Berlin Police Officer Reports Discriminatory Colleagues; State Security Investigates

Berlin attorney Christiane Meusel sparked widespread attention after posting on X about a client — a serving Berlin police officer with a migration background — who came to her seeking legal advice. The officer told Meusel that an increasing number of colleagues with Turkish or Arab backgrounds had been insulting him with discriminatory language, including the term "Bastarddeutsche" (bastard Germans).

The officer asked Meusel what steps he could take, including whether he should raise the matter with the department's personnel council. Meusel told the Berliner Zeitung that she must protect her client's identity and declined to reveal his specific migration background.

The case has since drawn the attention of Berlin's Staatsschutz — the police unit responsible for politically and ideologically motivated offences — which is now examining the allegations. Further officers have also come forward to describe similar experiences of intra-force discrimination.