The claim

Apparently, Ukrainian refugees in Germany will be able to receive pensions from the age of 57 starting in June.

Our conclusion

In order to be entitled to a pension in Germany, you have to work in Germany for at least 5 years. This also applies to Ukrainian refugees. The Ukrainian retirement age does not apply in this country because Ukraine is not an EU country and no social security agreement has been finally concluded with Ukraine.

It's a typical case of "I only believe the media when they write what suits me": In a Facebook comment in May 2022, the MDR wrote that Ukrainian refugees in Germany could receive pensions from June (women from 57.5 and men aged 60 and over). The comment was based on a false report that the MDR took over, the comment was deleted, a correction was published - but a picture of the original comment is preferred.

The original false claim

The claim has been circulating since April 2022 as slightly different sharepics (sometimes a direct screenshot, sometimes photographed from a smartphone) ( we reported ):

The claim about the retirement age of refugee Ukrainians
The claim about the retirement age of refugee Ukrainians

The claim in full:

“The retirement age of German payers is 67 years.
According to the decision of the traffic light coalition, Ukrainian refugees (women from 57, men from 60) who have never paid in are allowed to empty these pots 10 years before the depositors!
This instruction was sent to the responsible employees of the job centers via email today.”

The earliest source of the claim discovered so far is a Telegram channel (archived HERE ), in which a lot of conspiracy myths, always marked with the common QAnon abbreviations and tags, almost step on each other's toes.

This version of the false claim already contains a glaring error: the German Pension Insurance (DRV) is responsible for pension applications (see HERE ), not the job center. But photos or screenshots of such an email never appeared.

MDR took over the false report and corrected it a little later

Under an MDR article on Facebook, a user asked whether the claim about the retirement age of Ukrainians was true, which was first confirmed by "MDR Investigative". A photo of the comment was then spread on social media:

MDR repeated the false claim
MDR repeated the false claim

The comment was deleted a little later, and the MDR corrected this statement in several comments, for example HERE :

“In fact, we made a mistake. People from Ukraine, like Germans, have to pay into pension insurance for 5 years before they are entitled to a pension in Germany. The retirement age is also the same as for Germans. The comment in question can no longer be found on our Facebook page and the error was corrected in further comments just a few hours after the comment was published.”

Topic closed? Far from it, because the claim is now spreading again:

The claim is spreading again
The claim is spreading again

The fact that this claim has been around since April 2022, meaning that this early pension must have existed since June 2022, is not clear from the renewed distribution, so it is believed that this applies from June 2023.

___STEADY_PAYWALL___

What is true about the claim?

In fact, the retirement age of Germans is 67 years, although this depends on the year of birth (see HERE ): For insured people born in 1964 or later, the standard age limit of 67 years applies, earlier years can retire earlier, someone born in 1956, for example, at 65 years and 10 months.

From June 2022 , however, something really changed for Ukrainian refugees: from this point on, the job center has been responsible for their care (social benefits such as basic security and child benefit), and no longer the social welfare offices. However, this does not affect pensions, for which the German Pension Insurance is responsible.

What's wrong with the claim

  • The retirement age in Ukraine

This actually differs from the retirement age in Germany. In Ukraine there is also a distinction between men and women in this regard (see HERE ). But this does not mean that the Ukrainian system applies to Ukrainians living in Germany!

  • Pension in Germany

In order to be entitled to a pension in Germany, you have to work in Germany for at least 5 years (see HERE ). The retirement age is also uniform in Germany and there is no distinction between the genders.

  • But maybe the working hours in Ukraine are taken into account?

No .
This would only be possible if a person previously lived in an EU country or if a social security agreement was concluded with the country. But Ukraine is neither in the EU (see HERE ), nor has a social security agreement been finally concluded with Ukraine (see HERE ).

Conclusion

Rating: FALSE

The claim that refugee Ukrainians in Germany would receive pensions earlier simply feeds the xenophobic narrative that refugees would empty the pension pot of Germans and therefore pension contributions would rise. However, there is nothing true about the claim!


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