Hitler Doll

In April 2008, media outlets in Europe and the United States reported that a Ukranian toy manufacturer was marketing and selling an action figure made to look like former German Chancellor Adolf Hitler. The doll was said to have a change of clothing and multiple heads, one showing a pleasant disposition. This story has been revealed to be highly inaccurate.

According to Deustche Welle, the false story spread after journalist Andriy Kapustin detailed a doll he had seen in Taiwan. The doll was not manufactured in the Ukraine and was not praised by Ukranian Nazi sympathizers, as was previously reported.

Fast Facts

1. Initial Reports Made in April 2008
2. German News agency DPA was first to report false information
3. The report was than picked up by the BBC and The Daily Mail

Hitler In The Ukraine

During World War II, a large percentage of Ukrainians joined the Soviet Army to fend off the Germans. A significant insurgency, however, collaborated with the Nazis, especially near the beginning of the war when native Ukrainians in the west tended to view the Germans as liberators. Estimates of Ukrainians killed during World War II range between two and five million. Fascism and fascist propaganda are currently outlawed in the Ukraine.

Recent years have seen a reported increase in racism and xenophobic sentiment in the Ukraine. The European Human Rights Commission has frequently encouraged the Ukraine to improve their treatment of refugees and improve their troubled image.

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