Germany records at least 85,000 politically motivated crimes in 2025 — double the level of a decade ago
Germany recorded at least 85,000 politically motivated crimes in 2025, a new high surpassing the previous record of 84,172 set in 2024 and more than double the 39,000 cases counted in 2015, according to a Welt am Sonntag analysis of 15 of 16 state datasets. Violent politically motivated offenses rose 1.2 percent to 4,156, with right-wing extremists responsible for 1,598 and left-wing actors for 1,087; left-wing extremist crimes rose 35 percent overall to more than 13,000 cases, while right-wing extremism accounted for more than half of all offenses.
Germany registered at least 85,000 politically motivated crimes in 2025, exceeding the previous record of 84,172 set in 2024 and representing more than a doubling of the approximately 39,000 cases counted a decade ago in 2015, according to an analysis by Welt am Sonntag based on data from 15 of Germany's 16 federal states. Only Rhineland-Palatinate did not supply data, with its state election delaying compilation.
Violent crimes classified as politically motivated rose 1.2 percent year-on-year to 4,156 offenses — a category that includes assault, arson, explosives offenses, and breach of the peace. Investigators attributed 1,598 of those to right-wing extremists and 1,087 to left-wing actors. Across all categories, right-wing extremism accounted for more than half of all politically motivated offenses; left-wing extremist crimes rose 35 percent to more than 13,000 cases.
Investigators pointed to two primary drivers: the polarised campaign preceding Germany's 2025 Bundestag election and the intensification of international conflicts, with the Middle East crisis cited explicitly. Welt am Sonntag also noted that a shift in reporting behaviour — greater willingness to report online hate speech and insults directed at politicians — may have contributed to the statistical increase, though the report acknowledged that the magnitude of this effect cannot be determined from the available data.
Politicians reacted with alarm. Hessian Interior Minister Roman Poseck (CDU) described the readiness to conduct political disputes through "intimidation, hate and violence" as "particularly worrying." Herbert Reul (CDU), interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, called the figures "an alarm call" and said politically motivated crime "is no longer a footnote but a stress test for our democracy." SPD interior affairs spokesman Sebastian Fiedler said such violence must be "consistently prosecuted." Baden-Württemberg's incoming Interior Minister Manuel Hagel (CDU) promised a resolute state response: "We confront anti-constitutional efforts — from any direction — with combined forces. The perpetrators should not feel too protected."
The figures follow a Berlin domestic intelligence report released on June 2 that had already documented a rise in extremists across all ideologies; Saturday's crime statistics confirm that the trend has translated into the highest recorded level of politically motivated offending in Germany.