The contract for the podcast “Fest & Flauschig”, which Jan Böhmermann and Olli Schulz record on the Spotify streaming platform, has just been extended until 2025 (!). A long-term deal a la Bundesliga for the popular ZDF presenter.
In the current episode of the audio format, Böhmermann immediately takes up the heavy artillery: He demands that German pharmacies should abolish their traditional sign. The red “A” in old-fashioned Gothic script (as in “A” pharmacy) was introduced during the Nazi era. Almost an un-wokes logo.
In the said talk show, Böhmermann chatted about his vacation, during which he noticed the “green cross” that is common abroad, which the local pharmacies let glow in bright neon. Germany is an exception.
The “ZDF Magazin Royale” boss sent his team to research and lo and behold: The signet, which is still used today between Flensburg and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, was introduced in 1936; “Because the Nazis are behind it,” says Böhmermann.
On the website of the “German Pharmacy Museum” in Heidelberg, he followed the genesis of the logo. In past centuries, he discovered, there would have been creatively and individually painted “A” signs, decorated with depictions of animals or saints, for example.
After the war they just took the rune out
In the Weimar Republic then attempts at a uniform logo solution for the then German Reich. However, designs for a medicine bottle in the minimal Bauhaus style could not prevail, which Böhmermann expressly regrets.
When the National Socialists seized power in March 1933, a different aesthetic was required anyway. The red “A” in squiggle form was enforced,
From 1951, the responsible pharmacists’ association decided on a modified “A” – in the combination with a medicinal chalice and a coiling snake; a reference to the Aesculapian staff of the medics.
“After the war, they simply took out the rune,” says Böhmermann in the podcast, “and put in the snake and the chalice. But basically it’s still a Nazi sign that’s attached to German pharmacies.” His final verdict: It also looks really shit.”
It remains to be seen whether Böhmermann will prevail in the industry with his criticism. He did, however, pull off a coup.
“Dear pharmacists, I know you’re not all for change, because change always means worse business, at least for pharmacists mostly. […] But couldn’t you do something cooler there?”
<!–
–>
<!–
–>