In the first half of 2024, the police recorded fewer attacks on refugees and migrants compared to the same period last year, according to preliminary figures. Across Germany, there were a total of 519 cases of violence against asylum seekers in the first and second quarters of this year.

This information comes from a response by the federal government to a small inquiry by Clara Bünger, a politician from the Left (Die Linke) Party in the German Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, as reported by the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung (NOZ) daily newspaper and the German press agency, DPA.

This compares to 1,155 recorded attacks on refugees in the same period last year, marking a drop by over half. In total, there were 2,450 assaults on asylum seekers recorded for the entire year of 2023.

However, it is important to note in this context that in 2023, Germany recorded the highest number of crimes perpetuated against asylum seekers since 2016 -- nearly double the figure from the previous year, 2022. These included 313 violent crimes resulting in 219 injuries.

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Preliminary figures

The Federal Ministry of the Interior explicitly notes that the figures for 2024 are preliminary and could still change significantly with later updates or corrections. Meanwhile, it also remains unclear whether these figures relate to completed or ongoing investigations by federal and state authorities.

Mediendienst Integration (Migration Media Service), a migration-related information platform for journalists and media professionals in Germany, shared broader statistics ranging from 2016 - 2024 on X, highlighting the overall rate of attacks on asylum seekers

Their graphs show direct assaults on asylum seekers themselves in blue and attacks on asylum seeker accommodation in orange.

Although the number of attacks in 2024 so far has been lower than in the same period last year, there still were hundreds of attacks so far this year, with 519 politically motivated attacks on individuals and 69 attacks on accommodation.

Through all these attacks, 46 people suffered injuries in these incidents, including six children, according to the official numbers. The majority of these attacks — 456 in total — are attributed to right-wing extremists by the police.

Upcoming elections in eastern Germany

According to NOZ, there is somewhat of a regional focus of these incidents in Saxony and Thuringia, where state elections are set took take place on September 1.

Of the 286 attacks on refugees recorded nationwide in the second quarter of 2024, most occurred in Saxony (41) and Thuringia (35). Bavaria (31), Lower Saxony (30), and Brandenburg (29) followed.

Meanwhile in the states of Baden-Württemberg and Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg, and Hesse, and Schleswig-Holstein, the rates of attacks on asylum seekers remained in single figures.

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Political Co-Responsibility

Bünger told the NOZ in response to the findings that there should be a significant responsibility among politicians in relation to these attacks.

"When right-wing politicians in parliament call for 'remigration,' and even government members blame refugees for various societal problems, announce mass deportations, or label asylum seekers as invaders, as happened in the UK, racists feel empowered to go on a manhunt and terrorize refugees," she said.

The term "remigration," which is frequently used by right-wing extremists and in particular by politicians belonging to far-right parties such as the AfD (Alternative for Germany), refers to the idea of returning non-ethnically European immigrants to their countries of origin.

"For a long time, it has been known that there is a close connection between racist rhetoric by politicians and racist mobilizations and attacks on the streets," said Bünger.

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With dpa