Carnival Climax: Germany Goes Crazy at Rose Monday Parades

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http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/german-carnival-peaks-with-rose-monday-processions-a-882716.html


The parades are famous for their satirical carnival floats. This one in Cologne portrays German Chancellor Angela Merkel as an unhappy pig suckling troubled nations in the euro crisis.


Here's a tasteful one from Düsseldorf -- Italy's would-be comeback king Silvio Berlusconi and an unhappy European bull.


And here's the thanks she gets for it: This float in Düsseldorf shows Merkel getting a Hitler moustache painted on her by the Greeks -- a reference to how the chancellor has been portrayed as a Nazi in Greece and other nations where she is being blamed for the painful austerity being imposed on them in return for international aid.


Hundreds of thousands of people turned out to watch the traditional Rose Monday carnival parades in cities, towns and villages across western and southern Germany, with the main processions in Cologne and Düsseldorf doing a sterling job of poking fun at German and European politicians.

In Cologne, a bastion of carnival, satirical floats including one portraying Chancellor Angela Merkel as a sow feeding crisis-hit nations in the form of piglets.
In Düsseldorf, she was shown reluctantly having a Hitler moustache painted on her by Greece, in reference to anti-German protests in the country, during which Merkel, blamed for painful austerity measures, has been portrayed as Hitler.

Silvio Berlusconi, meanwhile, was shown having sex with a vomiting bull representing Europe, in apparent criticism of his decision to run for office yet again in the Italian election this month.

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1. Germany has a strong tradition of viciously mocking politicians at the carnivals.

I think America could use some of that.

[JoeBlowToo]

2. Could you see a float of Republicans screwing the American people?

That would be a big hit I'm sure!