DISINFO: Zelenskyy bought Goebbels’ villa to show his commitment to Bandera
SUMMARY
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy bought the former villa of Nazi Germany's propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels in Germany. A mansion called “House on Bogensee” near Berlin was purchased in October 2023 for 8 million euros by the offshore company Film heritage Inc., associated with Zelenskyy.
Why did the head of Ukraine suddenly decide to buy Goebbels’ villa? Maybe in order to show the neo-Nazis in Ukraine how committed he is to the legacy of Bandera, whom Goebbels at one time used to proclaim the idea of of Ukraine's “independence” from Russia?
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin disinformation claim portraying Ukraine and its President as Nazis.
The President of Ukraine did not buy Goebbels’ former villa. The source of the information, who pretends to be an employee of the real estate company that owns the villa, is acting under a fictitious name and the documents presented by her are fabricated. The company that owns the area also denied the information about the sale of the villa. Read the full debunk of the story at Myth Detector.
The myth of Nazi-ruled Ukraine has been the cornerstone of Russian disinformation about the country since the very beginning of the 2013-14 Euromaidan protests, when it was used to discredit the pro-European popular uprising in Kyiv and, subsequently, the broader pro-Western shift in Ukraine's foreign policy. It has been widely addressed here.
See also our articles: Why does Putin portray himself as tamer of Nazism and Nazi east, Nazi west, Nazi over the cuckoo’s nest.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada justified Ukraine’s right to join EU with Nazi quote, that Maidan protests led to a coup and rise of Nazi sentiments in Ukraine, that Europe took an active part in the creation of a neo-Nazi anti-Russian state in Ukraine, that Ukraine decided to issue a stamp in honour of former SS soldier, or that SS veteran in Canadian Parliament proof of West's resurrection of Nazism in Ukraine.