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.

  • QuittenbrotEnglish
    2·
    3 hours ago

    This is part of a longer lasting strategy to shift the blame of antisemitism onto immigrants from muslim countries, despite the overwhelming majority of antisemitic crimes in Germany being committed by white Neo-nazi Germans.

    To acknowledge the antisemitism present in muslim communities does not mean the existence of a “longer lasting strategy to shift the blame”. Especially since your wording implies some sort of orchestrated effort.

    Calling out the article for using “similarly insincere tactics” as Russia does “for their own propaganda” and then also adding your personal spin (or conspiracy?) as something factual seems odd.

    For police violence against protests just put “berlin police violence demonstrations” in your favorite search engine. There is countless of videos from the past year, primarily against Gaza protests but also instance of violence against climate activists, like police officers gleefully breaking the wrist of an already detained person in spring.

    Yes, and there were the “protestors” raiding a Berlin university, deliberately destroying things and threatening the people there. Their “protest” looks like this. As the whole conflict, nothing is as black and white as some like to pretend. I know your very strong opinion on this topic, but would really welcome a more nuanced approach in the discussion (or at least an acknowledgement of your own bias).

    The key problem and much of the dissent with the “reunification” was that it did not bring two political parts together to form something new, like envisioned in the constitution, but was rushed instead to have the GDR just join the Federal Republic which lead to an economic crisis and practically all Elites such as CEOs, high ranking government officials or judges to be from Western Germany.

    Although numerous errors have been made, there simply weren’t as many alternatives as we’d like to think today. The GDR as a whole was in an appalling state and it being kept artificially afloat until 1989 only increased the forces unleashed from 1990 onwards. With one part of the new country economically, politically, socially imploding, the other part had to end up dominating the new creation and I don’t see an option how that could have been avoided, as the GDR had already been inflated so much at this point.