No Jail Time for German Tourist Who Punched Celebrity Masseuse
A German tourist in New York City pleaded guilty last week to assaulting a non-Jewish woman wearing a Star of David, whom he called a “Jewish pig.”
Dorothy “Dr. Dot” Stein — a celebrity masseuse who has worked the shoulders and backs of Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney and Sheryl Crow, among others — has worn the Star of David pendant necklace regularly in recent years as a show of solidarity with Jewish people. Last December 14, Stefan Waxmann of Frankfurt, Germany, punched her in the face after harassing her inside a karaoke bar on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
According to Stein’s deposition, inside the bar, Waxmann repeatedly flicked Stein’s nose, saying, “Look at your Jewish pig nose,” and made other antisemitic comments, touched her and grabbed her pendant. After warning him several times not to touch her again, according to the deposition, Stein slapped Waxmann and ran out of the bar. Several witnesses saw Waxmann follow Stein out of the bar soon after, when he punched her on the right side of her face. Waxmann then fled the scene with a pair of friends, though the trio was chased down by bystanders.
Waxmann was originally charged with five counts relating to the assault, including one hate-crimes charge, but he was allowed to plead guilty to assault in the third degree, requiring no sentence of jail time. While Waxmann is restricted from contacting or approaching Stein in the future, he is expected to be allowed to travel freely to and within the United States.
Coincidentally, Stein is something of a celebrity in Germany, where she lived for a number years before recently moving back to the United States. In an interview with the Forward, she expressed her displeasure at the sentence handed down to her attacker, and argued that it would have repercussions in his home country.
“You know what that’s showing Germany? That this s—t is still tolerated here, that it’s still tolerated in general,” she said.
Waxmann, who could not be reached for comment, was expected to have returned to Germany last weekend.
Stein added that she has received a large quantity of antisemitic e-mail, especially after an unflattering account of the incident appeared in the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung, which implied that she was milking the story in order to increase her celebrity in the United States. Stein said that the Berliner Zeitung article is consistent with a widely-perceived growth in racism in eastern German areas.
To Stein’s knowledge, no American media outlet has written about her case, though the Associated Press recently ran a profile of her and her work. In it, Stein discussed her career as a masseuse to rock stars — which began as a way of gaining free admission to concerts and led to a full-time career that has provided her a level of fame — as well as her upcoming book on male sexuality, expected to be published this year.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
