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Antisemitism in contemporaryGermany has been on the rise,[1][2] committed especially by far-right and Islamist groups. Abuses may be of verbal or physical nature. According to theFederal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, antisemitism is no "elementary component of left-wing extremism",[3] however is still occurring. Since theHalle synagogue shooting in 2019 and theCOVID-19 pandemic,[4] Antisemitism has increasingly entered public discussion. TheOctober 7 attacks committed by Hamas and the resultingGaza war have caused increased tensions between Muslims and Jews in Germany and a spike in antisemitic hate crimes or assaults.[5] The election of the far-right[6][7]AfD into theBundestag in2017 has stirred controversy due to some of the party's leaders expressing their wish to "move on" from Germany'sCulture of Remembrance (Erinnerungskultur).[8][9][10]
In 1998,Ignatz Bubis, a leader of the German Jewish community, pointed to a "spreading intellectual nationalism" that made him fear a revival of German antisemitism.[11] Others point to Germany's growingMuslim population, both the Turkish "guest workers" who began to arrive in the 1950s, and the large wave of migrants from Muslim countries who arrived during theEuropean migrant crisis that began in 2015.[12][13] In 2002, the historian Julius Schoeps said that "resolutions by the German parliament to reject antisemitism are drivel of the worst kind" and "all those ineffective actions are presented to the world as a strong defense against the charge of antisemitism. The truth is: no one is really interested in these matters. No one really cares."[14]
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A 2012 poll showed that 18% of theTurks in Germany think of Jews as inferior human beings.[15][16] A similar study found that most of Germany's native born Muslim youth and children of immigrants have antisemitic views.[17]
In 2014, antisemitic activities in Germany prompted the German ChancellorAngela Merkel to lead a rally in Berlin against antisemitism in Germany.[18] In that same year, about 3,500 people rallied in front of the Frankfurt City Hall to protest against a wave of antisemitic incidents in Germany. A few hundred of the protesters were from the Kurdish-Israeli Friendship Association. According to theJTA, "Merkel expressed her support for the event in a letter."[19]
The number of crimes against Jews and Jewish institutions continued to increase in 2018.[20] In a 2018 survey conducted by the European Union, 85% of Jewish respondents in Germany said that antisemitism was a "very big" or "fairly big" issue, and 89% said that antisemitism had become a worse problem in the last five years.[1] In February 2019, crime data released by the government for 2018 and published inDer Tagesspiegel showed a yearly increase of 10%, with 1,646 crimes linked to a hatred of Jews in 2018, with the totals not finalised as yet. There was a 60% rise in physical attacks (62 violent incidents, vs 37 in 2017). Germany also reported a new record of cases linked to hatred of Jews in 2020, with 2,275 crimes with an antisemitic background until the end of January 2021.[21]
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A June 2024 survey found thatantisemitism in Germany was very high, citing an enormity of "extreme violence", with as much as an 83% spike inantisemitic incidents when compared to the preceding year. In 2023 alone, 5,164 antisemitic offenses were recorded by theFederal Police.[23][24] Furthermore, according to Germany's Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS) reporting and support network, since 7 October 2023, there has been an average of 32 antisemitic incidents per day in Germany, up from an average of seven in 2022.[25][26] According to a separate report by RIAS, 1,383 antisemitic incidents were recorded inBerlin alone during the first half of 2024. This amounts to an average of seven to eight incidents per day. It is the highest number of reported antisemitic incidents in Berlin in a single year since documentation began.[27]
In November 2024, Berlin's police chief, Barbara Slowik, warned Jewish andLGBT residents of the city to be more careful in Arab-majority neighborhoods of the city where locals often have sympathy for terrorist groups. In these neighborhoods, there has been an increase in antisemitic and racist incidents, which is why she advises, "who wear a kippah or are openly homosexual or lesbians to be more attentive".[28][29]
According to a report by theFederal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Germany recorded 1,047 antisemitic crimes, including two attempted murders, in the first three months of 2025.[30]
As perGerman police statistics, over 90 percent ofantisemiticincidents are committed by "followers of thefar‑right". However, government officials and Jewish community leaders doubt the figure, because cases with unknown perpetrators and some kinds of attacks get automatically classified as "far‑right".[31]
A 2017 study on Jewish perspectives on antisemitism in Germany byBielefeld University found that individuals and groups belonging to the extreme right andextreme left were equally identified as perpetrators of antisemitic harassment and assault by survey participants, while the largest part of the attacks were committed by Muslim assailants. The study also found that 70% of the participants feared a rise in antisemitismdue to immigration, citing the antisemitic views of some of the refugees.[32] A study among Jews, published by theEuropean Union in 2018, has also listed Muslims as the biggest perpetrators of antisemitic incidents in Germany. 41% of such attacks were committed byextremist Muslims, 20% by far-right and 16% byfar-left extremists.[33] In its 2017 summary, theFederal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) concluded that antisemitic rhetoric spread byIslamist organizations posed a significant challenge to the contemporary peaceful and tolerant society of Germany.[34]
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In January 2017, a German court inWuppertal upheld the 2015 decision of a lower court which deemed an attempt by three Muslim attackers to burn down asynagogue in 2014 on the anniversary of theKristallnacht "a means of drawing attention to the Gaza conflict with Israel".[35] The offenders were not sent to prison.[35] The German regional court ruled that the actions of the three perpetrators were "governed by anti-Israelism and not antisemitism". The attackers subsequently received suspended sentences.[35] Green Party MP Volker Beck protested the ruling, saying: "This is a decision as far as the motives of the perpetrators are concerned. What do Jews in Germany have to do with the Middle East conflict? Every bit as much as Christians, non-religious people or Muslims in Germany, namely, absolutely nothing. The ignorance of the judiciary toward antisemitism is for many Jews in Germany especially alarming."[35]
Dr. Moshe Kantor, president of theEuropean Jewish Congress, said:[35]
It is unbelievable that attempts to burn a synagogue have been equated with displeasure of Israeli government policies...This has now given acarte blanche toantisemites across Germany to attackJews because a German court has given them a ready justification.
In 2018, anArab Israeli who wore akippah wasassaulted. The incident was recorded and thevideo went viral.[36][37][38]
In 2018, theEcho Music Prize was awarded to rappers who featuredantisemitic clichés in their lyrics. As a result of protests from artists and the press, the award was discontinued.[39]
On 9 October 2019, a lone gunmanattacked a synagogue in Halle during theYom Kippur, while two doors of the synagogue were damaged when improvised explosives set off. The attacker shot dead a man and a woman near aTurkishkebab shop.[40]
In September 2021, German police averted a possible Islamic attack on a synagogue inHagen during Yom Kippur services, arresting four people including a 16-year-old Syrian youth.[41]
During an April 2023 pro-Palestine protest, observers recorded numerousantisemitic chants, including"Death to the Jews".[42][43] TheBerlin Police have confirmed they are investigating charges ofVolksverhetzung;[42] two pro-Palestine rallies planned for the following weekend were cancelled.[44]
On 18 October 2023, 11 days after theHamas-led October 7 massacres that killed over 1,200, a Berlin synagogue wasfirebombed withmolotovs following theGaza war by two masked men.[45][46][47] Since the escalation of theGaza war in October 2023, there has been a surge in antisemitic incidents on a scale unseen in years.[48]
On 2 February 2024, a pro-Palestinian college student in Berlin assaulted a Jewish classmate to the point of hospitalization following an altercation over the Israel-Hamas war. According to the German police, the Jewish student was punched repeatedly in the face until he fell to the ground after which was he was kicked while lying on the floor. The attackers subsequently fled the scene. The victim suffered facial fractures, while the attacker was located and arrested. The victim is reportedly a grandson ofAmitzur Shapira, an Israeli athletics coach murdered by theBlack September terrorists in the1972 Munich massacre.[49][50]
On 5 April 2024, an unknown individual threw an incendiary device at the door of a synagogue in the northern city ofOldenburg, causing a small blaze and minor damage. German police have offered a cash reward for information about the arson attack.[51]
According to aJewish Independent article on 21 May 2024, Jewish parents living in Berlin's suburbs started enrolling their kids at Jewish schools in Mitte, Berlin due to fears of risingantisemitism. The children of the parents concerned are enrolled at the schools closest to where they live, but they passed up the automatic registration for their children's local high school in favour of sending them to a school far from their place of residence for the alleged reason that it was protected by an Israeli guard, German policemen and an enclosed wall, while there are usually no guards at Berlin schools.[52]
In late June 2024, anIsraeli couple in their early 20s was assaulted in Berlin'sPotsdamer Platz after being heard speakingHebrew by an Arabic speaking assailant. The assailant shouted abuses at them, threw a bottle and a chair at the woman, followed by punches on the man who rose in her defense. The assailant fled the scene afterwards.[53]
On 5 September 2024, the 52nd anniversary of the1972 Munich massacre, a suspected terroristopened fire at the Israeli consulate and adjacentNazi Documentation Centre inMunich before being shot dead by police.[54]
In August 2024, German Senator Joseph Chialo was attacked by pro-Palestinian protesters following his initiative to stop funding organizations working to present antisemitic content in the country.[55] Following this attack, Dr. Felix Klein, Germany's Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against Antisemitism, expressed concern about the "tsunami" of hostility toward Jews since October 7, the worst it has been since 1945.[56]
On 7 October 2024, 10 memorial stones engraved with details of certain Holocaust victims, were torn from their spots. The day was also the first anniversary of theHamas-led October 7 massacre. Authorities suspected the vandalism to have been carried out by immigrants from Muslim-majority countries.[57]
In September 2025, a shop owner inFlensburg posted an antisemitic sign on his door reading“Jews are forbidden entry here,Nothing personal,not even antisemitism - I just can’t stand you”. The incident drew comparisons toNazi Germany’santisemitic laws. The owner claimed he opposed thewar in Gaza and therefore barred entry to all Jews. After public criticism the sign was removed, though local media reported it was later displayed inside the store.[58][59]
In October 2024, Felix Klein, Germany's Commissioner for Jewish Life and the Fight against Antisemitism, said that "open and aggressive antisemitism", which is a "poison for social cohesion", was "stronger than at any time since 1945".[60] Also in October 2024,Thomas Strobl, Interior Minister ofBaden-Württemberg, reassured the Jewish community that they will be protected amid rising antisemitism.[61]
In September 2025, in a speech delivered at the reopening of theSynagogue on Reichenbachstraße in Munich, ChancellorFriedrich Merz was moved to tears as he emphasized that antisemitism had never disappeared from Germany and that, after the Holocaust, the Nazi period was suppressed rather than confronted with due acknowledgment of guilt. He pledged to combat all forms of antisemitism and, with reference to migration, declared: "SinceOctober 7, it has become undeniable: in politics and society we have closed our eyes for far too long to the fact that among those who have come to Germany in recent decades, a part were socialized in countries where antisemitism is virtually a state doctrine and where hatred of Israel is taught to children already in school. Since then, we have been experiencing a new wave of antisemitism - both in its old and innew forms. That is why I promise: this Federal Government and I declare war on every form of antisemitism in Germany".[62][63]
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