Mr. Sharro’s illustrations suggested that the West should avoid conducting airstrikes, invading Iraq, furnishing repressive regimes with tear gas and deadly weapons, overlooking the jailing of dissidents and cozying up to autocrats like President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt.

Though Bayerischer Rundfunk’s cartoon guide has attracted this sort of ridicule on social networks, the broadcaster was also involved in the development of the far more sophisticated new app, Ankommen (meaning “arrival” in German), and produced the clear and respectful “Guide for Refugees” video series anchored by Henry Lai, a German reporter of Vietnamese ancestry.