Germany was stung by a series of right-wing attacks against Muslims and Jews in 2019 BERLIN: Germany saw a spike in far-right crimes including anti-Semitic attacks last year, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said Wednesday, describing the trend as a “great concern.” Authorities registered more than 41,000 politically motivated crimes in 2019, ranging from hate speech to bodily harm, arson and murder — a rise of 14.2 percent on 2018 and the second-sharpest jump since records began in 2001. Crimes committed by members of the far-right scene grew 9.4 percent, and accounted for more than half of all politically-motivated crimes. Although such crimes represent a small fraction of overall lawbreaking in Germany, the figures have a “striking significance ... for the stability of our democracy,” Seehofer said, adding that the rise was “of great concern.” Some 93.4 percent of anti-Semitic and 90.1 percent of Islamophobic crimes had a far-right motivation, Seehofer said. Germany has been rocked by a string of extreme-right attacks over the past 12 months. A gunman with apparent far-right beliefs killed nine people at a shisha bar and a cafe in the city of Hanau in February, while two people were killed in an attack targeting a synagogue in Halle in October. In June, pro-immigration politician Walter Luebcke was found shot dead at his home in the state of Hesse, and a far-right sympathizer arrested soon afterwards was last month charged with his murder. Seehofer proclaimed in March that right-wing extremism and right-wing terrorism were “the biggest danger for democracy in Germany,” promising a beefed up security response.