A new study found that while antisemitic incidents in Austria decreased during 2022, physical attacks against Jews remained at an all-time high.
A total of 719 antisemitic incidents were noted by the Reporting Centre for Antisemitism (Antisemitismus-Meldestelle) of the Jewish Community of Vienna (IKG Wien) for 2022. This represented a decrease of 25.5 percent from 2021 (965 incidents). The number was approximately hallways between the all-time high of 2021 and the two previous years, during which lower amounts of incidents were reported (550 in 2019 and 585 in 2020).
But while significantly fewer antisemitic incidents occurred overall, the number of physical attacks (assaults and threats, property damage) was at record levels, as high as 2021 and in some instances even higher, the study found.
The Reporting Centre for Antisemitism also pointed out that the report does not provide a complete picture of antisemitic incidents in Austria in the past year, rather simply an overview of reported cases. The study assumed that there were a significant number of incidents that went unreported, as in previous years.
The incidents that made up the data were reported and verified as antisemitic by Antisemitism Reporting Centre experts based on the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
Using a standardized system of categorization that has long been established internationally, the study was also able to compare results based on international data. It found that an overall decrease identified in the first half of 2022 continued into the second half of the years, and that besides a spike in incidents in January and a sudden decrease in December, the number of incidents stayed relatively stable at between 44 and 74 per month.
Many of the incidents occurred online, on social media or discussion forums. The study warned that the numbers for such incidents, including 212 cases originating from social media, is likely many times greater than reported due to each incident being listed as one case while there are often multiple comments in an online discussion or a social media thread.