On January 29, 2024, a Georgian-language Facebook account published a photo collage comparing the Stalin monuments in Berlin and Gori. In the photo taken in Gori, the monument is seen to have fallen after being dismantled, while in the black and white photo taken in Berlin, the monument of Stalin is still standing. The author of the post points out that everyone should answer for their behavior.
The post contains photomanipulation. Two photographs taken in different centuries are compared to each other, creating the impression that the photograph of Berlin reflects the modern day. Stalin’s monument actually stood in Berlin for several years in the 20th century, but it was dismantled in 1961.
In 1949, the Politburo of the Socialist Party of Germany, on the 70th anniversary of Stalin’s birth, named one of the streets in Berlin Stalinallee. On August 3, 1951, an almost 5-meter bronze statue of Stalin was erected on the same street. Shortly after the death of Stalin, his cult began to be forgotten in Germany, the monument was dismantled on the night of November 13-14, 1961, and the next day Stalinale was renamed to Karl-Marx-Allee (German: Karl-Marx-Allee).
After geolocating the statue of Stalin in Berlin, the verification of the Karl-Marx Allee revealed that there is indeed no longer a statue of Stalin there. In 1951-1961, it stood in front of one of the first buildings built on Stalinallee, the “Workers’ Palace” (German: Arbeiterpaläste).
In 2018, the statue of Stalin was returned to Berlin for half an hour. This time he returned to Karl-Marx Allee within the framework of the “Red God – Stalin and the Germans” campaign. The statue of Stalin was left lying on his back in Karl-Marx Allee. The goal of the campaign organizers was not to portray Stalin as a hero, as they said: “We think this is the right way to deal with a mass murderer.”
The second photo on the distributed photo collage shows the Stalin monument in Gori, which was erected in the central square of the city in 1952, and was dismantled in 2010.
Disinformation about the installation of monuments to the Soviet dictator in various cities has been disseminated a number of times. Such claims have been debunked by “Myth Detector” in the past as well. For more details, see:
- WHAT DID HITLER WRITE ABOUT STALIN IN “BUNKER DIARIES” AND WHERE ARE THE MONUMENTS OF STALIN LOCATED?
- DID KIM JONG-UN PLACE A MONUMENT TO STALIN IN NORTH KOREA?
About the Source
Facebook user Levan Tavdishvili systematically publishes anti-Western and anti-Ukrainian posts and conspiracy theories. “Myth Detector” has debunked the false information published by the user a number of times (1, 2).
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