The ‘Barf Hill’ remains a place that others should be ashamed of. Why Rupert Murdoch Fired Tucker Carlson

Sexual crimes, drug deals and, above all, countless Oktoberfest guests who can barely stand on their feet due to their alcohol levels. The hill at the western edge of Oktoberfest is infamous for all of this. Most people probably know him by the name “Kotzhügel”.

Numerous rumors surround him; Munich residents still say to each other: “Whoever ends up here is lost.” The police and the city have been doing a lot for years to make Oktoberfest safe. A reporter from T-Online looked around the hill.

The beginning

Shortly before 5 p.m. the sun shines, it is pleasantly warm and the Oktoberfest becomes increasingly busy. The same goes for the “Kotzhügel” – it is already well filled at this point and resembles a small picnic area. The audience couldn’t be more diverse: some people are enjoying the sun here – directly behind the festival tents.

Some people use the peace there to recover from the loud music in the tents. There are young women on the phone, apparently while people are staying home. And admittedly: anyone who climbs the hill has a beautiful view of the festival site.

But then there are the ‘other’ visitors. They are also on the hill, but they don’t seem to have come for the view. Some did not turn their heads towards the festival site, but directly towards the meadow. When you look at them like this, the thought quickly comes to mind: they certainly won’t get far these days.

And indeed: it doesn’t take long before the hill lives up to its name. A man in leather pants grimaces, turns around and then the time comes: he thinks about the final measurements again.

So everything is the same at “Kotzhügel”? At the request of T-Online, the police weighed heavily: there were no hotspots at the Oktoberfest. Accordingly – at least if you follow the theory – the hill on the western edge of the festival site is not one either.

In fact, the situation on the hill has eased in recent years, as the Oktoberfest press service also confirmed. Since 2016, the entire Theresienwiese – and therefore also the hill on the west side – has been fenced during the Oktoberfest.

The fence plays such a central role because thieves and sometimes other criminals repeatedly entered the festival site from outside and attacked the drunks on the hill. The police put it something like this: Because of the fence, “access to commit a crime from above the hill is no longer so easy.”

Crime on the hill is not recorded separately

However, it is not so easy to get an objective view of the situation. According to police, crimes on the hill are not recorded in separate statistics. “Crimes are also taking place there this year, for example drug crimes,” the police said in response to a media question. In previous years, in addition to thefts, sexual crimes also took place there.

One thing is certain: the police, security services, the city as organizer and also the medical services are working to get safety on the hill under control. In addition to the fencing, the camera technology is especially worth mentioning: it is used to constantly monitor what is happening there. If anything unusual happens, the police intervene immediately. In addition, police and security services regularly patrol the area around the hill.

The hill still lives up to its name

It feels as if the “Kotzhügel” has become safer in recent years. Despite one or two alcoholic corpses, the situation on the hill seemed relatively orderly in the afternoon during T-Online’s visit. An accident?

Two hours later, as it slowly gets dark, the reporter returns to the hill. It is still lively on the hill behind the Hacker tent. It feels like those who came to recover from the hustle and bustle in the tents are now in the minority. But those who looked too deeply into the glass became more.

And the latter have just received a visit – from the emergency services. The ambulance crew lifts a young man, who must not have been more than twenty years old, off the hill and tries to take him to their stretcher. The man stumbles, but barely catches himself. Then he clings to the fence at the bottom of the hill, with a medic on either side.

Will he be the next to ensure the hill keeps its name? T-Online will not find out. Because the reporter’s gaze falls on a young woman. She lies motionless and all alone on the hill in her dirndl. A man lies just an arm’s length away from her.

He doesn’t let her out of his sight, she apparently doesn’t notice this. Moments later, he gives up the fight for her attention and stumbles up the ramp to his friends. Police say the hill is not a hot spot, but it is also not a place to feel good.

Sources