A leading German newspaper has offered a profuse apology for a front page that implied Adolf Hitler had returned to sort out the refugee crisis.
Der Tagesspiegel ran a photo across the top of Wednesday’s paper of actor Oliver Masucci playing Hitler in a new satirical film Er ist Wieder Da (Look Who’s Back), in which the Nazi leader wakes from a coma in modern day Germany. The caption next to the picture read: “Not him again.”
Underneath the four-column photograph ran the headline “Refugee crisis becomes a matter for the boss”, accompanying a story about Angela Merkel’s new strategy on migration.
In an apology given prominence on its website, the Berlin paper asked readers to excuse the juxtaposition.
In a statement, the paper’s editorial team elaborated, saying: “In the late edition of yesterday’s [Wednesday’s] paper, we made a technical error. Unintentionally we came up with what might have been perceived as a connection between the picture – which was a reference to a review of the controversial Hitler film Look Who’s Back – and the headline for the news item ‘Refugee crisis becomes a matter for the boss’. We ask you to excuse us for the tasteless connection between the picture and the text.”
The paper said it had been alerted to the unfortunate layout by its readers, who contacted the paper in considerable numbers.
Der Tagesspiegel wrote: “Many readers saw a connection between the photo and the text that was not intended.” Inevitably, the mishap caused a furore on social media.
The paper had earlier been running a story about the European court of justice’s safe harbour ruling on its front page, but replaced it that evening with the report on the refugee task force.
