BERLIN — Separatists have escalated a growing conflict in the heart of the German capital. Their weapons of choice were delicious egg noodles, their victim a woman made of bronze.

A statue of the artist and activist Käthe Kollwitz was defaced with the southern German specialty known as spätzle, the latest episode in an escalating quarrel between Berliners and German migrants from Swabia, a region just west of Munich. A group calling itself Free Swabylon claimed responsibility on Tumblr, calling for an autonomous Swabian district in Berlin, to be known as Swabylon.

Almost since the fall of the Berlin Wall more than two decades ago, residents have complained about the growing number of Swabians making their homes here, a trend that only escalated when Berlin became the seat of government for reunified Germany in 1999. The local Berliners feel swarmed by rich southerners.

The Swabians, for their part, resent their reputation as carpetbaggers and the slights they have been forced to endure, with graffiti reading “Schwaben raus,” or “Swabians out,” a slogan often directed at foreigners, an increasingly common sight.