Brussels – The numbers speak for themselves. And those provided today by German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt are anything but reassuring. According to statistics published today (20 May) by the ministry, politically motivated crimes increased by more than 40 per cent in 2024 compared to the previous 12 months.
In total, 84,172 politically motivated crimes were recorded last year, the highest number since records began in 2001. “We must oppose all anti-constitutional attempts and all forms of violence, and we will not accept criminals spreading fear and terror,” Dobrindt said when presenting the annual report to the Bundestag. For Holger Münch, the head of the federal police who accompanied him in Parliament, today’s figures “reflect a polarisation and radicalisation of society” and show that “democracy is under pressure” in the EU’s most populous state.
“A worrying development,” in the minister’s words, who highlights “the urgent need for a joint security offensive between the federal and state governments,” hoping for “a real turning point.” His solution: expand the powers of law enforcement agencies on the one hand and increase minimum penalties on the other (from three to six months in prison for assaults against public officials and from six months to one year for attacks with bladed weapons).
Of the total crimes, 42,788 (almost 51 per cent) were related to the far right. “One far-right crime every 12 minutes,” said government anti-racism commissioner Natalie Pawlik, citing examples such as Hitler salutes and incitement to hatred, as well as physical assaults.
Pawlik urged all levels of government to do more in terms of prevention and political education for the younger generation: “Everyone in this country has a duty not to turn a blind eye to right-wing extremism and racism,” he warned, calling on his fellow citizens to “defend our peaceful coexistence in a diverse country.”
It is a hot topic in Berlin, where the internal security services recently labelled the second largest national party, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), an ‘extremist right-wing organisation’, only to backtrack after AfD leaders filed a lawsuit. Both Dobrindt and Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz are sceptical about banning the party, but the minister reiterated that “without a doubt, the greatest threat to democracy comes from right-wing extremism.”
Dobrindt, who belongs to the Bavarian CSU (the sister party of the CDU, with which it forms the Christian Democratic Union), also pointed the finger at the increase in anti-Semitic crimes: there were 6,236 in 2024, almost 21 per cent more than in 2023. Of these, 48 per cent were perpetrated by far-right individuals and 31 per cent were motivated by some kind of ‘foreign ideology’, most likely linked to Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip.
Political violence has increased significantly, again on an annual basis, also in relation to the various elections held in the Federal Republic during 2024—the European elections in June and the state elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg in September—reaching a total of 11,788 cases (the latter figure is in line with those recorded in other years with multiple elections, the ministry points out). In proportion, the political forces that suffered the most attacks, including a stabbing and a beating, were the AfD and the Greens.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
