The report was published by the Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (Federal Association RIAS). It reported 1,909 antisemitic incidents in the country last year. Of the cases, there was only one of extreme violence, as well as 39 assaults, 167 cases of damages and desecration of property, and 1,449 cases of abusive behavior.
The report documents an average on 159 incidents per month in Germany in 2020, which makes over five incidents per day.
Of the regional reporting offices that participated in documentation, three of the four reported more antisemitic incidents than the year before, with a rise of 30% in Bavaria, 13% in Berlin and 3% in Brandenburg.According to Kim Robin Stoller, the director of the International Institute for Education and Research on Antisemitism (IIBSA), “The massive mobilization of antisemitism from different social and political milieus poses an increasing danger. Therein lies the dangerous dynamic of antisemitism. As the report shows, growing antisemitism from the right-wing extremist milieu was joined by antisemitic conspiracist mobilization in the context of the pandemic.”
Over a quarter of incidents (489) were related to coronavirus, including antisemitic content at rallies against COVID measures and conspiracy myths about the origins of the pandemic. In one incident in Berlin in May, a man shouted at two recognizably Jewish walkers: "Aren't you ashamed of what you've done, you Jews?"
There were also a variety of incidents of Holocaust denial. This includes a gathering in Berlin in August of Reichsbürger, a group of far-right extremists, who demanded the release of convicted Holocaust-deniers and the end to the "occupation of Germany by a Talmud-Jewish-Vatican company." Over 500 of the demonstrators overcame police barriers in front of the Reichstag building and occupied the stairs of the main entrance.
About a third (33.7%) of all incidents nationwide took place online.In response to the report, Benjamin Steinitz, the executive director of Federal Association RIAS, said “Conspiracist milieu during the COVID-19 pandemic, anti-Israel activists during escalations in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, plus the constant threat from right-wing extremism: Danger to Jews comes from many sides. Antisemitism is still multifaceted in Germany, and open expression of this hate is increasingly normalized. No matter in what form it must be resolutely ostracized and rejected.”
The full report can be accessed at here.