Humor in Hitler’s Germany
Drop Dead Funny
In light of current events I’ve been wondering whether there were humorists in Hitler’s Germany, and if so, would I find them amusing, and how did they get away with it, and did any of them survive.
Turns out there were humorists during the 12 horrific years of the Third Reich, there were no lack of political jokes about Nazis and their racial purity grail, and there is a 2011 book of said same by one Rudolph Herzog.
Let’s see how people other than Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht satirized the fascists and Dear Leader.
Imperial Marshal Hermann Göring, known for his pomposity, was skewered with “Goring recently added an arrow to the many medals on his chest. It is there as a directional sign, meaning “To be continued on my back.”
A poster for the Third Reich’s Winter Relief Fund read “No one should be allowed to go hungry or suffer from the cold.” One worker says to another “So now we’re not even allowed to do that any more.”
Some of the jokes aren’t funny. Jewish humor pulled no punches. I’m not going to print those here. The sadism of the Third Reich sent secret police, informants, and military staff into cabarets, sniffing out anti-Hitler and less-than-enthusiastically-pro-Hitler performers, club owners, clientele. Jewish performers did not survive.
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And the Third Reich had its own DOGE.
What is a reactionary? Someone with a well-paid job coveted by a Nazi.
A street performer from Paderborn taught his chimpanzees to give the Heil Hitler salute. The chimpanzees apparently enjoyed the trick, so that every time they saw anyone in uniform, even a mailman, they did the Heil Hitler salute. Ultimately, an official Third Reich directive came down, forbidding all apes to do the salute, on pain of being slaughtered.
Count von Galen criticized the Nazi policy of murdering retarded persons. A Nazi ministerial counselor (attorney) justified the program by stating that the Commandment “Thou shalt not kill” was not the word of God, but was a “Jewish invention aimed at denying their enemies an effective defense in order to dispose of them more easily.”
That is not a joke. That actually happened.
The Nazis ignored the German Constitution, resulting in sardonic humor.
A Nazi official visits Switzerland and asks the purpose of a certain public building. “It’s the Ministry of the Navy,” his Swiss host replies. The Nazi laughs. “Why does Switzerland need a Ministry of the Navy,” he asks. You’ve only got two or three ships.” The Swiss replies “Why not? Germany has a Ministry of Justice.”
The following text is by Erika Mann. She intended it to represent Hitler.
I am the prince of the land of lies,
I can lie to shake the trees,
Good lord, am I a skillful liar!
No one lies so brilliantly.
There are several more verses in the same vein.
As conclusion, however, nobody can make more fun of the dictator Hitler and of dictators in general, including our own Hitler Wannabe, than our own Mel Brooks. Get out your Jewish Space Lasers and let’s watch The Producers again.
