Germany can no longer afford the security for Christmas markets

German Christmas culture is collapsing. Every year more markets close for lack of funds, and the main reason is not a shortage of visitors: it is the cost of security. After the 2016 Berlin attack, and especially after the 20 December 2024 Magdeburg attack, security regulations have been tightened: fences, concrete bollards, controlled access and intensive surveillance. But many organisers, especially in small municipalities, cannot afford these expenses.

The newspaper Focus A Hannover police official is quoted as saying: “Small markets cannot afford what is now legally required.". The minimum security costs easily exceed €80,000., even if there are only a few stalls.” The former Interior Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Ralf Jäger, sums it up: “We cannot protect every event under maximum-risk criteria. If we carry on like this, The small markets will disappear and only the big ones will remain., commercial and impersonal.”

The cancellation of Christmas markets is an acknowledgement that terrorists have achieved their objective. But the problem goes beyond that and affects all kinds of mass gatherings. The Kessenich Autumn Festival in Bonn, He stated that it had had to close due to the “inability to implement a viable security concept that meets current requirements.”. Now, the situation in Germany is that any event involving a large number of people requires extraordinary security measures that someone has to pay for. The organisers are calling on the state to cover the costs, but it does not.