A video has spread on social networks in which a girl reads a poem with calls to kill fascists. Many users perceived this video as an element of Russian propaganda and instilling in children hatred of Ukrainians. We checked if this is true.

Video of a girl reading a poem about the Nazis appeared in several Ukrainian media. "Reviewer” wrote in the headline: “In Russia they began to use children to agitate murder: a girl was forced to read the poem “Kill him”.” Edition UAportal wrote: “A little Russian woman declaims that nothing will save her homeland if not the occupiers (Russian military - Ed.).” The same video with similar comments appeared in many Ukrainian Telegrams.channels, including in channel Advisor to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Anton Gerashchenko.

The poem does not mention either Ukrainians or Russians. However, the idea that Russia is waging war in Ukraine against Ukrainian Nazis has taken root in Russian society And media sphere. Therefore, many perceived these lines of the poem as a call for enmity with the Ukrainians:

"If you are a fascist with a gun
You don't want to give it away forever
The house where you lived, your wife and mother,
Everything that we call homeland -
 
Know: no one will save her,
If you don't save her;
Know: no one will kill him,
If you don't kill him.
 
So kill the fascist so that he
And it wasn’t you who was lying on the ground,
Not in your house to moan,
And in it there were dead people standing.
 
Let it not be yours to cry,
And his mother who gave birth,
Not yours, but his family
Let him wait in vain.
 
So kill at least one!
So kill him quickly!
How many times will you see him?
Kill him so many times!”

These lines are an excerpt from a poem by a Soviet writer and poet Konstantina Simonova. Throughout the Great Patriotic War, Simonov worked as a war correspondent, so a significant part of his work is devoted to the war. The poem “If your home is dear to you,” which is heard in the video, was written by Simonov at the height of the war in 1942. Initially poem appeared in the newspaper "Red Star" under the title "Kill him!" In 1966, “politically correct” edits were made to the poem for publication in the complete works of Simonov. Instead of "Kill him" the work became be called according to the first line: “If your home is dear to you.” Two stanzas about a schoolteacher hanged by the Germans were also removed. The word "German" was replaced by "fascist".

As a rule, supporters of the Russian “special operation” in Ukraine use the term “Nazis" or "neo-Nazis" in relation to Ukrainians, and not "fascists" Nevertheless, many decided that the call to kill the fascists that came from the girl’s lips was directed specifically against the Ukrainians.

In fact, this video appeared long before the start of the war in Ukraine. In 2019, YouTube user Natalia Gruzenko uploaded video his nine-year-old daughter Sophia, who is engaged in acting and removed to the cinema. Apparently, the YouTube channel serves as an acting portfolio: Sophia’s mother publishes there video, where a girl reads poems by Eduard Asadov, Bella Akhmadulina, Konstantin Simonov and other poets on camera, including on a military theme. The poem “Kill Him” is just one of many on this channel and in terms of presentation and surroundings it is no different from the others.

*Source: Instagram gruzenko_sofia_actress*

So, we can conclude that this video has nothing to do with Ukraine or military propaganda. Simonov wrote his poem directly about German soldiers during the Great Patriotic War. And the girl Sophia read his excerpt on camera to demonstrate her acting abilities, and not for the purpose of anti-Ukrainian propaganda.

Cover image: YouTube