Daily Times

Biting commentary on racism in Germany featured prominently Monday among Carnival floats in western cities, hastily put together in the aftermath of a deadly far-right attack last week near Frankfurt.

The floats for parades in Cologne, Duesseldorf, Mainz and elsewhere are notorious for their no-holds-barred satire, and also took aim at Brexit, the potential candidates to take over leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel´s CDU party, and U.S. President Donald Trump. One even featured a clown-like figure labeled “Carnival-Virus” thumbing its nose at an evil looking “Corona-Virus” creature.

Last Wednesday, a 43-year-old German man who had posted a racist screed online advocating genocide gunned down nine people of foreign background in the Frankfurt suburb of Hanau, before apparently killing himself and his mother.

It was the latest in a string of far-right attacks in Germany and many have pointed the finger at the Alternative for Germany party, suggesting its nationalist anti-migrant rhetoric has helped create the climate for violence.

One Duesseldorf float depicted a red-faced man yelling in rage, a pistol protruding from his mouth with the word “racism” on the barrel. On the side was the slogan “from words come deeds” and a list of the attacks, including Hanau.

In Cologne, a somber float depicted a weeping Carnival jester holding a heart with the slogan “our heart beats for Hanau.”

Another Duesseldorf float featured Alternative for Germany regional leader Bjoern Hoecke, who called Berlin´s memorial to the victims of the Nazi Holocaust a “monument of shame,” giving a Nazi salute, with his outstretched arm being held up by figures from Merkel´s CDU party and the pro-business FDP.

Festivities in several cities were called off Sunday due to high winds but the Monday parades were expected to go ahead.