Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Germany Cracks Down on Internet Anti-Semitism With 60 Arrests

BERLIN  — Police in 14 German states reportedly conducted raids on 60 individuals in an attempt to root out the sources of anti-Semitic and other hate postings on the internet.

The raids on Wednesday marked the first time that Germany has conducted a nationwide hunt for internet hate purveyors, according to German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière, who said he hoped the operations would send a strong message that criminals cannot hide from the law in the seemingly anonymous internet.

According to German news reports, the raids followed months of observing one Facebook group that glorified National Socialism and broke German laws against promoting hate.

Suspects were accused of posting anti-Semitic, extremist and xenophobic messages, including denial of or relativizing the Holocaust, celebrating aspects of National Socialism and using Nazi symbolism, and calling for attacks on refugees and politicians. Evidence was seized at several locations.

Maizière said in a statement that hate speech paves the way for actual violence, thus the urgency of the crackdown.

According to the ministry, there are increasing numbers of “hate lists” found online with the names, addresses and employers working against right-wing extremism as well as people seeking asylum in Germany. The publication of these lists has been linked with public calls for violence against these people, the statement said.

In Germany, those who encourage violence based on religious or ethnic background can face up to three years in prison.

“There is no area in Germany that is above the law; criminal law applies to the internet” as to any other space where a crime is committed, Maizière said, adding that internet providers also will be held responsible when hate is spread by clients.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.