![]() ![]() ![]() There’s no publicly available evidence to suggest the iconic Minions were modeled after any Nazi experiment. “This is the Hall Rees Diving helmet and dress which was designed for submarine escape,” said Ann Bevan, curator of the Diving Museum, created by the U.K. Other experts in the historic equipment also said the image showed the Hall-Rees escape apparatus, an early device intended to help divers escape sunken submarines and breathe underwater. “This equipment was in fact an early attempt to save life – it will be good to definitively debunk any link to Nazis or to Minions.” “The museum team confirm that these images misused in this story are part of our extensive submarine archive and show the crew of the First World War-era submarine C7 wearing Hall-Rees escape apparatus,” Sheldon said. The image is included in the archives of the National Museum of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom and shows early 1900s submarine equipment, according to a statement from Matthew Sheldon, executive director of museum operations. However, the image shows no such experiment, and the equipment pictured predates World War II by decades, according to historians. It also claims that the helmets “were so heavy it stunted the childrens’ growth.” The post goes on to describe a supposed experiment in which hard metal helmets were placed on children’s heads so they couldn’t speak or see properly. “The Minions were based on a horrific nazi experiment that took place in 1944…” “This will ruin your childhood,” reads the text on a video making the claim on Instagram. They suggest these devices, which resemble the Minions’ heads and goggles, served as the inspiration for the characters. The claims, which resurfaced this week after spreading online since 2015, use a black-and-white image of figures wearing bell-like metal head coverings, each with a single circular eye hole. THE FACTS: The yellow, bug-eyed, overalls-wearing supervillain sidekicks in “Despicable Me” movies aren’t modeled after an experiment on Jewish children, as widely shared posts claim. There’s no evidence to support these claims, which misrepresent an image of an early 1900s submarine escape apparatus as a torture device. CLAIM: The Minions in the popular “Despicable Me” animated film series were inspired by a horrific 1944 Nazi experiment that put hard metal helmets on children’s heads.ĪP’S ASSESSMENT: False. ![]()
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