BERLIN (AP) — Traditional Christmas markets open across Germany on Monday, drawing revelers to wooden stalls selling mulled wine, grilled sausages, hash browns or caramelized apples.
Security has been tightened and memories of two deadly attacks on Christmas markets are still fresh for many Germans.
In Berlin, the famous market at the city's Gedächtniskirche church opened with a service on Monday morning. Other openings included Christmas markets at the Rothes Rathaus, Gendarmenmarkt and Charlottenburg Palace.
Vendors sell not only snacks and drinks, but also handmade candles, wool hats, gloves and glittery Christmas stars of all colors and shapes. Children enjoy riding the carousels, Ferris wheels and ice skating rinks.
Christmas markets are an annual tradition that Germans have cherished since the Middle Ages and have successfully exported to much of the Western world.
Safety is an issue in all markets in the county.
Last year, five women and a boy were killed and many others were injured in a car ramming incident at a Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg on December 20 that lasted just over a minute. The attacker is currently on trial in Magdeburg.
On December 19, 2016, an attacker drove a truck through a crowd of Christmas market visitors at the Gedächtniskirche church in Berlin, killing 13 people and injuring dozens more in the German capital. The Muslim militant was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.
In the western city of Cologne, the Christmas market in front of the city's famous double-domed cathedral was filled with a large crowd on Saturday.
“We feel there is a very good atmosphere here, so we think that in these difficult times that we are currently experiencing, we can give visitors here a little respite,” said Birgit Groothues, a spokeswoman for the market. “We see a lot of smiling faces under our lighted tent.”
However, she said that after last year's attack in Magdeburg, the city, in close cooperation with the police, had developed a special security concept for its markets. This includes an additional anti-terrorism barrier and private security, she said.
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Associated Press writer Daniel Niemann in Cologne, Germany, contributed to this report.
