FACT CHECK: Meme Falsely Claims Remarks By Melania Trump Mirrored Those Of Adolf Hitler’s Wife

Aryssa Damron | Fact Check Reporter

An image shared on Facebook claimed that comments made by first lady Melania Trump in 2018, presumably about child separation at the southern border, mirrored those of Eva Braun, Adolf Hitler’s wife.

“I hate to see children separated from their parents like this,” the image quotes each woman as saying, “but we can hardly blame [our husbands].”

Verdict: False

There is no record of Braun ever saying the quote attributed to her. Trump did issue a statement about child separation in 2018, but the quote is only half accurate.

Fact Check:

In April 2018, the Trump administration announced a zero tolerance policy at the southern border that led to the separation of children from their parents or adult guardians, who were to be criminally prosecuted. Facing backlash, the administration backed off the policy only months later.

The first lady did issue a statement about the policy through a spokesperson that June, and similar to the meme’s quote, it said “Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families.”

But she did not say “we can hardly blame Donald.” The first lady “hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform,” the statement continues. “She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart.”

As for the quote from Braun, who married Hitler shortly before they both committed suicide, the image appears to allude to the family separation that took place during the Holocaust. The meme claims she made the remark in 1939, but there is no evidence she ever said it, in that year or any other.

“I did 15 years of research on EB and never came across that quote,” Professor Thomas Lundmark, a biographer of Braun, told The Daily Caller in an email.

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Aryssa Damron

Fact Check Reporter

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