The German government’s annual report on developments in extremism notes a nearly 29% increase in antisemitic crimes in 2021 over the previous year.
The report, released Tuesday by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, is based on statistics reported in May by the Federal Criminal Police Office, Germany’s equivalent to the FBI.
In all, 3,027 antisemitic incidents were registered last year, up from 2,351 in 2020. The vast majority were related to right-wing extremism, but Islamic extremist antisemitism is also up, with 122 reported incidents compared to 26 the year before.
Most reported crimes relate to illegal statements and publications, Holocaust denial and other forms of hate speech are outlawed in Germany, including on the internet. But attacks on people and synagogues were also registered.
As usual, the number of incidents rose when tensions between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors were highest, in May 2021.
The most worrying trends come in the form of burgeoning conspiracy theories relating Jews to the coronavirus pandemic and measures to curb it, leaders and watchdogs said.
