Berlin saw record 2,267 antisemitic crimes in 2025, report shows

Police in Berlin recorded a record 2,267 antisemitic crimes in 2025, a sharp increase from 1,825 cases in 2024 and 900 in 2023, according to German daily Tagesspiegel.

The data was released by the city’s Senate Department for the Interior in response to an inquiry by Social Democratic lawmaker Sebastian Schlüsselburg.

Antisemitic activity in Germany and around the world skyrocketed after Hamas launched its war against Israel on October 7, 2023. Berlin police logged just 381 antisemitic offenses in 2022, according to the report.

Antisemitic offenses categorized as motivated by foreign ideologies, related to the Middle East conflict, rose to 1,484, up from 24 in 2022. Crimes motivated by religious ideologies climbed to 348, compared to six in 2022.

Antisemitic crimes associated with right-wing extremism have remained relatively stable over the past five years, at around 300 cases annually, the report said. There were 327 in 2025.

The attacks range from hate speech and incitement to property damage, threats and physical assaults. Jewish institutions, including synagogues, schools and community centers, have faced heightened security concerns since the October 7 attacks. Authorities have increased police patrols around some sites and expanded monitoring of demonstrations where antisemitic slogans have been reported.

Most incidents occurred in the districts of Mitte, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Tempelhof-Schöneberg, Neukölln and Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, the report noted.

The surge comes despite Germany’s longstanding reputation as one of the more pro-Israel countries in Europe, rooted in its historical responsibility for the Holocaust. German leaders have repeatedly affirmed their commitment to combating antisemitism and safeguarding Jewish life as a core national obligation.

“The current figures on antisemitic crimes in Berlin are shameful,” Schlüsselburg told Tagesspiegel. “Especially here, in the city where the crime against humanity known as the Shoah was planned and ordered, we bear a special historical responsibility to protect Jewish life.”

The data for Berlin fits into the wider picture of rising antisemitism across Germany. The Research and Information Center on Antisemitism (RIAS), an independent watchdog, documented 8,627 antisemitic incidents in 2024, a 77% increase from the previous year.

“Since October 7, every sense of security in the Jewish community has vanished,” Hamburg’s antisemitism commissioner Stefan Hensel, the only Jewish official in such a role in any German state, told The Times of Israel in December. Hensel stepped down at the end of the year, saying a wave of hatred and a lack of political backing made his job untenable.

Berlin’s Jewish community is the largest in Germany, although estimates of the population’s size vary. About 10,000-12,000 people are registered as members of the Jewish community, but some estimate the total number of Jews in the city to be between 25,000 and 40,000.

The country as a whole has 90,000 to 95,000 Jews registered with a synagogue or community, but the total population is estimated at closer to 250,000. Disparities in the numbers are attributed to a large number of Israeli expats who have moved in recent years but choose not to pay the Kirchensteuer (church tax) to register with a religious community, as well as an influx of people from the former Soviet Union since 1990.

Jewish community leaders have repeatedly warned that rising hostility has left many Jews feeling unsafe in public spaces, including when wearing visible religious symbols. German officials have vowed to crack down on hate crimes and strengthen educational and prevention programs, saying Berlin must ensure that Jewish life can flourish openly in the capital.