Antisemitic attitudes among migrants and muslims in Germany 2021-2023: Challenges for the democratic state.

• In Event: Understanding and Addressing Hate Crimes and Discrimination

Abstract

Since October 7, 2023 antisemitism in Germany has received considerably increased attention by politician, the general public and science. Particularly antisemitic attitudes among Muslims are a very sensitive issue in the german migration society. Results of three representative, nationwide surveys in Germany show slight, non-significant increases of antisemitic attitudes for the German population as a whole. However, there are important differences between subgroups: Particularly muslims not only show significantly higher rates of antisemitic attitudes compared to all other groups. Furthermore, significant increases between 2021 and 2023 can be observed for muslims only. Even after controlling for socio-demographic characteristics and social marginalisation experiences and conspiratorial thinking, the level of antisemitic attitudes is still significantly higher among muslims. Additional comparative multivariate analyses for both Christians and Muslims show that there are no effects of the intensity of personal faith and the centrality of religion in everyday life on antisemitism in both groups. Religious fundamentalism significantly increases antisemitic resentment in both groups but the effect sizes are stronger for muslims. Additionally the intensity of collective religious practice, measured by the frequency of attending mosques, is associated with higher rates of antisemitism among Muslims only, even after multivariate control of all other predictors.

Authors

• Peter Wetzels, University of Hamburg

• Katrin Brettfeld, University of Hamburg

• Jannik Fischer, University of Hamburg

• Janosch Kleinschnittger, University of Hamburg

• Thomas Richter, German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA)