The claim
Annalena Baerbock has demanded: “Abolish widow’s pension.” She wants to use the saved funds for the integration of “refugees”.
Our conclusion
Freely invented. Baerbock never made such a statement either as Green Party leader or as Foreign Minister. The quote is therefore a fake that has been circulating online since 2021.
The fake quote from Annalena Baerbock about widow's pension: Abolish widow's pension - to integrate refugees?
Even before the 2021 federal election, the claim was spreading online that Annalena Baerbock, Green Party politician, wanted to abolish widows' pensions in order to use the money to integrate refugees. Now this quote has appeared again on the internet. In a video on TikTok , which has already received over 750,000 views, it says: “Ms. Baerbock: 'Abolish widow's pension'” . According to the Green politician, it is a “relic of the past” . The funds saved could be used to “a lot for the integration of refugees” . More than 16,000 people like the post on TikTok and almost 3,900 users have already commented on the alleged quote: “The old woman doesn’t have them all anymore!”

Widespread “quote” on the internet since May 2021
The thesis that Baerbock wanted to abolish the widow's pension was already spread on social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp in May 2021, a few months before the federal election.
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At that time, Baerbock was still in the running as Green party leader and candidate for chancellor. However, she is now working as Foreign Minister. Nevertheless, the false claim persists and continues to be spread.
As we reported in 2021 , the quote is a completely made-up statement.
Nicola Kabel, former spokeswoman for the Greens and current head of the press office of the Federal Ministry of Economics, had already described the alleged quote on Twitter on May 6, 2021 as “plain and simple fake”. When asked, a spokesman for the Foreign Office also confirmed on March 9, 2023 that Annalena Baerbock never called for the so-called widow's or widower's pension to be abolished.
The Green Party's election program for the federal election in September 2021 mentioned neither the “survivor's pension” nor the “widow's pension”. A current search in Google for the terms "Baerbock widow's pension", "abolish Baerbock widow's pension" or for the first sentence of the alleged quote does not lead to any statements from Annalena Baerbock on this topic, but only to pages that explain the fake.
Widow's pension as financial support for survivors of any gender
The fake quote, which is circulating on an image online, suggests that Annalena Baerbock wants to abolish widow's pensions because women today are more financially independent and self-determined. However, what is left out here is that the widow's pension also applies to men and all other affected people and is intended to ensure the financial support of the surviving person. It is therefore also called a “survivor’s pension”. According to figures from the German Pension Insurance, women receive a survivor's pension more often than men, but this depends on age and other factors. On average, the survivor's pension can be between 25 and 60 percent of the deceased person's pension.
Annalena Baerbock has repeatedly been a victim of false information in the past. As soon as she announced her candidacy as candidate for chancellor in April 2021, negative memes and derogatory comments about her piled up on social networks. This is shown by an analysis of disinformation in the course of the 2021 federal election. Several fake quotes were attributed to her in posts. Additionally, a targeted campaign was launched over the following months, focusing on her resume and accusing her forging her university degree .
Conclusion: Baerbock's demand for the abolition of the widow's pension does not exist. This demand does not appear in election programs or in media reporting. The Greens themselves deny the claim, saying “This quote is simply fake.”
Source: Corrective
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