In February 2024, the Russian media, Telegram channels and officials distributed information about the grandfather of the German politician-in his biography they saw an explanation of the modern policy of the official Berlin. We checked how true this news is.
Such publications reported that German journalists discovered the dossier of the Wehrmacht Officer Valdemar Berbook, the grandfather of the Foreign Minister Annalenna Berbock. From this document it is supposedly to find out that the ancestor of the head of the German Foreign Ministry did not just serve in the German army, but was an ardent national socialist, read Hitler’s “my struggle” several times and was awarded the Order for special merits during the battles on the Eastern Front in World War II.
The news on this topic was released by large Russian media: ""RIA Novosti","Vesti.ru" Life, "News","Tsargrad". In Telegram, the publication of grandfather Annalenna Berobok placed, for example, channels Readovka (902,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Chancellor's daddy"(451 000),"Body stream"(301 000) and"Solovyov"(266 000). “Why does Germany support the Nazi regime of Zelensky? Because the descendants of the Nazis are in power in Germany, ”the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation commented on the news Maria Zakharova (497,000), which subsequently quoted TASS, News.ru and other publications.
Publications on the Nazi past of the ancestors of high -ranking European politicians are a frequent phenomenon in the Russian press. "Verified" already dismantled such allegations about the grandfathers of the Chancellor of Germany Olaf Sholtsa, Minister healthcare of Karl Lauterbach and Minister of Finance Christian Lindner, as well as the President of Poland Andrzej Duddy. In all four cases, the information was false.
Annalena Bergok also already became the heroine of such messages. In particular, Approvedthat both of her grandfathers (according to another version, two husbands of one of her grandmothers) participated in the Second World War: Victor Jung died in 1945, defending Königsberg from the Red Army, and Waldemar Bergok ended the war as an officer of the Wehrmacht. Second Grandfather Berbok herself mentioned At memorial events, speaking of his experiences about the disasters caused by the German army to millions of people in Europe.
However, in itself, the service in the army of the Third Reich during the Second World War is usually not considered in Germany the reason for family shame. Through this passed 13.6 million people, many of whom went to the front not voluntarily, but were mobilized according to the then laws. A completely different matter is involvement in war crimes and active participation in the activities of the Nazi party and related organizations. On these charges, despite the advanced age of the suspects, in Germany still pass Courts.
The reason for the scandal around Berbok was the publication in the German newspaper Bild. His editors drew attention to the article of the magazine Bunte, at the disposal of which the dossier Valdemara Berbook from the federal archive turned out to be at the disposal. From the documents it follows that during the war the Minister’s grandfather worked as an engineer in a detachment engaged in the repair of anti -aircraft guns. The case also contains the conclusion that the officer of Berobok is “Unconditional National Socialist”, read Hitler’s book “Mine Campf” and stands “completely on the basis of national socialism”.
Bild makes an important reservation: according to the federal archive, in the personal affairs of that time “almost always” there are phrases such as “firmly on the basis of the national socialist worldview”, “represents the National Socialist worldview and can convey it to subordinates” or “impeccable national socialist worldview”. It reminds Standard The characterization is “politically literate. Morally stable ", which appeared in a large number of personal cases in the USSR.
It is also noted that in 1944, Berbok was to be awarded Cross "For military merits" with swords. This, however, does not speak about the special place of the officer in the hierarchy - the most massive German military award Received more than 6.5 million people.
On the connection of the grandfather of the current head of the German Foreign Ministry with the Wehrmacht, his granddaughter, by his own admission, found out quite late-in the late 1990s, the grandfather admitted that he had served in the German army, and shortly before his death a little told About its past in a book written for descendants. Nevertheless, Annalena Berobok did not report anything about the Nazi views of the ancestor.
The Bild editors turned to the FRG FERG with the question: “Did Annalena Berbok know when she mentioned her grandfather in speeches, that at the age of about 20-30 he was not just an officer [of the Wehrmacht], but, possibly, a deeply convinced national socialist?” The answer from the ministry read: "The Minister of Foreign Affairs was not familiar with [these] documents." At the time of writing this analysis, Berbok herself did not speak publicly about the article.
Thus, the German media really published excerpts from the dossier of Grandfather Berbok, 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 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany. From this we can conclude that the documents are genuine, however, in open sources there is no other information confirming the Nazi views of Waldemar Berbook. The content of the dossier at the same time leaves the field for interpretations - as noted above, the grandfather of the Minister of Characteristics can be a formal bureaucratic turnover.
Photo on the cover: Wikimedia Commons
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