Propagandists published a photograph on social networks showing Adolf Hitler allegedly hugging the grandmother of Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission. They also claim that Ursula von der Leyen's grandfather, Karl Albrecht Oberg, was allegedly the “chief SS man and policeman” and sent 100,000 people to concentration camps. However, these statements are false.

Specialists from the Georgian project MythDetector drew attention to them. They found that these claims originated as a joke by American researcher Norman Finkelstein. The identity of the actual person in the photograph has not been confirmed by publicly available sources. Additionally, the claim that Ursula von der Leyen's grandfather, Karl Albrecht Oberg, was an SS general is false. In fact, the great-grandfather of the President of the European Commission was named Friedrich Karl Albrecht and he was an entrepreneur.

The photo circulating on social media is a screenshot of a message posted by Norman Finkelstein on his X network page on November 23, 2023. Finkelstein captioned the post as a joke, calling it “Photo from Ursulie von der Leyen's family album” and adding a made-up quote to the politician: “My dear grandmother did not wash her hands for a month after this wonderful incident”.

The real person in the photo remains unknown. According to the description of the American photo agency Getty Images, the photo was taken in 1937 in the city of Buckeburg, where Hitler shakes hands with a “traditionally dressed girl”.

Propagandists spread such fakes to discredit Western partners and justify Russian aggression against Ukraine.