Charlie Hebdo turns page with German edition

There are no prizes for guessing whose face features on the poster for the first German edition of Charlie Hebdo which will appear on newsstands in Berlin and Vienna on Thursday.

Chancellor Angela Merkel will be pictured in a moment of quiet contemplation reading the satirical weekly on the toilet.

“Charlie Hebdo, the newspaper that relaxes,” the legend reads.

The irreverent French phenomenon, which was the victim of a deadly jihadist attack in January 2015 after publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, hopes to continue its renaissance with a German version of its provocative mix of no-holds-barred cartoons and satirical columns.

Germans bought 70,000 copies of Charlie Hebdo’s “survi- vors’ edition”, which appeared a week after last year’s massacre in the magazine’s Paris offices, and already sells 1,000 copies a week of its French edition there.

Editor and cartoonist Riss — who was shot in the shoulder during the attack — has been working on a German-language version for six months.

He has also drawn the poster for the first issue with Merkel resplendent in pink reading a Charlie Hebdo which wonders whether she would be able to govern both Germany and France at the same time.

The cover she is holding on her throne is one originally drawn by the weekly’s murdered former editor, Charb, who was gunned down in the attack in which 12 people died.

“I always thought that we would be able to export Charlie Hebdo,” Riss told AFP.

“There is a real curiosity in Germany about what we are doing, which is not the case for copies instance in Britain, Spain or Portugal.”

Its 200,000-copy launch in Germany is ambitious — almost the same number as are printed in France every week.

“Unfortunately lots of people outside France discovered Charlie Hebdo because of the attacks when it is supposed to be a magazine that makes you laugh,” Riss said.

And the cartoonist said he was wary of the weekly’s 46-year history being reduced to the attacks.

“It is true that an important aspect of our editorial identity is our attachment to the freedom to criticise religion, but Charlie Hebdo in not just that,” he said.

“If we succeed in developing a readership abroad, we are also making allies. Those allies will help us get our message out and be understood.”

The 16-page German version is mostly a translation of the French edition but with some content written specifically for a German audience.

Riss said he hoped it would inspire young German cartoonists to dare to start drawing for it.

But such are the security concerns that the edition’s young female editor — who heads a 12-person team — is working under a pseudonym.

Riss is realistic about the edition’s long-term prospects, admitting that often foreigners didn’t how to take the magazine’s often vicious edge.

“Charlie Hebdo is kind of an extra terrestrial ... its humor is a little cynical, disillusioned. There is a pessimism in our drawings but we try to laugh about it,” he said.

of Charlie Hebdo’s “survivors’ edition” were sold in Germany.