• On Facebook, a video claims that on May 8, a Soviet flag was installed on the roof of the German Parliament.
  • But the Reichstag denies this information, to "20 Minutes".
  • The different videos seem to be montages. Several details show it: the foliage of the trees, the puddles but also the movement of the flags.

A symbolic message... but possibly false. On Facebook, a video claims that the Soviet flag was waved on the roof of the German parliament - the Reichstag - on May 8, the day of the Allied Victory and thus the end of the Second World War.

"In Berlin, on May 8, an unidentified person flew a Soviet flag over the Reichstag Palace where the German parliament sits," one publication claims. On the video that accompanies the text, a red flag is visible. We can distinguish the hammer and sickle, symbol of communism adopted by the Soviet Union.


In Berlin, on May 8, an unidentified person flew a Soviet flag over the Reichstag Palace where the German parliament (Bundestag) sits. pic.twitter.com/RKQgrGEogY

— Stanislas Berton (@StanislasBerton) May 8, 2023

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The publication is viral on social networks, but also on sites like Qactus - a site wishing to "reinform" in order to "raise awareness". "This action is in defense of the anti-Russian and anti-Soviet measures taken by Germany in the field of flag," the site wrote. But did the scene really unfold? 20 Minutes checked.

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On the publication of the Qactus website, several photographs were published of the Reichstag, with behind the famous red flag, which would be a Soviet flag. In one of the photos, several young people pose for example in front of the parliament, always with a red flag visible in the background. In another photograph, the building alone with around several works.

According to a reverse image search, the first images of the flag seem to come mainly from the Telegram account of a pro-Kremlin Russian journalist, Dmitry Smirnov, very quickly relayed by Russian sites. "On German social networks, photos and videos were broadcast, in which the banner of victory appeared again on the Reichstag in Berlin," explained the Russian media Tsargard, Monday, May 8 late morning. However, the first accounts where the photos were published were mostly Russian.

Reichstag denies

But in all the photos, one element stands out: the trees in the photo have no foliage. If spring seems a little late this year, the tree looks more like the one you might come across between fall and winter. Weather still, on the photograph of the young visitors, we see several puddles in the background. Quite logically, this would mean that rain fell that day in Berlin, contrary to what the weather indicates.

Contacted by 20 Minutes, the Reichstag press service confirms that the event never took place in the German parliament. The flag was probably added thanks to a montage. Looking at the video taken from further away - from the road - this would explain, for example, why the flag seems to fly in the opposite direction of the flag next to it.

Another detail is intriguing. On the video taken from afar, we observe a bus pass with the following inscription "Vorwärts"... A detail that we find on the man's cup present on the initial video. In Germany, Vorwärts [Editor's note: "Forward" in German] is a German social democratic newspaper originally intended for German workers... But it is difficult to draw the slightest link between the newspaper and the videos.

A symbol... 78 years earlier

The Soviet flag on the roof of the Reichstag is above all a historical reference. On May 2, 1945, a few days before the armistice, a photo still famous today was captured by photographer Yevgeny Khaldei. It shows a soldier planting a red flag over Berlin, while another man holds him by the feet. The photograph would later depict the symbol of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany.

However, this great symbol of the end of the fall of the Third Reich was above all a propaganda tool when it was captured. In the series "Five revealing photos", produced by France Culture in 2021, we learn that it took thirty-six pauses to capture the photo in question. But once sent to Moscow, it was not suitable: the soldier holding the feet wore two watches. One of them was completely removed by scratching the photo and adding a few clouds of smoke in the background... History of.


War of images. Mythical, this photo of Yevgeny Khaldeï, from the Tass agency, aims to replicate that of Joe Rosenthal to Iwo Jima. These 2 photos are complete staging. Yevgeny's has also been retouched. pic.twitter.com/lj1cax8oMG

— Tif (@tiph_clio) May 9, 2022

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In addition, the photo was largely prepared in advance. It is inspired in particular by the photo captured by the American Joe Rosenthal, on February 23, 1945 on Mount Suribach on the island of Iwo Jima, during the victory of the United States over Japan.

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