About us

On 31st October 2018 the “Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism” (Bundesverband der Recherche- und Informationsstellen Antisemitismus e.V.) was founded in Berlin. Its aim is to use the reporting portal www.report-antisemitism.de to ensure consistent recording and documentation of antisemitic incidents by civil society throughout Germany. In doing so, the Federal Association draws on the working methods and technologies developed by the “Association for a Democratic Culture in Berlin” (VDK e.V.) since 2015. The Federal Association RIAS e.V. initiates and supports the establishment of regional reporting and support networks and trains new civil society projects whose main purpose is the civil society recording of antisemitic incidents in Germany.

The regional registration offices meet regularly within the framework of a federal working group of the Federal Association in order to standardize existing working methods and further develop the quality standards of the work.

In particular, the Federal Association promotes trust and, associated with this, the willingness of Jews and persons perceived as Jews to make use of civil society reporting and support services.

Close and continuous cooperation with the Central Council of Jews in Germany, the regional associations of the Jewish communities and the Competence Centre for Prevention and Empowerment at the Central Welfare Office of Jews in Germany (ZWST e.V.) and other Jewish organisations is central to this concern. At the same time, continuous consultation with the existing advisory and support services of victim counselling, mobile counselling and anti-discrimination counselling is central to the success of a gradually developing nationwide reporting and support network.

Background and funding

Since March 2017, the VDK e.V. has been working together with the ZWST e.V. to set up a nationwide coordination office for the civil society recording of antisemitic incidents using funds from the "Bundesprogramm Demokratie Leben!“ Within the framework of this project, dense problem descriptions of regional manifestations of antisemitic incidents were not only compiled in Bavaria, Hesse and Brandenburg, but incident reports were also processed nationwide.

The Potsdam “Moses-Mendelssohn Centre for European Jewish Studies“ (MMZ) and the “International Institute for Education and Research on Antisemitism“ (IIBSA), based in Berlin, provided scientific support for the project.

Since 1 February, the project “Research and Information Centre on Antisemitism - Federal Coordination“ (RIAS – BK) under the auspices of the Federal Association RIAS e.V. has been funded from the budget of the Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against Antisemitism.