Crime motivated by political factors reached a record high last year. According to reports from the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” concerning the federal data collection efforts, the Federal Criminal Police Office recorded a total of 85,837 politically motivated criminal offenses in 2025-a two percent increase. This figure represents the highest number recorded since the start of the joint federal and state collection efforts in 2001. Furthermore, the number of recorded incidents has more than doubled since 2015.
The statistics show that 42,544 offenses in 2025 originated from the right-wing spectrum. The second largest category accounted for 13,490 offenses on the left, showing a particularly sharp rise of 35 percent. When analyzing the motives, approximately 6,886 cases were attributed to foreign ideologies, while 1,983 cases stemmed from religious backgrounds. The police were unable to assign an exact motive to 20,934 cases.
Investigators suggest that the high number of politically motivated crimes is due, in part, to the snap federal election in February 2025, along with the associated incidents targeting political opponents. Additionally, the report notes that numerous international crises, such as the conflict in the Middle East, are also believed to have affected the situation in Germany.