The 2025 report published on Wednesday documents a wide range of events collected RIAS Reporting Center throughout the year nationwide and federally classified as anti-Semitic.
For example, in the western German state of Hesse, a rabbi was pushed in front of his children and had his cell phone taken away. In their verbal attacks, the perpetrators blamed the rabbi for the actions of the Israeli government.
Among the series of incidents, RIAS cites experiences reported by Jewish people in Germany in which they were subjected to verbal abuse, and some reported receiving death threats on social media. A Jewish woman received a photo of a Zyklon B canister on Facebook with the description “still in stock”. Zyklon B was the gas that the Nazis used in concentration camps to murder Jews and other persecuted people during the Holocaust.
RIAS, an association funded by the German government, was founded in Berlin in 2018 and was tasked with collecting incidents reported as anti-Semitic across the country. RIAS has regional offices in 11 of Germany’s 16 states.
For RIAS, anti-Semitism begins even before it becomes a criminal offense
The data the RIAS presented in its annual report on Wednesday is not representative; RIAS collects reports of complaints at various offices and online portals and then tries to classify the results.
Overall nationwide RIAS findings for 2025 indicated the number of reported incidents classified as anti-Semitism remained largely at 2024 levels.
Incidents are broadly divided into categories that targeted Jewish people and institutions, people and institutions perceived or addressed as Jewish, and other non-Jewish people and institutions. Incidents are classified based on the type of incident and responsible motivations. The organisation’s classification of reported incidents and its methodology have been criticized, and the fact that not every incident reported is formally a criminal offence.
Julia Kopp, project manager of RIAS Berlin, says that anti-Semitism does not begin at the point where it manifests as a criminal offense.
Significant criticism of the work and methodology of the RIAS also came from the Berlin-based international organization “Diaspora Alliance”. It accused the German government-funded association of disproportionately representing “Israel-related anti-Semitism” and undermining growing far-right extremist activity in Germany, and in doing so threatening the fight against anti-Semitism. RIAS has rejected these allegations.
Impact of development in the Middle East
However, the number of incidents recorded as anti-Semitic in Germany increased sharply in the RIAS after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by the Islamist group Hamas, during which more than 1,200 Israelis were killed and 251 people were taken hostage. More than 73,000 people have been killed in the ongoing war in Gaza Strip. Israel’s conduct in the war has been considered genocide by many international rights organizations and a United Nations commission.
RIAS researchers say that some Jewish people in Germany have reported receiving anti-Semitic hate messages, even when they openly criticize the current Israeli government. The association also wrote in its report that recent developments in the Middle East – such as the ceasefire agreed between Israel and Hamas last October – are not reflected in the number, timing and intensity of anti-Semitic attacks.
For 2025, the RIAS report documented four cases of extreme violence in Germany. A major incident that made headlines was the knife attack on a Spanish visitor to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin in February 2025. The man was rescued by an emergency medical technician; The culprit was sentenced to 13 years in prison in March this year. The convicted man, who is from the eastern city of Leipzig, said he had mistaken the Spaniard for a Jew.
RIAS staff classify 68% of all incidents as “Israel-related anti-Semitism”. While the State of Israel was established after World War II as a place of refuge or homeland for the Jewish people, by no means all Jews in the world are Israeli citizens, nor are all people with Israeli passports Jewish. Experts have warned against such false fights.
Joseph Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, pointed this out in an interview with DW: “In Israel, there are Christian and Muslim minorities that are not small at all. And Jews in Germany predominantly hold German passports.”
‘Anti-Semitism is a threat to our democracy’
In its reporting work, RIAS uses the working definition of anti-Semitism drawn up by International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). When it comes to the line between legitimate criticism of the State of Israel and anti-Semitism, that definition has been criticized by many scholars as vague.
Felix Klein, the federal government commissioner for Jewish life in Germany and the fight against anti-Semitism, is concerned by the data from the RIAS report. “The RIAS annual report shows that anti-Semitism is on the rise in Germany and shows no signs of abating,” he said.
Schuster reports growing concern in Jewish communities
According to the RIAS report, the hostility spread through social media is worrying. The number of reported incidents increased from 1,996 in 2024 to 2,314 last year. According to the data, 43% of all reported threats occurred online, and those who were targeted said they experienced lasting effects in their daily lives.
Schuster told DW that more and more members of the community are sharing their concerns with him.
“They worry about being recognized as a Jew on the street, for example, when they wear a kippah. [yarmulke] Or a Star of David as an ornament,” he said. “It is also important to note – and this is particularly important to me – that this situation is not the same everywhere in Germany. However, it is particularly negative and particularly worrying in urban areas.”
This article was originally written in German.