Control group reports 2,480 anti-Semitic incidents in Germany in 2022

No fewer than 2,480 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded in Germany last year – just under seven incidents per day on average, a group tracking such incidents in the country revealed on Tuesday.

In its annual report, the Department for Research and Information on Anti-Semitism, or RIAS, said that while it recorded a slight decrease in anti-Semitic incidents in 2022, compared to the previous year, there were nine incidents of extreme violence — the highest number of such cases since record-keeping began nationwide. national in 2017.

Those very violent crimes include the shooting at the house of a former rabbi next to an old synagogue in the western city of Essen last November.

Often, though, “it’s everyday situations in which Jews encounter anti-Semitism,” Benjamin Steinitz, president of the RIAS, told reporters in Berlin.

These accidents can happen anywhere from work to home, to public transportation, at the supermarket, or at a concert. Such “everyday” anti-Semitic incidents have diverse political backgrounds and often include downplaying the Holocaust, in which the German Nazis and their followers murdered six million European Jews.

Many anti-Semitic hate crimes also include common tropes associated with Jews or conspiracy theories such as the coronavirus pandemic with its anti-Jewish narratives and anti-Semitic criticism of Israel.

Every fifth anti-Semitic incident has a conspiracy background, as documented by RIAS. An extreme right-wing background was involved in 13% of all incidents, while 53% of incidents could not be clearly linked to a specific political background.

The German government’s commissioner for combating anti-Semitism, Felix Klein, specifically pointed to anti-Semitic incidents in the German cultural sector, with the head of Germany’s major art gallery, Document Fifteen, resigning last year after an exhibition featuring anti-Semitic elements. It caused a stir in the country.

“Documenta Fifteen was right, the talk of the town,” Klein said. “But many anti-Semitic incidents also occur below the threshold of public concern in the cultural sector – as in other parts of social life, they are part of the daily life of Jews.”

Jews who experience anti-Semitism in Germany can access RIAS, which will not only document the events, but also help those concerned with further contact criminal police focused on combating anti-Semitism and groups that help victims of anti-Jewish hatred.