Swastikas on synagogues, inciting against
Jews during demonstrations, desecration of Jewish cemeteries: the number of
anti-Semitic crimes in Germany
had rose last year.
In 2013, 788 incidents were recorded.
During the past year the number had risen to 1076 – an increase of more than
third. Amadeu Antonio Foundation of “Heilbronner Stimme” published
this data on Thursday. The Foundation relies on figures provided by the Federal
Government that had not yet published.
The last time such a high number of
anti-Semitic incidents were recorded was in 2008. Jan Riebe, director of the Amadeu
Antonio Foundation project, points to a high number of events which are not
reported: “many crimes are not reported, because the police cannot find
the perpetrators.”
Federal Justice Minister Heiko Maas (SPD)
said that the number of incidents is “shocking”: “any attack
against the Jews is an attack on all of us. All antisemitic incidents are an attack
on our fundamental values. Whoever attacks the Jewish life
should not expect any tolerance and they should be punished to the fullest
extent of the law.”
