11 “they are one of the many examples of cultural figures declaring their loyalty to the Nazis in those early days.”; See Kühn, p. 336.
12 “they have gotten things so obviously wrong.”; Hanfstaengl, p. 14f.
13 “he wished to spare the healthy productive masses of the German people from a bloody confrontation with their enemies.”; Hanfstaengl, p. 110.
14 “Hanfstaengl’s work would ‘recall to our minds the heroically pursued struggle of our Führer.’ ”; Hanfstaengl, p. 32.
15 “His anti-Nazi caricatures had appeared in mass circulation, and Goebbels and his henchmen could hardly be expected to forget his earlier criticisms of fascism.”; See E. O. Plauen, p. 43.
16 “Dangerous or not—keep going!”; See Kühn, p. 79.
17 “But the Third Reich did yield a number of instances of precisely that.”; Sellin, p. 19.
18 “The harshest sentences for ‘maliciousness’ were rendered in prewar Nazi Germany”; See Wöhlert, p. 95.
19 “to drag National Socialism and everything holy to National Socialists through the mud.”; Finck (2), p. 75.
20 “ ‘Why?’ I responded. ‘Do I need any?’ ”; Finck, p. 69.
21 “the ‘breeding grounds of Jewish and Marxist propaganda should be closed during their performances and everyone involved, including the audience, should be taken into protective custody.’ ”; See Kühn, p. 80.
22 “Now that fear is gone. We’re already here.”; See Kühn, p. 280.
23 “was dragged out of the bed he was sharing with his male lover.”; See Fest, p. 636.
24 “formed the basis of a conspiracy not just against the mores of a healthy people but also against the security of the state.”; See Wiener, p. 131.
IV. HUMOR AND PERSECUTION
1 “the amount of commerce done afterward by Jewish-owned business did not decline at all.”; See Fest, p. 577.
2 “A Jewish great-grandmother. She brought money into the family but not any trouble!”; The legal definition of being Jewish in the Third Reich was having one Jewish grandparent, so people who only had a Jewish great-grandmother among otherwise “Arian” ancestors were not considered Jewish.
3 “None of the other participants made any effort to defend him.”; See the interview with Magda Schneider in the 2002 documentary film Prisoners of Paradise.
4 “in short she was the heart and soul of the whole theater.”; Quoted in Hippen, p. 18.
5 “I, the prince of the land of lies.”; Quoted in Hippen, p. 26f.
6 “And we’d have every reason to be ashamed, if we stopped doing that now.”; See Hippen, p. 23.
7 “problems of continental Europeans”; See Kühn, p. 55f.
8 “ ‘Escort out’ was what the Swiss called the deportations, and in many cases it was an escort to the grave.”; See Hippen, p. 14.
9 “an innocent girl whose blood he defiles and thus takes away from her own people.”; See Fest, p. 64. 97 “Der Stürmer’s readership came up with endless variations on it in the jokes they invented”; See Hanh, p. 225.
10 “Heinrich Hoffmann, whom he repeatedly invited to share evenings of jokes with himself and Goebbels.”; See Steinert, p. 327.
11 “Tatzelwurm, the troupe that took over the space previously used by the banned Catacomb.”; See Kühn, p. 81.
12 “Churchill a ‘drunk’ ”; See Wiener, p. 37f.
13 “It’s not a particularly good Rühmann film, but in war-time, it serves its purpose.”; Quoted in Kleinhans, p. 6.
14 “movie entirely in the spirit of my love of flying”; Rühmann, p. 149.
15 “His ability to embody the ‘little man on the street’ had already made him a star in the Weimar Republic”; The UFA had Rühmann under contract well before the Nazis came to power. This was very unusual at the time for comedians.
16 “no one will doubt that my Semites are genuine.”; See Kreimeier, p. 2.
17 “That, in any case, was how the political leadership and their minions in the film industry saw the situation.”; Kreimeier, p. 5.
V. HUMOR AND WAR
1 “Only the dumbest calves elect their own slaughterers.”; Danimann, p. 58.
2 “Despite having received a few warnings, he was later to write, all seemed quiet on the ‘Goebbels front.’ ”; See Finck, p. 111.
3 “And it’s likely that its author was convinced of the propriety of a German attack on Poland.”; See Wiener, p. 105.
4 “But in 1940 the vast majority of Germans were intoxicated by Hitler’s early military success, and Elser’s would long remain the only attempt to assassinate the Führer.”; See Shirer, p. 1099.
5 “even the calculating studio bosses began to realize that the United States might not be able to avoid entering World War II.”; See Fyne, p. 18.
6 “The story took two years to develop.”; Quoted in Schnelle, p. 92.
7 “ ‘Hurry up with your film, everyone is waiting for it.’ ”; Quoted in Schnelle, p. 95.
8 “Civilizations may crumble—but the hero and heroine come out all right in the end.”; Mills, p. 168
9 “Lubitsch, the critic wrote, was a jaded Jewish director.”; See Spaich, p. 358.
10 “with many viewers still finding some scenes inappropriate in light of the Nazi genocide in Eastern Europe.”; See Fyne, p. 75. This book, which was published in 1994, describes the final scene of To Be or Not To Be as “tasteless.”
11 “it is certainly a far cry from ‘the Berlin born director who finds fun in the bombing of Warsaw.”; See Spaich, p. 358.
12 “But America in 1942 was not ready for it.”; See Spaich, p. 361.
13 “Private on the Western Front”; Lucas, p. 157ff.
14 “No, my racial comrades, I alone am entitled to decide when a year commences and when it concludes.”; See Kühn, p. 360.
15 “Whoever intentionally disseminates news from foreign broadcasters of the sort that may endanger the German people’s capacity for resistance will be subject to re-educational incarceration and, in extreme cases, death.”; Reichsgesetzblatt 1, 1939.
16 “Undermining defensive strength is punishable by death …”; §5 of the Ordinance on Special Wartime Criminal Law of August 17, 1938.
17 “The small minority of wits who were remanded to ‘protective custody’ were typically released after five months in prison.”; See Wöhlert, p. 97.
18 “Goebbels is a whoremonger, Hitler a criminal, and the war a lost cause.”; Muliar, p. 58.
19 “instructions that his gold watch and his copy of Goethe’s Faust be given to his friend Kurt Jelinek.”; See Muliar, p. 60f.
20 “Her honor has been permanently destroyed and therefore she will be punished with death.”; This comes from the official decision rendered by the People’s Court.
21 “Freisler embraced these words and enforced what they enjoined to the letter.”; See Koch, p. 217.
22 “Death sentences”; See Koch, p. 222.
23 “Dorsay had no time for the Nazis.”; See Liebe, p. 21.
24 “The sentence has already been carried out.”; See Liebe, p. 27.
25 “This guiding principle of the Nazi judicial system can be traced back to an order from Hitler himself …”; See Wöhlert, p. 137.
26 “Politics were part of what he taught, and he often warned his pupils against … extreme political positions.”; See Scharf-Wrede, p. 6.
27 “That violated the law, as did his public ‘defeatist’ insistence that Germany would never be able to win the war.”; See Scharf-Wrede, p. 11.
28 “he was only moderately intelligent and lacked ‘intellectual flexibility.’ ”; See Scharf-Wrede, p. 18.
29 “the ‘priests’ block’ of the Dachau concentration camp.”; See p. 193 Scharf-Wrede, p. 16.
30 “the Nazis had kept the priest under observation because they feared that his work … would have undone everything”; See Müller, p. 21.
31 “Freisler allowed his rationality to be overridden by an almost religious faith in the Führer’s pro
mises of final victory.”; See Koch, p. 231.
32 “There was only one way to expiate such a sin: the death penalty.”; See Müller, p. 25.
33 “the Nazi empire’s military collapse was a mere matter of time.”; See Shirer, p. 1413.
34 “… seized the crucial oil fields of Romania, and reached the border of Eastern Prussia.”; See Shirer, p. 1409. 183 “But they never hit shit.”; See Wiener, p. 113.
35 “There’s no use trying to starve out the Germans … the sacks are coming out their cellar windows.”; What was meant were the sandbags used to protect windows from shrapnel.
36 “Let’s be honest, shall we? None of us are virgins anymore.”; Anonyma, p. 28.
37 “The war is lost.”; See Shirer, p. 1424.
VI. HUMOR AND ANNIHILATION
1 “thousands died in the camps from malnutrition and disease.”; See Kogon, p. 137. 210 “That worked like a charm.”; Bolle, p. 103.
2 “Are you going to deliver the gas, or do you want us to take care of it?”; Bolle, p. 144.
3 “That testimony is backed up by letters written by a Jew from Amsterdam in the holding camp Westerbork.”; See Bolle, p. 218.
4 “they allowed Grünbaum and chanson singer Hermann Leopoldi to bring their friend’s body to the gates of the camp.”; See Troller, p. 258.
5 “he was already suffering from tuberculosis of the stomach and intestines.”; See Liebe, p. 122.
6 “each more blackly humorous than the last.”; See Kluger, p. 62f.
7 “On October 30 … the final solution program in Auschwitz was permanently suspended.”; See Liebe, p. 216.
VII. LAUGHING AT AUSCHWITZ? HUMOR AND NATIONAL SOCIALISM AFTER WORLD WAR II
1 “ ‘And has your Jew come back?’ ”; See Kluger, p. 62f.
2 “… no response that might obscure its enormity or dishonor its dead.”; See Laster/Steinert, p. 184f.
3 “Even when a piece of culture is comic, the artist has to display appropriate seriousness.”; See Laster/Steubert, p. 186f.
4 “Benigni must have known he was taking a double risk.”; See Laster/Steubert, p. 183.
5 “there had been no children in Auschwitz.”; See Laster/Steubert, p. 190.
WORKS CITED
Allert, Tilman: Der deutsche Gruß—Geschichte einer unheilvollen Geste, Berlin, 2005 (Eichborn Berlin).
Anonymus: Eine Frau in Berlin—Tagebuchaufzeichnungen vom 20. April bis 22. Juni 1945, Frankfurt/ M., 2003 (Eichborn Berlin).
Blasius, Anke: Der politische Sprachwitz in der DDR, Hamburg, 2003, in: Philologia, Vol.54 (Verlag Dr. Kovac).
Bolle, Mirijam: “Ich weiss, dieser Brief wird dich nie erreichen”—Tagebuchbriefe aus Amsterdam, Westerbork und Bergen-Belsen, Berlin, 2005 (Eichborn Berlin).
Broer, Wolfgang: Wort als Waffe—Politischer Witz und politische Satire in der Republik Österreich (1918–1927), Vienna, 1973 (Verlag der wiss. Gesellschaften Österreichs).
Danimann, Franz: Flüsterwitze und Spottgedichte unterm Hakenkreuz, Vienna, 2001 (Ephelant Verlag).
Fest, Joachim: Hitler, Frankfurt/ M. and Berlin, 1973 (3. ed., 1992; Ullstein-Verlag).
Finck, Werner: Alter Narr, was nun?, Munich, 1992 (Herbig-Verlag). ———–Spaßvogel—Vogelfrei, Berlin, 1991 (Henschel-Verlag).
Focke, Harald and Monika Strocka: Alltag der Gleichgeschalteten—Wie die Nazis Kirche Kultur, Justiz und Presse braun färbten, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1985 (Rowohlt-Verlag).
Fyne, Robert: The Hollywood Propaganda of World War II, Metuchen, NJ, 1994 (The Scarecrow Press).
Gamm, Hans-Jochen: Der Flüsterwitz im Dritten Reich, Munich, 1963 (revised and expanded ed. 1990; List-Verlag).
Grimmelshausen, Hans Jakob Christoffel von: Der abentheurliche Simplicissimus teutsch, Weinheim, 1988 (Reproduction of the first edition from 1668/VCH).
Hahn, Fred: Lieber Stürmer!—Leserbriefe an das NS-Kampfblatt 1924 bis 1945, Stuttgart, 1978 (Seewald-Verlag).
Hanfstaengl, Ernst: Hitler in der Karikatur der Welt, Berlin, 1933 (Verlag Braune Bücher).
Hartmann, Rudi: Flüsterwitze aus dem Tausendjährigen Reich, Munich 1983 (Knaur-Verlag).
Hertling, Viktoria, Wolf Koepke and Jörg Thunecke (eds.): Hitler im Visier, Literarische Satiren und Karikaturen als Waffe gegen den Nationalsozialismus, Wuppertal, 2005 (Arco-Verlag).
Hippen, Reinhard: Satire gegen Hitler—Kabarett im Exil, Zürich, 1986 (pendo-Verlag).
Hirche, Kurt: Der braune und der rote Witz, Düsseldorf/Vienna, 1964 (Econ-Verlag).
Kleinhans, Bernd: “Propaganda im Film des Dritten Reichs,” in: www.shoa.de/filmpropaganda.html
Klemperer, Victor: Ich will Zeugnis ablegen bis zum letzten. Tagebücher 1933—1945, ed. by Walter Nowojski, 3rd ed., Berlin 2005 (Aufbau TB).
Kluger, Ruth: Landscapes of Memory—a Holocaust Girlhood remembered, London, 2001 (Bloomsbury).
Kogon, Eugen: Der SS-Staat—Das System der deutschen Konzentrationslager, Munich, 1974 (Heyne-Verlag).
Koch, Hannsjoachim W.: Volksgerichtshof—politische Justiz im 3. Reich, Tübingen, 1988 (Universitas-Verlag).
Körner, Torsten: Ein guter Freund—Heinz Rühmann, Berlin, 2001 (Aufbau-Verlag).
Kreimeier, Klaus: “Antisemitismus im nationalsozialistischen Film,” in: Jüdische Figuren in Film und Karikatur, Stuttgart, 1995 (Jan-Thorbecke-Verlag).
Kühn, Volker: Deutschlands Erwachen—Kabarett unterm Hakenkreuz 1933–1945, Berlin, 1989 (Quadriga-Verlag).
Landmann, Salcia: Jüdische Witze—ausgewählt und eingeleitet von Salcia Landmann, Munich, 1983 (DTV).
Laster, Kathy and Hanns Steinert: “Eine neue Moral in der Darstellung der Shoah?—Zur Rezeption von, La Vita e Bella,” in: Lachen über Hitler—Auschwitz-Gelächter?, Frankfurt/ M, 2003 (Edition Text + Kritik), pp. 181–197.
Liebe, Ulrich: Verehrt, verfolgt, vergessen—Schauspieler als Naziopfer, Berlin, 1992 (new edition 1995; Quadriga-Verlag).
Lucas, Robert: Teure Amalie; vielgeliebtes Weib!—Briefe des Gefreiten Hirnschal, Frankfurt, 1984 (Verein zur Förderung und Erforschung der antifaschistischen Literatur).
Margry, Karel: “Das Konzentrationslager als Idylle: Theresienstadt—Ein Dokumentarfilm aus dem jüdischen Siedlungsgebiet,” in: Auschwitz—Geschichte, Rezeption und Wirkung, Jahrbuch 1996 zur Geschichte und Wirkung des Holocaust. Frankfurt am Main/New York, 1996, pp. 319–352.
Mills, Robert William: The American Films of Ernst Lubitsch—A Critical History, Ann Arbor, 1976 (Diss. Univ. of Michigan).
Moers, Walter: Adolf, die Nazi-Sau, Frankfurt/ M., 1998 (Eichborn).
Muliar, Fritz: Melde gehorsamst das ja!—Meine Lebensabenteuer, Graz, 2003 (Steyria).
Müller, Oskar: Ein Leben in und für Christus—Leben, Wirken, Leiden und Opfertod des Pfarrers Joseph Müller, Groß Düngen/Celle, 1948 (Eigenverlag).
Plauen, E.O. (Erich Ohser): Politische Karikaturen, Zeichnungen, Illustrationen und alle Bildgeschichten von Vater und Sohn, Konstanz, 2000 (Südverlag).
Rühmann, Heinz: Das war’s—Erinnerungen, Berlin, 1985 (Ullstein-Verlag).
Sauder, Georg: Die Bücherverbrennung 10. Mai 1933, Munich, 1983 (Carl-Hanser-Verlag).
Scharf-Wrede, Thomas: Pfarrer Joseph Müller—Zeuge für Jesus Christus, Hildesheim 1994 (Sammlung Bistumsarchiv Hildesheim).
Schnelle, Frank: Charles Chaplin’s Der Grosse Diktator, Stuttgart, 1994 (Verlag Robert Fischer + Uwe Wiedleroither).
Sellin, Kurt: Geflüstertes—die Hitlerei im Volksmund, Heidelberg, 1946 (Freiheit Verlag).
Shirer, William L.: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, N.Y., 1950 (new ed., 1992, Random House).
Spaich, Herbert: Ernst Lubitsch und seine Filme, Munich, 1992 (Heyne Verlag).
Steinert, Marlies: Hitler, Munich, 1994 (Verlag C.H. Beck).
Süß, Wilhelm: Lachen, Komik und Witz in der Antike, Zürich, 1969 (Artemis Verlag).
Troller, Georg Stefan: Das fidele Grab an der Donau—mein Wien 1918–1938, Düsseldorf/Zürich, 2004 (Artemis & Winkler).
Wiener, Ralph: Gefährliches L
achen—Schwarzer Humor im Dritten Reich, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1994 (Rowohlt-Verlag).
————-Als das Lachen Tödlich war, Rudolstadt, 1988 (Greifen-Verlag).
Wöhlert, Meike: Der Politische Witz in der NS-Zeit am Beispiel ausgesuchter SD-Bericht und Gestapo-Akten, Frankfurt, 1997 (Europäischer Verlag der Wissenschaften).
PHOTO CREDITS
1 Photograph of Weiß Ferdl
2 Photograph of Karl Valentin
3 Photograph of Heinz Rühmann taken from Der Gasmann
4 Photograph of Ludwig Schmitz and Jupp Hussels as Tran and Helle: Courtesy of Filmmuseum Berlin—Deutsche Kinemathek.
5 Photograph of the cast of the Catacomb
6 Photograph of Willi Schaefer’s Cabaret of Comedians
7 Photograph of Werner Finck: © Deutsches Kabarettarchiv Mainz.
8 Caricature by E. O. Plauen: © Erich Ohser/Peter Ohser.
9 Photograph of Fritz Muliar in uniform
10 Muliar’s last will and testament from October 31, 1942: © Prof. Fritz Muliar.
11 A still from La Vita Bella: © Cecchi Gori Group Tiger Cinematografica/Melampo Cinematografica/Cinetext Bildarchiv.
12 Still from To Be or Not To Be: © Spiegel Media GmbH.
13 Still from Mel Brooks’s The Producers: © Crossbow Productions/MGM/Springtime Productions/Cinetext Bildarchiv.
14 Photograph of a break on the set of The Great Dictator: © Charlie Chaplin Productions/Cinetext Bildarchiv.
15 Comic strip Adolf, the Nazi Sow by Walter Moers: Taken from Adolf. Äch bin wieder da!! by Walter Moers © Eichborn AG, July 1988.
16 Photograph and documents of pastor J. Müller: © Bistumsarchiv Hildesheim.
17 Judgment of Marianne Elise Kürschner: Courtesy of Bundesarchiv, signatory: NJ 3670 (AZ: 10 J 405 / 43g).
18 Photograph of Fritz Petter with his chimpanzee
19 1933 program for Erika Mann’s Pfeffermühle
20 Taken from Satire gegen Hitler—Kabarett im Exil by Reinhard Hippen. Pendo Verlag, Zürich 1986.
21a, 21b Taken from Landesarchiv NRW, Hauptstaatsarchiv Düsseldorf RW 58 Nr. 25083 BI. 17. Cartoons of Hitler as the Grim Reaper Hitler as an Indian: Reprinted from Hitler in der Karikatur der Welt by Putzi Hanfstaengel, Verlag Braune Bücher, Berlin 1933.
Dead Funny: Humor in Hitler’s Germany Page 18