Germany records tally of 2,700 anti-Semitic incidents in one year

2022-06-28

Germany records ‘frightening’ tally of 2,700 anti-Semitic incidents in one year including 63 attacks and six cases of extreme violence

In Germany last year there were more than 2,700 antisemitic incidents
Which means on average there were over seven occurrences recorded per day
The data recorded 63 antisemitic attacks and six cases of extreme violence

A group tracking antisemitism in Germany said it documented more than 2,700 incidents in the country last year, including 63 attacks and six cases of extreme violence.

Throughout 2021 there were more than seven per day recorded, with Right-wing extremists being the most common group to commit the offences

Anti-Jewish conspiracy narratives arising from the pandemic and the Middle East conflict with antisemitic criticism of Israel were the main drivers of the 2,738 incidents, according to the Department for Research and Information on Anti-Semitism (RIAS).

The incidents include both criminal and non-criminal incidents, the group said.

New data has shown there were over 2,700 antisemitic incidents recorded in Germany last year, averaging out at more than seven incidents per day (Pictured: A group of people attend a pro Israel demonstration in Germany this month)

The German government’s antisemitism representative, Felix Klein (pictured in 2018), said the data was frightening

The German government’s commissioner to combat antisemitism, Felix Klein, called the number of incidents ‘frightening’, but also said that ‘at the same time, each of the reported incidents is also a step toward reducing the dark figures.’

Right-wing extremists were responsible for 17 per cent of the incidents, but more than half of all the antisemitic incidents could not be assigned to a specific political view, the report said.

Among cases of ‘extreme violence,’ RIAS included an attack on a Jewish participant in a vigil for Israel in Hamburg and a shooting at a Jewish community centre in Berlin.

Altogether, 964 people – both Jews and non-Jews – were directly affected by antisemitic incidents, Benjamin Steinitz, the head of RIAS, told reporters in Berlin.

Marina Chernivsky of the Ofek counseling center for victims of antisemitic violence and discrimination called the high number of cases a ‘background noise’ in the everyday lives of Jews in Germany.

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