Crime with political motives reached a new peak last year. According to reports from the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (Friday editions), the Federal Criminal Police Office recorded a total of 85,837 politically motivated criminal acts in 2025 (an increase of two percent). This number represents the highest count since the start of the joint federal and state collection in 2001, and notably, the number of recorded incidents in 2015 has more than doubled.
The statistics detail that 42,544 offenses in 2025 originated from the right-wing spectrum, while the second-largest category accounted for 13,490 incidents stemming from the left. The number of crimes attributed to the left saw a particularly sharp increase of 35 percent. Furthermore, the police estimated that roughly 6,886 cases were motivated by foreign ideology, and in 1,983 cases, the background was religious. For 20,934 cases, the police could not assign an exact motivational category.
Investigators suggest that the high number of politically motivated crimes is partly due to the early federal election in February 2025 and the associated offenses directed against political opponents. However, reports also indicate that numerous international crises, such as the Middle East conflict, have had an impact on Germany.
