Crime soared 65 percent in Lower Saxony’s swimming pools, and foreigners account for a huge share of these crimes, according to German government data released in response to a parliamentary inquiry from the Alternative for Germany (AfD).
The data shows that crime at swimming pools in the German state went from 780 cases in 2023 to 1,286 in 2024.
For sexual crimes, foreigners make up 41.67 percent of perpetrators in 2024, with 13 Syrian suspects and seven Afghan suspects among the foreigners arrested. In total, there were 116 sexual crime cases in 2024 in Lower Saxony swimming pools.
However, for total crimes, foreigners are also greatly overrepresented. The amount of foreigners in Lower Saxony is estimated to be between 11 and 13 percent of the state’s population, yet they were responsible for 31.48 percent of all crimes in 2024 in the state’s swimming pools.
Despite the statistical increase in crimes, the left-wing government leading the state said in response to the data: “There is generally no noticeable increase in crimes in swimming pools or bathing areas in Lower Saxony… The safety situation in urban outdoor pools is classified as unremarkable. The crime burden is at an unremarkable level relative to overall crime.“
The NIUS media outlet, which exclusively obtained the data, reported that one incident in particular has garnered interest from the AfD and served as the justification for requesting the data.
On June 22, 2025, the outlet notes that “there was a violent attack on a lifeguard in Lister Bad, Hanover, who suffered a facial injury and was on sick leave.”
AfD MP Stephan Bothe also asked about the incident, requesting data on “how many suspects have been identified so far in connection with the incidents (threats and physical attacks) in Lister Bad on June 22, 2025?“
The state government response was as follows: “An investigation is being conducted on suspicion of insult. Four suspects have been identified so far. No suspects are currently identified in another preliminary investigation, including on suspicion of assault.“
The government response noted that “one suspect has Afghan nationality. The remaining suspects are German citizens, although two of them have another nationality.“
The Afghan suspect has had a temporary residence permit in Germany since 2015.
Notably, when it comes to crime data, all suspects with dual nationality are listed in the statistics as “German.” There are an estimated 5 million people with dual citizenship in Germany, and some estimates go as high as 7 million.
In addition, millions have German citizenship because they were born to first- and second-generation migrants in the country. Germany’s crime data does not track the migration backgrounds of German citizens, unlike neighboring countries such as Denmark.
In response to the AfD’s question about the specific incident, the government refused to provide further details, stating: “In order to protect the personal rights of those affected, further details on the allegations made against individuals cannot be made within a response from the state government to a parliamentary question intended for publication.“
The ruling government in the state said there is no connection between migration and an increase in crimes in swimming pools.
“The independent cities with higher proportions of foreigners do not equally have the highest number of cases of violent crimes and crimes against sexual self-determination in swimming pools and bathing areas in 2023 and 2024. A connection between the proportion of foreigners and the number of crimes cannot be derived in this context,” the government argues.
The anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) argues that crime is indeed a problem in the state’s swimming pools.
“The security situation in swimming pools in Lower Saxony is not inconspicuous, as the state government claims, but is showing a dramatic development,“ said MP Stephan Bothe. “The number of sex crimes in swimming pools has doubled, especially in larger cities. Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis in particular are the suspects here. Our position is clear: The state government must ensure security. And it does this primarily by expelling criminal foreigners.”
