Christmas markets return

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: Up next: Protecting Christmas cheer.

Since 2014, there have been seven major terrorist attacks on Christmas markets across Europe. Several included jihadists ramming cars into crowds and booths, others were carried out by people with mental illness.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: For this year’s Christmas markets, Europeans are trying to balance safety and comfort, and protect their budgets. WORLD’s Mary Muncy has the story.

MARY MUNCY: This year’s Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany has all of its usual charm, but there’s an uneasiness as the memory of last year’s terrorist attack lurks in the shadows.

DW NEWS : A car has plowed into a crowded Christmas market here in Germany.

One of this year’s vendors is Vladislav Karkishko. He works in a leather goods booth. He wasn’t at the market during last year’s attack, but he had to walk by it to get home shortly after it happened.

VLADISLAV KARKISHKO: It was like smell of blood here, like it was so, so terrifying.

He lifts a shaking hand.

KARKISHKO: Yeah, it's like terrifying.

A Saudi Arabian refugee is accused of driving a van into the market crowd at full speed…killing six and wounding more than 300. His trial started in November.

SOUND: [CHRISTMAS MARKET[

The Magdeburg Christmas market is in the middle of town, in a quaint square mostly surrounded by buildings covered in lights. Because of last year’s attack, the market organizers have erected concrete barriers anywhere a car could fit through, and the police presence is much more obvious than before.

Ibrahim Eshanov works with Karkishko.

IBRAHIM ESHANOV: Even if you want to control it, you can't control it for 100% you know, there is always a risk, but I see that they are doing good job.

Over the last few weeks, rumors have been swirling online about mass cancellations of Christmas markets. Social media posts declare that ‘Christmas is cancelled’ in Germany. But at this point, the sensational headlines haven’t matched reality.

On the opening day of the Magdeburg market, Eshanov and Karkishko both got texts from friends telling them to check the news, claiming the market was cancelled. They decided to keep driving, and discovered that the market was actually open.

A few stalls away, Maya Manecke says she saw similar articles.

MAYA MANECKE: I saw, like, a news article, and it was posted on Instagram, and then I, like, scrolled through the comments, and like, every single comment was like, ‘oh, like, all these Islamists are gonna take our Christmas away.’

The German Showmen’s Association is a professional organization for the country’s fairground industry—which includes Christmas markets. They work with more than 3,200 markets across the country. Recently they reported in a German paper they’ve only seen a few cancellations. And at least one of those has reopened since publication.

But the costs of securing the markets in Germany are going up.

STEFFEN RIETZCHEL: Within the last 10 years, we already invested up to 1.3 million euro in excess protection elements.

Steffen Rietzchel helps plan the security for the Dresden Christmas markets. There are six around the city, and they cover a combined 46,000 square meters—or about the size of six and a half American football fields. He confirms that this year’s security costs are significantly higher.

RIETZCHEL: After the terror attack which took part in Magdeburg last year, we invested alone this year, another 1.7 million euro in protection elements.

Some of that money is spent on things like concrete and steel barriers that they won’t have to buy again, but additional surveillance and personnel costs are recurring. He says it’s just the new reality of doing business, and that budget line is likely to keep growing.

RIETZCHEL: Beside the investment cost, It's at least 10% of the total costs of this market.

Right now, it’s unclear who should step up to pay for the increased security. The state, the city, the market…or some combination of the three, but it is clear that people expect the markets to happen.

180 miles away at the Nuremberg Christmas market, the security measures are more subtle. The market is in the old part of the city where driving is already restricted so they have obvious barriers in just a few places, So far Europeans and tourists seem to feel safe enough to return to the annual holiday tradition.

HARALD STREBEL: We expected not more than last year, but there have been more people on the first day than the Christmas market in the year before.

Harald Strebel helps plan security for this market, it’s one of the biggest in Germany and attracts millions of people throughout the season. He says one of his top priorities is to keep visitors safe, without drawing too much attention to the increased protection.

STREBEL: So there are policemen in civil clothes a lot. You can only see the barriers. You can see the police standing there, the police car. But we try to make it a little bit so that the tourists shall not see that they are safe, because they shall concentrate on the market.

Back at the Magdeburg market, the security measures are very visible, but so far it doesn’t seem to be offputting for shoppers. Vendors report that sales were strong during the first week of the market, even if many of them are new—replacing vendors that didn’t want to return after last year.

In the leather booth, Karkishko says it’s sad they have to see so much police presence at something that’s supposed to be warm and inviting, but he feels it’s worth it to keep the tradition alive.

KARKISHKO: Only God knows when we…will die. You can work on Christmas, you can work on in markets, and something can just fall on your head…risk is everywhere.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy in Magdeburg, Germany.

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