It was undoubtedly tragic what happened in Berlin over the weekend. However, it was impossible not to notice that politicians, including representatives of the Czech government, once again used this incident to promote their own political narratives.
It is also highly speculative to claim that the people involved identified with the LGBTQ+ community. In reality, many of the current governing parties and their leaders have previously expressed opposition to various LGBTQ+ rights. They have rejected key demands, including marriage equality and the right of same-sex couples to raise children etc. etc... I do not want to go into this debate in greater depth here, but given their previous political positions, their sudden expressions of solidarity appear questionable and, in some cases, politically motivated. Even Vladimir Putin’s government uses similar rhetoric against LGBTQ+ people. Some of these politicians have also opposed gender equality, which makes their claimed support for LGBTQ+ victims even more difficult to reconcile.
The reactions I have seen in Czech media following the Berlin incident once again resemble a populist approach. These same political forces have often shown hostility toward Ukrainian refugees as well, both during their election campaigns and afterwards. Ironically, one could argue that if Ukrainians in the Czech Republic belonged to another minority group, they might receive a different level of acceptance from some politicians. Otherwise, the contradiction in their positions becomes increasingly visible.
Recently, I also referred to a statement made by a member of a government, a claim about wannabe safest country in Europe that does not reflect reality.
The further reactions following the Berlin attack once again led me to question broader claims about security and crime that are often associated with people from certain countries or communities. I therefore looked at murder statistics in Germany’s capital Berlin and compared them with those of the supposedly “safe” Czech capital Prague — a city where, according to some political narratives, there should be almost no influence from migration from Islamic countries.
Prague vs. Berlin:
What do murder statistics look like when adjusted for population size?
When comparing the safety of European cities, absolute numbers of murders are often cited. However, these can be misleading because they do not take into account population size or differences in the legal definitions and statistical methods used by individual countries. A more accurate comparison requires calculating the rate per 100,000 inhabitants and understanding the circumstances that may significantly influence the statistics.
Year 2025
Prague
* 23 intentional killings (murder/homicide)
* Approximately 1.41 million inhabitants
* 1.63 cases per 100,000 inhabitants
Berlin
* 108 completed cases of Mord + Totschlag (murder and manslaughter)
* Approximately 3.70 million inhabitants
* 2.92 cases per 100,000 inhabitants
At first glance, it might appear that Berlin had a higher murder rate than Prague in 2025. However, such a conclusion would be misleading without further explanation.
An exceptional case that changed the statistics
Berlin’s 2025 statistics included 79 completed killings connected to a single extraordinary criminal case. Police are investigating a former palliative care "white" doctor suspected of serially killing patients. This single case significantly increased the city’s overall statistics. However, these deaths occurred over a period of several years, not only during 2025.
If these 79 cases were excluded, Berlin would have approximately:
* 29 completed cases of Mord + Totschlag
* 0.78 cases per 100,000 inhabitants
What did 2024 look like?
The year 2024 provides a more suitable basis for a normal comparison because it does not include an exceptional series of deaths connected to a single perpetrator.
Prague (2024)
* Approximately 22 murders
* Approximately 1.40 million inhabitants
* ≈ 1.57 cases per 100,000 inhabitants
Berlin (2024)
* 53 completed cases of Mord + Totschlag
* Approximately 3.69 million inhabitants
* ≈ 1.44 cases per 100,000 inhabitants
What does this show?
After removing the exceptional impact of one large criminal case of a white man, or when looking at the year 2024, Prague and Berlin appear to have a very similar level of homicide crime. In 2024, the rate of completed intentional killings in Berlin was even slightly lower than in Prague.
Therefore, the claim that Germany is dangerous because it accepts migrants from Eastern countries, while the Czech Republic is safe because of the absence of migrants from Islamic countries, appears to me to be false.
