Cats That Look Like Hitler is a satirical website featuring photographs of

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

s resembling

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

, the Ultranationalist dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945. Such cats are often referred to as on the internet. Most of the cats are

piebald A piebald or pied animal is one that has a pattern of unpigmented spots (white) on a pigmented background of hair, feathers or scales. Thus a piebald black and white dog is a black dog with white spots. The animal's skin under the white backgro ...

, with a large black splotch underneath its nose, much like the dictator's

toothbrush moustache The toothbrush moustache is a style of moustache in which the sides are vertical (or nearly vertical) rather than tapered, giving the hairs the appearance of the bristles on a toothbrush that are attached to the nose. It was made famous by such ...

, and other features that suggest a typically stern expression. Some have diagonal black patches on their heads resembling Hitler's

fringe Fringe may refer to: Arts * Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival, known as "the Fringe" * Adelaide Fringe, the world's second-largest annual arts festival * Fringe theatre, a name for alternative theatre * The Fringe, the ...

. The site was founded by Koos Plegt and Paul Neve in 2006 and became widely known after being featured on several television programmes across Europe and Australia. The site is now run only by Neve; as of February 2013 he had approved photographs of over 7,500 cats. The site is seemingly no longer maintained, as the webpage has not been updated since April 2014.

In popular culture

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...

mentioned the site in his ''

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show focuse ...

'' in July 2010. The site was commonly referenced in the now defunct Australian gaming magazine ''Total Gamer'' and has become well known in New Zealand since it was mentioned on the '' Edge Nightshow'' by Brad Wattson that his cat 'Piggles' was the No. 1 "" (kitty Hitler) in the world. The site was also mentioned fleetingly in ''

The Social Network ''The Social Network'' is a 2010 American biographical drama film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin, based on the 2009 book ''The Accidental Billionaires'' by Ben Mezrich. It portrays the founding of social networking web ...

''. Cats are a popular staple of

internet culture Internet culture is a culture based on the many way people have used computer networks and their use for communication, entertainment, business, and recreation. Some features of Internet culture include online communities, gaming, and social media ...

, and Cats That Look Like Hitler can be considered an offshoot of a broader cultural fascination with cats on the internet. In 2011, ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' reported on a "" which was unable to find adoption due to its facial resemblance to the dictator. Writer for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', Ben Machell, has interviewed the owners of sensational cats such as those on the site and has come up with various possible explanations for the creation and popularity of cats on the Internet, including Cats That Look Like Hitler. Machell mentions the cat's mysterious nature and personality as a perfect target for projecting personality and emotion on, and recalls the worship of cats by the ancient Egyptians.

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com British comedy websites Internet properties established in 2006 Cats in popular culture Animal websites Internet memes about cats Cultural depictions of Adolf Hitler Disturbances of pigmentation

In popular culture

See also

References

External links