Germany has long had an issue with the theft of crops from local farmers, but Ukrainian refugees are not involved in this. Propaganda simply attributed such criminal activity to Ukrainians to discredit them in the eyes of the citizens of EU countries.
Social media users are spreading information that Ukrainian refugees are allegedly stealing crops en masse from German farmers. These reports from propaganda sources only include a photo of German police officers. However, there is no mention of who is reporting the involvement of Ukrainians in such crimes.
«German farmers are sounding the alarm: refugees from Ukraine are raiding their fields and gardens. They steal everything: cherries, strawberries, apples, grapes, potatoes, and even pumpkins. And they refuse to work in the fields,» users write.
After such information spread, StopFake investigated whether Ukrainian refugees in Germany were indeed suspected of stealing crops from local farmers. As expected, it turned out that propagandists had simply fabricated this story.
There have indeed been some news reports in the German media about thefts from local farmers. For example, the German publication Bild published an article titled «Fruit Mafia Robs Our Fields!» In this piece, the publication addressed the issue of crop theft, compiling information on recent incidents. It is in this article that the photo of the German police, which was later picked up by propagandists, was used.
However, the Bild article does not mention that Ukrainian refugees are stealing from German farmers. Journalists spoke with several farmers who detailed who, under what circumstances, and how much of their crops were stolen. None of the interviewees raised the issue of the national origin of the criminals. Moreover, the police, whose position is presented in the article, also do not mention «Ukrainian refugees.»
The authors of the Bild article spoke with Kathrin Walter, a representative of the German State Association of Commercial Fruit Growing in the state of Baden-Württemberg. According to her, crop theft is not a new phenomenon in the country.
«…This has been happening since fruit cultivation began. Every year we see this problem on our radar. Mostly it concerns strawberry fields, cherry trees, or vineyards,» she said, also without mentioning Ukrainian refugees.
StopFake checked recent reports from the German police about incidents of crop theft from farmers. In none of them was there any mention of Ukrainian refugees being involved. The German information space also lacks publications that attribute such offenses to Ukrainians. This is not the first time Russian propaganda has attempted to discredit Ukrainians abroad.
Previously, StopFake debunked information that Ukrainian refugees had allegedly desecrated a mosque in Berlin.
