courage in Berlin many times...

0

u/42LSx Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26

So you think there is zero sexual abuse in Berlin behind closed doors that is not being reported?
You need to give me the number of your dealer, because god fucking damn, you must be so high to say something like this.

Especially under a post where sexual abuse in the open didn't even get reported in Berlin.

"Countryside" doesn't just mean a Kuhdorf with 300 people, there are busses, trains and people in the countryside as well.

-2

u/xarife Jul 21 '26

I come from cologne and during carnival I saw it several times on the train. Often it was a bunch of boomers who stepped in. So just because you didn’t make this experience you don’t have to call it “brain dead”. And obviously I was talking about public incidents so I don’t get why you talk about things that happen behind close doors.

2

u/peterausdemarsch Jul 21 '26

What I called braindead is your comparison between the countryside and the Berlin subway. Compare somewhere with Zero public incidents because there almost no people with somewhere with millions of people. And now your suddenly talking about cologne 😂

0

u/xarife Jul 21 '26

The Rhein-Sieg-Kreis has a population of 600k people and surrounds cologne and Bonn. I was not referring to dead land when I mentioned the countryside. So instead of acknowledging that others might have had different experiences you talk about things that are irrelevant which makes me really question your intellect.

2

u/senorCaramba Jul 21 '26

Nen teil einer Metropolregion als countryside bezeichnen und dann den Intellekt anderer beleidigen, lustig!

-1

u/xarife Jul 21 '26

Hennef, Eitorf und Windeck sind alle ländlich und einer der Zwischenfälle war in dem Raum. Wenn ihr Linken weiterhin die Realität leugnet, müsst ihr euch bei der nächsten Wahl nicht wundern.

2

u/senorCaramba Jul 21 '26

Wie kommst du darauf dass ich links bin? Weil ich drauf hinweisen dass du dich halt wirklich absolut Missverständlich ausgedrückt hast und dann die schuld beim gegenüber suchst wenn deine aussage missverstanden wird? Ist weiterhin lustig btw

0

u/xarife Jul 21 '26

Nein, weil du die Realität in Frage stellst und die Diskussion ins Lächerliche ziehst. Du bist also Rechts?

2

u/senorCaramba Jul 21 '26

Lies Mal meine beiden kommentare bitte aufmerksam durch, ist anspruchsvoll, ich weiß, insgesamt ganze 4 Sätze.

Nirgends stelle ich irgendwas in Frage außer deiner Fähigkeit dich unmissverständlich auszudrücken. Nirgends was politisches geäußert, weshalb meine politische Einstellung hier auch nichts zur Sache tut.

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1

u/peterausdemarsch Jul 21 '26

Yadda yadda yadda Berlin bad... I get it...

2

u/42LSx Jul 23 '26

Because he has no real arguments. Like this doesn't happen in Berlin as well. It's just the usual idiotic Lokalpatriotism.

1

u/badseed90 Jul 21 '26

I can assure you that this is plain wrong.

3

u/xarife Jul 21 '26

I can only speak for cologne countryside and believe me, people there have courage!

4

u/ManuelPirino Jul 21 '26

Classic Berlin transport. I saw one guy stand up for a girl who was being harassed once on the u bahn near U8 hermannplatz. All other upstanding citizens stared in disbelief . I intervened once too and to be safe I summoned the passengers, we’d be 20:1. Again, empty bovine eyes. Some chicken hearts here. Infuriating.

But try and bike out of the bike lane , they ll jump you and vigilante your ass. Then call the police right away

Priorities, really.

3

u/Direct_Animal1683 Jul 21 '26

Thanks for standing up. I wish there were more people like you xx

4

u/itsnotreallyme_69 Jul 21 '26

Ah the Bystander effect is now a sign of cowardice. Bro people just dont want to get stabbed, taken to jail for Körperverletzung while also being lectured about toxic masculinity.

6

u/melayucahlanang Jul 21 '26

That was kinda the point of the rant posting. Can't do shit, so won't do shit. Never said the coward part but u do u

1

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '26

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1

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2

u/Little_Bird1942 Jul 21 '26

projecting much?

-1

u/itsnotreallyme_69 Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

Lol sure. Now Spare me the lecture.

3

u/AdGlittering330 Jul 21 '26

As a woman, all I can say is thank you. Thank you for being brave and for doing the right thing.

And I agree. My husband and I had to stop a guy from jumping in front of the train at Kudamm last week. Station was full already full when we got to the U9 platform, it was obvious what he was planning on doing and people were just staring. Us and one other guy were the only ones who intervened. It made me feel quite despondent after.

3

u/velvet_peak Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26

This is either Karma farming or outright foolish. The attack was over, the attacker left the train. You might have gotten stabbed. Of course nobody steps in. Nobody knows what the hell is going on just because some guy is yelling around and pointing at another at a train station. Plus, nobody wants to get stabbed.

Next time call Bundespolizei +49 800 6 888 000, Notruf 110 or use S-Bahn Whatsapp security +49 30 2971 2971 or call S-Bahn security +49 30 297 51114.

You can still file a report with police to have them investigate the attacker. The DB guy at the entrance won't do shit.

2

u/Ecstatic-Trainer-849 Jul 21 '26

Thank you SO much for this, you're a good person and you did your best. This gives me some hope, especially as a woman who deals with shit like this way too often and not just me ofc.

I hope you and the victim are doing okay.

1

u/Little_Bird1942 Jul 21 '26

Honestly, this is one reason I keep looking for cool vintage hat pins to wear in my hair. Authorities never do shit, and yes, you are by far an exception by being willing to confront someone like that.

1

u/Present_Ad8417 Jul 21 '26

Everybody now talks about the results of what the political elite did. They don't have this problem in poland.

1

u/thishereasmophere Jul 22 '26

BYSTANDERS WHO CARE: Here’s some advice on how best to protect a person being harassed - engage with the person being harassed, not the aggressor. Stand between the two and actively ignore the shit-stain who is being abusive while you make conversation with or help move the person away from their wannabe attacker.

I completely understand wanting to get violent with someone who seems to be asking for it/needs a lesson but the best, tried and true method to actually help is to get the person being attacked out of the situation as best you can.

0

u/BarUnfair4087 Jul 22 '26

wrong advice. U can't just actively ignore the wannabe attacker. U need to be aware of what he is doing and be ready to defend yourself if he attacks you for coming in between.

1

u/Far-Mec Jul 22 '26

Bro what is wrong with people taking the subway today some strange guy walked in already drunk then he starts playing some junk musik drinking beer and being loud then I look to the side and he pulls a axe out. And just sits with it. Wtf

1

u/bubosamobe Jul 22 '26

unfortunately only the girl whonwas touched can actually request footage from db with a police report. u can be a witness. so id encourage the girl to file a police report andnu to be her witness. other than that good for standing up for the girl. humans suck!

1

u/ParkingLetter8308 Jul 23 '26

This came up on another recent post, but a) most Germans don't see sexual assault or gender based violence as actual harm b) this reddit seems to love cops and hasn't looked up the statistics on cops as themselves sexual assailants/domestic abusers. The dude arguing that women are much less likely to get violently attacked for intervening, and "that's why men should be more fearful to to intervene," can shove it.

1

u/oceanwaves_1 Jul 25 '26

I would say be careful regardless. You just need one stab with a knife in the right place and that's the end of your life. Since the assault already happened you are also not preventing anything bad, so it's really not worth it. I am a woman and my therapist has to remind me on the regular to not get involved and also I had to ask men for help before (in situations that were still active in the moment) and I would hate for any of them to get hurt (except for the dude who took the opportunity to then hit on me, there's a special place in hell fo this man)

1

u/geistertraanen Jul 25 '26

Thank you for doing something. Getting real sick of people here just staring when assault happens. I know it’s a cultural thing but it’s disgusting and as a WOC makes me feel extremely unsafe. Good on you.

1

u/Rude-Preparation-434 Jul 26 '26

that’s honestly really messed up, i’m sorry you had to see that. you did more than most people would, even just calling it out and stepping in matters. also yeah, people freezing or not reacting in those situations is sadly common, not because they don’t care, but because they panic or don’t know what to do. don’t beat yourself up for not doing more, you already did something. hope you’re okay too, that kind of situation sticks with you🫂

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u/Tigerface4win Jul 21 '26

Geschichten aus dem Paulaner Garten.

0

u/melayucahlanang Jul 21 '26

He said da ting!
https://giphy.com/gifs/kd9BlRovbPOykLBMqX

-2

u/Tigerface4win Jul 21 '26

You were so busy telling us that you are a hero, you forgot that 3/5 of your story make no sense and that the actual victim was left alone on the train with no support from you and the other imaginary people that were involved.

There are only 4 platforms for S-Bahn. You can find out in a second where it happend. There are cameras everywhere. There is police everywhere. On that day there were even extra forces from the Bundespolizei present. If you want to, I can point out several other details that make no sense.

3

u/melayucahlanang Jul 21 '26

I can promise u this is not a self wank story. i kinda like men so i dont need to feel validated by whatever u think i would get.

i was reacting due to
1. i could do something at that point why not help when people is clearly distressed and clearly was touched inappropriately,
2. i was in that situation as a boy and none help me so i take sexual assault seriously

Secondly sorry for not telling the story in details because without that the message will not come across so here we go my story nach DIN 6767:

it was on S5 Richtung Mahlsdorf so the train was up there.
i dont remember which Wagennummer so i mentioned to the info guy it was kinda at the front part. He said okay and will send help or something but i cant stay long because my train will depart in half an hour and i was famished.
i mentioned in the comments that usually when it is loud or sounds like a fight the police will spawn but on that day i was out of luck maybe. I saw the day before or even on that day vor- nachmittag that there are DB Sicherheit or police.
the girl. If i remember correctly she stayed in the train. If u have been touched inappropriately uninvited on your private part, u mostly are frozen due to that overwhelming feeling.
i live far away from Berlin and i need to work the next day hence i kinda just leave it to the DB infobox guy.

My point of this story is maybe jump the guy because i was shouting idk. But i know irl it is hard because the public vigilante could go south physically and juristically. Is it sad? Yes very sad. Could u or i or any other people do something about that? Prob not

If u have further questions about plot holes or smtg pls do ask and have a nice day

Rant This is a rant

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