Death of a Famous Name

Simplicissimus, often shortened familiarly to Simpl, is the honored name of Germany's world-famous satirical magazine. Before World War I, it dabbed acid fun at Kaiser Wilhelm II, and for its lese majesty was frequently banned. It took on new teeth in the 1920s just in time to start potshotting at the rise of Nazism. One Simpl view of Hitler showed the top of his head lifted up to reveal a void within. "Isn't it strange," remarked the magazine, "that you can make such a lot of trouble with so little stuff?" It was not strange, of course, that such temerity resulted in another banning in 1933.

Under Nazi suppression, Simpl's best minds fled the country. The magazine was rudely resurrected under Nazi auspices, but it disappeared near the end of the war. In 1954, a new group took the famous old name and had another go at it. They flailed away at militarism and German pomposity, but somehow things were no longer the same. The targets were indistinct, the barbs not finely honed. Occasionally, as in its current issue, it found the mark. Piqued by what it considered excessive panoply surrounding the Adenauer funeral, the magazine noted that his body had been borne on an army truck and navy boat. In a neat reductio ad absurdum, it wondered in cartoons why the casket was not also carried under water by frogmen, helicoptered aloft, then parachuted back to earth, where it could have been loaded into a rocket launcher and aimed heavenward.

But such sallies were too infrequent and for a satiric magazine, lack od laughter is a fate worse than death. Accepting this fate, Simplicissimus' owners announced that after the next issue, the magazine will cease publication.

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