Antisemitism in Germany ‘worse than any time since the Holocaust,’ annual figures show

The number of attacks fell 13% in Berlin in 2025, but a ‘societal climate’ of attacks on Jews pervades in the country, government report finds

Germany continues to face persistently high levels of antisemitism, with 2,197 anti-Jewish incidents recorded in Berlin in 2025, according to a report published Wednesday by Germany’s Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism, known as RIAS.

The figure was down about 13 percent from 2,521 incidents the previous year, but remained more than double pre-October 7, 2023, levels.

In the state of Hesse, RIAS noted a record 1,099 antisemitic incidents in 2025, an 18% increase from the previous year and nearly six times higher than before Hamas launched its war against Israel in late 2023.

“The threat to Jewish life is worse than at any time since the Holocaust,” Hesse antisemitism commissioner Uwe Becker said in a statement following the report.

RIAS highlighted 40 violent incidents in Berlin during the year, including a stabbing attack in February at the Holocaust Memorial in which a young man was wounded in the neck.

That attacker, who carried a written oath of allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist group and shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the assault, was later convicted of attempted murder and attempted membership in a foreign terrorist organization, and sentenced to 13 years in prison, the report noted. The man narrowly survived the life-threatening injury after fighting back, fleeing to the edge of the monument, and undergoing emergency surgery.

Other cases involved assaults, victims being punched in the face, spat on, sprayed with chemical irritants, or having religious garments and jewelry violently torn from their bodies.

The report describes an increasingly hostile environment in which Jews and Israelis face harassment, intimidation and violence in public spaces.

RIAS Berlin recorded antisemitic occurrences at 239 public assemblies and rallies in 2025, the highest number ever recorded. The protests frequently featured antisemitic chants, banners equating Zionism or Israel with Nazism, and anti-Jewish slurs woven into public speeches.

Activism categorized as “anti-Israel” accounted for the largest identifiable share of politically motivated incidents, driving 303 cases overall and 179 of the antisemitic rallies. The far-right/right-wing populist spectrum was linked to 123 incidents, primarily taking the form of swastika graffiti and illegal propaganda stickers plastered across outward-lying residential districts.

“These are not isolated events,” the report said. “They point to a societal climate in which antisemitic statements and actions are possible—and too often go unchallenged.”

During the year, several Jewish residents had their apartment doors defaced with threatening language or marked with far-right symbols, the report said. In public spaces, everyday activities like riding the subway, ordering a coffee, or taking a taxi frequently devolved into unexpected confrontations if a person spoke Hebrew or wore a Star of David.

The report warned that antisemitism has become increasingly normalized across German society, making life for the Jewish community increasingly perilous.

“Negotiating the relationship between visibility and safety was already an everyday challenge for many Jews before October 7, 2023,” the report said. “Since then, this burden has been further exacerbated by a more uninhibited and openly articulated antisemitism.”