From Trump to Putin, Germany’s Carnival puts politics on parade

One float in the Düsseldorf Shrove Monday parade showed the US president making a ‘Hitler-Stalin-Pact 2.0’ with Putin while crushing Ukraine

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A float portraying Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and US President Donald Trump forming a “Hitler-Stalin-Pact 2.0” to squash Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelensky, during the parade to celebrate Rose Monday in Duesseldorf, Germany on Monday. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:07am, 4 Mar 2025Updated: 3:23am, 4 Mar 2025

Hundreds of thousands of costumed onlookers watched and cheered as Germany’s beloved Carnival parades made their way through city centres on Shrove Monday, the highlight of festivities each year.

The biggest parade on Shrove Monday, known in Germany as Rose Monday, was held in the western city of Cologne with some 12,500 participants accompanying satirical – and sometimes explicit – floats and throwing some 300 tons of confectionery into the crowds celebrating along the route in bright sunshine.

This year’s festivities were marred by heightened security following a string of deadly attacks in Germany in recent months.

Just as people were celebrating Carnival, at least two people were killed and several injured when a car drove into a crowd in the southwestern city of Mannheim, according to police.

An investigation into the incident is in full swing, with police yet to determine whether the incident was due to an attack or an accident.

A float portrays co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party Alice Weidel as a witch during the parade to celebrate Rose Monday (Rosenmontag) in Düsseldorf, western Germany on Monday. Photo: AFP

Speaking ahead of Monday’s parade, Cologne police president Johannes Hermanns said he was not worried about security at the event, with a large police contingent deployed to ensure a peaceful celebration.