Politically Motivated Crime in Germany Reaches New Record High

Left-Wing Extremism the Strongest Driver of Violent Offenses

According to Dobrindt, the left-wing extremist scene was responsible for the largest increase in violent offenses. He emphasized the "wachsende Bedrohung" by the "linksextreme Szene". At the same time, the Interior Minister pointed out that the greatest danger continues to come from right-wing extremism: "The majority of crimes were committed by right-wing and far-right perpetrators" – the majority of offenses were attributable to right-wing and far-right perpetrators. Dobrindt said verbatim that this shows "once again that the greatest danger currently stems from far-right extremism".

Around half of all politically motivated crimes, namely 42,544 cases, were attributed to the right-wing spectrum. The total number of politically motivated violent offenses rose by 1.2 percent to 4,156 cases, reaching the highest level since 2016.

Misogynistic and Antisemitic Offenses on the Rise

The increase was particularly sharp in misogynistic crimes: the number of cases grew by almost 47 percent to 819 offenses. BKA President Holger Münch described this development as a serious warning signal. He attributed part of the increase to a "klassisches Männerbild" that involves a higher willingness to use violence and is partly spread via social networks. In his original words: "dass man auch eher Gewalt anwendet".

Antisemitic and religiously motivated crimes also increased. The number of antisemitic offenses rose by five percent to 6,548 cases, and religiously motivated crimes by 5.7 percent to 1,983 cases. On average, more than one crime per week was registered against a synagogue. Münch explained that "fast die Hälfte der antisemitischen Hasskriminalität stehe im Zusammenhang mit dem Nahost-Konflikt". He also pointed to increasing social polarization, extremist propaganda on social networks, and international conflicts as drivers of the development. He said verbatim: "Internationale Konfliktlagen emotionalisieren auch in Deutschland".

Hate crime overall rose by 1.8 percent to 22,159 cases. Crimes with a foreign ideology as a background, on the other hand, fell by 6.2 percent to 6,886 cases.

Violence Against the Police

The police were again severely affected: the number of offenses against police officers grew by almost five percent to 5,144 cases. More than a fifth of these crimes were violent offenses. The BKA attributed the majority of offenses to the left-wing spectrum, followed by right-wing perpetrators.

Münch explained the differences between extremist camps: "dass sich linksextreme Gewalt häufig gezielt gegen politische Gegner richte, während rechtsextreme Gewalt überwiegend aus Körperverletzungen mit rassistischem Hintergrund bestehe".

Announcement of Tougher Penalties

In view of the growing violence against emergency personnel, Dobrindt announced that he would work together with Federal Minister of Justice Stefanie Hubig (SPD) toward tougher penalties for attacks on rescue workers and police officers. He said: "Ich glaube an die abschreckende Wirkung des Strafrechts". A clear signal must be sent that violence against emergency personnel will not be tolerated.