Jokes About Nazis
Ian Pierpoint -
I miss the times when you could make jokes about Nazis.
But unfortunately they’ve gone from being a dark chapter in history to a fair chunk of most Western populations.
In fact they’re so common in the USA that people seem to be ok saying they’re a Nazi on widely viewed YouTube shows, as this exchange on the Jubilee reveals:
“You’re a fan of the Nazis?” Hasan asked the participant.
“I, frankly, don’t care being called a Nazi at all,” Connor said.
Later on, Hasan said, “We may have to rename this show, because you’re a little bit more than a far-right Republican.”
“What can I say?” Connor replied.
“I think you say, ‘I’m a fascist.’”
“Yeah, I am,” Connor said with a smile as several others in the circle clapped.
Fortunately Connor lost his job straight after it aired.
Unfortunately he then launched launched a fundraising page on GiveSendGo, a Christian crowdfunding site which has faced criticism for hosting extremist causes
“I’m raising money as an emergency fund and for other expenses while I look for a new job,” the page reads, without providing details of the role or company he was supposedly fired from. “Unfortunately, voicing fully legal traditional right-wing political views results in real consequences. This is cancel culture and political discrimination on full display.”
Within days he’d raised over $20,000. How very christian of them.
Anyways, back to humour.
Right back to 1943 in fact.
Back in Nazi Germany there were two classifications of ‘jokes’.
In the first grimy bucket of humour were the gags that supported the regime.
Stuff punching down on Jews, Gypsies and others the regime needed to position as sub-human. And other stuff that mocked the Allies (often about how fat, lazy and drunk Churchill was).
In the other bucket were gags that formed a sort of resistance.
Some of these were subtle, so as not to be spotted by the authorities, but many of them became what was known as Flüsterwitze, or ’Whisper Jokes’, because if you got caught saying it, you got arrested.
Below are list are real Flüsterwitze which the Gestapo kept records of:
"Why is Hitler so thin?"
"Because he only eats the countries he conquers."
"The only thing that works in Germany now is the crematorium”
"Hitler and Göring are standing on top of the Berlin radio tower. Hitler says he wants to do something to make the Berliners happy. Göring replies: ‘Then why don’t you jump?’"
"Why are there no jokes about the Gestapo?
Because they would arrest the punchline."
"What will you do after the war?"
"Learn to speak Russian.”
I think we’re all going to miss the times when we could joke about the Nazis.