Antisemitic incidents in Germany hold at 8,725 in 2025, with far-right cases hitting a record high

The numbers

Germany's Federal Association of Research and Information Centres on Antisemitism (RIAS) recorded 8,725 antisemitic incidents in 2025, nine more than the previous year and equivalent to nearly 24 incidents per day. The figure sits just below the 2024 record of 8,627, which itself represented a 77 percent jump from 2023. For context, the 2023 total was 4,886 and the 2022 figure stood at 2,610, meaning the count has roughly tripled since before the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.

Far-right surge

The report flags 807 incidents with a far-right background, the highest number since RIAS began nationwide data collection in 2020. These cases involve conspiracy myths, glorification of the Nazi era, and wishes for a repeat of the Shoah. One far-right group in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania shouted "Jews to the wall" on a bus, mocked the Holocaust, and threatened refugees and other passengers who intervened. RIAS notes that far-right antisemitism has appeared more frequently and with greater violence recently.

Everyday hostility

With 7,770 cases classified as "hurtful behaviour", including insults, graffiti, and verbal abuse, the most common category dwarfs physical attacks (178), threats (257), and property damage (413). Four incidents of extreme violence were recorded, among them a terrorist attack at Berlin's Holocaust Memorial in February 2025 in which a 19-year-old Syrian, acting in the name of Islamic State, stabbed a Spanish tourist from behind, leaving him with life-threatening injuries. The perpetrator was sentenced to 13 years in prison, though the verdict is not yet final pending appeal.

Incidents frequently occur in ordinary settings. The largest share took place on public streets (3,506), followed by the internet (2,314). But universities, buses and trains, memorial sites, synagogues, supermarkets, and workplaces also feature. In one case from Hesse, a rabbi was shoved in a supermarket in front of his children and his phone snatched, while the attackers held him responsible for Israeli government actions. In Kehl, four community members were insulted and spat on outside a Jewish prayer room.

Online and Israel-related dimensions

Over a quarter of all incidents (27 percent) occurred online. RIAS says the digital space conveys an impression that antisemitism is articulated more uninhibitedly there, especially regarding threats and the use of coded symbols and emojis. One Jewish woman received a Facebook image of a Zyklon B canister with the caption "Still in stock", a reference to the gas used in Nazi concentration camps. The report warns that online threats can drive victims to withdraw from social media and reduce their public visibility offline.

Roughly two-thirds of all incidents were classified as Israel-related antisemitism. The report states that the war in the Middle East has served many as a pretext for antisemitic expression or attacks on Jews. Zionism frequently appears as a target; one incident involved a rabbi being blamed for the actions of the Israeli state.

Institutional reactions

Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, called the figures "no statistical outliers" but "the depressing reality in Germany," adding that the country is experiencing "an entrenchment of antisemitism at record levels." Federal government antisemitism commissioner Felix Klein warned that antisemitism is "apparently advancing unchecked in Germany."

These are no statistical outliers, it is the depressing reality in Germany.

Kirsten Fehrs, chair of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), told Tagesspiegel that antisemitism is "still and unfortunately increasingly bitter reality" for Jews in the country and that the figures show "in shocking fashion" the fear and threats under which Jewish people live. She emphasised the church's commitment to a free, visible, and safe Jewish life in Germany, calling every form of antisemitism "an attack on democracy."

Every form of antisemitism, every threat, every relativisation of Jewish security is also an attack on democracy.

RIAS itself has faced criticism. The Berlin-based Diaspora Alliance has accused the state-funded organisation of overemphasising Israel-related antisemitism and underestimating far-right activity, charges RIAS rejects. Project lead Julia Kopp noted that antisemitism does not begin only at the threshold of criminal liability, and that police and RIAS figures in Berlin are now converging.

Methodology note

RIAS, founded in Berlin in 2018, operates regional reporting offices in 11 of Germany's 16 federal states. Its data is not representative in a statistical sense; the organisation functions as a complaint collection point and categorises the results. Not every incident meets the threshold of a criminal offence, which has drawn periodic criticism of the counting methodology.