The rising trend of antisemitic crime shows no signs of abating, according to a newspaper report on last year’s crime statistics that was published on Sunday.
In 2017, German police registered a total of 1,453 crimes that targeted Jews or Jewish institutions, reported German newspaper Tagesspiegel, citing figures from the German government. The data was compiled in response to an inquiry from Bundestag vice president and Left party lawmaker Petra Pau.
Last year’s crimes included 32 acts of violence, 160 instances of property damage, and 898 cases of incitement. The German government expects the figures to rise even further since the data provided by the states is not yet final, the paper said.
In 1,377 of the cases — 95 percent of the total — police determined that a right-wing motive had driven the crimes.
Pau, who initiated the anti-Semitic crime inquiry, said she was deeply concerned about last year’s figures. Speaking with Tagesspiegel, Pau noted that “the number of unreported cases could be considerably higher” since many of those affected are reluctant to report the crime.
