Terrorism in Germany


YearIncidentsDeathsInjuries
20201105
201912314
20182208
201727110
20164427117
201566138
20141300
2013000
2012500
2011822
2010100
2009400
2008302
2007311
2006420
2005320
20043125
2003200
2002302
2001836
20008128
199913347
1998600
199712027
19965215
19951471026
199479285
199337758
199215617217
1991651035
19901314
19892258
198818114
198720233
19864910276
1985579114
19842203
19836225
198230544
198131231
19802017218
197917010
19782004
19774162
197650436
197535112
197429210
19732711
1972242345
19711700
19703289
Total1,3072051,633

Germany has experienced significant terrorism in its history, particularly during the Weimar Republic and during the Cold War, carried out by far-left and far-right German groups as well as by foreign terrorist organisations.
In recent years, both far left, far right and Islamist violence has resurged and groups have been suspected of terrorism or terrorism plans.

Weimar Republic

Germany's loss in the First World War resulted in a chaotic situation, with multiple far-left and far-right organisations attempting to seize power. Both the far left and the far right organised their own militias, and carried out assassinations. For example, the Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau was assassinated in 1922 by a far-right group. Members of the Communist Party of Germany assassinated police captains Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck in Berlin in 1931.

Terrorism in Germany

Turkish and Kurdish Islamist groups are also active in Germany, and Turkish and Kurdish Islamists have co-operated in Germany as in the case of the Sauerland terror cell. Political scientist Guido Steinberg stated that many top leaders of Islamist organizations in Turkey fled to Germany in the 2000s, and that the Turkish Hezbollah has also "left an imprint on Turkish Kurds in Germany." Also many Kurds from Iraq financially supported Kurdish-Islamist groups like Ansar al-Islam. Many Islamists in Germany are ethnic Kurds or Turks. Before 2006, the German Islamist scene was dominated by Iraqi Kurds and Palestinians, but since 2006 Kurds from Turkey and Turks are dominant.
According to a research conducted by the as part of an initiative called , Shiite clans in Germany are involved in organized crime and are specifically supporting Hezbollah.
Since 2010, 15 people have died in Islamic terrorist attacks in Germany and an additional 74 have been injured. There is also a number of violent incidents which are disputed to either have been conducted by Lone-wolf Islamic terrorists or by mentally ill people.
In 2015, 11 verdicts concerning jihadist terrorism related offences were issued by German courts. In 2016, 28 verdicts for jihadist terrorism related offences were delivered. In 2017 there were 27 verdicts.
Almost all known terrorist networks and individuals in Germany have links to Salafism, an ultra-conservative Islamic ideology.

Terrorism in (or involving) West Germany and reunified Germany

During the Cold War, especially in the 1970s, West Germany experienced severe terrorism, mostly perpetrated by far-left terrorist groups and culminating in the German Autumn of 1977, the country's most serious national crisis in postwar history. Terrorist incidents also took place in the 1980s and 1990s. Some of the terrorist groups had connections to international terrorism, notably Palestinian militant groups, and were aided and abetted by the communist regime of East Germany.
Right Wing ExtremistsAnarchists and Left Wing ExtremistsIslamists and SalafistsSeparatists and foreign Nationalists
Atomwaffen Division since 2018Red Army Faction 1970–1998Al-Qaeda since 2006Provisional Irish Republican Army
Freikorps Havelland 2003–2005Popular Front for the Liberation of PalestineIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant since 2015Black September
Gruppe Freital 2015–2018Revolutionary Cells 1973–1993Ansar al-IslamGrey Wolves since 1968
National Socialist Underground 1999–2011Anti-Imperialist Cell 1992 – 1995--
Deutsche Aktionsgruppen 1980Movement 2 June 1972–1980--
Wehrsportsgruppe Hoffman 1973–1980Tupamaros West-Berlin 1969-1970--
Combat 18 since 1992Revolutionäre Aktionszellen 2009–2011--
Action Front of National Socialists/National Activists 1977–1983Rote Zora 1974–1995--
Revolution Chemnitz 2018–2019Militante gruppe 2001–2009--
Nationale Bewegung 2000-2001Klasse gegen Klasse 1992–2003--
Hepp/Kexel-Gruppe 1982Feministische Autonome Zelle since 2019--

Significant foiled terrorism plots

Islamic terrorism

In the 2015-2020 time span, there were 9 Islamic terrorist attacks and thwarted terrorist plots where at least one of the perpetrators had entered Germany as an asylum seekers during the European migrant crisis. The Islamic terrorists entered Germany either without identity documents or with falsified documents. The number of discovered plots began to decline in 2017. In 2020 German authorities noted that the majority of the asylum seekers entered Germany without identification papers during the crisis and security agencies considered unregulated immigration as problematic from a security aspect.
In December 2019, German authorities reported to have thrwarted nine islamic terrorist plots since the 2016 Berlin truck attack.
The terrorism of the 1970s has formed Germany's political culture and its policy of not negotiating with terrorists. It also led to the formation of the GSG9 counter-terrorism unit. In 1972, a law was passed, the Extremist Act, which banned radicals or those with a 'questionable' political persuasion from public sector jobs.
In 2019 the Federal Criminal Police Office created a department dedicated towards Islamic terrorism and extremism.

In popular culture

A number of books and films address this topic.

Films