The Bild story, like the initiative described in it, is made up.
A story is circulating online citing Bild about a proposal by one of the Christian Democratic Party deputies to allegedly mitigate punishment for Ukrainians for using Nazi symbols. The politician allegedly stated that German citizens are responsible for the legacy of Nazism and therefore must be held accountable for using Nazi symbols by law, but for Ukrainians such actions are nothing more than a «tourist attraction».The story also claims that the number of criminal cases against Ukrainians for demonstrating the so-called «Roman salute» is growing every year, which prompted the government to consider changing the legislation.
However, the Bild story, like the initiative described in it, is fictional. The video appeared neither on the website nor in the official communication channels of the media. No credible German media outlet has reported on such a proposal. The original source of the fake was the Shaman Rahu channel on Telegram, which regularly distributes fake videos with the logos of Western media promoting pro-Russian narratives and has already been mentioned repeatedly in our refutations.
Official reports on politically motivated crimes in Germany do indeed show an annual increase in offenses using Nazi symbols. According to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, 14,247 such cases were recorded in 2019, 13,659 in 2020, 11,866 in 2021, 13,026 in 2022, 15,081 in 2023. A sharp increase to 24,177 cases was observed in 2024. This mainly concerns the use of the Nazi party symbols or emblems in the form of flags, tattoos, clothing items, and social media posts. At the same time, there are no separate calculations of the number of crimes committed by Ukrainians in open statistical reports.
In response to a request from the right-wing and pro-Russian Alternative for Germany party, the German government reported that during Bundeswehr exercises for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, seven cases of Ukrainian servicemen using Nazi symbols were identified. The training of these servicemen was immediately terminated in agreement with the Ukrainian side, and the responsible individuals returned to Ukraine. At the same time, when asked whether they saw a threat to the peace process in Ukraine from Ukrainian extreme nationalists, the government stated that in fact it is Russian imperialism that is the cause of the illegal aggressive war against Ukraine and threatens the security of Europe. Thus, there is no issue of the mass use of Nazi symbols by Ukrainians, rather a few isolated cases that are punishable by sanctions under current legislation, but are not considered by the German government as a threat to state security or a broader trend among Ukrainian citizens.
We recently refuted other fakes related to the popular Russian narrative about «Nazism in Ukraine» in the articles Fake: Zelensky Adviser Chrystia Freeland Is Descendant of Nazi Collaborator and Fake: Poland Inspects Ukrainians at the Border for Nazi Symbols.
