Archive · 3 Oct 2026
Oktoberfest Ride Offers Women Shorts Amid Upskirting Videos
The Teufelsrad is a fast-spinning ride at Munich’s Oktoberfest.
When it spins, people’s skirts can fly up.
Some spectators have used phones to film under women’s clothes.
Those videos have been shared online, and reports say there are more than 32,000 of them.
The ride’s operator, Elisabeth Polaczy, gives shorts to women and girls wearing dresses.
She says she wants them to feel safer.
Filming under someone’s skirt is against the law in Germany.
Police have also put up campaign posters warning visitors about the crime.
Some advocates say the law may not cover every situation, and they want websites that share intimate images to face penalties too.
Women riding the Teufelsrad at Munich’s Oktoberfest are being offered free cycling shorts to help protect them from voyeuristic filming.
The fast-spinning ride can make skirts fly up, while spectators may record what happens beneath them.
Ride operator Elisabeth Polaczy said she provided more than 100 pairs of shorts this Oktoberfest to help visitors feel secure.
More than 32,000 videos featuring women on the ride have reportedly circulated online; some images have also been digitally altered.
Upskirting is illegal in Germany; Bavarian police have run an Oktoberfest awareness campaign since 2025, and authorities made arrests in 2024, 2025 and 2026.
- Who
- Women and girls riding the Teufelsrad, its operator Elisabeth Polaczy, and people filming or sharing intimate images.
- What
- Free cycling shorts are being offered to help protect riders from upskirting and voyeuristic online videos.
- When
- At Oktoberfest; Bavarian police have run an anti-upskirting campaign there since 2025.
- Where
- The Teufelsrad at Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany.
- Why
- The ride’s speed can make skirts fly up, and spectators have filmed beneath them and circulated videos online.
Calls for stronger protections
Limits of current legal coverage
How to address intimate images online
Calls for stronger protections
Hate Aid head Josephine Ballon argues that people who post intimate images of women online, as well as platforms that host them, should face penalties.
Limits of current legal coverage
The article reports that current German law applies when someone deliberately films beneath a skirt, but may not cover every situation, such as images captured after a skirt is blown or lifted.
Protecting riders at the attraction
Calls for stronger protections
Operator Elisabeth Polaczy provides free cycling shorts to help women and girls feel secure and reduce the risk of being filmed.
Limits of current legal coverage
The articles do not report a specific opposing view on the shorts; the reported concern is that the practice does not by itself resolve the circulation of videos online.
- Ride
- Teufelsrad, also called the Devil’s Wheel
- Location
- Munich Oktoberfest, Germany
- Shorts distributed
- More than 100 pairs this Oktoberfest, according to operator Elisabeth Polaczy
- Videos reported
- More than 32,000 videos featuring women on the ride reportedly circulated online
- German penalty
- Upskirting can carry a prison sentence of up to two years
- Reported arrests
- Ten in 2025 and seven in 2024; in 2026, police arrested a 45-year-old Swiss man accused of filming beneath a woman’s dirndl
- Police campaign
- Bavarian police have run an anti-upskirting campaign at Oktoberfest since 2025