German Magazines Depict Trump Giving Nazi Salute, Wearing KKK Hood On Latest Covers
A German publication called Stern has gone viral this week after the magazine depicted U.S. President Donald Trump doing a Nazi salute with an American flag draped over his shoulders. And that’s just days after another German magazine, Der Spiegel, released its latest issue with a drawing of Trump wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood.
According to a report from the HuffPost, the German magazine Stern’s August 24 issue was published with the main headline “Sein Kampf,” which translates to “his struggle” in English. This is an obvious play on words of Adolf Hitler’s 1925 autobiography, Mein Kampf, or “My Struggle.” Aside from the above reference and the doctored image of Donald Trump doing a Nazi salute, the Stern cover also includes mentions of “neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, and racism,” and how Trump, in the publication’s view, promotes and encourages hatred in the United States.
As further elaborated by Politico, the Stern cover story tackles the very same controversies Trump has faced in recent weeks — his handling of the recent Charlottesville rallies, which included the death of one woman, Heather Heyer, when a car driven by an alleged white supremacist plowed into a gathering of counter-protesters. Several Democrats and even some Republican lawmakers have been critical of Trump for not specifically calling white supremacists out in his first statement regarding Heyer’s death and for blaming “both sides” in a second statement issued a few days after the first.
German magazine cover shows Trump doing Nazi salute, which is illegal in Germany https://t.co/Keiw3HozDi pic.twitter.com/zrhmqJ7tLe
— The Hill (@thehill) August 23, 2017
Stern’s cover story came days after another leading German magazine, Der Spiegel, published its August 19 issue, featuring a drawing of a man wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood, with no features identifiable with the U.S. president. However, the title of the cover story, “Das wahre Gesicht des Donald Trump,” means “The true Face of Donald Trump” when translated into English.
The Der Spiegel cover illustration was created by Cuban-American artist Edel Rodriguez, who told the HuffPost last week that it felt “liberating” for him to draw an image of Trump wearing a KKK hood.
“He has stood up for White Supremacists, Nazis, and the KKK like no president has before,” Rodriguez said. “It’s shameful and disgusting. Thousands of American soldiers lost their lives to bring down Nazism.”
The Economist, Time, New Yorker, Stern and Der Spiegel use Nazi or KKK images to refer to Trump and Charlottesville. https://t.co/2Xig5FdIdz pic.twitter.com/zhPPJFl5kw
— IBTimes UK (@IBTimesUK) August 24, 2017
The Der Spiegel cover with Trump in a KKK hood and the Stern cover with Trump doing the Nazi salute aren’t the only ones from major magazines to insinuate that the U.S. president encourages racism among his people. Earlier today, the International Business Times UK wrote that there had been two other publications to reference racist groups and include a likeness of Trump on the cover.
As noted by the IBTimes UK, The Economist’s cover image for the August 19-25 issue shows a drawing of Trump using a megaphone shaped like the Ku Klux Klan hood. Likewise, The New Yorker’s August 28 cover features the president riding on a sailboat, puffing up a KKK hood-shaped sail.
[Featured Image by Ralph Freso/Getty Images]
