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Some put Chancellor Angela Merkel on a pedestal, but French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo placed her on a toilet seat in seeking to conquer Germany with its provocative brand of humor. The Telegraph reports.

The magazine hit German newsstands on Thursday - its first foreign-language edition, an innovation undertaken nearly two years after its staff was almost wiped out in a deadly jihadist attack in Paris.

Known for its biting cartoons and commentaries, the no-holds-barred publication launched in Germany with a poster showing Merkel sitting on a porcelain throne and reading the weekly, with the slogan: "Charlie Hebdo - it's liberating".

Cartoonist and publisher Laurent Sourisseau, better known by his artist's name Riss, who was badly wounded in the January 2015 attack, believes there is a market.

"Humour is everywhere, even in Germany," he told public broadcaster ARD.

"It's an experiment for us to publish Charlie Hebdo in another language and try to find new fans for the magazine who can help defend it."

Charlie Hebdo is now produced in a secret location, a legacy of the massacre at its former offices that claimed 12 lives, including some of France's best-known cartoonists.

The German version will be edited from France by a 33-year-old from Berlin who on the advice of her colleagues uses a pseudonym, Minka Schneider.

Charlie Hebdo's German version, with an initial 16-page edition and print run of 200,000, will consist mainly of articles and cartoons translated from the French, but its editors plan to create German content.