A police vehicle is seen at the area where a Jewish man was attacked in front of a synagogue in Hamburg, Germany. Photo: Reuters/Fabian Bimmer.

A new report detailing more than 250 antisemitic attacks in Germany’s most populous state during 2022 “confirms the perception of the Jewish community that Jews are confronted with antisemitism almost every day,” according to a senior Jewish communal official.

The report on antisemitic incidents in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW) — Germany’s most densely populated, home to 18 million people — disclosed that 264 outrages involving Jews were recorded during 2022. Compiled by RIAS, a government-funded body monitoring antisemitism, the report — the first to be published on the situation in NRW — stressed that four of the incidents involved “extreme violence.”

Jörg Rensmann, head of the RIAS regional office in NRW, told local media outlets that the report made clear “that antisemitism is a terrible social reality in NRW.”

He added that antisemitism “expresses itself in numerous manifestations and goes hand in hand with a real endangerment and threat to those affected.”

In addition to the acts of violence, the report recorded five assaults, six threats, nine mass antisemitic letters and more than 200 instances of abusive behavior.

“The number of 264 incidents published by RIAS NRW is shockingly high and confirms the perception of the Jewish community that Jews are confronted with antisemitism almost every day,” Olga Rosow, Deputy Administrative Director and Head of the Social Department of the Jewish Community in Düsseldorf, told the Judische Allgemeine news outlet.

Statistics recorded by the German government in 2023 revealed a total of 2,639 antisemitic offenses recorded throughout the year, including a rise in the number of violent crimes targeting Jews from 63 in 2021 to 88 in 2022.

Many officials additionally recognize that significant numbers of antisemitic crimes go unreported. “The dark field is much larger — those incidents that are not reported in the first place for various reasons,” Thomas Haldenwang — the president of Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) — observed last year, asserting that those incidents which are reported to the authorities are merely the “tip of the iceberg.”

In a recent interview with The Algemeiner, Felix Klein — the top German federal official combating antisemitism — observed that “only 20 percent of the antisemitic crimes are reported, so the real number should be five times what we have — 25 incidents per day.”

On Wednesday, Klein was part of a panel of officials in Berlin who unveiled a new public campaign to encourage awareness of Jewish life and culture. Backed by the European Leadership Network (ELNET), the “wall of questions” campaign uses colorful posters to pose key questions about Jewish life, from religious dietary laws to the importance of the State of Israel.

Klein said at the launch that the purpose of the campaign was to “awaken curiosity about Jewish life” and contribute to the fight against antisemitism.