Down to earth – how Loriot's role reversal outraged society in the 50s

Down on the dogs – how Loriot's role reversal outraged society in the 50s

April 4, 2025

Hardly anyone hears the name Loriot without immediately having numerous quotes, iconic scenes, and characters in mind. The humorist's work has long been part of our cultural memory. His distinctive trademark remains the bulbous-nosed man, which already appears in his early drawings – including the series " Auf den Hund gekommen" (Gone to the Dogs) , which began appearing in Stern magazine in 1951.

In this series, Loriot performs a role reversal between dog and human. The larger-than-life dog comments on the behavior of the smaller human and is itself depicted with human attributes. The dog sits in a café, knits, pets cats, and converses. The human wears a leash around its neck, plays fetch, and remains silent. The dog embodies the human's owner, observing and interpreting them in a way reminiscent of how people talk about their dogs. Sentences like, "Everything he does is pointless..." or "What would people say if they could bark?" are put into its mouth. This seemingly harmless reversal of animal and human was not tolerated by the spirit of the 1950s. Stern magazine received letters from outraged readers who saw the drawings as a denigration of "Homo sapiens" and considered the depictions contemptuous of humanity. These complaints had an effect, and the magazine eventually discontinued the series. Only Loriot's Reinhold the Rhinoceros, which appeared in the children's supplement , continued. This figure is a red rhinoceros with human features, exploring the world in a childlike manner. However, it is clearly harmless and does not challenge the supposed dominance of humans.

Comics scholar Dietrich Grünewald attributes the negative criticism to remnants of Nazi ideology of superiority or to a sense of shame among Germans regarding their Nazi past and the resulting inability to be self-ironic. [1] However, the feeling of human hubris can also be described from another perspective. In the field of animal ethics, there is the concept of speciesism. This concept includes both the devaluation of animals compared to humans and the ranking of animals among themselves, depending on their "function" for humans. The fact that the reactions of readers at that time seem exaggerated and strange to us today shows that society has evolved in its perception of itself as the "crown of creation." At least pets like dogs and cats are often considered family members, and their feelings and actions are compared to those of humans. The situation is different, however, with so-called "farm animals," whose capacity to suffer is sometimes even denied or downplayed. So how much of the thought patterns of 1950s society is still in us today?

Whatever the reasons for the readers' outrage may have been, Loriot's career was not harmed by the end of the series. He decided to publish "Auf den Hund gekommen " (Gone to the Dogs ) as a book, found a publisher in Diogenes Verlag, and a collaboration began that lasted until his death. Some of the illustrations can be seen in the exhibition "Ach was. LORIOT – Künstler, Kritiker und Karikaturist" (Oh, Nonsense . LORIOT – Artist , Critic and Cartoonist) – so anyone who hasn't yet seen this amusing role reversal can still do so until June 15th.

[1] See Grünewald: Loriot and the Art of Drawing Irony, 2019, p. 43.