Viral video: No, Adolf Hitler had not said, “Hate me, but don’t hate Germany”

Speaking at a poll rally in New Delhi on December 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said, “Hate Modi if you want, oppose him all you want, hit my effigy with shoes, burn it, but do not burn public property” (translated from Hindi). This was reported by the media as PM Modi saying, “Hate me but don’t hate India”. Following the speech, a video clip of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler has been shared on social media with the claim that Hitler had used similar words in a speech.

Youth Congress tweeted (archive) the clip and wrote, “आप मुझसे नफरत करो लेकिन देश से नफरत मत करो – प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी Hate me, But don’t hate Germany – Adolf Hitler जर्मनी हम शर्मिंदा है, हिटलर अभी जिंदा है (You hate me but don’t hate the country – Prime Minister Modi. Hate me, but don’t hate Germany – Adolf Hitler. Germany we are ashamed, Hitler is still alive.)”

आप मुझसे नफरत करो लेकिन देश से नफरत मत करो – प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी

Hate me, But don’t hate Germany – Adolf Hitler

जर्मनी हम शर्मिंदा है,
हिटलर अभी जिंदा है pic.twitter.com/2jRwfJFJ0l

— Youth Congress (@IYC) December 23, 2019

Congress leader and former cricketer Kirti Azad quote-tweeted (archive) Youth Congress’s tweet and wrote, “वाह @IYC कहां से ले आए भाई तानाशाह हिटलर का यह वीडियो? कहते हैं, इतिहास अपने आप को दोहराता है कहीं तो कहीं क्या करें तो करें क्या? “वाह मोदी जी वाह (Wow @IYC from where did you get this video of dictator Hitler? It is said that history repeats itself. If we say, what do we say, if we do what do we do? Wow Modi ji wow.)“

वाह @IYC कहां से ले आए भाई तानाशाह हिटलर का यह वीडियो? कहते हैं, इतिहास अपने आप को दोहराता है

कहीं तो कहीं क्या करें तो करें क्या?

“वाह मोदी जी वाह”@RahulGandhi @priyankagandhi @INCDelhi @drshamamohd @SChopraINC @INCDelhi @JhaSanjay https://t.co/WphYwF5cqU

— Kirti Azad (@KirtiAzaad) December 23, 2019

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap had also posted the clip. The tweet now stands deleted. (archive). Kashyap’s tweet was retweeted over 5100 times since it was posted on December 22. In the 15-second video clip showing Hitler in the middle of an impassioned speech, the subtitles accompanying it read, “I know who is hating me, Hate me it is your wish, But dont Hate Germany.”

The video was also tweeted by Radhika Khera, national media coordinator of the Congress party. Her tweet has been retweeted over a thousand times. (archive).

By God पूरा का पूरा हिटलर यहीं भारत आ गया! pic.twitter.com/n4H7drhPGh

— Radhika Khera (@Radhika_Khera) December 23, 2019

On Facebook, the video has been posted by the official page of the Indian Youth Congress, the youth wing of the INC. The post has been viewed over 18,000 times and shared over 1100 times so far.

FACT CHECK: FALSE CLAIM

Alt News found that the subtitles accompanying the video do not represent what Adolf Hitler is speaking. Hitler is not saying, “I know who is hating me, Hate me it is your wish, But dont Hate Germany.”

Upon searching on YouTube, Alt News found a video which contains the portion circulated on social media. This video is titled, ‘Nazi Rally- Winter 1936‘. The corresponding portion of the video is from 0:10 to 0:25 minutes.

In the beginning of the video, it can be seen that the speech is being delivered at an event- Winterhilfswerk 1936-37. A frame from the video is posted below. The video on YouTube has been posted by British Pathe, a multimedia resource archive.

Winterhilfswerk refers to an annual drive for financing charitable work, organized by the Nazi party. On the basis of this information and year mentioned (1936-37), Alt News found another link to a video of the same event on www.archive.org, according to which the speech at the Winterhilfswerk event was delivered by Adolf Hitler in October 1937. We looked up the archive of the speeches of Adolf Hitler from 1922 to 1945, and found a corresponding speech delivered by the Nazi leader, titled ‘Adolf Hitler- opening speech at the new Winterhilfswerk‘. The date of the speech is mentioned October 5, 1937 and the location, Berlin.

This English translation of the text of the speech (Page 403) is available on www.archive.org. The full text of the speech is posted below:

“You have just been given an idea of last year’s accomplishments of the greatest social aid society of all time. It is gigantic in its scope and enormous in the depth of its effects. I believe that the reward for all who are working in this society lies in the success of the work itself. Sometimes when I see shabbily dressed girls, shivering with cold themselves, collecting with infinite patience for others who are cold, then I have the feeling that they are all apostles of a certain Christianity! This is a Christianity which can claim for itself as no other can: this is the Christianity of a sincere profession of faith, because behind it stands not the word, but the deed! With the aid of this tremendous society, countless people are being relieved of the feeling of social abandonment and isolation. Many are thus regaining the firm belief that they are not completely lost and alone in this world, but sheltered in their Volksgemeinschaft; that they, too, are being cared for, that they, too, are being thought of and remembered. And beyond that: there is a difference between the theoretical knowledge of socialism and the practical life of socialism. People are not born socialists, but must first be taught how to become them. People in the bourgeois era before us insured themselves against everything: against fire, against theft, against hailstorms, against burglary, etc.-but they forgot one kind of insurance, insurance against lack of political madness, insurance against lack of political common sense, that first tears a Volk asunder and then allows it to become powerless to fulfill its lifetasks. And this one omission made all the other types of insurance pointless. We, however, place at the fore of all types of insurance the insurance of the German Volksgemeinschaft! It is for this we are paying our donation, and we know that it will be reimbursed a thousand times over! For as long as this Volksgemeinschaft remains inviolate, nothing can threaten us! Therein lies the guarantee for the future not only of the life of the nation, but hence of the existence of every individual as well. Therefore, it is just to demand from each individual a premium corresponding to his income. Wanting to establish a general lump sum for this premium is a sign of an indecent cast of mind. The little old woman who sacrifices five or ten pfennigs in Moabit or somewhere out in the country casts in more than someone who puts in one hundred or one thousand or perhaps ten thousand marks. Had our so-called intellectual classes initiated these premium payments prior to the war, a certain amount of misfortune could later have been avoided. May God forbid that Fate puts us to the utmost test once again. Yet even then-that is something we know-millions of Germans would be willing to immediately and unconditionally make this last sacrifice to the nation, the eternal Volk. What is this sacrifice we are making today in comparison? Above all, do your duty in being mindful of those millions who once did their duty for all.”

As can be seen, nowhere in this speech had Adolf Hitler said “Hate me it is your wish, but don’t hate Germany”. Moreover, Alt News took the help of an interpreter and found that the extract shared on social media loosely translates to, “To talk with the people of brothers, to go inside until the people have overcome all their prejudice, and then to help and continue to help.” This roughly corresponds to the part of the speech (see above image), “With the aid of this tremendous society, countless people are being relieved of the feeling of social abandonment and isolation. Many are thus regaining the firm belief that they are not completely lost and alone in this world, but sheltered in their Volksgemeinschaft; that they, too, are being cared for, that, they, too, are being thought of and remembered.”

It may thus be noted that the video clip has been shared with a false narrative. The subtitles accompanying it seek to falsely portray an uncanny similarity between the Nazi leader and PM Narendra Modi. This is barely the first time that comparisons have been sought to be made between the two leaders, through misuse of videos and photographs.

A similar instance was noticed in 2018 when a video clip of Hitler was shared with false subtitles in order to draw a comparison with Narendra Modi. In another instance, a photoshopped image was used for the same purpose.

[Update: The title of this report was changed to reflect that it talks about only the viral video.]