The Kremlin rewriting German unification - EUvsDisinfo
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RT Deutsch disinformation shows what happens when information manipulation is projected backwards, into history, to serve contemporary agendas

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Information manipulation tends to have specific aims in the here and now: to shift a policy, to confuse voters, to create instability in a society seen as hostile. But sometimes, these aims are best achieved by projecting manipulation into the past. The symbolic dates of 3 October and 9 November are good recent examples.

3 October, a public holiday in Germany, marks the day in 1990 when the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic were reunited in a single state. German unification had been made possible by the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989.

But 9 November also marks another occasion, as the pro-Kremlin disinformation outlet RT Deutsch gleefully pointed out last year(opens in a new tab) – the first large-scale anti-Jewish pogrom in Nazi Germany in 1938, known as Reichspogromnacht or Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass).

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[The] RT German pieces question the meaning of 9 November and how German unification is being commemorated in contemporary politics in Germany. They shed doubt on the historical accuracy of the parallels being drawn between distinct events in an effort to address current issues related to anti-Semitism, violence, immigration, and the European position towards Russia.

While not immediately apparent as disinformation, the cumulative effect of such assertions is clear enough: a wholesale rewriting of recent history, at the service of contemporary agendas.

  • federal reverseMEnglish
    32·
    1 month ago

    Firstly — I find the article on EUvsDisinfo badly written. The fact that it doesn’t include longer quotes from the original RT articles doesn’t help. It also doesn’t help that it haphazardly jumps from one [source] article to the next.

    The two events are extremely differently.

    True but the idea that they should be compared is injected by RT. If you look at the Twitter posts they’re quoting, they’re making a connection but they’re not comparing.

    Annalena Baerbock:

    It remains our everlasting duty to ensure that Jews in Germany can live visibly and without fear. It is the responsibility of all of us to shape our present from an awareness of our past. Never again is now. [Translated with DeepL]

    And Grüne-Fraktion Sachsen:

    #NeverAgainIsNow. We commemorate all victims of the November pogroms of 1938. We commemorate the victims of the cruel attack on Israel by the terrorist organization Hamas on 7.10.2023. We oppose all forms of anti-Semitism and stand in solidarity with the Jews. [Translated with DeepL]

    The now broken government coalition including the Greens passed a law to make deportations easier

    You’re right that the EUvsDisinfo article is total BS here—the Green party shift does exist. However, do look at the RT article again:

    However, some people in this country have not forgotten who has played a significant role in the current misery [implied to mean antisemitic attacks perpetrated by Muslims]. For those with less good memories, we would therefore like to remind you of the speech on the “new Germany” given by Katrin Göring-Eckardt, then leader of the Green parliamentary group in the Bundestag, in November 2015 [Translated with DeepL]

    RT is unsurprisingly exploring xenophobic ideas here.