Germany recorded 175 attacks targeting mosques across the country in 2024, a figure that continues to climb annually, Muharrem Kuzey, head of Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB), said Friday.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Kuzey said threats against places of worship cover a wide range of harassment, from offensive graffiti to threatening letters.
According to figures by the Anti-Discrimination Bureau of the DITIB, mosques suffered from 175 attacks in 2024, a fourfold increase compared to 2021. Ninety-six percent of those mosques are run by the DITIB. The report by the agency shows that about 60% of cases involve letters or emails containing threats, and these are followed by attacks damaging property and drawings of illegal symbols such as swastikas.
The DITIB runs about 1,000 mosques across Germany. The country is home to more than 3 million Turks. It is the largest community of its kind in the European country, which recruited Turkish citizens en masse during post-World War II economic recovery efforts. The union is among the largest umbrella organizations for Muslims in Germany. Since 2014, the DITIB’s bureau has compiled figures regarding attacks targeting mosques.
Kuzey says attacks have particularly climbed since the new round of the Palestine-Israel conflict began on Oct. 7, 2023.
Since Oct. 7, 2023, Europe's political and social landscape has witnessed what experts call a seismic and deeply unsettling transformation, significantly impacting its Muslim communities.
In countries such as the U.K., Denmark and France, the aftermath of Hamas' attack and Israel's ongoing genocidal war on Gaza has unleashed a sustained and entrenched wave of Islamophobia, far beyond the familiar episodic spikes. "It's a complete shift in the everyday life of Muslim communities in Britain, but also across the world," says Aristotle Kallis, a professor of modern and contemporary history at the U.K.'s Keele University. "What happened after Oct. 7 is a complete shift of the political narrative."
Germany’s Interior Ministry announced in May that hate crimes rose 28% in 2024 compared to the previous year, reaching 21,733. According to the report, a significant portion of this increase was xenophobic crimes, which rose 29% to 19,481. In the hate crimes category, crimes targeting Muslims also jumped. Islamophobic hate crimes climbed 26% from 2023 to 1,848.
Kuzey stated that mosques had suffered from 43 attacks by October 2023, and in the last three months of 2023, they recorded 100 attacks. He pointed out that turmoil and conflicts in the Middle East also affected communities in Germany, noting an “alarming level” of attacks.
“We share these figures with politicians as well as community leaders and discuss what measures can be taken to tackle this. We are discussing an encouraging culture of coexistence and ways to strengthen it,” he said.
He noted that Islamophobia and anti-Semitism were actually “other names for xenophobia,” and they sought joint action against both by offering cooperation to a major Jewish body in Germany.
“Muslims are now part of German society. Our people, including our youth, are businesspeople, academics and politicians now. They demonstrate that we are an inseparable part of society. These mosque attacks cannot deter us, but we are thinking hard on how to prevent them through promoting multi-culturalism,” he said.
“It is not merely the task of Muslims or foreigners living here to promote these efforts. Broader German society should be willing. We have hope for the future and will continue supporting coexistence with our projects,” he said.
Kuzey said they also installed security cameras at mosques and followed up on legal proceedings against attackers. “We are in close contact with authorities so that those people are brought to justice,” he added.
