The majority of large German cities (100,000 or more) do not have special fireworks prohibition zones or a general ban on private fireworks at the turn of the year. That comes from a survey of the star a few days before New Year’s Eve.
According to this, only 22 of the 81 city councils state that they want to restrict the use of private pyrotechnics at the turn of the year, including the metropolises of Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne.
There and elsewhere, the town halls cite, for example, air pollution or noise pollution from the firecrackers, but also security issues.
Explosives law prohibits fireworks in many places
In addition to the specially established prohibition zones, restrictions apply in all municipalities nationwide according to the Explosives Act (and common sense). So firecrackers and rockets must not be fired near churches, hospitals, children’s and old people’s homes, or at “particularly fire-sensitive buildings or facilities”, for example buildings with thatched roofs, half-timbered houses or petrol stations.
In the run-up to the turn of the year, the municipalities announce that they want to strictly monitor the nationwide rules and the prohibition zones that have been set up and that they want to consistently pursue violations.
| Big city | Prohibition zones | additional Information |
| Aachen | on and within the trench ring | … |
| augsburg | Maximilianstrasse and adjacent street and squares | … |
| Bergisch Gladbach | No | – |
| Berlin | northern Alexanderplatz, party mile at the Brandenburg Gate, Pallassstrasse in Schöneberg | … |
| Bielefeld | No | – |
| Bochum | No | – |
| Bonn | No | – |
| Bottrop | No | – |
| Brunswick | Area west of the Bohlweg | … |
| Bremen | around the town hall | … |
| Bremerhaven | around the zoo by the sea | … |
| Chemnitz | No | – |
| cottbus | No | – |
| Darmstadt | No | – |
| Dortmund | around the central station, around the square of Leeds | … |
| Dresden | No | – |
| Duisburg | No | – |
| Dusseldorf | Old town | … |
| Erfurt | No | – |
| gain | No | – |
| eat | No | – |
| Frankfurt am Main | No | – |
| Freiburg in Breisgau | around the minster | … |
| Fürth | No | – |
| Gelsenkirchen | No | – |
| Göttingen | Downtown | … |
| Gutersloh | No | – |
| Hagen | No | – |
| Halle (Saale) | No | – |
| Hamburg | around the Inner Alster | … |
| Hamm | No | – |
| Hanover | Parts of the city center | … |
| Heidelberg | No | – |
| Heilbronn | No | – |
| Herne | No | – |
| Hildesheim | Kesslerstraße, Lappenberg, Brühl and Marktplatz | … |
| Ingolstadt | Old town | … |
| Jena | No | – |
| Karlsruhe | Palace Square | … |
| kassel | No | – |
| Keel | No | – |
| Koblenz | No | – |
| Cologne | Surroundings of the cathedral | … |
| Krefeld | No | – |
| Leipzig | No | – |
| Leverkusen | No | – |
| Lubeck | No | – |
| Ludwigshafen | No | – |
| Magdeburg | No | – |
| Mainz | No | – |
| Mannheim | No | – |
| Moers | No | – |
| Mönchengladbach | No | – |
| Mülheim an der Ruhr | No | – |
| Munich | Marienplatz, pedestrian zone up to and including Stachus, environmental zone within the middle ring around the Viktualienmarkt | … |
| Muenster | No | – |
| Neuss | No | – |
| Nuremberg | around the Nuremberg Castle, Hauptmarkt, around the Lorenzkirche | … |
| Oberhausen | No | – |
| Offenbach am Main | No | – |
| Oldenburg (Oldb) | No | – |
| Osnabruck | No | – |
| Paderborn | No | – |
| Pforzheim | No | – |
| Potsdam | No | – |
| Recklinghausen | No | – |
| regensburg | No | – |
| Remscheid | Lenneper old town and city center of Lüttringhausen | … |
| Reutlingen | No | – |
| Rostock | No | – |
| Saarbrucken | No | – |
| Salzgitter | No | – |
| Victories | No | – |
| Solingen | No | – |
| Stuttgart | around the Schlossplatz | … |
| trier | No | – |
| Ulm | No | – |
| Wiesbaden | Bowling Green Area | … |
| Wolfsburg | No | – |
| Wuppertal | No | – |
| Wurzburg | around Domstraße, Alte Mainbrücke | … |
Source: stern / own survey, as of December 27, 2019, all information is subject to change despite careful research.
How expensive is illegal firecrackers?
Anyone who fires without permission or with forbidden blasts can face a heavy fine or even imprisonment. The fines catalogs vary depending on the state and offense. Anyone who burns fireworks outside Lower Saxony only on New Year’s Eve, for example, must be fined up to 10,000 euros. Illegal firecrackers or a danger to body and soul face a multiple or even several years in prison. The situation is similar in many federal states. There is a detailed overview here.
Survey: Many citizens against Silversterknaller
The liberal attitude of most major cities in dealing with the New Year’s Eve bang is contrary to the opinion of a majority of Germans. In a representative survey by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland”, 57 percent of the respondents said they were in favor of a ban on fireworks on New Year’s Eve for environmental and safety reasons. 36 percent were against it.
The German Environmental Aid Association recently called for a general ban on fireworks in 98 cities in Germany, especially with a view to the high level of particulate matter.
Throughout Germany, the pyrotechnics industry made around 133 million euros in sales of firecrackers and missiles last year. It is assuming similar values this year too.
Sources: First ordinance on the Explosives Act, “Editorial Network Germany”, DPA News Agency, “Fines catalog 2020“
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