The best known of the German Advent markets is surely the historic Nuremberg Christ Marketwith two and a half million visitors each year. Besides offering a treat to the senses of cinnamon, clove and ginger, it cherishes the tradition that … The Child Jesus has hung from the balcony of the Church of San Lorenzo and has been distributing blessings since the 17th century.
This year, during its festive inauguration, Panic spread among nearly 20,000 people who witnessed it. A drone burst into the Hauptmarkt, flying over the Gothic Notre-Dame church, and activated security protocols which led within minutes to the arrest of its pilot, a blogger who was trying to take images.
The rapid detection and neutralization of the drone was possible thanks to the fact that in addition to the visible patrols of the Mittelfranken police, the event included plainclothes officers and almost fifty private security guards in the crowd.
Added to this are access control personnel, with random inspections of backpacks and bags, physical barriers such as bollards and large vehicles as obstacles, a video surveillance system that also extends to adjacent streets and a coordination plan with firefighters and medical services that includes access and evacuation routes specially designed for them.
In total, the security device The Christkindlesmarkt exceeds two million euros, an investment constrained by new security rules and which other smaller markets cannot afford.
Priority: security
Security is a top priority for nearly a thousand Advent markets organized each year in Germany since the attack on Breitscheidplatz in Berlin in 2016. A truck crashed into the crowd, killing 12 people, whose names are still remembered at the foot of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.
To prevent attacks of this type, an anti-terrorism infrastructure is now mandatory, with specialized personnel and surveillance technologies, in addition to concrete blocks and standardized metal bollards which have increased the total budget of the markets in 44% in the last three years.
The authorities emphasize that there are no specific threats in 2025, but there is no shortage of scares. A few days ago, a man threatened another with a knife at the Weimar market.
The authorities emphasize that there are no specific threats in 2025, but there is no shortage of scares. a few days ago a man threatened another with a knife at the Weimar market, next to the Theaterplatz ice rink. The crowd responded by aggressively removing him from the scene, even before law enforcement took action.
Security has increased significantly at the country’s typical Christmas markets
“Of course we’re scared, but we can’t stop coming, it would be like giving up. Of course, we talk about it at home, we discuss with our colleagues whether it will be safe to visit the Advent market or not, whether this one is safer than the other or whether there are safer times. But the truth is that you don’t know, you expose yourself, you take risks, but that’s how it is and we have to move forward like that,” Knut, father of four children who make up as many gingerbread hearts, told ABC. “Now then”he adds, “if we don’t stop coming out of fear, we must still stop coming for economic reasons: the new security requirements and their costs are reflected in the prices and a family must already do the calculation before going with their children to the Advent market.”
“We must continue to visit and enjoy the markets as an act of resistance against those who want to prevent it,” say a couple at the Alexander Platz market in Berlin.
“Yes, we believe that we must continue to visit and enjoy the markets as an act of resistance against those who want to prevent it. We owe it to the people who died in the attacks, they would have died in vain if we had allowed this tradition to be lost,” respond together Sören and Luise, a couple sharing a glass of mulled wine at the Christmas market in Alexandre Square.
The drop in attendance does not affect these large central markets, also fueled by tourism during the long weekends in December, but others similar and with great tradition. is already causing a decline, like that of Charlottemburgwhich is no longer celebrated this year.
Stricter requirements
“The requirements have become more and more strict and give customers the feeling of being able to say: ‘Okay, I can leave everything, I feel safe.’ In reality there is no total security, but with these measures an attack has become very complicated and we work here in relative peace,” he told ABC. David Russ, production manager at Berlin’s Gendarmenmarkt market, armored with large concrete barriers, a closed area, entrance controls, video surveillance and trained security personnel.
“I feel calmer when I see it and touch it,” says Chrystel, a 22-year-old student, as she hugs a concrete block, ignoring the precise details of its design. One of the security concerns that was poised to keep Magdeburg closed this year was that its physical barriers prevented vehicles weighing up to 3.5 tonnes from being attacked, but not 7.5 tonnes as required by regulations.
And to defend the Christmas tradition, the German authorities are ready to use the latest technologies. The curator Sven Schulzewho wants to become the next regional president of Saxony-Anhalt offers security aided by artificial intelligence (AI). “AI will help us know if someone is not a normal visitor or if they are studying the location in advance. There are patterns of movement, there are ways of detecting it through security camera footage… I am in intensive talks with the Home Office on this. It is modern technology, the expansion of video surveillance and mobile surveillance, that we are looking at. “AI will allow us to prevent AI attacks in the future,” he says.
In Bielefeldfalse news circulated on the networks announcing that citizens who attended the Advent market would be evaluated by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the German domestic intelligence service. The city, far from taking this as a joke, warned of fraud and filed a criminal complaint.
Other type of violence
Although the measures adopted so far have prevented further attacks on the Advent markets, violence continues to haunt them. At the gates of the market in Herford, North Rhine-Westphalia, a 16-year-old teenager asked last week for help for families leaving the area. He was bleeding and staggering.due to a knife wound in the back.
According to a police spokesperson, the teenager received emergency medical treatment at the scene and was then transferred to hospital for intensive care. Meanwhile, the police arrived with a large contingent.
The market was evacuated and sniffer dogs searched for explosives. “I didn’t want to come, but the children insisted and we finally agreed. But it’s not like before, it’s like going out in the evening, you shouldn’t do it with children,” a mother said on local television shortly after the evacuation. Bielefeld police have taken over the investigation into the attempted murder. The incident will not be included in the statistics of attacks on Christmas markets.
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