Tvp World posted an excellent article on Dec. 11, 2023, showing the role German media played worldwide in combating PiS. “German disinformation about Poland is not a legend,” wrote Daniel Nicolas Foubert. “Its key characteristics are as follows: It reverses historical narratives unfavorable to Germany, it suggests that Poland is not a democracy, and it reduces the geopolitical role of Poland to zero.”
German think tanks are highly influential in policing “disinformation.” “Certain think tanks based in Germany, though not necessarily German-financed, like the German Marshall Fund, seem to increasingly promote German interests, highlighting sometimes an extravagant anti-Polish perspective,” wrote Foubert.
Its publishing houses are also very influential. Axel Springer SE is one of the biggest, owning news outlets across European and even the United States. Its founder, who died in 1985, believed in a united Europe and a strong Germany. Its outlet Politico strongly backed Tusk, crowning him Europe’s most influential politician and praising him for “fighting for a democratic, modern, European vision of the future.”
German expertise in propaganda goes back more than a century. Most of the Western world believes World War i was a big accident and the Treaty of Versailles that concluded it was unfair to Germany, despite clear evidence to the contrary. That’s a Nazi message that has endured to this day.
The expertise that spread that disinformation “did not simply vanish with the fall of the Third Reich,” Foubert wrote. “Instead, elements of this expertise survived and evolved in various ways post-World War ii.
“Some individuals who were involved in Nazi propaganda efforts evaded prosecution and continued their careers in various capacities.”
The leader of a major European country accusing Germany of building a Fourth Reich would typically be big news. But when Polish politicians do it, they are dismissed as cranks and extremists, and Western media ignore them. That alone shows the power of German propaganda.
“The European Union can be seen as the culmination of Germany’s efforts in shaping international narratives and policies,” concluded Foubert. “Through the EU, Germany can exert influence and pursue its interests without having to overtly display its control or intentions.”
All this is evident in Germany’s role in Poland’s elections. Its soft power successfully ousted a government it hated.
Now even the website of tvp World has been shut down and the article scrubbed from the Internet.