Anti-Semitism is a problem affecting society as a whole, which permeates mainstream society and restricts and threatens Jewish life. Through its funding of research, the BMFTR is committed to combating anti-Semitism and supporting Jewish life.
Adobe Stock / M-SUR
Anti-Semitism, as demonstrated by the recent events of 7 October 2023, threatens democratic coexistence and Jewish life in Germany and Europe. This has become increasingly apparent, among other places, on social media, where anti-Semitism is evident not only in relation to Israel. Since 2021, the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space has therefore been funding research projects dedicated to the current causes and dynamics of anti-Semitism.
The Ministry supports research into anti-Semitism in order to better understand and combat hatred of Jews.
Scientific research into anti-Semitism helps to understand its causes and current dynamics and to combat them effectively. Two funding schemes support both basic and applied research into anti-Semitism in Germany. Under the first funding guideline, “Current Dynamics and Challenges of Anti-Semitism”, ten research consortia and one meta-project were funded between 2021 and 2026.
The second funding guideline, “Causes and Dynamics of Contemporary Anti-Semitism”, focuses on the changed dynamics following 7 October 2023 and supports research into, for example, anti-Semitism in the workplace, on social media and in youth work.
The aim of both funding measures is the research-based development of recommendations for action against antisemitism. Furthermore, both funding guidelines involve practice partners who support the targeted development and transfer of these recommendations.
The funding guideline aims to further deepen the knowledge base and understanding of the phenomenon of anti-Semitism in its current manifestations. Furthermore, Jewish life is to be made even more visible and supported as a natural part of our society. One objective of the guidelines is to identify and analyse antisemitism through academic research projects with practical relevance, and, where appropriate, to develop practical recommendations based on this research.
Under the second funding measure, 14 individual and collaborative projects are investigating the current challenges of anti-Semitism for society. These include projects focusing on ‘anti-Semitism in the workplace’ through to the topic of ‘Jewish narratives in German society’, as well as two projects dedicated specifically to the rise of anti-Semitism at universities.
The accompanying academic project “Research Network on Anti-Semitism Research in the 21st Century” (FoNA21) will continue its successful networking and knowledge transfer work from the first funding programme. FoNA21 will support the projects under the funding programme through a variety of communication and collaboration formats, expand national and international networking, and act as a point of contact for politics, society and research.
The following brief overview outlines the objectives of the projects; a more detailed overview can be found on the FoNA21 website.
University of Mainz, Social and Legal Psychology
Project Leader: Dr Fiona Kazarovytska
Brief description: The wider societal problem of anti-Semitism does not stop at the workplace. This participatory research project combines interviews, experience sampling and intervention approaches to understand and highlight experiences of anti-Semitism in the workplace.
European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder)
Project lead: Dr Darja Klingenberg
Brief description: The AntOstMig project examines experiences, ways of addressing the issue, and manifestations of anti-Semitism within Jewish and non-Jewish Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking migrant communities in Germany.
German Youth Institute e.V./University of Trier/ju:an Anti-Semitism Practice Centre
Network Coordination: Dr Frank Greuel
Brief description: The project identifies the support needs of professionals in open child and youth work regarding the prevention and educational handling of current manifestations of antisemitism. On this basis, tailored training programmes are developed, tested and evaluated with a focus on effectiveness.
Leibniz University Hannover/IU-International University
Project Coordination: Dr Elizaveta Firsova-Eckert
Brief description: As part of the project ‘AWA: Appreciative Engagement with the World and Anti-Semitism’, drawing on Adorno’s *Negative Dialectics*, the aim is to identify ideal-typical facets of an appreciative engagement with the world that are ethically significant for conceptual and reflective engagement with the world and the self. These facets will be translated into a measurement tool and related to established and newly developed scales for measuring anti-Semitism. On this basis, recommendations for action will be developed for adult education critical of anti-Semitism and incorporated into training programmes for multipliers.
University of Trier/Tikvah Institute Berlin/Weizenbaum Institute
Project Coordination: Dr Thomas Grotum
Brief description: The project develops a multi-methodological approach to YouTube videos and analyses four areas of anti-Semitism on the platform (right-wing, left-wing, Islamist and infotainment content). Subsequently, two transfer formats will be developed and tested in three federal states.
Touro University Berlin/Memorial and Educational Centre Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz
Project coordination: Dr Dagmar Lieske
Brief description: In the IANSGE collaborative project, we are investigating whether, and if so how, anti-Semitism targeting Israel has influenced the work of memorial sites since the attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and the war in Gaza. To this end, in close collaboration between Touro University Berlin and the Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz Memorial and Educational Centre, interviews are being conducted with staff at eight concentration camp memorial sites and Nazi remembrance sites across Germany. Particular attention is being paid to didactic issues.
Ruhr University Bochum/TU Berlin
Project Coordination: Prof. Dr Cornelia Weins
Brief description: The project examines anti-Semitic crimes in Germany from 2022 to 2025 to establish an empirical basis for secondary and tertiary prevention. Using public prosecutor’s files, prevention case files and interviews with prisoners, perpetrator types and risk constellations are analysed in order to develop target group-specific prevention approaches.
Institute for the History of German Jews (IGdJ) Hamburg / Academy of World Religions, University of Hamburg / Institute for Research on Right-Wing Extremism, University of Tübingen / Centre of Excellence for Anti-Semitism-Critical Education
Project Coordination: Dr Karen Körber
Brief description: This interdisciplinary collaborative project examines the experiences of Jewish people as victims of antisemitism, as well as the conditions and constraints affecting their participation in educational institutions, with the aim of countering antisemitism in institutional educational contexts and promoting Jewish participation.
Carolo Wilhelmina Technical University of Braunschweig / Tikvah Institute Berlin / University of Applied Sciences for Police and Public Administration NRW, Dortmund
Project coordination: PD Dr Ulrich Knufinke
Brief description: In many cities, synagogues and Jewish community centres are highly visible representations of Jewish community life in Germany. They serve as safe spaces for Jews, but also as points of contact for non-Jewish people. From the perspective of Jewish communities, their buildings should be open and inviting, whilst simultaneously providing a secure sanctuary – a contradiction that manifests itself in both the architecture and the daily life of the community. Police officers protect synagogues from the outside, security services from the inside, but do visitors and community members feel safe? The project examines the aspects relevant to subjective and objective safety: – the architecture (sub-project 1), the Jewish community’s sense of security (sub-project 2), and the protection of the premises by the police and security firms (sub-project 3). The aim is to strengthen security on several levels through better coordination and greater knowledge and understanding – security through architecture, security from within (communities, security services), security provided by the police, and security through public awareness of synagogues.
Moses Mendelssohn Centre for European-Jewish Studies, Potsdam / Arbeitsgemeinschaft Jugend und Bildung e.V.
Project Coordination: Prof. Dr Miriam Rürup
Brief description: The collaborative project focuses on the portrayal of Jewish people in video-recorded interviews. As an empirical basis, the project examines the use of eyewitness accounts in democracy education and subject-specific teaching methodology. At the same time, a new collection of interviews on Judaism in the GDR and contemporary Judaism is being compiled. Both elements contribute to the project’s goal of producing a multimedia toolkit and a handbook for subject-specific teaching methodology and teachers.
Ruhr University Bochum, Institute of Educational Science, Chair of Lifelong Learning
Project leader: Prof. Dr Falk Scheidig
Brief description: The project aims to investigate the dynamics, manifestations and consequences of antisemitism at German universities from the perspective of Jewish students and to translate the findings into recommendations for university action strategies.
Else Frenkel-Brunswik Institute, Research Centre for Global Dynamics, University of Leipzig / German Institute for Human Rights, Berlin
Project Coordination: Prof. Dr Oliver Decker
Brief description: The research project ‘Anti-Semitism among Students at German Universities’ (AnSU), initiated by the University of Leipzig, empirically investigates the prevalence, function and impact of anti-Semitic sentiments among students at German universities.
During the first funding phase, which ran from 2021 to 2026, the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) provided support to research consortia at universities and non-university institutions across Germany. Under the funding guideline “Causes and Dynamics of Contemporary Anti-Semitism” (Federal Gazette of 16 December 2024), ten research consortia and the meta-project FoNA21 received funding. In order to strengthen the networking of the research landscape in Germany and also to bolster interdisciplinary cooperation, only collaborative projects were funded. Cooperation with partners from the field was an integral part of the funding guideline. This resulted in practice-relevant recommendations for action for practitioners, society, academia and politics.
The results of the funding guidelines were compiled by the accompanying meta-project “Research Network on Anti-Semitism Research in the 21st Century”. A film summarises the various projects.
The funding guidelines (Federal Gazette of 7 April 2020), together with other funding activities of the BMFTR, formed part of the broader thematic focus on radicalisation and extremism research within the BMFTR Framework Programme for the Humanities and Social Sciences. A brief overview of the individual collaborative projects can be found below.
TechnicaL University Berlin, Center for Research on Antisemitism
Project management: Prof. Dr. Stefanie Schüler-Springorum (TU Berlin)
Objective: The “meta project” supports the research projects, coordinates networking opportunities among them and ensures transfer of research findings to civil society stakeholders.
Europa-Universität Flensburg - Zentrum für Bildungs-, Unterrichts-, Schul- und Sozialisationsforschung (ZeBUSS); Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf – Institut für Romanistik
Project management: Prof. Dr Iulia-Karin Partrut (Europa-Universität Flensburg)
Objective: The research group explores dynamics, characteristics and effects of Antisemitism in Europe and cooperates with schools in Germany, France, Spain and Romania to develop multi-lingual digital teaching materials across subjects for the prevention of Antisemitism.
Touro College Berlin gGmbH; Universität Potsdam – Departement Inklusionspädagogik; FH Bielefeld – Fachbereich Sozialwesen; Jüdische Gemeinde zu Berlin (Praxispartner)
Project management: Prof. Dr. Özen Odağ (Touro College Berlin gGmbH)
Objective: The research group RESPOND aims to develop a counter voice for young people in order to fight antisemitic hate speech online. In a first step, the project explores the forms of manifestation of Antisemitism in social media outlets and analyses young people’s vulnerability and competence in dealing with them. Subsequently, RESPOND will develop, implement and evaluate a training for disseminators in order to develop media literacy in dealing with antisemitic online hate speech. Findings from the training will be further disseminated to teachers.
Freie Universität Berlin – Seminar für Katholische Theologie; Georg-Eckert-Institut, Leibniz-Institut für internationale Schulbuchforschung; Evangelische Akademien in Deutschland e.V
Project management: Prof. Dr. Rainer Kampling (Freie Universität Berlin)
Objective: The research group identifies and analyses elements of Christianity in historic as well as contemporary forms of Antisemitism. A broad concept of transfer is supposed to ensure conveyance of research findings to the scientific community, schools and adult education. Three aligned sub-projects in historical fundamental research as well as research on educational media will explore the emergence of Antisemitism as well as its persistence.
Salomon Ludwig Steinheim-Institut für deutsch-jüdische Geschichte an der Universität Duisburg-Essen; Technische Universität Braunschweig – Bet Tfila –Forschungsstelle für jüdische Architektur in Europa; Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege, Fachbereich „Erfassung jüdischer Grabmäler in Bayern“
Project management: Dr. Cordula Lissner (Salomon Ludwig Steinheim-Institut)
Objective: Jewish cemeteries are meant to last. However, attacks have shown that they are vulnerable places. The research group Net Olam makes an essential contribution through a broad and interdisciplinary data collection which is supposed to form a base for further research undertakings. By developing hand outs and specific measures for the protection of vulnerable objects, the project contributes to concepts of prevention.
Leibniz-Institut für jüdische Geschichte und Kultur – Simon Dubnow (DI); Georg-Eckert-Institut – Leibniz-Institut für internationale Schulbuchforschung; Arbeitskreis Deutsch-Jüdische Geschichte im Verband der Geschichtslehrer Deutschlands e.V. (VDG)
Project management: Prof. Dr. Yfaat Weiss (Leibniz-Institut für jüdische Geschichte und Kultur – Simon Dubnow)
Objective: The research group combines cultural-historic fundamental research and applied research on educational materials. The results will be processed and conveyed to disseminators and teachers in the field of historical-political education to use them for the prevention of Antisemitism. Jews are here not portrayed primarily as victims of discrimination and persecution but as subjects with plural-religious, secular and political identities.
Website Turning the object into the subject
Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen - Fachbereich Rechtswissenschaft; Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin – Lehrstuhl für Öffentliches Recht und Geschlechterstudien; Universität Heidelberg – Institut für ausländisches und internationales Privat- und Wirtschaftsrecht; Moses Mendelssohn Zentrum für europäisch-jüdische Studien; Bundesverband der Recherche- und Informationsstellen Antisemitismus e.V.
Project management: Prof. Dr. Thilo Marauhn (Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen)
Objective: The research group analyses the role of the judiciary in fighting Antisemitism. It takes stock of the most important legal fields, explores the legal interpretation of (the term) Antisemitism, addresses its consideration in the context of legal processes and takes into account the perspective of those affected.
Sigmund-Freud-Institut; Katholische Hochschule Nordrhein-Westfalen; Technische Universität Berlin – FG Allgemeine Linguistik
Project management: Dr. Kurt Grünberg (Sigmund-Freud-Institut)
Objective: The interdisciplinary project focusses on the experiences of Antisemitism among Third Generation – descendants of Shoah survivors. It will be analysed if and how contemporary Antisemitism re-actualizes the grandparents’ experiences of persecution in a transgenerational manner in the life of today’s Third Generation descendants.
Hochschule für Jüdische Studien Heidelberg / Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland; Duisburger Institut für Sprach- und Sozialforschung e.V.
Project management: Rabbinerin Prof. Birgit Klein (Hochschule für Jüdische Studien Heidelberg)
Objective: The project examines to what extent Jews are being influenced in their ritual practice by anti-Jewish portrayals or anti-Jewish reactions toward their rituals. Workshops and different online materials will contribute to the conveyance of unprejudiced knowledge on Jewish ritual practice.
Ruhr-Universität Bochum – Historisches Institut und Center for Religious Studies; Tikvah Institut gemeinnützige UG; Universität Bielefeld – Fakultät für Erziehungswissenschaft; Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen - Hector Institut für Empirische Bildungsforschung; Hochschule für Polizei und öffentliche Verwaltung NRW
Project management: Prof. Nicola Brauch (Ruhr-Universität Bochum)
Objective: The research group EMPATHIA³ professionalizes trainee teachers and police officers in handling Antisemitism. In order to do so, the project will develop, implement and evaluate a key curriculum for the prevention and countering of Antisemitism, a test for the assessment of knowledge and attitudes as well as a shared course program for the target groups.
Johann Wolfgang-Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main – Fachbereich Erziehungswissenschaften; Institut für die Geschichte der deutschen Juden – Hamburg; Universität Hamburg, Akademie der Weltreligionen
Project management: Prof. Dr. Isabell Diehm (Johann Wolfgang-Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main)
Objective: The interdisciplinary research group explores religiously coded construction of difference among children in three different pedagogical settings (taking into account the perspectives of children, parents, pedagogues and teachers), to spot antisemitic attitudes at the time of their emergence in order to counteract them early on.
In another collaborative project, "Der Sammler und seine Dinge” (The Collector and His Things), the Centre for Research on Anti-Semitism (ZfA) at the TU Berlin and the Foundation of the German Historical Museum (DHM) are researching the comprehensive "Wolfgang Haney Collection" that has around 15,000 artefacts. The ZfA examines the history of anti-Semitic everyday objects and links them to the history of the collection as well as to the biography of the collector Wolfgang Haney. With financial support from the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR), the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the Cultural Foundation of the German Federal States, the DHM acquired the "Wolfgang Haney Collection", which is outstanding for research into anti-Semitism.
