Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has published an article on its website accusing German Chancellor Friedrich Merz of “revanchism” and of being “obsessed” with sending Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. Merz’s motivation, according to Russian intelligence, is simple: it’s because his father and grandfather were Nazis.
The SVR claimed Merz “dreams of avenging” Germany’s defeat in World War II. As proof, it cited the fact that his grandfather, Josef Paul Sauvigny, and his father, Joachim Merz, allegedly “faithfully served the fascist regime.”
“His loved ones know very well that the chancellor was raised according to the teachings of his grandfather and father. Josef Paul Sauvigny and Joachim Merz faithfully served the fascist regime, and Friedrich is obsessed with revenge for the defeat of Nazi Germany by the Soviet Union. His thirst for vengeance grew from childhood and became an all-consuming passion after the start of his political career.
Against this backdrop, it becomes clear why Merz, after being elected German chancellor, guaranteed Zelensky the provision of German Taurus missiles for strikes against Russian territory.”
Setting aside the florid language of the statement and the SVR’s claim to enjoy access to the German chancellor’s inner thoughts, we will examine those elements of the claim which can be proven or disproven. After all, one does not need to be a Russian spy in order to access reliable biographical data pertaining to Merz’s ancestors.
Merz’s maternal grandfather, Josef Paul Sauvigny, became mayor of Brilon in 1917 as a member of a centrist party. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Sauvigny, like many officials, did indeed join the reserve units of the Nazi Party’s stormtroopers, where he rose to the rank of sergeant, and he later joined the party itself. However, in 1937, Sauvigny was removed from office early for reasons that remain unclear. In an effort to show that his grandfather was not a true loyalist, Merz has pointed to a Nazi newspaper, Der Stürmer, which once described Sauvigny as a “Jewish comrade.”
As for Merz’s father, Joachim, it is even harder to accuse him of “serving the fascist regime faithfully.” There is no evidence that he ever belonged to the Nazi Party, even if he was drafted into the army at 17 at a time when military service was compulsory. After the war, Joachim Merz spent four years in a Soviet prison in Georgia. The fact that he later presided over several trials of Nazis in the American occupation zone of Germany suggests he himself was not implicated in the regime’s crimes.
Still, in its effort to paint the German chancellor as a Nazi-obsessed revanchist, the SVR claims that “many European experts are baffled by Merz’s harsh anti-Russian rhetoric” and alleges that his “maniacal drive for revenge is causing growing concern among Germany’s political elite.” The agency even added that “partners in the ruling coalition have not forgotten that past military conflicts between Germany and Russia always ended badly for the Germans.”
In reality, Germany’s ruling coalition, made up of Merz’s Christian Democrats/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) and the Social Democrats, is divided on the issue. Merz, in allowing for the possibility of supplying Taurus missiles to Kyiv, is following the line of his own party, which has repeatedly called for long-range weapons for Ukraine. However, even within the SPD, there is no consensus on the issue, though support for the idea is growing, as reported by Euronews.
As for the unnamed “European experts” who are supposedly questioning Merz’s rhetoric, the claim is reminiscent of the SVR’s previous “secret reports,” such as those alleging that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was sidelined from drafting key documents because of her apparent incompetence.
The Insider has previously noted that the SVR’s reputation as a reliable source is highly questionable. In its own magazine, Razvedchik (lit. “The Scout”), the agency frequently publishes what it claims to be “secret dispatches” from its Russian operatives abroad. These often lack corroborating evidence, use vague references to sources, and are full of subjective language, including outright insults aimed at European politicians. According to Russian intelligence sources interviewed by The Insider, these reports bear little resemblance to actual intelligence briefings.