Is it true that German Chancellor Scholz is the grandson of a former SS Gruppenführer?

Since the beginning of the events in Ukraine, Russian-language sources began to spread information about the relationship between the current German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the former SS general Fritz von Scholz. We checked whether they are actually related.

At the beginning of March 2022, they began to spread posts And publications that Olaf Scholz’s grandfather was an SS general and during the Great Patriotic War he organized the executions of Jews in Poland and the Ukrainian SSR. In connection with this news, many users social networks remembered statement Scholz on genocide in Donbass: “He [Putin] makes the argument that something like genocide is happening in Donbass, which is actually ridiculous.” Some online publications published headlines “The grandson of the fascist SS general Olaf Scholz denies genocide in the Donbass,” and Nikita Mikhalkov said in his program “Besogon”: “It’s no wonder that Mr. Scholz smiles when he hears the word ‘genocide’.” Other publications assumedthat Germany’s anti-Russian policy is dictated by the personal motives of Olaf Scholz, whose grandfather allegedly died in 1944 from a Russian shell. Some publications in this regard called — in addition to the denazification of Ukraine, also denazify Germany.

Often publications about the alleged grandfather of Olaf Scholz are accompanied by photographs of both men, where, according to many, they are one person.

However, the German Press Agency (DPA), having reviewed documents from the federal archives, found out: SS Lieutenant General Fritz von Scholz had no children. He was born in the city of Pilsen, which at that time belonged to Austria-Hungary, and lived with his wife in the Austrian city of Pörtschach am Wörthersee. This confirm archival documents about the military career and marital status of General Scholz, which were reviewed by the DPA. But real Olaf Scholz's grandparents were from Hamburg and worked as railway employees.

Perhaps the idea of ​​Scholz being related to the former SS general was born out of a joke publications news agency "Panorama" for December 2021, published shortly after its introductions to the post of Chancellor of Germany. “Panorama” allegedly quotes Scholz: “Grandfather said that he went to Ukraine with enthusiasm. Visited Ternopil, Kyiv, Lemberg, Rivne, and other cities. I only regretted that I didn’t get to Crimea.” The text further states that Scholz planned his visit at the invitation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine for June 22 next year. At the end of the publication there is a traditional disclaimer “Panoramas”: “All texts on this site are grotesque parodies of reality and are not real news.”

A new round of popularity for Olaf Scholz’s “Nazi roots” occurred after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine. On March 5, the press service of the Concord company, owned by businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, known as “Putin’s chef,” published Prigozhin’s statement: “Who is on the side of evil? Ukrainian Nazis who kill peaceful Russian citizens, Macron and others like him who are colonizing Africa, as well as the “Scholtz-like”. By the way, regarding the latter, I came across an interesting piece of information. It turns out that the grandfather of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was a lieutenant general of the SS troops and personally participated in the executions of Jews in the territories of Poland and present-day Ukraine.”

The next day the post was deleted, and “Concord” was replaced. published a new version of Prigozhin’s statement, from which the mention of Scholz disappeared. Employee of the German publication T-online Lars Wienand sent Concord questions: “Did Mr. Prigozhin make a mistake and therefore delete the statement? Does Mr. Prigozhin regret that these false allegations continue to circulate? Does Mr. Prigogine believe that anyone is personally responsible for the actions of their ancestors?”

In response, Prigozhin revealed his source of information: his colleagues from the Patriot media holding allegedly brought him a “funny certificate” in which the pedigree of the German Chancellor was described. And when asked why the post was deleted, Prigozhin replied:

“I am a person far from politics; strictly speaking, I don’t know much about anything other than cutlets. My friends who understand politics called me. Not from the Kremlin, not from the FSB, but just friends who assess the political situation more broadly than I do and said:

- Chancellor Scholz is a big asshole, and his grandfather was probably an SS man. But by pulling the skeleton out of the closet, you will offend all the Germans.

To which I answered them:

“What should I do, dear politically savvy friends?” If I remove the post, I will be embarrassed and they may ask me why I did it.

“It’s better for you to be ashamed once than for all the Germans to feel uncomfortable,” they answered me in unison.”

Since Prigozhin’s publication dated March 5 is the earliest mention of the “SS grandfather” Scholz, and Prigozhin himself never provided a copy of the “funny certificate,” we can conclude that it was Prigozhin who was the author of this fake.

Fake

What do our verdicts mean?

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