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Antisemitic crime in Germany at highest level since records began

Criminal cases of Jew-hate in the country were up 13 per cent on the previous year

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The highest number of antisemitic crimes in Germany have been recorded since records began in 2001.

Figures released by the country’s Interior Minister Horst Seehofer showed there were 2,032 cases of antisemitic crime in 2019, up 13 per cent from 2019.

More than 93 per cent of perpetrators associated with the far right. Crimes against Muslims and politically motivated crimes also rose, with over 90 per cent also being perpetrated by those on the far right.

Mr Seehofer called the rise in antisemitic crimes a “great concern”, and that far-right extremists had left a “trail of blood” throughout Germany in recent years.

Last year, two people were killed in an attempted armed attack on a synagogue in Halle on Yom Kippur

“We have every reason to continue with the greatest vigilance here,” Mr Seehofer added.

Charlotte Knobloch, a Holocaust survivor and German Jewish leader, said the increase in antisemitic crimes was “no longer surprising”, according to ABC News.

She suggested this was being affected by the popularity of the the far-right Alternative for Germany party, the largest opposition party.

“Various extremist groups have played their part in making this antisemitism socially acceptable,” Ms Knobloch said in a statement. “Above all, the so-called Alternative for Germany.”

A study in October last year found over a quarter of Germans hold antisemitic beliefs, whilst a poll that same month found over half of Germans believed in the wake of the Halle attack that antisemitism was on the rise.

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