In July 2024, Telegram channels circulated a photo that allegedly showed a page dedicated to Hitler in a textbook used in Ukrainian schools. We have verified the authenticity of this image.
It is reported that in one of the textbooks, which is either already taught in Ukrainian schools, or will begin to teach history in the next academic year, a paragraph about Adolf Hitler appeared. There, in particular, it is said that “in the history of Ukraine, Hitler played one of the decisive roles, making an attempt to liberate our lands from the Soviet occupiers” and that “The Lviv region was deoccupied in 1941.” The statement was supported by a photograph of the corresponding page from the textbook.
The news was disseminated primarily by Telegram channels such as “The world of Mikhail Onufrienko"(215,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Putin on Telegram" (202,000), "Two majors"(180,000), Voblya (145,000) and "Ostashko! Important"(112,000).
World War II became difficult test for the peoples living on the territory of modern Ukraine. In September 1939, in accordance with additional protocols to the Soviet-German non-aggression pact, Western Volyn and almost all of Galicia, which were part of Poland, were occupied by Soviet troops and were soon officially declared part of the Ukrainian SSR. In June 1940, the same fate befell Northern Bukovina, which at that time belonged to Romania. By mid-1941, more than a million residents of these regions (primarily Poles and Jews) were deported to Siberia.
On June 22, 1941, German troops invaded the territory of the USSR and in a short time were able to capture the entire Ukrainian SSR. Although in the west of the republic, in Galicia, part of the population initially perceived them as liberators, the Nazis soon began to implement their own racial policies and carry out mass repressions. On the territory of the Ukrainian SSR in 1941–1944, about 1.5 million Jews died, and more than 2 million people were taken to Germany as forced laborers. The total losses of the republic during the war years are estimated at 5–7 million inhabitants.
One of public holidays modern Ukraine - celebrated on May 8, the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism. Propaganda of Nazism, as well as the production and distribution of corresponding symbols directly prohibited The country's criminal code. Adopted in 2015 law “On the condemnation of the communist and national socialist (Nazi) totalitarian regimes in Ukraine and the prohibition of the propaganda of their symbols,” the political regime of the Third Reich is directly recognized as criminal, and the state is charged with the obligation “to take measures aimed at increasing public awareness of [its] crimes.” At the same time, some decisions of the Ukrainian authorities (such as, for example, renaming streets in honor of Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera) allow Russian officials speak about the glorification of Nazism in a neighboring country.
According to Ukrainian school education programs, local schoolchildren study the Second World War in the 10th grade. "Verified" studied those released in 2018 And 2023 years, textbooks in three subjects: “History of Ukraine”, “World History” and an integrated course “Ukraine and the World”. These manuals talk about the important role of Ukrainians in the Red Army during the Second World War, about the nationwide nature of the struggle for the liberation of Ukraine and about Ukrainians who received the titles of Heroes of the USSR, orders and medals. There are no chapters or paragraphs in which a complimentary attitude towards Hitler is expressed in the textbooks.
Some Telegram channels say that the viral photo shows a page from a new edition of one of the textbooks that Ukrainian schoolchildren will begin studying with later this year. However, “Verified” did not find any reports from responsible departments or the media on this topic. The largest Ukrainian publications and the Ukrainian-language segment of social networks did not discuss the news about the praise of Hitler in textbooks that spread across the RuNet.
The page shown in the photo has several signs of being fake. Its design is radically different from the design of real textbooks. At the bottom of the page, its number, chapter or section name is not indicated (in Telegram channels there is also no information about the author of the manual or the publishing house that issued it). The word "Reich Chancellor" in Ukrainian is written otherwise: “Reich Chancellor”. The layout also looks suspicious: although the sheet is curved, the different elements on the page are located strictly in a straight line, and not parallel to each other.
According to TGStat, this photo was first posted on Telegram by the pro-Russian channel “Sledgehammer 18+"(58,000 views) July 1 at 23:50 Moscow time. He was already there before spotted in the dissemination of false information. It is noteworthy that eight days before this, pro-Russian channels distributed another “leaf from a history textbook”, which is allegedly used in Ukrainian schools. It was a fake, the creators of which were given away by the content of the text: the history of Lviv in the first half of the 20th century, represented for some reason only by the events of the First and Second World Wars, consisted mainly of direct quotes from Russian-speaking "Wikipedia", carelessly translated into Ukrainian with some author's changes and additions.
Those posts said: “Hitler is not being praised yet, but a little more and they will begin.” In fact, this comment was embodied in a photo that went viral about a week later. Like its “predecessor,” it has nothing to do with real Ukrainian history textbooks.
Cover photo: Wikimedia Commons
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