On July 27-28, information circulated on Facebook (1;2) that U.S. President Donald Trump allegedly said that the American army captured Berlin in 1945. The authors of these posts claimed that when asked by a journalist why there are Russian inscriptions on the walls of the Reichstag, the U.S. president could not answer.
The quote attributed to Donald Trump that in 1945 Berlin was captured by the American army is fabricated. In May 2025, during a speech in Qatar, Trump spoke about the United States’ significant contribution to World War II, but he made no such statement about the capture of Berlin.
There is no record in open sources of any statement by Donald Trump claiming that the American army captured Berlin in 1945, and this claim is fabricated. Likewise, there is no evidence that he avoided answering a journalist’s question about the inscriptions on the Reichstag. In May 2025, Trump stated that the United States is the only victorious country that did not mark the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat, despite the fact that it won the war. Furthermore, the U.S. president declared May 8 a national holiday to commemorate Victory over Nazism.
In his speech before American servicemen in Qatar, Trump noted that everyone, including France and Russia, celebrates victory in the war, but that the main contribution to victory was made by the United States (1,2).
Donald Trump: “Russia was celebrating, France was celebrating, everybody was celebrating but us. And we are the ones who won the war… They helped too, but without us, they wouldn’t have won the war. Without us, we’d all be speaking German, maybe a little Japanese too. We won the war, and we’re the only ones who don’t celebrate it.”
It is likely that this statement became the basis for the spread of the fabricated quotes. After his address, Russian-language Facebook accounts spread the claim that, according to Trump, American soldiers deliberately left Russian-language inscriptions on the Reichstag walls to create the illusion that Berlin was taken by the Russian army. The Ukrainian fact-checking platform StopFake reviewed the claim and determined that the quote was fabricated.
Neither in his speech in Qatar nor in any other statements has Donald Trump said that Berlin was taken by the American army in 1945. Accordingly, both parts of the information circulated on Facebook – the supposed Trump statement and the journalist’s question – are invented.
Rewriting the history of World War II is part of the Kremlin’s policy. One of the directions of Kremlin propaganda is to minimize the contribution of the Allies to Nazi Germany’s defeat while presenting the Soviet Union’s role as the most important and decisive. Under Vladimir Putin’s rule, the May 9 Victory Day celebrations have grown far more large-scale. Kremlin propaganda also uses this victory to justify the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, portraying Ukraine’s government as “neo-Nazis” (1,2).
About the source:
One of the Facebook accounts that spread the false quote attributed to Donald Trump is Gia Khelashvili, which regularly publishes anti-Western posts. The account also frequently shares disinformation claims.
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