Massively popular German Youtuber “Radical Living,” known for his comedic shorts about expat life and European countries, has opened up in a video about his decision to leave Germany, with crime and immigration playing a major role in his decision.
Incredibly, “Radical Living” even addresses the idea that Germany is not a democracy anymore, due to its efforts to ban the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and exclude it at all levels of government participation.
The video has already garnered 1.7 million views.
“Once you have children, you also think about where you want to raise them, especially if you have a daughter. I don’t think Germany is a good place to raise a daughter anymore because women, in general, don’t feel safe walking down the street at night,” he said in the 36-minute video, which was published for his 2 million followers.
🇩🇪🔴"I'm leaving Germany."
Famous German Youtuber "Radical Living" with 2 million followers explains why he is leaving his country.
"Once you have children, you also think about where you want to raise them, especially if you have a daughter. I don't think Germany is a good… pic.twitter.com/GQQQvxgUs5
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) May 12, 2026“You don’t have to take it from me; there are public petitions in all major German cities. Women want vouchers for free taxi rides at night, and in Berlin, they want women-only subway wagons. The stories you hear about what women have to endure in Berlin public transport are just messed up.”
What he does not mention is that 59 percent of all crimes involving sexual violence at train stations and trains involve migrants. There are now 90 violent crimes per day in German train stations and on trains, as trains increasingly become “no-go zones” that are a threat to women.
“If a woman can’t walk down the street at night and feel safe, you have failed as a society. It’s ridiculous that every time something happens, politicians just say we have a ‘knife problem’ or suggest women should dress differently.”
However, “Radical Living” is far from the only German feeling this way. Polling from the prestigious Allensbach Institute showed last year that 81 percent of Germans say there are too many refugees and that 58 percent of Germans believe there are too many foreigners in general. The survey also showed that the number of Germans who feel safe in their own country has dropped by one point since last year, falling to 60 percent, a new record low.
“Radical Living” points to the general feeling of insecurity felt, even in wealthier neighborhoods like Prenzlauer Berg.
“You can also see the decline in small things. You can’t go to the supermarket anymore without feeling like we’re living in a crime-polluted society.”
“Even in Prenzlauer Berg, one of the best neighborhoods in Berlin, you go into a drugstore like DM and have to ask the cashier to unlock basic products like shampoo or cream because they get stolen so much. Even in a normal supermarket like Edeka, they are locking up alcohol and Red Bulls—things that cost only €1.50—with security tags. What kind of society is this becoming?” he asks.
“Radical Living” also cites Christmas markets, which have become militarized due to the threat of Islamic terror suspects.
“Last year, several were canceled because they couldn’t afford the ‘terror defense’ anymore. It costs millions of euros to put those barriers up. If Christmas markets—a place of joy that people look forward to in December—get canceled because they can’t afford terror defense, many things have gone wrong in this country.”
However, he appears to try to soften the blow of his statements, saying: “Don’t get me wrong; I don’t want to blame this solely on migration. Migration isn’t a bad thing per se, but there are always going to be a few people who do stupid things, and you have to filter them out. Germany is doing an extremely bad job at that.”
Still, the comments section reveals what his real opinion is. He “hearts” two comments in particular, which indicate that he was trying to self-censor in order to avoid being censored or canceled.
One comment he liked was from user @92Vucgy, who wrote: “The sentence ‘We have a problem with knives in Germany’ just means we aren’t allowed to criticise the people carrying those knives cause of political reasons.”
The other comment he liked is: “I don’t want to blame it on migration ” TRANSLATING —> ‘if i say the truth I’ll get cancelled and possibly sent to jail for hate speech so I’m going to keep a low profile without being controversial even though I can’t express my real opinion on an obvious problem ‘ Man Europe really is falling apart… sending much love to you and your family.”
Despite his video touching on numerous topics, such as the country’s worsening economy, exploding welfare costs, and better options elsewhere, the most popular comments in the comments section appear to focus on mass immigration.
This comment received 701 replies, nearly all of them in agreement.
“Radical Living” discusses the AfD and freedom of speech
“Radical Living” also touches on the Alternative for Germany (AfD). He starts by addressing Germany’s crumbling infrastructure, coupled with the fact that Germany sends billions overseas every year in aid, including for foreign infrastructure projects.
“Just last year, a major bridge collapsed in the city of Dresden. So infrastructure in Germany is falling apart. They don’t have enough money, but they’re supporting other countries, which is a good thing. If you have the money, you should support other countries to your living standards. But if that comes at a cost of your own living standards, I’m not sure if that’s a good idea anymore. You should be only financing what you can afford. You shouldn’t spend money you don’t have.”
“Despite all this, people keep voting for the same two parties over and over again. For decades, two parties have been ruling this country CDU and SPD. They decided the future of Germany. That’s what we got from it. And apparently people don’t want to learn, especially for those two parties. Most people voting for them are over 60. They’re retirees, they have voted for those parties their whole lives and they’re not going to change it, most of them. And because Germany is such an aging country, the majority of people are actually above 60. They’re the biggest voter group, apart from people voting for the same parties over and over again,
Germany itself is not really a democracy anymore. I wouldn’t call it that because there’s this other party, AfD, and they are the second biggest party right now. But no other party will talk to them, vote with them, or discuss anything with them. They are just pretending they don’t exist, they have always done that. And they’re even trying to ban this other party, which doesn’t sound very democratic to me. They’re always accusing the AfD party of being undemocratic, but by not even talking to them, not letting them be part of the conversation, basically, they are being the undemocratic parties.”
“Radical Living” then makes a call for “discourse.”
“And in Germany, there is no discourse, not between the parties. And if you say anything that stands in the view of what this party represents, people will exclude you from society, or at least they will try to. And this is also a very dangerous situation because it’s creating an isolation for different groups of people in a society. And if certain groups of people feel isolated, they become more radicalized in both directions. And that is not good for a democracy. So Germany saying, ‘Oh, we are the most democratic country in the world.’ It’s absolute bullshit. It’s just not true.”
He says he believes other European countries have more democracy, such as Austria and the Netherlands, which have also had right-wing parties in parliament.
“You know, they are in talks with other parties, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but that’s what a democracy is. So I would say Germany calls itself a democracy, but it doesn’t act like one. That’s also the reason why the AfD has become so popular among a fifth or more of German voters, because there are old parties, and they won’t address the issues that have arisen in the last two decades. So that’s why the party was formed, right? Because people are unhappy with politics,” he said.
He goes on to note that Germany’s left has promoted violence against the right instead of compromise or debate.
“But in Germany, things are so divided between the people that the left is calling for violence against the right. The most absurd thing about this is that political actors from the left spectrum are encouraging this and saying, ‘Yeah, this is a good thing.’ Neither side should choose violence just to silence the opposition. That’s stuff from authoritarian countries.”
He also addresses the many house raids directed at people who have posted political memes or insulted politicians.
“And in general, I don’t see Germany heading in a good way when it comes to free speech. People are getting arrested for posting memes on the internet, literally. Five years ago, you could have only imagined this from authoritarian countries in Africa or the Middle East or something like that. That would have been unimaginable in Europe. But now the UK is mass-arresting people. Germany is following suit. Comedy is over. Memes are over. Critical thinking is not allowed on the internet anymore. Nowadays, people even get arrested for stating facts. It’s kind of ridiculous.”
Are there really better options?
Other comments focused on what many users say is a problem across the West, with users from Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Belgium all saying the problems are the same in their own countries.
As for his own choice, “Radical Living” states that he is currently living in Cyprus in his full 36-minute video and describes how it is now filled with German entrepreneurs and young people — all trying to escape the German system.
“From all the people I know, and I know a lot of freelancers and people who have small businesses. None of them wants to stay in Germany. They either have already left, are about to leave, or are planning to leave. I am here right now in Cyprus. I’ve gone to some meetups here, and it’s like full of German entrepreneurs that have all left, and they’re all leaving to not just here. You know, there’s tens of thousands of entrepreneurs living here with businesses. They just can’t take it anymore. The system in Germany, they come here, they go to Spain, they go to other places, you know, anywhere but Germany to do business.”
“Radical Living” has amassed millions of followers through his comedic takes, which are also popular with young people and left-wing viewers. As a result, this video, which has 1.7 million views, is sure to reach a wide audience. Many of his shorts have well over 100 million views.
His honest face-to-face monologue on his own channel also represents how the German media establishment in the country is increasingly unable to control the narrative, with podcasters, comedians, and influencers outside of the state-backed media complex speaking about the untouchable issues of immigration and the corruption of the current establishment parties. Many Germans are choosing to turn off their televisions and are turning to these alternative voices by the millions, which has only increased calls from the EU to censor platforms like X where these voices thrive.
As for Radical Living, he does not see a rosy future for Germany anytime soon, stating: “I’d love to help fix it, you know, but then you would have to go into politics and then you have to deal with all the people that are already there, which will drive you mad for the rest of your life. So the only option you have left is to leave. In the end, it all comes down to quality of life, and quality of life in Germany is degrading every year more and the pace seems to be accelerating. So I don’t think that country will be a good place to live in the foreseeable future.”
