Angela Merkel

Does a video authentically show Vladimir Putin going "past world leaders to shake Trump's hand"? No, that's not true: The version of the clip that went viral in the days leading up to Trump's second inauguration in January 2025 was edited to remove several key frames documenting one of the 2018 events commemorating the end of World War I. Multiple…

Is Angela Merkel the daughter of Adolf Hitler? No, that's not true: Merkel, the former German chancellor, was born in 1954 in Hamburg, West Germany. Hitler died on April 30, 1945, almost a decade before Merkel was born. Merkel's parents were Horst and Herlind Kasner, as her biography on Britannica states. Hitler had no children and only married Eva Braun…

Did former German Chancellor Angela Merkel reveal in an interview plans by the United States and NATO for war in Ukraine with Russia? No, that's not true: Nowhere in her interview with the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel, which was published in November 2022, does she talk about NATO plans for the war. The claim appeared in a Facebook…

Do new restrictions for the unvaccinated in Germany ban people with disabilities from society? No, that's not true: German public health authorities advise that there are only few medical reasons not to get one of the COVID vaccines currently approved in the European Union but if, in an individual consultation with their doctor, patients find that they should not get…

Did Germany's biggest tabloid newspaper, Bild, issue an apology for "Covid hysteria" or "Covid deception" during the coronavirus pandemic? No, that's not true: In a video published in May 2021, Bild's editor in chief Julian Reichelt asked the nation's children for forgiveness, but he did not apologize for his paper's reporting on the pandemic. Reichelt tapped into a public debate…

Did all of Germany's close to 30,000 wind turbines and millions of photovoltaic panels suddenly stop working due to harsh weather conditions? And do wind turbines in Germany have to be heated in cold temperatures, taxing the country's energy grid? No, that's not true: Data on Germany's power production during January and February of 2021 shows that renewable energy sources…

Does this collection of photos show the inner workings of airplanes that spray "chemtrails" and has this information been "declassified"? No, that's not true: These photos do not show "chemtrail spraying equipment." The photos are either misidentified, are a joke, or are intentionally unidentified, but they have been presented in a false context allowing imaginations to run wild. There is…

Does the "What is Happening?" Instagram post offer some alarming news, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel resigning and also the unrelated matter of Italian officials interfering with the U.S. presidential elections? No, that's not true: Much of the post lacks context, such as including that Merkel announced in 2018 that she would not seek re-election as chancellor in 2021,…

Did police in Germany arrest YouTuber Dr. Andreas Noack for speaking out against the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic? No, that's not true: Local police in the state of Bavaria confirmed that a raid took place, but said it was not directed at Noack. The chief prosecutor's office, the Generalstaatsanwaltschaft in Berlin, confirmed that the house search was part…

Does a Ukrainian indictment claim there is a $7.4 billion Obama-linked money laundering scheme, and does the indictment put a Biden group's take at $16.5 million? No, that's not true: There was no such indictment as of November 21, 2019. The false report appeared to be a distortion of a revelation by Ukraine's prosecutor general that his office has widened…