March 2022 saw the latest prominent example of a ludicrous conspiracy theory that falsely claims Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a neo-Nazi, or holds views sympathetic towards Nazism. The smear against Zelenskyy — who is himself Jewish and whose great-uncles died in the Holocaust — is designed to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in late February.
Previously, Snopes has debunked a similar false rumor about Zelenskyy, concluding that a photograph which appeared to show him holding aloft a soccer jersey emblazoned with a swastika was, in fact, the result of digital editing.
In this case, social media users pointed to a symbol visible on Zelenskyy’s T-shirt during his daily video messages, claiming it was a Nazi “Iron Cross,” and therefore proof of Zelenskyy’s Nazism.
For example, a March 16 post on the /conspiracy section of the popular forum Reddit contained: screenshots of Zelenskyy wearing a green T-shirt emblazoned with a cruciform symbol; pictures of the Iron Cross; an excerpt from the Wikipedia entry for “Iron Cross”; and the suggestive caption “Probably just a coincidence.”
Some were more explicit in claiming that Zelenskyy was wearing a Nazi symbol, in a brazen demonstration of his supposed Nazism, while others rather insidiously presented their claim in the form of a question. On Facebook, the claim was shared widely, as shown in the screenshot below:
In reality, of course, those claims were false. Zelenskyy did not wear a Nazi symbol,...
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