Staff at counselling centres for Muslims affected by hate crimes are reporting a growing loss of inhibition and increasing brutality in anti-Muslim incidents, according to a new situation report by the Claim network released on Wednesday.
Of the 4,096 anti-Muslim incidents documented by the Claim network last year, 214 involved bodily harm. The network said it assumed a high number of unreported cases. Particularly in schools, but also in contact with authorities or the police, those affected faced "high barriers to reporting," it said.
With regard to discrimination, insults and incitement to hatred, a certain habituation effect was being observed, the report said.
"At the same time, it is evident that everyday forms of racism are being reported less and less frequently, as repeated experiences of discrimination often lead to a creeping normalization," the nationwide situation report said.
That did not mean those affected felt no distress; On the contrary, such experiences had a lasting impact on their quality of life and sense of security, it added.
A climate of fear prevailed, the report said, with growing resignation among those affected. In schools, incidents frequently went unreported because parents feared reprisals.
More than 4,000 verified cases in 2025
The 4,096 verified cases of anti-Muslim hatred - both above and below the threshold of criminal liability - are not directly comparable with the previous year's figures, as more counselling centres now participate in the survey.
In 2024, the 26 counselling centres cooperating with the network across 13 federal states documented 3,080 cases. Last year, 38 centres in 15 states took part.
Cyclist punched in face
Among the documented cases was the experience of a girl in the north-eastern city of Greifswald who was insulted by boys shouting slogans such as "Foreigners out," while one of the boys tried to stub out a cigarette on her headscarf as he cycled past.
A 52-year-old woman wearing a headscarf, who was punched in the face by an unknown assailant in the western city of Dusseldorf in December, fell from her bicycle and sustained serious injuries before turning to the police.
But physical violence was not the only lasting harm: A Muslim pupil in Schleswig-Holstein reported that whenever the topic of extremism or terrorism came up in class, his teacher would ask him either whether he wanted to "distance" himself from it or "how people from his religion" viewed the issue.
The anti-Muslim hatred did not begin with violence, but where "people are blanket-labelled as a problem," said Said Etris Hashemi at the presentation of the report. He survived the murderous racist attack of February 19, 2020, in the city of Hanau near Frankfurt with serious injuries. "Words are not without consequences," he said.
Claim director Rima Hanano said she was concerned that the issue of anti-Muslim hatred was currently not receiving "the necessary attention it deserves" from the government.
