Extremism: Significantly more cases of hate crime in Berlin

The Berlin public prosecutor’s office registered a significant increase in hate crime last year. The Central Office for Hate Crimes tracked a total of 5,924 cases in which people were attacked because of their religion, sexual orientation or political work.

That is around 2,030 cases more than in 2022 (3,890), as deputy head Johannes Ploog told the German Press Agency when asked. According to his information, the central office registered 3,764 cases of hate crime in 2021.

According to Ploog, last year saw an increase in cases involving hate and hate speech online. 2,542 such cases were registered. According to the central office, there were 1,023 in 2022 and 1,648 in the previous year.

More hate crimes, but also more reports

Ploog sees the “well-known heating up of the social climate and certain political or social debates” as one reason for the increase. On the one hand, this leads to more hate crimes – but at the same time, in his view, it should raise social awareness and lead to a greater willingness to report crimes.

“In addition, more and more actors in the political and social spheres are proactively researching and reporting potentially criminal statements on the Internet, said Ploog. “It sheds light on the dark field.”

Almost 3,400 suspects are known by name

Last year, the central office’s investigations were directed against 3,694 suspects who were known by name. This meant that significantly more than half of the cases could still be attributed to a possible perpetrator. In 2022, 2,680 defendants were known by name, compared to the same number last year.

The Hate Crime Central Office has been in existence since September 2020. It was created after the attacks in Halle and Hanau. It is intended to better counter racism, anti-Semitism and other forms of group-related hostility.