Kurt Westergaard
| Kurt Westergaard | |
|---|---|
Westergaard in 2015
|
|
| Born |
Kurt Vestergaard 13 July 1935 Døstrup, Denmark |
| Nationality | Danish |
| Education | Teacher Psychology |
| Alma mater | Ranum Seminarium University of Copenhagen |
| Occupation | Cartoonist |
| Known for | Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy |
| Awards | Sappho Award, M100 Media Award |
Kurt Westergaard (born Kurt Vestergaard; 13 July 1935) is a Danish cartoonist who created the controversial cartoon of the Islamic prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb in his turban. This cartoon was the most contentious of the 12 Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons, which met with strong reactions from Muslims worldwide, including Western countries. Since the drawing of the cartoon, Westergaard has received numerous death threats and been a target of assassination attempts. As a result, he is under constant police protection.
Westergaard was born on 13 July 1935 in the village of Døstrup, in the Himmerland area of Jutland. He grew up in a conservative Christian family (Inner Mission) environment in Himmerland, going to Sunday school. 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 is a trained schoolteacher, educated at Ranum Seminarium. After working as a teacher for some time, he later enrolled at the University of Copenhagen to study psychology. He subsequently worked as a teacher for handicapped children, and has been principal of a school in the Djursland area for the handicapped.
Briefly working for the newspaper Demokraten, he has been a cartoonist for Jyllands-Posten since the early 1980s.
Although Westergaard had been a professional cartoonist for over 20 years, he became known for his depiction of Muhammad wearing a bomb in a turban.
...
Wikipedia