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.
While i have no doubt about RTs malign interests, this article goes way over the top in claiming “a wholesale rewriting of recent history”
The manipulative RT article questioned what commonality existed between these two events and criticised this association as a form of historical relativism, arguing that they were fundamentally different in nature and context. The author – perhaps in an act of projection of his own – suggested that such comparisons diluted the specific historical significance of Kristallnacht and served contemporary political agendas rather than genuine remembrance.
The two events are extremely differently. Germans were never subject to discrimination, occupation and war crimes by the Jews attacked in 1938 and subsequently genocided until 1945. To put these two events together is relativising the Holocaust and in particular the Germans as the main perpetrators of antisemitic hate and violence. 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.
The RT piece also highlighted an alleged shift in the Greens’ stance on immigration and Islam since 2015. According to the piece, the Greens – initially welcoming towards refugees – have been forced by recent events to move towards a more critical position towards Islamism, aligning to some extent with right-wing sentiments.
The now broken government coalition including the Greens passed a law to make deportations easier, including severe impacts on civil rights of asylum seekers, allowing for longer detentions to ensure deportation, raids on homes at night and more surveillance. This law was passed just a week after mass deportation plans in a meeting of the fascist AfD, parts of the reactionary CDU and know Neo-nazis were disclosed by investigative journalists. Really the timing couldn’t have been more foretelling. Also in rewriting the Citizenship laws it was made easier to become a German citizen, but also easier to have your citizenship revoked, if your opinions are not aligned with the government, in particular on Israel.
The author sarcastically questioned whether this emphasis on ‘diversity’ extended to the tolerance of differing political opinions, suggesting that dissenting voices are being marginalised in Germany under the guise of promoting unity.
The parties of the government coalition, the fascist AfD and the CDU just passed a resolution demanding that Universities, Museums and other government funded entities should work together with the interior intelligence to ensure that noone should get funding or space where it cannot be ensured “without a doubt” that they are not “antisemitic”. This serves to silence anyone critical of Israel in Germany. The minister of education tried to get the funding of scientists revoked and have them investigated by the police after signing an open letter that demanded university campuses to be protected as places of free speech, after some universities had the police violently beat up peaceful protest camps.
https://www.972mag.com/german-jews-antizionism-censorship/
https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2024-11-12/ty-article-magazine/.premium/jewish-artists-warn-against-germanys-new-absurdist-antisemitism-resolution/00000193-1ff2-d707-a9d3-7ffb787f0000
https://www.courthousenews.com/german-education-minister-scandal-highlights-tense-restrictive-climate-around-gaza/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.
In the end of September, RT Deutsch claimed that German unification was just the annexation (Anschluss) by the Federal Republic of Germany’s of the GDR.
RT seeks to give the impression of something similar to that of Nazi-German / Austria in 1938 by using the infamous word ‘Anschluss’ in this context instead of reunification (Wiedervereinigung).
This is just bullshit. Annexation has the best equivalent in the German word “Annektion”. Also the “reunification” legally was not an “unification”. It was legally a “Beitritt” - “accession” which also can be translated to “Anschluss”. It used the same old Article 23 of the constitution like the “Beitritt” of the Saarland in 1957.
https://dict.leo.org/german-english/accession
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_reunification#Constitutional_mergerThe 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. This is the source of much discontent and still 35 years later you can see the old border in economic maps.
To conclude: The author is ignorant of some of the real problems that Russia is exploiting here for their own propaganda means. In some aspects the author used similarly insincere tactics. The claim that these examples would suffice for “a wholesale rewriting of recent history” shows the authors ignorance towards recent German history and the real problems arising from it. As it is an official EU organization writing these articles they are subject to the same shift to the right and far right we see in most EU countries, which would explain some of their ignorance to the strong shift to the right of all of German mainstream politics, in particular the Green party.
One more point:
This is just bullshit. Annexation has the best equivalent in the German word “Annektion”. Also the “reunification” legally was not an “unification”. It was legally a “Beitritt” - “accession” which also can be translated to “Anschluss”. It used the same old Article 23 of the constitution like the “Beitritt” of the Saarland in 1957.
It can be translated to “Anschluss” but the only reason why you’d use that particular infamous word in this context is to paint one particular picture. Otherwise you’d use either the correct word “Beitritt” or the euphemistic “Wiedervereinigung”.
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.
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.
It’s strange that people are defending Russian propaganda here …
Yeah, that’s really crazy. Russia is really great at finding fault lines in societies and, well, they are pushing a lot of East - West propaganda. You can, of course, discuss stuff that went wrong during reunification, but you shouldn’t do this on the basis of the narrative Putin is pushing.
So you post a bumbling, flawed piece which makes a number of good points but also includes spin of its own—and expect its shortcomings not be discussed? Instead you post some false dichotomy?
You can always find something in any article, but here these are red herrings (and, once again we notice, these red herrings emerge only for specific topics, working always in one and the same direction). Even RT itself says they are a propaganda channel receiving orders from the Kremlin.
You can always find something in any article
Not every article claims to be dispelling disinformation.
but here these are red herrings
In what sense?
Even RT itself says they are a propaganda channel receiving orders from the Kremlin.
Yeah, we know. Literally nobody here is defending their work.
