Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) – In Baden-Württemberg, an anti-Semitic crime is still committed almost every day on average. Incitement to hatred is part of it, insult and damage to property as well as the so-called use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations, i.e. usually wearing a swastika. The numbers remained at the high level of the previous year until well into the autumn, said Baden-Württemberg Interior Minister Thomas Strobl of the German Press Agency. In 2021, after a sharp increase, 337 anti-Semitic incidents were registered – and the number of unreported cases remains large.
In recent years, the number of crimes has more than tripled, according to the Interior Ministry – from 99 cases in 2017 to 136 a year later, 182 in 2019 and 228 in 2020, before the number of cases in 2021 took off abruptly increased to 337. According to the Ministry of the Interior, 175 offenses were registered in the first three quarters of 2022 (comparable period 2021: 165). The police do not always see a political motive, and it is not always clear what is actually behind it.
But it is attacked and insulted, threatened and damaged, and not only on the Internet. “There is anti-Semitism, especially in the so-called social media, but we also have it on the streets again,” said Strobl. At demonstrations by extremists and conspiracy ideologists, for example, there are anti-Semitic narratives. “And I have to admit: I was wrong. Anti-Semitism was never gone, it is there, on the internet and also on German streets and squares.”
From Strobl’s point of view, the mood is driven by the social challenges: “Unfortunately, these social challenges, these crises are a breeding ground for conspiracy theories and unfortunately also for anti-Semitism,” said the Interior Minister. “A culprit is being sought for the misery in the world.” It’s about the old, classic narratives. “That encourages hatred and hate speech. And unfortunately it also promotes hatred and hate speech against Jews.”
The Baden-Württemberg Anti-Semitism Commissioner Michael Blume sees it similarly: “The number of anti-Semites in the country is not increasing, but the digital radicalization of conspiracy believers is escalating,” he told the German Press Agency. Young people are recruited primarily online, and middle-class circles are increasingly being reached. “The hate that accumulates on the Internet tilts from there into the analog world,” warned Blume. “This no longer only affects the supposed margins. The brutalization of the language has long since reached the formally educated, even to the point of violent fantasies.”
According to the Ministry of the Interior, Baden-Württemberg has invested around seven million euros in protecting synagogues, supporting security personnel and taking appropriate precautions at synagogues in Stuttgart and other locations over the past four years. “It’s a shame that we have to protect our Jewish institutions, the Israeli institutions,” Strobl said.
For the Jewish communities, there are now permanent contact persons in all police headquarters. “And we have the nationwide unique project of the two police rabbis, who are traveling in Baden-Württemberg with great passion, enthusiasm and a lot of heart,” said the CDU politician.
According to the Interior Ministry, anti-Semitic crimes are still mostly right-wing motivated. “In this area of phenomena, anti-Semitism is one of the core ideological elements and represents a unifying factor,” it said. Of the 337 violent crimes in 2021, 242 are attributed to this so-called phenomenon area, in the first three quarters there were a further 109 (119) cases, mostly hate speech and depictions of violence. Comparatively few anti-Semitic crimes are directed against synagogues.
