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CRIME

Which German train stations have the highest crime rates?

More than 23,000 crimes were committed at German train stations and on trains in 2022—and some of the higher rates were recorded outside the country’s largest cities.

Hamburg Central Station
Intercity trains wait on the platform at Hamburg Central Station. The station was recently revealed as the most violent train station in the country. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Bodo Marks

Whether it was gun crime, drug offences, sexual assaults, or property crimes—all were committed at German train stations—or on trains—last year.

In response to an enquiry from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) parliamentary group, the federal government revealed which German train stations are the most crime-ridden.

Hamburg’s central station was the worst-affected station when it came to violent crime, followed by Hanover and then Nuremberg.

Dortmund and Düsseldorf stations, meanwhile, saw the highest rates of gun and drug crimes.

Cologne’s main station had the highest rate of sexual offences.

Nuremberg’s central station’s high level of violent crime is of particular note—as it doesn’t even rank in the country’s top ten when it comes to passenger traffic, leaving a particularly high crime rate relative to its size.

READ ALSO: Which criminal offences could get you bared from German citizenship?

As for the other two most violent train stations, Hamburg’s central station is the busiest in the country—at over half a million passengers per day. Hanover takes the seventh spot for passengers—making it also a rather crime-ridden station relative to its traffic numbers.

Following Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin’s central stations account for the most passenger traffic in the country. None of those three, however, see similarly high crime rates in any category.

The federal government also revealed that over 500 police officers were injured while responding to crimes at train stations in 2022. A total of 68 were injured so badly they weren’t able to work.

The federal government plans to up the number of surveillance cameras in German train stations to 11,000 by the end of 2024. That’s up from 9,000 currently.

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ANTI-SEMITISM

Germany sees sharp rise in anti-Semitic acts

Anti-Semitic acts rose sharply in Germany last year, especially after war broke out between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in October, according to new figures released on Tuesday.

Germany sees sharp rise in anti-Semitic acts

The Federal Association of Research and Information Centres on Anti-Semitism (RIAS) documented 4,782 anti-Semitic “incidents” in 2023 – an increase of more than 80 per cent on the previous year.

More than half of the incidents – which included threats, physical attacks and vandalism – were registered after Palestinian militant group Hamas’s unprecedented October 7th attack on Israel, RIAS said.

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency last week also published figures showing a new record in anti-Semitic crimes in 2023.

A total of 5,164 crimes were recorded during the year, the agency said, compared with 2,641 in 2022.

Anti-Semitic crimes with a “religious-ideological motivation” jumped to 492 from just 33 the previous year, with the vast majority committed after October 7.

Felix Klein, the government’s commissioner for the fight against anti-Semitism, said the RIAS figures were “absolutely catastrophic”.

The Hamas attack had acted as an “accelerant” for anti-Semitism in Germany, he told a press conference in Berlin.

“Jewish life in Germany is under greater threat than it has ever been since the Federal Republic of Germany was founded,” he said.

The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,600 people, also mostly civilians, Gaza’s health ministry said.

Islamophobic incidents also increased dramatically in Germany last year, according to a separate report published on Monday.

The CLAIM alliance against Islamophobia said it had registered 1,926 attacks on Muslims in 2023, compared with just under 900 in 2023.

These included verbal abuse, discrimination, physical violence and damage to property.

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