The following report describes the plight of women in Modern Multicultural Germany since the Great Migration began in 2015.

Many thanks to Nash Montana for translating this article from FOCUS Online:

Melanie D.: My feeling of safety has changed dramatically in a year and a half, especially since Cologne. I am 44 years old, and since I was young I was always careful, as a girl as well as an adult woman, if I was out at night. I lived in Berlin until my late 20s, and I used to ride the subway at night. But I never felt threatened. However, today I would never do that again.

I always hide my blonde hair under a hat; it makes me feel a little safer. So far the only bad experiences I’ve had were with German men during the day. But I am not willing even during daylight to have to put limits on my lifestyle. I think there will never be a 100% safety, either for women or for men.

Anne K.: During daylight I feel relatively safe, especially for instance at the main train station. But after dark my feeling of safety sinks to the bottom, since [New Year’s Eve 2015 in] Cologne I totally avoid large plazas, I always carry my cell phone ready to call, but I still walk alone. I don’t always have someone to walk with me. I’m sometimes afraid, and always exercise a certain amount of caution. I don’t own pepper spray. I’m only 17 and I can’t drive a car yet; that’s why I have to use my bicycle at night often.

The worst is the thought that the state lets these people walk around freely! My state would not have my back at all in case of a molestation. I own multiple pepper sprays for all my coats. My hand in my pocket, my finger on the trigger. All I can do is defend myself! Unfortunately.

Isabella D.: The situation as a woman has changed in my life very clearly! No man can understand how we women feel. The fear of sexual harassment is always there! In the past there too were also migrants, and at the train stations a woman couldn’t feel safe even back in the ‘80s, especially if you were blond. But it always stopped with catcalls or gawking. Today they transgress all boundaries!

I do not feel safe anymore, and it’s not just me, but it’s all the women in my circle of friends who feel that way. The politicians are silent about this. It has nothing to do with refugees. I believe this is the kind of development we see in the USA. There are more and more lower class areas. poor people areas, entire blocks of Hartz IV recipients with people with little to no perspective. Out of that frustration and criminality grows.

Sabine: I am 23 years old and I live in Berlin. There are by now entire city neighborhoods that I cannot pass through anymore at certain times of the day. My friend always comes and picks me up with his car, I always carry pepper spray, and he always carries a knife, and in his car he also carries an alarm shot pistol. Furthermore, I do not dress nicely anymore in the evenings if I have to walk home alone.

FOCUS Online has conducted a major survey of its female users online in order to find out: How safe do you feel in Germany? Here are some of the answers from female readers:

48% of women already avoid certain areas near where they live, 16% carry pepper spray after sundown, and many more are considering acquiring pepper spray.

It is a shocking survey: More than half of women believe that Germany has become unsafe for them. 58% of women said in a survey for Bild am Sonntag that public spaces today are not as safe for them anymore as they used to be.

Now I live in NRW. The street scene has completely changed. More and more “southern-looking” types are on the streets even in our little town. I always change the side of the street if more than one come towards me. Even though that really angers me. I mean, I’ve lived in Germany since my birth, this is my home and not theirs, and I want to feel safe.

In the early morning at 5:30 and after 20:00 in the evening I have to walk my dogs. I always carry a strong halogen flashlight, pepper spray and a whistle, for safety reasons.

Martina K.: I’ve been angry and horrified for a very long time that we women are left alone as victims. I won’t ride my bicycle alone anymore without my husband, and I avoid all public transportation after dark. Furthermore, I doubt that I will be able to work by myself in our garden at our local history museum.

I actually thought that my age would sort of protect me. But if one puts in a little effort into reading national newspapers and police reports, one can find for the year of 2016 at least six rapes of retired women and three attempted rapes, of which one ended fatally. The victims were all between 60 and 90 years old. In previous years one only read of rare cases, maybe one or two per year, of such horrendous crimes.

It is time that they do something for the women and that victim protection is put before offender protection. I wish that we women could finally feel comfortable in our own country again. At the moment this is not my Germany anymore, and I am shocked about that feeling.

Carolin’s case has affected me very much

Kerstin T.: I’ve not felt safe as a woman for a long time. Everywhere there is harassment; there are rapes and robberies. Especially the case of the murdered jogger Carolin has affected me very much. I also jog, and I think it’s especially terrible that it happened at broad daylight.

I feel very uncomfortable when I’m alone and I avoid going out alone in the evenings or at night. And I always carry pepper spray with me.

Ute S.: No, I haven’t changed anything. Not my behavior, nor how I dress. I am also not afraid to be out alone in the dark. I use public transportation day and night. I am also not armed.

I’ve never changed the side of the street when men came my direction, and I will not start now. In my life I’ve been sexually harassed and molested about twenty times. The first time when I was 16, the last time a year ago when I was 52. It never led me to change my behavior.

I don’t dare to do things alone anymore

Natalie B.: Off and on there are catcalls on the street which I find extremely unpleasant when I’m alone. I almost drove to Cologne Silvester 2015. But then luckily I decided against it, and I have since avoided large groups of people.

Generally I don’t go anywhere anymore after dark. When I arrive at my local station on the train, my dad is always there to pick me up, and he walks with me through the underpass. I don’t dare do that alone anymore!

A couple of months ago I ordered two cans of pepper spray. Two, to make sure that each of my winter coats have one in the pocket. That helps a little, because the build of my body is completely inferior against an attacker. Why all this? It is very disconcerting to me that not even the German government knows what kinds of people are here.

Anne R.: During the day when I am traveling I feel totally safe. But at night when I walk home alone I always keep my key between my fingers, ready to punch someone. On my cell with my boyfriend, with the hope that if he hears something happening, he can immediately call the police.

But I’ve been doing this for a while. It’s nothing new for us women. That has nothing to do with Silvester in Cologne. Nothing with refugees. Here in Dortmund attacks on women are perpetrated by men of all skin colors, all ages, and from all countries of origin.

I suffer from permanent unease, and I am angry

Uschi J.: In the morning I leave my house when it’s still kind of dark, and in the evening I come home when it’s dark — it’s the first time in my life that I have felt queasy early in the morning or at 5pm in the late afternoon on my way home.

Handbag theft, sexual attacks — of course there are several different kinds of groups of offenders — but by and large I have to constantly be aware and alert. Since the events in Cologne and in other cities I have this permanent unease, and I am angry that men suddenly look at me and handle me like I’m a piece of raw meat.

In the ‘70s during the women’s rights movement I lived in a border city with a lot of crime. Back then we yelled, “We own the night”, and we marched through the streets in groups during the night. In Munich I always felt somewhat safe and I was — due to my job — out a lot at night, and often used public transportation or walked. That’s not possible anymore today. Today we barely even own the day!

Safety simply decreased

Kati L.: I live in a small city in Hessen and I too don’t feel as safe nowadays as I used to years ago. Until six months ago I used to walk home all the time without hesitation. Depending on when my shift at work ends, either towards 9pm, 11pm, or sometimes towards 2am. I used to gladly leave my car at home, and the walk home — 45 minutes — used to be a welcome diversion, and it relaxed me.

I felt never uneasy until in the past year some very bad things happened here (fights and sexual molestations of women). Not only did I put new locks on my house, but I also don’t walk home anymore. Now I only work the shift that lets me go at 9PM. It limits me, and often I make less money, which means I miss money at the end of the month, but safety comes first!

I do have to say, however, a year ago I would have never thought about such things! Safety just decreased! That’s why there is an increase in home and apartment safety [measures]. It’s something that just a few short years ago nobody would have thought about when they built houses and apartments.

I carry pepper spray and a flashlight with me all the time

Anonymous: I haven’t felt safe since in Germany my childhood. I’ve experienced too much violence. From Germans. In my parent’s home, and in the open street. I was beaten up by some punk who didn’t have a migration background. None of the passersby helped me, by the way.

Those were probably all Germans, because back then in that town, there were hardly any foreigners. Still I’m not so naïve that I believe only Germans would be violent or commit sexual offenses. In my city, since the refugee crisis, multiple rapes and attempted rapes have been committed by “southerners”.

That’s why I armed myself. I always carry dyed pepper spray as well as a flashlight. Will that be enough in case of a serious attack? I don’t know. But I feel safer with it.

I don’t wear short skirts at night

Eduvigis D.: My behavior in the public space has changed drastically: I will not go to any swimming pool, I do not go on any more walks in the forest, I avoid certain public transportation stops completely, avoid the main train station in the evenings, and I don’t wear short skirts anymore.

I have two children; one is a daughter, and I am really scared for her. I want her to take self-defense classes, and she will have to carry pepper spray when she gets older and goes out in the evenings.