many experts. The West German government printed 2 million postage stamps depicting the frescoes. Among Malskat's additions were wild turkeys, unknown in Europe during the Middle Ages. Some experts considered this evidence for the early discovery of America by the Vikings. Malskat later exposed the deception himself. The incident plays a prominent role in G�nter Grass's novel The Rat.
On the night of January, 18th 1996 a fire broke out in a home for foreign refugees, killing 10 people and severely injuring more than 30 others, mostly children. While most of the shelter's inhabitants considered a racist motivation for the attack obvious, the police and the local court have been accused of having ruled out racism as a possible motive before even beginning preliminary investigations. The incident has not been elucidated to this day.
As of 2010, the city had a population of 210,232. Hence L�beck has seen a slight decrease in population since 2006. The largest ethnic minority groups are Turks, Southern Europeans (mostly Greeks and Italians), Eastern Europeans (e.g. Poles, Russians), Arabs and several other smaller groups. As in other German cities, there is also an increasing and vibrant Afro-German community. Population structure
