Rise of the terrorist threat in Germany

“This means that in Germany, the risk of attacks must be accounted for at any time.” These threats may target not only critical infrastructure but also specific individuals or institutions, taking various forms ranging from classic attacks to hybrid threats and threats in cyberspace.

Internal and International Implications

Similar warnings regarding the increase in the terrorist threat in the European Union were expressed a few months earlier by Bartjan Wegter, the EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator. The rise in the threat level results not only from Russia’s aggressive actions and increasingly frequent reports on the possibility of attacking a NATO member state, but also from the escalation of various forms of radicalism and the renewed intensification of the situation in the Middle East. This is primarily linked to the stance of Iran and its allies, military operations, and the unresolved issue of the Strait of Hormuz.

Attacks in Germany

In this context, it should be noted that in recent years, Germany has experienced several serious manifestations of terrorism. For example, in June 2026, a court sentenced a Saudi Arabian citizen to life imprisonment for the 2024 attack in Magdeburg, where the perpetrator drove a car into a crowd at a Christmas market in the city centre. The attack resulted in 6 deaths and over 200 injuries. In January 2026, left-wing extremists attacked the Berlin power grid. As a result, approximately 45,000 households and over 2,000 companies in south-western Berlin were deprived of electricity, hot water, and heating. In August 2025, a German court sentenced a 16-year-old boy for supporting a foiled terrorist attack intended to be carried out during a Taylor Swift concert in Austria in 2024. A month later, a court sentenced a Syrian citizen identifying with ISIS to life imprisonment for a knife attack during a festival in Solingen in 2024. Three people lost their lives, and 10 were injured. Meanwhile, in February 2025 in Munich, an Afghan national drove a car into protesters, killing 2 people and injuring approximately 40.

Threat Assessment and Countermeasures

According to the Global Terrorism Index 2026: Measuring the Impact of Terrorism report, Germany has been at the forefront of terrorist threats in Europe for several years, currently ranking 29th in the world. In 2025, it experienced the highest number of terrorism-related fatalities among all Western and Central European countries.

This amounted to 6 deaths during 5 attacks. In total, according to Global Terrorism Index data, 221 attacks and 53 deaths have been recorded in the Federal Republic of Germany since 2011. The recently published European Union Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2026 (EU TE-SAT) by Europol presents different data, reporting 4 terrorist attacks in Germany in 2025. Additionally, it highlights that 37 individuals accused of terrorism were arrested.

The aforementioned Minister of the Interior, Alexander Dobrindt, announced, among other things, the acceleration of reforms concerning the German intelligence services in connection with the escalation of the threat. These are to involve, for instance, the expansion of their powers and scope of activity, increased personnel and financial outlays, as well as better coordination. He stated: “My goal is to further develop the intelligence services into true special services, so that they are competitive and capable of partnership-based cooperation with friendly services abroad.” This corresponds with the government’s announcement indicating a comprehensive reform of regulations concerning the activities of the intelligence services. The services are to be granted broad powers to undertake independent actions rather than focusing primarily on gathering and analysing information.

In this context, the question arises: how does the increase in the terrorist threat level in Germany currently affect the state and assessment of terrorism in other EU countries, and particularly in Poland?

Prof. Sebastian Wojciechowski – Department of Strategic Studies and International Security at Adam Mickiewicz University (UAM). Chief Analyst at the Institute for Western Affairs. NATO DEEP eAcademy and OSCE security expert. Editor-in-Chief of “Strategic Review” (Przegląd Strategiczny). His recent publications include: Terrorism in Western and Central Europe: Good News is Bad News and NATO Summit in Ankara: Relief and a Sense of Unfulfilled Expectations as well as Europol and the New Terrorism Algorithm.