Kurt Westergaard (born Kurt Vestergaard; 13 July 1935 – 14 July 2021) was a Danish

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

. In 2005 he drew a cartoon of the

Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

prophet

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

, wearing a

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...

in his

turban A turban (from Persian language, Persian دولبند‌, ''dolband''; via Middle French ''turbant'') is a type of headwear based on cloth winding. Featuring many variations, it is worn as customary headwear by people of various cultures. Commun ...

as a part of the ''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons, which triggered several assassinations and murders committed by Muslim extremists around the world, diplomatic conflicts, and state-organized riots and attacks on Western embassies with several dead in Muslim countries. After the drawing of the cartoon, Westergaard received numerous death threats and was a target of assassination attempts. As a result, he was under constant police protection.

Early life

Westergaard was born on 13 July 1935 in the village of Døstrup, in the Mariagerfjord area of

Jutland Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...

. He grew up in a conservative Christian family ( Inner Mission) environment, going to

Sunday school ] A Sunday school, sometimes known as a Sabbath school, is an educational institution, usually Christianity, Christian in character and intended for children or neophytes. Sunday school classes usually precede a Sunday church service and are u ...

. Westergaard was introduced to cultural radicalism during high school in the 1950s, which he experienced as an "epiphany" and "a liberation from the religious subjugation of his childhood." Westergaard was a trained schoolteacher, educated at . After working as a teacher for some time, he enrolled at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

to study psychology. He subsequently worked as a teacher for handicapped children and was a principal of a school in the Djursland area for the handicapped.

Cartooning

After briefly working for the newspaper '' Demokraten'', he was a cartoonist for ''

Jyllands-Posten (; English: ''The Morning Newspaper "The Jutland Post"''), commonly shortened to or ''JP'', is a Danish daily broadsheet newspaper. It is based in Aarhus C, Jutland, and with a weekday circulation of approximately 120,000 copies. In 2005, he drew a depiction of Muhammed wearing a bomb in a

as part of the Prophet cartoons controversy. On 12 February 2008, the

Danish Security and Intelligence Service The Danish Security and Intelligence Service (DSIS; (PET)) is the national security and intelligence agency of Denmark. The agency focuses solely on national security while foreign intelligence operations are handled by the Danish Defense Intel ...

(PET) arrested three Muslims – two

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

ns and one Moroccan-born Dane – who were charged with planning to murder Westergaard. After the plot was foiled, the Danish secret service was made responsible for protecting Westergaard. He was placed under police surveillance when traveling to and from work and his house was fitted with steel doors, a panic room, reinforced glass in the windows, and surveillance cameras. Following the release of Dutch politician

Geert Wilders Geert Wilders (born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives. Wilders is best known for his right-wing p ...

' film '' Fitna'' in 2008, which used Westergaard's cartoon without permission, Westergaard made a cartoon depicting Wilders with a bomb and a sign which reads: "Danger! Freedom of expression". In a 2009 interview, Westergaard said he was trying to "show that terrorists get their spiritual ammunition from parts of Islam and with this spiritual ammunition, and with dynamite and other explosives, they kill people." He took issue with the way Danish people have judged his intentions, telling Canadian blogger Jonathan Kay that he was shunned by many of his former friends: "One of my old friends from the left, he said last year to me 'There are many who say that if something happens to ou you were asking for it' — that it would be my own fault."Alt URL
/ref> Westergaard also criticised the reaction of immigrant communities in Denmark to his cartoon, stating that "many of the immigrants who came to Denmark, they had nothing. We gave them everything – money, apartments, their own schools, free university, health care. In return, we asked one thing – respect for democratic values, including free speech. Do they agree? This is my simple test."

Attacks

On 1 January 2010, a 28-year-old Somali Muslim intruder armed with an axe and knife entered Westergaard's house and was subsequently shot and wounded by police. Westergaard was unharmed due to security precautions in his house. He escaped to a panic room when he saw the intruder standing in the hallway wielding an axe. Westergaard took his five-year-old granddaughter into the "panic room" when he realized what was happening. The intruder attempted to break down the reinforced door with his axe, shouting phrases like "We will get our revenge!", "Revenge!" and "Blood!" He failed to get through and was shot in the hand and knee by police officers who arrived on the scene within a few minutes. The assailant was arrested, taken into custody, and charged with the attempted murders of Westergaard and a police officer. This second attempted murder in two years received extensive coverage in the Danish newspapers. The Sunday edition of ''Jyllands-Posten'' included a front-page article about how Westergaard now needs a bodyguard to provide round-the-clock security; a full-page article on the background of the controversy; an interview with Westergaard by Lars Pedersen; a list of quotes showing the "disgust and condemnation" aroused by the attack; an article about the assailant's appearance in a court in

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

; two articles about the man himself, who had apparently been living in Denmark for fifteen years and was known to the intelligence services; and, in the editorial and in an opinion piece by political commentator Ralf Pittelkow, advocacy of the values Western society is based on, in particular

freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

. According to

PET A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive/ cute appearances, inte ...

intelligence, the suspect is closely linked to the Somali Islamist insurgency group al-Shabaab, commonly considered a terrorist organization, as well as an

al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

affiliate in East Africa. On 22 June 2011, the assailant was found guilty of an attempt to perform an act of terrorism and attempted murder, by a unanimous jury. The assailant pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a weapon and breaking and entering, but pleaded not guilty to the other charges. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by permanent deportation from Denmark. In March 2013, a psychiatric patient was taken into custody by the Danish police. According to Danish newspapers the man had been a passenger on a bus, when he started yelling and threatening to bomb the bus and Kurt Westergaard, who was not on the bus.

Al-Qaeda hit list

In 2010

Anwar al-Awlaki Anwar Nasser Abdulla al-Awlaki (; April 21 or 22, 1971September 30, 2011) was an American-Yemeni lecturer assassinated Drone strikes in Yemen, in Yemen in 2011 by a U.S. government drone strike ordered by President Barack Obama. Al-Awlaki was th ...

published an Al-Qaeda hit list in ''Inspire'' magazine, including three ''Jyllands-Posten'' staff members: Kurt Westergaard, Carsten Juste, and

Flemming Rose Flemming Rose (born 11 March 1958) is a Danish journalist, author and Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. He previously served as foreign affairs editor at the Danish newspaper ''Jyllands-Posten''. As culture editor of the same newspaper, he was ...

, along with other figures claimed to have "insulted Islam," including

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern wor ...

, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and cartoonist Lars Vilks. The list was later expanded to include Stéphane "Charb" Charbonnier, who was murdered in a terror attack on ''Charlie Hebdo'' in Paris, along with 11 other people. After the attack, Al-Qaeda called for more killings.

Death

Westergaard died in his sleep in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

on 14 July 2021, a day after his 86th birthday, after suffering from a long illness.

Awards

Westergaard was awarded the Sappho Award in May 2008, an award given by the Danish Free Press Society to a 'journalist who combines excellence in his work with courage and a refusal to compromise'. On 8 September 2010, he was awarded the M100 Media Award (M100-Medienpreis) by German

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Angela Merkel for his contributions to freedom of opinion.

Memoirs

In 2011, Westergaard, helped by John Lykkegaard, published his memoir ''Manden bag stregen''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Westergaard, Kurt 1935 births 2021 deaths Artists from Aarhus Danish editorial cartoonists Danish critics of Islam Former Lutherans Jyllands-Posten people Muhammad cartoonists People associated with the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy People from Tønder Municipality Survivors of terrorist attacks