Openai/6968ffd4-17b4-800c-89fd-a9d92ea69633

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gpt-5-2-thinking

User: I need you to find validated sources for the German response here: RFKjr lecturing a health minister in Germany?

I need you to find validated sources for the German response here: RFKjr lecturing a health minister in Germany? Gotta love the response. RFK Jr: “Reports coming out of Germany show a government sidelining patient autonomy and limiting people's abilities to act on their own convictions when they face medical decisions. That is why I sent a letter to Germany's Federal Minister of Health, Nina Warken. In my letter, I made it clear that Germany has the opportunity and the responsibility to correct this trajectory, to restore medical autonomy, to end politically motivated prosecutions, and to uphold the rights that anchor every democratic nation.”

German historian Rob Schafer responded: “You seem to be laboring under the delusion that Germany is a colony for your conspiracy theories. Let me be blunt: Your brand of 'freedom'—the freedom to die of preventable 19th-century diseases—is an export we have no interest in buying. ​We established the world's first universal social healthcare system under Bismarck in 1883. You still do not have anything comparable.” We are the nation of Koch and Virchow and have spent 140 years using state power to defeat disease through science AND solidarity. You, meanwhile, preside over a system where insulin is rationed like gold dust and medical bankruptcy is a national pastime. ​The fact that you think you have the moral standing to lecture the country that invented modern medicine on 'medical decisions' is not just arrogant, it is grotesque! ​ Keep your chaos on your side of the Atlantic. Mind your own business.”

Assistant: Here’s what I can validate with primary/credible sources about that “German response,” plus sources for the RFK Jr.

Here’s what I can validate with primary/credible sources about that “German response,” plus sources for the RFK Jr. claim it’s responding to.

1) The “German response” is a social-media post, not an official German government statement

The text you pasted matches an X (Twitter) post by Rob Schäfer (often rendered “Rob Schafer”), using the handle @GerMilHistory, posted Jan 11, 2026 and addressed to @SecKennedy. X (formerly Twitter)

A readable capture of the post (showing the full text in one place) is visible via TwStalker here, including the lines about Bismarck (1883), Koch and Virchow, insulin being rationed, and ending with “Mind your own business.” TwStalker

2) Who is “Rob Schäfer” (and is he actually a historian)?

Rob Schäfer describes himself publicly as a military historian, published author, and researcher, and he explicitly says some people know him from Twitter as @germilhistory. irontime.substack.com So: calling him a “German historian” is plausible as shorthand, but the best-supported phrasing from his own bio is military historian. irontime.substack.com

3) The RFK Jr. statement he’s responding to (primary source)

RFK Jr.’s quoted paragraph (“Reports coming out of Germany…”) corresponds to a post by @SecKennedy on X. X (formerly Twitter) The same message also appears in a LinkedIn post by “Secretary Kennedy,” including the claim he sent a letter to Germany’s health minister Nina Warken. LinkedIn

4) Context: Germany’s health minister and the official German government response

Germany’s Federal Ministry of Health lists Nina Warken as Federal Minister of Health since May 6, 2025. BMG Major outlets reported that Warken’s ministry rejected RFK Jr.’s claims as unfounded/incorrect, noting prosecutions were tied to fraud/forgery rather than refusing vaccines per se. AP News

5) If you also want sources for factual claims inside Schäfer’s post

A few of his claims are rhetorical, but several are sourceable:

• Bismarck / 1883 health insurance: Germany’s 1883 law is widely cited as the first social health insurance system (initially not universal; coverage expanded over time). The Lancet
• Robert Koch and TB (1882): CDC history note on Koch announcing the TB bacillus discovery in 1882. CDC
• Virchow and social medicine: Harvard’s “Contagion” collection describes Virchow as a founder of social medicine. curiosity.lib.harvard.edu
• Insulin rationing in the U.S.: Peer-reviewed and major-academic reporting shows cost-related rationing persists; e.g., a Yale Medicine writeup summarizing findings where a substantial share of patients reported rationing. Yale School of Medicine
• Medical debt as a major U.S. problem: KFF and the U.S. CFPB document the scale and impact of medical debt. KFF

If you tell me where you’re posting (X/FB/Threads/etc.), I can format these into a tight “receipts” list (1–2 lines each) that’s easy to drop into a comment.

Coverage of RFK Jr’s claims and Germany’s official rebuttalAP NewsGermany sharply rejects RFK Jr.'s claims that it prosecutes doctors for vaccine exemptions4 days agoThe GuardianGermany rejects RFK Jr claims about Covid vaccine exemption prosecutions4 days agoDIE WELTWarken weist Vorwürfe von US-Minister scharf zurück5 days ago