While the Federal Criminal Police Office reported 1,555 anti-Semitic offenses this year, none led to arrest
Germans protest anti-Semitism in Leipzig © Getty Images / Dirk Knofe
German police reported an average of five anti-Semitic incidents per day in 2022, statistics released by the Federal Criminal Police Office and published by Die Welt earlier this week reveal. The agency claims to have documented 1,555 such incidents this year alone.
While a total of 936 suspects were identified in relation to the offenses, not a single arrest warrant was issued, according to the police. The category of “anti-Semitic offenses” is a broad one, including incitement to hatred, insult, damage to property, and the use of symbols of banned organizations – usually swastikas and other Nazi regalia – as well as violent crimes motivated by bigotry.
However, just 55 of the offenses recorded this year were categorized as violent. Eleven of those took place during the third quarter of this year, and ten of those were classed as “politically-motivated right-wing crime.” The agency acknowledged that the figures were not yet final, and could be “subject to significant changes” if late reports came in.
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Bundestag Vice President Petra Pau was critical of the police for the perceived delay in recording anti-Semitic offenses. “In view of the general increase in anti-Semitism, I would like to see an accurate record produced more quickly,” she told Die Welt, explaining, “Only then can politicians and authorities recognize threatening developments in a timely manner.”
As high as it sounds, this year’s figure of 1,555 anti-Semitic incidents in Germany actually represents a decrease from last year’s high of 3,027 recorded incidents. That number, which included 64 violent crimes, represented a 29% increase over the previous year’s total of 2,351 incidents.
A survey conducted earlier this year on behalf of the American Jewish Committee’s Berlin office revealed that 60% of respondents believe anti-Semitism in Germany is widespread, and nearly two thirds think it has increased in the last decade.
