Upskirting on the devil's wheel Oktoberfest visitors film women under their dirndls - and then expose them on the internet

Videos of women being filmed under their dirndls at the Munich Oktoberfest keep popping up on social media. For the perpetrators, upskirting often has no consequences, even though it is a sexual offense.

Videos of women being filmed under their dirndl skirts at the Munich Oktoberfest keep popping up on social media. The "Süddeutsche Zeitung" (SZ), among others, reported on this.

The problem mainly occurs at the so-called Devil's Wheel - a well-known attraction at the Oktoberfest. This is a large disk that spins faster and faster. The aim is to stay on the platform for as long as possible and not slide off.

As the disc spins, the wind blows the Dirndl up. The problem is that some Oktoberfest visitors film this and upload their clip to social networks. Filming up the skirt is also known as upskirting.

On YouTube, such videos have titles such as "Breathtaking blonde girls on the devil's wheel" or "The best pretty girls on the devil's wheel". As the SZ reports, there are also supposed to be corresponding recordings in slow motion in which the victims' underwear or buttocks can be seen. Some of the footage is even filmed with special action cameras, the newspaper continues.

33-year-old is approached several times about upskirt clip

Some of these videos have been viewed millions of times and received borderline offensive comments. One user, for example, wrote that he had watched the clip countless times and paused at a certain point. Hundreds agree with him.

A 33-year-old woman tells theFrankfurter Rundschauthat she can be seen in one of these videos and has been asked about it countless times.

"It's unpleasant for me. The footage was edited to explicitly focus on the scenes in which viewers can see under the dirndl skirts. Some of these clips are even zoomed in or the speed is slowed down."

A 32-year-old Australian woman caught an American man putting a cell phone under her skirt in the Armbrust tent. The 51-year-old then approached the man and looked through his cell phone. She found other videos in which women had been filmed up their skirts.

Sexual offense at the Devil's Wheel difficult to trace

The Australian woman informed the police, who arrested the man and seized his cell phone. In the end, he was charged with indecent assault by means of image recording.

Upskirting has been treated as a sexual offense in Germany since 2021, and offenders face a fine or prison sentence of up to two years.

But proving the criminal offense at the popular Oktoberfest attraction is not so easy, as the Munich police explained to the SZ. You have to be able to prove that not the whole situation was filmed, but explicitly only the private parts. This is not the case with the videos of the Devil's Wheel.

Even a corresponding sign in front of the ride seems to be of little use. The ban is difficult to control, says operator Elisabeth Polaczy SZ. If a man in the audience makes a particularly conspicuous film, her employees approach him and call the police if necessary.

Repeated sexual assaults

So far, only one person has been arrested for upskirting at this year's Oktoberfest, according to the Munich police report. According to the report, a man had deliberately photographed a 32-year-old woman up her skirt in a marquee.

In the past, sexual assaults have repeatedly occurred at the Oktoberfest. This was also the case on Monday evening: a 22-year-old woman was allegedly raped by a security guard, according to several newspapers.

According to the police, the young woman is said to have fallen down several times in a fairground. A 34-year-old steward rushed over and pretended to want to help her, grabbing the woman under her dirndl and performing sexual acts on her.

The woman is said to have then contacted her friend, with whom she had been partying at the Oktoberfest. Together they reported the incident to the Wiesn security. The police have since arrested the man.

Offers of help for women

The "Safe Wiesn for Girls* and Women*" association campaigns against sexual assault and supports women in distress. They announced that last year 310 girls and women visited the Safe Space of the campaign on the Wiesn grounds.

In 24 cases, girls and women received advice at the drop-in center in 2023 due to acute violence, the campaign also reported. The assaults ranged from unwanted touching, unwanted kissing and "upskirting" to serious sexual assault.

The demand for the service has increased "significantly" in recent years.