"Customs" on Borkum

Women on Borkum beaten with cow horns

A so-called Klaasohm on Borkum

(Bild: glomex)

On the German North Sea island of Borkum, women are beaten with cow horns on December 5. The beating is considered a custom for the "Klaasohm" festival. The intention was to keep the controversial event low profile, but recent reports have thrown a spanner in the works.

"Klaasohm" is derived from the words Ohm (uncle) and Klaas (Klaus). The hustle and bustle that takes place on Borkum every year on December 5 - like Krampus Day in Austria - is reminiscent of the Perchten in this country. Young men dress up as mythical creatures with masks and furs. They carry cow horns with them and hunt women with them. If one is caught, they are beaten.

Not all of the island's inhabitants find this "funny". In reports by ARD and Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), women have spoken out about hematomas and severe pain. The custom is "oppressive, shameful, depressing". A man who himself was beaten as a klaasohm around ten years ago also speaks out. He "hit as hard as I could". It was "like a rush" and he was "the greatest that evening".

A Klaasohm on Borkum

(Bild: glomex)

Klaasohm: "The girls were limping"
The next day, "you were proud when you saw the girls and they were limping." According to reports, the controversial tradition dates back to the time of whaling. When the men returned home after months at sea, they are said to have shown their wives who was in charge of the house again.

To this day, the association only accepts men and has requested that no videos of the event be shared on social media. "In order for Klaasohm to remain the highest holiday and identity-forming festival for the people of Borkum, the level of awareness must be kept low," the Borkum association stated back in 1830. This time, the latest German media reports mean that this is no longer possible.

Here you can see a post by journalist Jan-Henrik Wiebe on Klaasohm.

Demonstration for preservation
These triggered both indignation and adherence to Klaasohm. On Sunday on Borkum, for example, around 200 women demonstrated for the preservation of the custom. Some women were advised to simply stay at home on December 5 if they did not want to take any risks.

The non-party mayor Jürgen Akkermann also does not understand the uproar. Only "individual people" are guilty of misconduct, but the island as a whole does not tolerate violence. Women, men and children should celebrate together on the streets as well as in pubs and houses.

On no day of the year should women stay at home for fear of being beaten up and not dare to go out on the streets.

Christine Arbogast, Staatssekretärin im Sozialministerium

Association apologized
Lower Saxony's State Secretary in the Ministry of Social Affairs, Christine Arbogast, said: "On no day of the year should it be the case that women stay at home for fear of being beaten up and don't dare go out on the street." There was also a lot of criticism online. "Here it becomes clear why we still need a clear stance against sexism. Why feminism is important," wrote one user on the platform X, for example. The "Inselsturm collective" has called for people to travel to Borkum today, Thursday, to protest against "patriarchal violence and for a society based on solidarity".

The Borkumer Jungens association apologized a few days ago and declared that it would distance itself from "any form of violence against women". "We as a community have clearly decided to leave this aspect of the tradition behind us and continue to focus on what the festival is really about: the cohesion of the islanders," it said.

Here you can see a statement from the association and a plan from the island.

The Borkum police have announced that they will be on duty at Klaasohm with a large number of officers. According to a spokesperson, bodily harm is only time-barred after 20 to 30 years. The police on the North Sea island are also currently being criticized. How could public violence against women not be noticed for years? Only 5,000 people live on the island in Lower Saxony.