The finding

The matching government reply separates Islamist terrorism from a category that includes non-Islamist terrorism. Calling their combined total Islamist changes the meaning of the evidence. Our reconstruction explains a possible route to 96%; it does not establish the publisher's exact source or intention.

  • The official reply reports 180 Islamist investigations and 114 in a separate foreign-related category during 2025.
  • Adding those categories gives about 96% of the four reported counts, but the foreign-related group includes non-Islamist terrorism.
  • These counts cannot tell us the share of attacks that were Islamist, or the share of all investigations across Germany.

The post makes a claim about investigations in 2025

Visegrád24 published the post on 13 October 2026. Its caption says 96% of federal terrorism and national-security investigations in Germany in 2025 were linked to Islamist terrorism. The image makes a broader claim about all terrorism and security-threat investigations in Germany.

The caption also mentions nine right-wing investigations, two left-wing investigations, IS, the Taliban and alleged offences abroad. Those details match a German government's answer to a parliamentary question. That makes it a strong source match, but the publisher has not confirmed it.

Sources: Visegrád24German Bundestag / Federal Government

The government counted four different categories

Germany's Federal Public Prosecutor opens investigations into possible offences. The government reply reports how many new investigations it opened in 2025 under four headings. The answer was given on 26 February 2026, in question 66 of Bundestag document 21/4372.

New federal investigation proceedings in 2025: the four counts reported in question 66
Category in our English translationReported count
Islamist terrorism180
Foreign-related extremism114
Right-wing extremism9
Left-wing extremism2

The crucial distinction is between the first two rows below. The official category translated here as foreign-related extremism includes international non-Islamist terrorism and international left-wing and right-wing extremism. It does not mean all foreigners, and it cannot be relabelled Islamist.

An investigation means authorities are examining a possible offence. Opening one does not establish that an attack happened or that someone is guilty.

Sources: German Bundestag / Federal Government

Adding the first two categories produces about 96%

The four reported counts add to 305. The first two add to 294. Dividing 294 by 305 gives 96.3934%, which rounds to 96%.

Our arithmetic from the published category counts; not an official attack rate
StepCalculationResult
Combined first two categories180 + 114294
Sum of four reported counts180 + 114 + 9 + 2305
Combined share of that row sum294 / 305 × 10096.3934%, about 96%

That is one plausible route to the post's number. But the 294 combines two different categories. The arithmetic cannot turn the non-Islamist cases in the second category into Islamist cases.

This is our reconstruction from the matching official reply, not a confirmed account of how the publisher calculated its percentage.

Sources: German Bundestag / Federal Government

The four counts are not a total of all German cases

There is another reason to be careful with the percentage. A later government reply, document 21/5343, says an investigation can appear in more than one category. It also reports categories beyond these four. Both replies leave out covert investigations.

Think of labels on files. If one file has two labels, adding the number of labels does not tell you how many different files there are. The sum of 305 is therefore not a verified total of separate investigations. Nor does a federal-prosecutor table cover every investigation by authorities across Germany.

For the same reason, we do not offer 180 divided by 305 as a corrected national percentage. That would reuse a total that does not answer the national question.

Sources: German Bundestag / Federal GovernmentGerman Bundestag / Federal Government

A second reply helps explain the 114

The April reply lists 111 new 2025 investigations under international non-Islamist terrorism, one under international right-wing terrorism and two under international left-wing terrorism. Together they add to 114.

Later 2025 counts compatible with the foreign-related category; not a case-by-case reconciliation
Later categoryReported count
International non-Islamist terrorism111
International right-wing terrorism1
International left-wing terrorism2
Sum of these reported counts114

That fits the size and definition of the earlier foreign-related category. We have checked that the totals agree; we have not matched individual case files between the two replies.

Sources: German Bundestag / Federal GovernmentGerman Bundestag / Federal Government

Many alleged offences took place outside Germany

The February reply says most Islamist investigations concerned alleged offences abroad linked to IS or the Taliban, with connections to Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. It also says many investigations were passed to state prosecutors or discontinued.

Moving a case to another prosecutor does not create a new case. Nor should transferred cases be subtracted from the number opened in 2025: where a case goes next is a different question from whether it was opened that year.

The 180 Islamist investigations are real in the published table. Explaining the category error does not dismiss Islamist terrorism as a security concern. It shows why this percentage cannot measure attacks in Germany, the beliefs of a wider population, or the overall danger posed by different ideologies.

Sources: German Bundestag / Federal Government

What we checked and what could change the finding

Checked: the four reported counts, the category definitions, the later reply and the calculation that produces about 96%.

Still unclear: the publisher's exact source, calculation and intention. We also do not have individual case records that would let us remove overlap between categories.

Next update: no enquiry or reminder is scheduled for this finding. We can revisit it if the publisher provides its source or official evidence changes the conclusion. The Misinformation Claim label concerns the inaccurate category description, not proof of deliberate deception.

Sources: German Bundestag / Federal GovernmentGerman Bundestag / Federal GovernmentVisegrád24

What is established

  • The matching official reply records 180 Islamist investigations and 114 under a different category that includes non-Islamist terrorism.
  • Combining those two categories produces about 96% of the four reported category counts.
  • The records describe new federal investigations in 2025, not the number of attacks or people convicted.

What remains unknown

  • The publisher's exact source, calculation and intention.
  • How many separate cases there were after removing category overlap and including omitted categories.
  • The share of attacks in Germany attributable to any ideology.

The story, in order

Counting period begins
The new-proceedings counts cover calendar 2025.

Counting period ends
The figures do not count every later active investigation.

Government answers question 66
Four counts and the foreign-related category definition are supplied.

Government supplies a further reply
The introduction warns that categories can overlap; other categories are also reported.

Viral post checked
Original wording compared with the official replies; exact source and intent remain unconfirmed.

YOUR TURN TO CHECK

Reproduce this investigation

Repeat the category check and calculation yourself, with the limits beside each step.

You will need
A browser and Excel or another spreadsheet app; Python 3 is optional for the included calculation script

Four reported counts / CSVLater category cross-check / CSVCalculation and limits / TXTRepeat the calculation / ZIPStep-by-step guide · TXTSource notes · TXTTimeline · CSV
What you can and cannot repeat

These downloads contain our transcribed public counts and calculations. They do not contain individual cases, covert investigations, a deduplicated national dataset or proof of the publisher's method. Direct official PDF downloads may show a verification screen; our source text was checked through the web reader. The original PDF links are provided, but original PDF binaries are not included in the download bundle.

  1. Compare the original words

    Open the original Instagram post. Compare the caption's federal scope with the wider image headline. Find the 96% label and the nine/two counts.

    Original post

    Keep in mind The exact wording was preserved during our signed-in check. Instagram may require login; the source-notes download explains our access.

  2. Find the official 2025 counts

    Open document 21/4372. Go to question 66, printed pages 48 and 49, PDF pages 54 and 55. The answer is dated 26 February 2026. Read the question, the complete reply and its scope.

    Question 66 and full reply

    Keep in mind Look for 180, 9, 2 and 114. The measure is newly opened Federal Public Prosecutor proceedings in calendar 2025.

  3. Check the second category before adding

    Read the definition on printed page 49. It includes international non-Islamist terrorism and international left-wing and right-wing extremism. Keep this category separate from Islamist terrorism.

    Category definition

  4. Recalculate the possible route to 96%

    Open Four reported counts / CSV in the download links. Add its four reported count values, then add the Islamist and foreign-related values. Divide the second sum by the first and multiply by 100.

    (180 + 114) / (180 + 114 + 9 + 2) × 100 = 96.3934426%
    Source of the four values

    Keep in mind In Excel enter =(180+114)/(180+114+9+2)*100 and round to zero decimal places. Matching 96% does not prove this was the author's method.

  5. Cross-check the later category breakdown

    Open 21/5343. Read questions 5, 14 and 20 for the new 2025 counts under international right-wing terrorism, international left-wing terrorism and international non-Islamist terrorism. Compare with the cross-check CSV.

    1 + 2 + 111 = 114
    Later official reply

    Keep in mind Compatibility of aggregate counts is not case-level reconciliation. Do not add active-case counts or numbers of suspects to new-proceedings counts.

  6. Read the counting limits

    Read the April reply's introduction on PDF pages 1 and 2. It says proceedings can appear under more than one category and excludes covert cases. Read the later questions to see other categories beyond the four-count sum.

    April introduction

    Keep in mind A row sum of 305 is not a verified total of different cases in all Germany. Do not turn it into a national attack rate.

  7. Check what happened to the proceedings

    Return to question 66. Note the alleged offences abroad, IS/Taliban connections, transfers and discontinuances. Keep a count of cases opened separate from outcomes and attacks.

    Scope and alleged foreign offences

  8. Run the optional script and retain uncertainty

    Extract the recalculation ZIP and run python calculate.py from that folder, or use the Excel formula above. The script reads the CSVs and should return 305, 294, 96.3934426% and a cross-check sum of 114.

    Main original source

    Keep in mind The script checks arithmetic only. Author source and intent are still unknown; there is no scheduled update for this finding.

Sources you can check

Research checked 13 October 2026. We inspected the original post and two official parliamentary replies, translated the relevant definitions into English and recalculated published counts. The public CSVs are our factual transcriptions, not raw case-level government data. The category share is a reconstruction with explicitly limited scope. Research and production assisted by AI.

Inspect the evidence

Source notes include the links and verification limits. The timeline opens in Excel or any spreadsheet app.

Source notes · TXTTimeline · CSVFour reported counts / CSVLater category cross-check / CSVCalculation and limits / TXTRepeat the calculation / ZIP

Photo credit and licence

German police officer on a city street. Sibrapid/Shutterstock.com. Shutterstock Standard Image License. Capture date not supplied. Resized and cropped for display. The homepage also uses a dark gradient and text overlay. The original stock file is not offered as a download.

Carousel photograph credits and licences

These credits cover the carousel photographs. Original stock files are not distributed here. The logo remains separate brand artwork.

Research and production assisted by AI. Read our approach

Have evidence that could change this finding? Contact TALLYCAT01