Cologne/Dusseldorf (dpa) – The major German cities along the river Rhine – Cologne, Dusseldorf and Mainz – were holding their annual irreverent and deeply satirical Carnival parades on Monday, poking fun at political figures in Germany and around the world.

This year’s creations by the famous float builder for the Dusseldorf Carnival parade, Jacques Tilly, were eagerly anticipated as he faces legal action in Russia for previous depictions of President Vladimir Putin.

Tilly failed to disappoint, with three of Dusseldorf’s 13 floats depicting the Russian leader.

In one, Putin is piloting a blue drone with the letters “AfD” written on it, in reference to the far-right Alternative for Germany party, while another float shows Putin and US President Donald Trump devouring Europe.

The third float comes in response to Tilly’s legal prosecution in Russia. It shows a grim-looking Putin impaling with his sword a Carnival jester with the word “satire” on his cap.

The sculptor has been charged with defaming Russian state organs, including the army and Putin, and he faces a sentence of a fine or up to 10 years’ imprisonment. In Germany, however, Tilly is beyond the reach of the Russian judiciary.

“This float is our jesting commentary on the whole thing,” Tilly told dpa.

“It’s a duel with very unequal weapons. On the one hand, there are the weapons of the Russian state, which are quite sharp. And then there’s our weapon, which is simply satire, made of cardboard, which can’t kill. It’s a very unequal duel,” the 62-year-old said.

No Putin floats in Cologne, Mainz

The absence of Putin-themed floats in Cologne and Mainz raised some eyebrows, days before the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

However, the float of Cologne Carnival Festival Committee President Christoph Kuckelkorn expressed solidarity with Tilly, featuring the slogan “We are all Tilly” written in the local dialect.

“What happened to him is unspeakable, unbearable for us, and it goes without saying that we stand together like a wall,” Kuckelkorn said of Tilly.

Members of the Ukrainian aid organization Blue-Yellow Cross took part in the Cologne parade, displaying posters of Tilly’s earlier works satirizing Putin.

Organizers said that, by inviting the Ukrainian group, they were “emphasizing Carnival freedom of expression and solidarity with the people of Ukraine,” and also with Tilly.

In Mainz, meanwhile the organizers stated ahead of the parade that they wanted to “avoid a certain redundancy,” after Putin and the war in Ukraine had featured several times in recent years.

Other Carnival targets

Other world leaders were not spared. One Cologne float depicted Trump, whose backside is covered with kisses from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, NATO and others.

Another float showed a blue snake labelled AfD. It is in the style of Kaa the python from “The Jungle Book,” hypnotically wrapped around Michael the German, a figure representing the German national character.

Other floats deal with the brutal suppression of protests in Iran, arms proliferation and artificial intelligence.

In Mainz, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius was shown shooting at drones with a bow and arrow. Trump was depicted crushing the Statue of Liberty while dancing, and Bavarian Premier Markus Söder appeared with beer, mountains of meat and “Wurst [sausage] against wokeness.”

On other floats, the German goverment’s coalition partners are shown inflicting pain on each other in sadomasochistic outfits.

Tons of sweets thrown

The approximately 11,500 participants in Cologne’s parade distribute 300 metric tons of sweets, 300,000 bouquets of flowers and thousands of rag dolls and small gifts. The parade participants themselves pay for the items they toss to the crowds.

Monday is Shrove Monday, known in Germany as Rose Monday. It is the last Monday before the start of the 40-day Christian fasting season of Lent, which leads up to Easter.

Source: dpa.com