Antisemitic crime in Germany drops 12.75%; Berlin sees 20% reduction in antisemitic cases.

I can’t find the post right now but a couple of months ago someone posted another fake news article that claimed antisemitism was on the rise in Germany and that the numbers of antisemitic crime went up in 2022. Back then I said that this couldn’t true because the numbers weren’t available yet.

Yesterday, the Federal Criminal Police Office presented its annual report on politically motivated crime for 2022 and I thought, I post them here.

As it turns out the number of antisemitic offenses decreased from 3,027 in 2021 to 2,641 in 2022, a decrease of 12.75%.

The number may still seem high to some, but keep in mind that in Germany, antisemitic comments on the internet can be a criminal offense, as can denial or trivialization of the Holocaust. The vast majority of these cases are in fact internet comments or letters to Jewish organizations.

2,185 cases can be attributed to the “right-wing” (82.73%), 8 cases to the “left-wing” category, 67 cases to the “foreign ideology” category (turkish fascists for example), 38 cases to the “religious ideology” category, and 343 could not be assigned to any category.

Full Source in German

Relevant table

In addition, the Jewish organization “Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism” (Bundesverband der Recherche- und Informationsstellen Antisemitismus e.V. RIAS) published their numbers on antisemitic incidents in Berlin, which include not only criminal offenses but also antisemitic statements that do not constitute a criminal offense.

Here, a decrease of about 20% was recorded, from 1,052 cases to 848 cases.

Of these cases, 15% were classified as motivated by right-wing extremism, 13.3% as motivated by conspiracy ideologies, 8.73% as anti-Israeli activism, just under 5% were attributed to the political center, 1% were Islamist-motivated, 2.7% were left-wing/anti-imperialist, and 0.6% were Christian, 455 cases could not be assigned to a category.

Full Source in German

Relevant table 1

Relevant table 2

I don’t know if you are interested in this but I feel we are constantly bombarded with “everything gets always worse” and “nothing will ever change” posts in here and I don’t think that’s true or healthy.

It’s not the first year Germany sees pretty significant drops in antisemitic crime after it changed its approach to the topic in the late 90s, especially when you consider that public awareness and willingness to report antisemitic cases is rising and everybody expected rising numbers.

Activism against antisemitism is worthwhile and pretty successful, don’t let people tell you otherwise.