Satirist Jan Böhmermann (41) calls on German pharmacies to get a new logo. In his podcast “Fest & fluffy” the native of Bremen described the logo as a “Nazi sign”.
Bremen – “Because the Nazis are behind it”, satirist Jan Böhmermann (“Neo Magazin Royale”) justifies his demand on German pharmacies to think about a new logo. The radio and television presenter devoted around ten minutes to the topic over the weekend while he was discussing with musician Olli Schulz in his podcast “Fest & fluffy”.
Font of the pharmacy logo introduced during the Nazi era, according to Böhmermann
From minute 16 everything revolves around the alleged “Nazi symbol”. On vacation, Jan Böhmermann noticed that the green cross prevailed almost everywhere in Europe.
After a short research, the journalist, who is also a film producer, found out that the font of the pharmacy logo “Fraktur” was introduced during the Nazi era: “This logo, which we have today, was basically introduced in almost exactly the same way in 1936”, tells Böhmermann in the podcast, as reported by apotheke-adhoc.de.
“Basically, what’s attached to German pharmacies is actually still a Nazi sign.”
The history of the logo he criticized is explained in more detail on the website of the German Pharmacy Museum. The initially proposed white cross on a red background was occupied by the Swiss national flag, explains Jan Böhmermann in the recording studio with Olli Schulz.
Corona pandemic gives German pharmacies record sales
In contrast to most retail companies, pharmacies – like the food trade – were never affected by corona-related closures during the pandemic, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden. December 2021, when restrictions such as 2G or 2G Plus applied to many shops, was the month with the highest sales for pharmacies since the start of the time series in 1994: They recorded a price, calendar and seasonally adjusted sales increase of 1.9% compared to the month of the previous year and 18.1% compared to December of the pre-crisis year 2019.
As is well known, the “three-spoon flag” in the Bauhaus style of the new objectivity has not caught on. In the competition called by “Reichsapothekerführer Albert Schmierer”, the Gothic A won the race, initially with a white cross in it. The Nazis later replaced this with the man rune.
“After the war they just took out the rune and put in the serpent and the chalice. Basically, it’s actually still a Nazi sign that’s attached to German pharmacies,” says Böhmermann, who expresses a second criticism of the logo: “And it also looks really shitty.”
Böhmermann: satirist and investigative journalist
At the end of the discussion about the pharmacy logo, Jan Böhmermann appealed: “Dear pharmacists, I know you are not in favor of change, because change always means worse business, at least for pharmacists in most cases. […] But couldn’t you do something hotter there?”
Jan Böhmermann likes to polarize, that’s nothing new. But disclosures of abuses are also part of the satirist’s repertoire. At the beginning of May, the artist Fynn Kliemann was criticized by a TV report by satirist Jan Böhmermann for connections to a textile company in the protective mask business. The YouTuber even left Kliemannsland afterwards. Sources used: apotheke-adhoc.de, podcast “Fest & fluffy”, destatis.de
