Hitler “had Jewish blood”: these statements by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov revolted Israel, which summoned the Russian ambassador, and aroused the reprobation of certain Western countries. Moscow has repeatedly said it wants to “demilitarize” and “denazify” Ukraine, a former Soviet republic with pro-Western leaders at its head, thus justifying the invasion launched on February 24. Ukrainian President Volodymyr “Zelensky makes this argument: how can Nazism be present (in Ukraine) if it is itself Jewish. I could be wrong, but Hitler also had Jewish blood,” Mr. Lavrov told the Italian media group Mediaset on Sunday evening, and whose remarks were transcribed on the website of his ministry. both scandalous, unforgivable and a horrific historical error,” condemned his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid in a brief statement. He said the Russian ambassador to Israel had been summoned for “clarifications”. Unknown paternal grandfather His father Alois was “an illegitimate child and his parent was unknown”, explains to AFP the Austrian historian Roman Sandgruber, author last year of the first biography of the patriarch, born in 1837 and died in 1903 when Hitler was 14. It was in the 1920s, at the time of the rise of the founder of the National Socialist party, that “speculation that he might have Jewish origins emerged”, fueled by his political opponents and reinforced by his accession to power. in 1933. Then, after the war, a Nazi criminal revived the theory. But when the facts took place, “the Jews did not have the right to reside in Graz”, comments Roman Sandgruber who sees “no tangible proof” supporting the thesis of Jewish origins of Adolf Hitler. Since the launch of Russian offensive in Ukraine decided by President Vladimir Putin, Israel tried to maintain a delicate balance between Kyiv and Moscow, but Lavrov’s remarks sparked outrage. The president of Yad Vachem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, Dani Dayan, also condemned “baseless, delusional and dangerous remarks”. “Filtration camps” President Zelensky himself outraged, in a video released Monday evening: “How can this be said on the eve of the anniversary of the victory over Nazism? These words mean that Russia’s top diplomat blames the Jewish people for Nazi crimes. There are no words “. “So the question is whether the Israeli ambassador will stay in Moscow knowing his new position. Will relations with Russia remain unchanged? Because it’s not accidental. The words of the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs – a “great connoisseur of Hitlerism” – are not accidental”, also launched the Ukrainian leader. Volodymyr Zelensky also pointed to the “filtration camps” according to him put in place by the Russians in Ukraine, where its “people are being killed, tortured and raped”. “It is no coincidence that the occupiers capture civilians and take them hostage or deport them as free labour,” he further accused. His Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba had previously lamented that “Mr. Lavrov cannot hide the deep-rooted anti-Semitism within the Russian elites”. “Lavrov’s openly anti-Semitic remarks (…) are another proof that Russia is the successor of Nazi ideology,” supported an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, Mykhaïlo Podoliak.