Spaces of memory and spaces of hatred: countering antisemitism in contemporary Germany

Abstract

Germany possesses the most elaborate system in Europe for countering antisemitism, grounded in an interweaving of constitutional and criminal norms, administrative mechanisms, and a widespread educational and memorial infrastructure. Nevertheless, data from the RIAS system document 8,627 antisemitic incidents in 2024, marking an 80% increase compared to the previous year. Through the lens of cultural geography, this article analyses this apparent paradox not as a failure of public policies, but as the result of a structural spatial asymmetry: while the German system produces territorialized spaces of memory and responsibility (memorials, schools, curricula, educational policies), contemporary antisemitism operates predominantly in deterritorialized spaces (digital platforms, transnational narratives, diasporic networks). The analysis shows how federalism generates fragmented normative geographies, how the educational infrastructure encounters limits within an increasingly multicultural society, and how new forms of antisemitism—particularly in university and digital spaces—escape traditional mechanisms of recognition and prevention. The article ultimately argues for the need to reconceptualize the fight against antisemitism as a multilevel spatial policy capable of operating beyond the physical sites of memory.