In the country that has made fighting antisemitism and keeping Jews safe core national duties, in penance for the Holocaust, hate crimes against Jews in Berlin have risen steeply since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

The numbers are stark: From 2022 to 2024, incidents in Berlin rose from 381 to 900 to 1,825 to 2,267 — a nearly 500-percent increase over a span of just four years.

Nationwide, the number of antisemitic incidents in 2025 rose to 8,627, an increase of 77 percent over the previous year.

Antisemitic crimes tied to political or ideological views, especially relating to the Middle East conflict, shot up from 24 in 2022 to 1,484 in 2025, while anti-religious crime rose to 348 from only six in 2022. By contrast, right-wing anti-Jewish incidents have remained fairly steady, at about 300 incidents per year.

Antisemitic acts include everything from hate speech and incitement to physical violence, vandalism and threats. Jewish institutions such as schools and shuls have heightened security since Oct. 7. Police presence has increased in these areas, as well as police monitoring of anti-Israel demonstrations.

Social Democratic lawmaker Sebastian Schlüsselburg requested that the figures be released from the Interior Department of Berlin.

“The current figures on antisemitic crimes in Berlin are shameful,” Schlüsselburg said in an interview. “Especially here, in the city where the crime against humanity known as the Shoah was planned and ordered, we bear a special historical responsibility to protect Jewish life.”

The antisemitism commissioner of Hamburg and lone Jewish official occupying such an office in all of Germany, Stefan Hensel, told an Israeli news outlet in December, “Since October 7, every sense of security in the Jewish community has vanished.” He stepped down from his position at the end of 2025, citing rising Jew hatred and a lack of political support.

Berlin hosts the largest Jewish community in Germany, with estimates varying from 10,000 to 25,000 Jews. Across Germany, about 95,000 Jews are registered with a synagogue, but the total number is thought to be closer to 250,000, as many Israeli ex-pats don’t register to avoid paying dues.

Since Oct. 7, Jewish leaders have repeatedly warned that rising hostility toward Jews in Germany has made Jews feel less safe being openly Jewish in public. German officials have responded by stressing that they will combat antisemitism by enforcing hate crime laws and expanding education and prevention programs, taking seriously the need for Jews to be able to safely and openly live publicly as Jews.