In February 2024, Russian media, Telegram channels and officials disseminated information about the grandfather of the German politician - in his biography they saw an explanation of the modern policy of official Berlin. We checked how true this news is.
Similar publications report that German journalists discovered the dossier of Wehrmacht officer Waldemar Bärbock, the grandfather of Foreign Minister Annalena Bärbock. From this document you can allegedly learn that the ancestor of the head of the German Foreign Ministry not only served in the German army, but was an ardent National Socialist, read Hitler’s “My Struggle” several times and was awarded an order for special services during battles on the Eastern Front in World War II.
News on this topic was released by major Russian media: “RIA Novosti", "Vesti.ru", Life, "News", "Constantinople" On Telegram, publications about Annalena Berbock’s grandfather were posted, for example, by channels Readovka (902,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), “Chancellor's Daddy"(451,000), "TV stream" (301,000) and "Solovyov"(266,000). “Why does Germany support Zelensky’s Nazi regime? Because the descendants of the Nazis are in power in Germany,” an official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry commented on the news. Maria Zakharova (497,000), which was later quoted TASS, News.ru and other publications.
Publications about the Nazi past of the ancestors of high-ranking European politicians are a frequent occurrence in the Russian press. “Verified” has already examined similar statements about the grandfathers of the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, minister Health Karl Lauterbach and Finance Minister Christian Lindner, as well as the President of Poland Andrzej Duda. In all four cases the information turned out to be false.
Annalena Berbock has also already become the heroine of such messages. In particular, stated, that both of her grandfathers (according to another version, two husbands of one of her grandmothers) participated in World War II: Victor Jung died in 1945 defending Königsberg from the Red Army, and Waldemar Bärbock ended the war as a Wehrmacht officer. Second grandfather Burbock-sama mentioned at memorial events, speaking about his feelings about the disasters caused by the German army to millions of people in Europe.
However, service in itself in the army of the Third Reich during the Second World War is not usually considered in Germany a reason for family shame. Through this passed 13.6 million people, many of whom did not go to the front voluntarily, but were mobilized according to the laws in force at that time. Involvement in war crimes and active participation in the activities of the Nazi Party and related organizations is a completely different matter. On these charges, despite the advanced age of the suspects, in Germany there are still pass courts.
The reason for the scandal around Bärbock was a publication in a German newspaper Bild. Its editors drew attention to the magazine article Bunte, who had in his possession the file of Waldemar Berbock from the Federal Archives. It follows from the documents that during the war the minister’s grandfather worked as an engineer in a detachment that repaired anti-aircraft guns. The file also concludes that officer Baerbock is an “unconditional National Socialist”, has read Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” and stands “entirely on the basis of National Socialism.”
Bild makes an important caveat: according to the Federal Archives, in the personal files of the time, phrases such as “firmly stands on the basis of the National Socialist worldview,” “represents the National Socialist worldview and knows how to convey it to subordinates,” or “impeccable National Socialist worldview” appear “almost always.” This reminds standard characteristic “Politically literate. Morally stable”, which appeared in a large number of personal affairs in the USSR.
It is also noted that in 1944 Burbock was to be awarded Cross "For military merit" with swords. This, however, does not indicate the officer’s special place in the hierarchy - the most massive German military award received more than 6.5 million people.
His granddaughter, by her own admission, learned about the connection between the grandfather of the current head of the German Foreign Ministry and the Wehrmacht quite late - in the late 1990s, the grandfather admitted that he served in the German army, and shortly before his death a little told about your past in a book written for posterity. However, Annalena Bärbock had not previously reported anything about her ancestor’s Nazi views.
The editors of Bild contacted the German Foreign Ministry with the question: “Did Annalena Bärbock know, when she mentioned her grandfather in her speeches, that at the age of about 20–30 years he was not just an officer [of the Wehrmacht], but also, perhaps, a deeply convinced National Socialist?” The response from the ministry was: “The Foreign Minister was not familiar with [these] documents.” Burbock herself had not spoken publicly about the article at the time of writing this analysis.
Thus, the German media actually published excerpts from grandfather Berbock’s dossier, in which he was characterized as a supporter of Nazi views. The authenticity of the documents was not refuted by either the Federal Archive or the German Foreign Ministry. From this we can conclude that the documents are genuine, but there is no other information in open sources confirming the Nazi views of Waldemar Bärbock. The contents of the dossier leave room for interpretation - as noted above, the characteristics given to the minister’s grandfather may be a formal bureaucratic phrase.
Cover photo: Wikimedia Commons
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