At Munich’s annual Oktoberfest, an event traditionally regarded as a politics-free gathering, a new controversy has emerged involving allegations of rising hate speech among festival attendees. This year, roughly 10 percent of the festival’s waiting staff have joined an initiative called “Waiters against the Far Right,” which aims to raise awareness about what its members describe as increasing tolerance for racist, sexist, and homophobic language at the event.

The movement was founded by two young waitresses known only as Fanny and Anna, who have been working at Oktoberfest and other southern German folk festivals since 2022. In a video released on social media platforms Instagram and TikTok, the group recalled the 1980 right-wing extremist attack on Oktoberfest, when a suicide bomber killed 13 people and injured over 200. They expressed concern that certain far-right views, previously considered taboo, are now becoming more openly expressed and less frequently challenged at the festival.

Fanny and Anna reported that they often hear abusive language from some festivalgoers and are troubled by the growing acceptance of such behavior, sometimes dismissed as part of local tradition. The initiative was partly inspired by the hard-right Alternative for Germany party’s recent electoral success in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt on September 6, which the founders said highlighted the absence of prior organized opposition to far-right discourse at Oktoberfest.

The initiative counts about 170 supporters out of an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 waiting staff. It has received endorsements from some local left-wing politicians in Munich, including support from the city branch of the radical Left party. Nonetheless, the group faces a challenge in balancing its stance against hate speech without alienating right-wing customers, as taking a political position risks conflicting with Oktoberfest’s long-standing ethos of political neutrality.

Representatives of the Oktoberfest tent operators, including those managing the large Paulaner brewery tent, have stated that while they condemn right-wing extremism, they prefer that their staff refrain from expressing political views while working. A spokeswoman for tent operators Lorenz and Christine Stiftl emphasized that employees should not take political positions during their shifts, likening the principle to policies applied to firefighters and police officers.

Meanwhile, the umbrella organisation for Oktoberfest beer tent operators has reported no evidence indicating that the frequency of hate speech incidents has increased. The debate over how to address discriminatory language at one of the world’s largest folk festivals underscores broader societal tensions in Germany as political and social divisions continue to surface in public spaces traditionally viewed as apolitical.