How German Media Portrays Arab Clans and Their Public Image

In recent years — particularly after 2014 — the term “Arab clans” (Arabische Clans) has become a common feature in German media coverage and police reports. It is often used to describe large extended families with Arab, Turkish, Kurdish, or other migrant roots.

Over time, though, the phrase has drifted from its original social meaning. In many news stories, it has taken on a security-focused tone, associated with organized crime and societal threat — almost as if it has become shorthand for chaos and lawlessness.

That raises a key question: Does the image presented by German media reflect an objective, data-driven reality, or is it a misleading narrative that reinforces negative stereotypes about Arabs and migrants?

Who Are the Arab Clans in Germany?

Most of these families are Arab-Turkish groups that originally lived in southern Turkey before migrating to Germany in the 1970s and 1980s. Many settled in major cities such as Berlin, Bremen, Duisburg, and Essen, where they established extensive, multi-generational family networks.

German media attention on these families grew following a series of high-profile incidents that captured public interest. Among the most notable were the 2017 theft of the giant gold coin Big Maple Leaf from Berlin’s Bode Museum and the 2019 robbery of jewelry from Dresden’s Green Vault, valued at roughly 113 million euros. Certain families, including the Remmo and Al-Zein clans, were linked to these cases, fueling the “criminal clans” narrative promoted by popular outlets such as Bild and Spiegel.

Over time, coverage of so-called “criminal clans” expanded beyond individual legal offenses, increasingly generalizing to a wider segment of migrants with similar backgrounds. The term “clans” began to appear loosely in news reports and official statements, often without distinguishing between those who had committed crimes and the majority who live ordinary, law-abiding lives.

This pattern is evident in many articles and reports that exaggerate incidents involving migrants, presenting them as if all migrants belonged to large, organized family networks or shared inherited criminal behavior. Such coverage overlooks the reality that most community members have no connection to these stereotypes.

Researchers in media and migration studies warn that this discourse reinforces long-standing stereotypes and Orientalist tropes about Arabs and the Middle East. It also fuels fear and suspicion among segments of the German public, despite the absence of scientific evidence showing that these “clans” pose any exceptional threat to public safety.

Arab Clans: From Social Description to Security-Focused Narrative

German media, through extensive coverage of the so-called “Arab clans” and their repeated association with organized crime, have contributed to a persistent stereotype of migrants in Germany. Instead of distinguishing between individuals involved in criminal activity and the majority who are law-abiding and integrated into society, reporting often relies on broad generalizations, turning ethnic or linguistic background into a social marker of suspicion.

Recent documentaries on the public broadcaster ZDF, such as those on ZDFinfo, portray “Arab clans” as a threat to public safety and social cohesion. Their world is depicted as “mysterious networks that are difficult to penetrate,” often with exaggerated figures and little attention to social context. Terms like “rising crime rates” and “forbidden zones” appear repeatedly in articles and TV programs, amplifying public fear.

Spiegel TV follows a similar approach, presenting “Arab clans” in a highly dramatized manner. Sensational headlines such as “Family Gang on the Run” or “Criminal Lineage” emphasize ancestry and family connections over actual criminal acts, framing entire communities as inherently dangerous. These programs focus on the suspects’ nationality and cultural background, not just to report facts, but to create the impression of “foreign crime” as an exceptional and threatening phenomenon in the public imagination.

German Media Emphasis on Suspects’ Nationality

A recent report by Die Zeit revealed that German media often exaggerates the focus on suspects’ nationality, especially when they are foreign, compared with their actual representation in crime statistics. The study found that a suspect’s background is mentioned in about one-quarter of television reports on violent crimes, with 94.6 percent of those references involving individuals of non-German origin. In print newspapers, the suspect’s origin is noted in roughly one-third of reports, with foreign suspects accounting for 90.8 percent of those cases, even though official police data show they make up only 34.3 percent of offenders.

The disparity highlights a clear bias in media coverage, portraying migrants and foreigners as the primary source of crime and making nationality the central focus of reporting, often at the expense of the actual facts of the incident.

How Media Sensationalism Fuels Public Suspicion of Migrants

Most Germans rely on traditional media, such as daily newspapers and national television, as their primary sources of trustworthy news, rather than the internet or social media. As a result, public opinion is heavily shaped by media narratives and government policies, particularly on highly sensitive issues like migration, crime, and public safety.

This media framing has left a deep imprint on both the perceptions of Germans toward migrants and the everyday experiences of migrants themselves. Suspicion and distrust often accompany anyone with an Arabic name or migrant background, whether at school, in the workplace, or while searching for housing.

Recent studies show that these stereotypes have led some young people and women to conceal their cultural identities or change their names to avoid social discrimination. Arab women, in particular, face compounded exclusion, as Arabic names are frequently associated with religion, creating an invisible barrier to employment and social integration.

The impact of this coverage is also visible in public opinion trends. A survey published by the German magazine Bild found that roughly 71 percent of Germans consider migration from predominantly Muslim countries a security risk. This underscores how media coverage can shape public perceptions, reinforcing the idea of Arabs as a homogeneous group with religious and cultural traits “difficult to integrate” into German society.

Such reporting does more than distort reality. It perpetuates cycles of fear, discrimination, and marginalization, weakening opportunities for meaningful dialogue and mutual understanding between migrants and the host society.

Stereotypes and Reality: Integration in Germany

Despite continuous media and political focus on so-called “migrant crimes,” official statistics in Germany paint a very different picture. Data from the Federal Criminal Police Office show that offenses linked to so-called “clans” account for just 1 percent of all registered crimes. Research confirms that the vast majority of individuals from migrant-background families have no involvement in organized crime. This gap between reality and media narratives illustrates how the term “clans” has shifted from a social descriptor to a symbol of danger, fueling fear and discrimination rather than reflecting objective facts.

At the same time, lack of access to education and employment, along with legal and social exclusion, fosters isolation and can create conditions for deviant behavior among small marginalized groups. Sociologists emphasize that the issue is not “migrant culture” itself, but structural barriers such as discrimination in the labor market, difficulty securing housing, and long delays in asylum processes.

Supporting this, a 2019 study by the ifo Institute for Economic Research, Do Immigrants Affect Crime? Evidence from Panel Data for Germany, found no statistically significant link between higher migrant populations and increased crime rates in Germany from 2003 to 2016. A 2025 follow-up analysis by the same institute confirms that rising numbers of foreign residents do not drive higher crime rates; economic and social integration, not cultural or ethnic background, is the key factor.

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