I've never seen or heard of neo-nazi problems in berlin that posed any immediate danger to anyone. i would like to assuage any comments in this thread that make berlin sound unsafe. i put it in perspective with any major city in the world and think berlin is extremely safe. in comparison with other german cities, perhaps it is relatively more dangerous, but i mean we're comparing 1/10 with 2/10 on a danger scale. of course, whenever discussing issues of race, it is important to indicate one's own, so to show how my data would be skewed, so therefore yeah, tall lanky white guy from canada, with pretty good german (you know with only a slight, but cute accent and all), and i never get mistook for a tourist, because personally I think that if you speak better than crap german, people are going to assume you live here. Of course you get asked where you come from, it's simply curiosity, not racism.
i do however experience a bit of the xenophobia, particularly from older ex-east germans who miss their beloved DDR. my baker was a bitch to me for as long as i can remember, because people like me rub salt in the wound i suppose. now she's beginning to warm up to me, but I'm moving out, to
Kreuzberg. I live in Prenzlauer Berg at the mo. I get to trade anti-social punk/skinhead types, for loud, unrefined turks. Same sh*t, different smell. (Please note, these turks I speak of are a minority and not a general comment about a good group of people -- sensitive topic that - the berliner turks...)
In terms of neo-nazis, they seem more of a nuisance, like street vermin, than a danger. i've seen many treat their dogs like shit, i.e. full-on abuse, and i've seen others be great. i've seen aggressive, 10-in-the-morning-sternburg-drinking-degenerates as much i've I've seen the "Nazis Raus!" versions. From time to time yes, there is an a*shole in the street, shouting, throwing beer bottles at police stations. in the bigger picture, low probability.
