In 1933, when the Nazis took power in Germany as an elected government, ordinary German citizens still had high hopes for the Nazis in the early days, believing the Nazis could lead Germany out of the shadow of World War I. Indeed, the early Nazis did seem to fulfil the expectations of the German people. The German economy developed rapidly, unemployment declined steadily, and after experiencing profound insecurity and frustration, Germans regained confidence. So in this context, although Germans also told jokes, the purpose of telling jokes was not political resistance, but to make fun of some ridiculous phenomena of the Nazi regime, as well as some unfamiliar daily behaviors, such as the Hitler salute, which was often ridiculed by Germans. Of course, this kind of behavior did not pose any threat to the survival and life of the Germans, they just felt it was weird, pretentious, unnatural, or simply "funny".
There is a joke that Thule and Karl were walking through a cattle farm, Thule stepped into a pile of cow dung and nearly fell. When he came to his senses, he immediately raised his right hand and shouted "Heil Hitler!" Karl said to him, "Are you crazy? What are you doing? There is no one watching here." Thule said, "It's the rule, every time you get to a new place, you have to say 'Heil Hitler'."
In another joke, a drunkard was walking down the street when he met a street vendor shouting "Heil Kräuter" (Kräuter means herbs in German, and "Heil" can be seen as a slogan to draw attention, coincidentally, "Heil" was also used as a Nazi slogan meaning "Hail" or "Salute", so the famous Hitler salute was to stretch out the right hand parallel to the eyebrows, along with the slogan "Heil Hitler"). Hearing the vendor shouting "Heil Kräuter", the drunkard mumbled, "We must have a new government!"
There is also a joke that Hitler visited a mental asylum, and all the patients gave him the Hitler salute. Hitler saw one person who did not raise his hand to salute, so he asked, "Why don't you salute like everyone else?" The man replied, "My Führer, I am a hospital staff member, not a madman."
In addition to making fun of such daily behaviors, the appearances and habits of Nazi leaders also became targets of ridicule for many. Among them, Propaganda Minister Paul Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Göring, founder of the Gestapo and Prime Minister of Prussia, were frequent subjects of jokes. The work of these two men was not only unpopular, but they themselves also had many laughable traits. Goebbels was short, reportedly only 1.6 meters tall. As the Nazi propaganda chief, you can imagine how pretentious and mendacious he was when he spoke. Göring's trait was that he was very fat. It could be said that Hitler really knew how to match jobs to people's characteristics - with Göring's high self-esteem and sensitivity, not to mention his vanity, leading the secret police Gestapo was perfect for him.
There is a joke that Goebbels had an inferiority complex, so he went to see a psychologist. The doctor said, "Stand in front of the mirror every day and keep telling yourself 'I am important, I am important, the world can't get to me', and this will cure your problem." But Goebbels said to the doctor, "That won't work, I don't believe a word I say to myself."
In another joke, Göring was walking in Berlin one day when he saw a group of children molding figures out of mud and horse manure. Göring asked, "Dear children, who are these figures of?" The children replied, "It's the Führer Hitler and Dr. Goebbels." Göring said, "How about molding a figure of Göring too?" The children answered, "No, there's not that big a pile of horse manure."
This is a typical example of German jokes during the early Nazi rule. We can see that although the jokes target Nazi regulations and even Nazi leaders, these jokes do not actually have political overtones. They are merely wordplays meant for amusement and nothing more. However, in addition to these mild jokes, Germans of course also had their own political jokes. As an autocratic government, the Nazi Party's actions inevitably superseded the law, not to mention the prevalent corruption and violence. The most famous act of violence was the Reichstag fire on February 27, 1933, when the Reichstag building was set ablaze by the Nazis to strike against the opposing parties at the time.
There is a joke that a cook was preparing to fry potatoes, but he had no oil. So he kept waving the swastika flag over the stove. When asked why he was doing that, he replied: Many people have grown fat dripping oil under the swastika flag.
In another joke, a high-ranking Nazi official was visiting Switzerland and saw a public building. He asked what the building was for. The host replied: "That's our naval headquarters." The Nazi officer laughed: "You Swiss don't even have a navy, just two or three ships in the whole country. What do you need a naval headquarters for?" The Swiss answered: "Why can't we have a naval headquarters? Doesn't Germany have a Ministry of Justice too?"
In yet another joke, on the evening of February 27, 1933, Göring's assistant rushed breathlessly into his office and shouted: "Minister Göring, bad news, the Reichstag is on fire!" Göring looked at his watch, shook his head and said: "It's on fire already?"
Q: What's the difference between the regular army and the SS?
A: The regular army says "Ready, fire!" The SS says "Ready, set fire!"
From this we can see that the Germans at that time were very clear who was behind the Reichstag fire, but they were helpless since German law had no power to punish the ruling party. So the only thing Germans could do was to engage in mild satire through jokes. The targets of these jokes were the illegal activities of the Nazi state machinery, with relatively clear political overtones and obvious political criticism. Some other jokes targeted the difficulties of livelihood, which were caused by Nazi policies, so these jokes were also political.
Catholics say: Pray morning and night every day.
Nazis say: Pay taxes morning and night every day.
The Four Year Plan requires timber to be used for more important purposes. So what do Germans use for heating? The answer is that they wear clothes made from Hitler's new spiderweb fabric from his mind, the web blown by Goebbels and the thread spun from Germans' patience.
A man wanted to commit suicide. First he tried hanging himself with a rope, but unfortunately the rope quality was so poor that it broke in one second. Then he stuck his head in a gas oven, but didn't get any gas supply from 2pm to 5pm. So he had no choice but to get by on food rations, and eventually starved to death.
These livelihood-related jokes contained strong political overtones. Through these jokes, Germans criticized Nazi government policies. But we can see that the jokes were not directed at Nazi rule itself. In Germany, Nazi rule was still endorsed. The reason was that in 1939, at the beginning of the war, Germany's expansion was highly successful. Whether the Blitzkrieg against Poland or the conquest of France, Germany paid very little cost, which also filled Germans with pride and completely wiped away the shame of losing World War I. So although there was some dissatisfaction with life, Germans were still willing to bear the burdens of life in order to support the continued expansion of the German military. At that time, they were not yet aware of the Nazi war crimes. This also shows that the Nazi totalitarian rule and atrocities were carried out with the tolerance, obedience and even assistance of ordinary Germans.
But as the war dragged on, the German troops gradually shifted from offense to defense, and continuous news of defeats came from the front. So Germans' confidence began to waver, especially in May 1944, when Hitler launched the deranged "People's Offensive", recruiting teenage boys and unfit elders over 60 into the army. After simple training, they were sent to the front lines. Facing the well-equipped and high-spirited Allied forces, these people were clearly being sent to their deaths. At the same time, almost no supplies existed within Germany itself, and ordinary people tightened their belts to get by, only to be met with death and failure. Under such circumstances, German jokes became increasingly merciless.
There is a joke that Hitler stood facing Britain across the English Channel, unable to conquer it despite repeated attacks. He lamented: "Why is it so hard to invade Britain?" Just then the Jewish prophet Moses suddenly appeared beside him and said: "If you had not persecuted my people so, I could have told you the secret of how I parted the Red Sea." Seeing that Moses was unwilling to tell him, Hitler ordered his guards to seize Moses and torture him severely to force him to reveal the secret. Unable to withstand the cruelty, Moses finally said: "I just used the staff God gave me, and the waters parted to make a road." Hitler shouted: "Well then, where is your staff?" Moses replied: "It is kept in the British Museum."
In another joke, Hitler held a meeting with Göring, Goebbels and Food Minister Backe. Hitler asked Göring: "How long can our planes and fuel last?" Göring replied: "My Führer, five more years." Hitler asked Goebbels: "How much longer can your propaganda make the people endure?" Goebbels answered: "My Führer, ten more years." Hitler then asked Backe: "How long can the food supply last?" "My Führer, enough to eat for another twenty years," Backe reported. Hitler was very happy and said: "Then the war can go on for much longer." At this point, Backe nervously raised his hand and said to Hitler: "My Führer, I meant enough for the four of us."
Such jokes packed a powerful punch. So in the later stage of the war, Nazi control over jokes became increasingly strict, especially when the German army was retreating. Political jokes became a serious crime. Naturally, Germans became more and more careful with their words and did not dare speak freely to strangers. This control itself also became a target of jokes.
There is a joke that a man went to see the dentist. The dentist said, "Open your mouth." The patient said, "I can't, I don't know you."
Well, the above are all the Nazi-era German jokes I could find. Obviously, both in quantity and quality, German jokes fell far short of Soviet jokes. So the question is, under similarly autocratic regimes, why is there such a discrepancy? This of course has a lot to do with the German national character. Germans tend to be more serious and humor is not their forte. There is a saying that the world's shortest books are "British Cuisine" and "500 Years of German Humor." Some also say that Nazi rule was very brief, only 12 years, far less than the Soviet Union's 72 years. But I personally don't think these are the main reasons. For example, the time factor - given 72 years for the Soviet Union, with 1,500 original jokes targeting the Soviet government, even one-sixth of that would still be 250 jokes for Germany. But some researchers have found that from 1933 to 1945, the number of original German jokes created by ordinary Germans was only about 100.
In my opinion, the difference in German and Soviet jokes has more to do with history not providing Germans the opportunity that created the condition for Soviet jokes to thrive - the "oppressor-oppressed relationship" between ruler and ruled. Objectively speaking, at that time many Germans were very clear about the dark side of Nazi rule and were very dissatisfied with Nazi policies and regulations. They also complained about some party leaders living in luxury while urging people to be frugal. But none of this dissatisfaction and complaint was directed at Nazi rule itself, only individual Nazi figures and behaviors. As the saying goes, Germans believed that the Nazi government's mainstream was good and its overall direction, including waging aggressive wars, was right. Any problems Germans faced were due to flaws in work methods and individual corrupt figures and worms. In other words, under Nazi totalitarian rule, ordinary Germans did not see themselves as oppressed.
On the other hand, although the Nazis had clear legal provisions prohibiting speech that endangered national security and tarnished the government image, enforcement was not strict until the later stage of the war when German defeat was certain, and only then did they impose severe punishments on people who openly mocked the Nazi government. But death sentences remained relatively rare. In summary, telling jokes was not a dangerous thing in Nazi Germany, and under such circumstances, people often lose the motivation to tell jokes. Rudolf Herzog, a historian specializing in German jokes, said: "Rather than representing social conscience and personal courage, the jokes of ordinary Germans under Nazi rule substituted for social conscience and personal courage." Herzog's implication is that Germans did not use jokes for political resistance. In fact, they never intended to resist in the first place. Perhaps in the eyes of Germans, Nazi aggression and atrocities were in line with their interests.
This is the biggest difference between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Both were oppressive systems, but the conscious oppressed were not the same in these two systems. In Nazi Germany, it was the Jews, not ordinary Germans, who saw themselves as oppressed, while in the Soviet Union, it was countless ordinary Soviet people. Ben Lewis, a researcher of political jokes, has said: "Although Nazi oppression was as brutal as that of the Soviet Union, compared to Soviet citizens, ordinary Germans identified more with the ruling ideology in their country. Nazi oppressors were mainly against the Jews, while Soviet oppressors were against ordinary Soviet people. This difference in power relations led to an important distinction between political jokes in these two societies." Some even believe that the jokes of ordinary Germans during Nazi rule cannot even be considered satire at all, but can only be seen as "banter." Jokes and satire are fundamentally different - banter happens between friends, while satire happens in relationships of conflict and opposition. So these "bantering" jokes of ordinary Germans cannot represent any conscience or courage to resist Nazi rule.
Thus we see that Soviet jokes covered every aspect of the Soviet system, but German jokes avoided these aspects. For example, just like the Soviets, the Nazis were very fond of mass rallies and also liked to create a crazed cult of worship for Hitler and the Nazi Party through bizarre and absurd rituals. But German jokes did not touch on these phenomena at all. Although some jokes directly targeted the personal flaws and weaknesses of Nazi leaders, frankly, ordinary people have these flaws too. It's just that they become especially noticeable when seen in leaders, but we cannot consider such jokes political because of that. Jokes about Göring, for example, mostly mocked his obesity and vanity, but did not directly expose his brutality. More incredibly, no jokes targeting Hitler himself were found. Even in the later stage of the war when the Nazis sent so many frail elders and disabled people to the battlefield, even when Germans paid such a painful price for the war, most ordinary Germans did not hate or oppose the Nazis much. So many historians believe that most Germans actually sympathized with and supported the Nazis. A cruel fact is that Germans under Nazi rule did tell lots of funny jokes, but most of these were about mocking the miserable plight of the Jews.
Q: How many different kinds of Jews are there?
A: Two kinds. Optimists and pessimists. All the pessimists have fled, and all the optimists are in concentration camps.
In the tropical rainforest of the Congo in Africa, two Jews, Levi and Winstein, happened to meet. Levi asked Winstein: "What are you doing here?" Winstein said: "I have an ivory factory here. To cut costs, I hunt elephants myself. What about you?" Levi said: "Similar to you, I have an alligator leather factory here and I'm here to hunt alligators. Do you know what's up with our friend Simon lately?" Winstein said: "He's the real adventurer. He's still in Berlin."
As the Jew Jacob walked through the park, he saw his friend Chaim reading a newspaper on a bench, which was the anti-Semitic weekly Der Stürmer. Jacob said: "Chaim, how can you read that paper?" Chaim said: "Times are hard now, business is bad, and we get beaten on the streets. But this paper makes me feel a little better. It says we Jews roll in money and rule the world."
You see, Germans were not without a sense of humor. Their Jewish jokes were equally creative. This further proves the earlier conclusion - neither the length of Nazi rule nor the German character was the fundamental reason why political jokes did not thrive in Nazi Germany. The fundamental reason still lies in how ordinary Germans viewed the Nazis. In fact, as soon as the war ended, Germans published a book of anti-Hitler jokes called Whispered Jokes, which contained this joke: Goebbels, Göring and Hitler were on a ship at sea when a storm hit and the ship sank. Question: Who was saved? Answer: Germany. On the surface, this joke seems full of anti-Hitler and anti-Nazi political meaning. But note it contains two very subtle implied messages. First, the one who killed Hitler and the rest was not the German people, but an external storm. The Germans themselves did not have the will to revolt. Second, the ones saved were Germans, not the whole world or all humanity. Furthermore, what exactly did the Germans mean by "saved"? Perhaps not escaping Nazi totalitarian rule, but rather Germany escaping from the misery of war, while the war itself was not at fault.
Herzog insightfully pointed out that the publication of this joke book was simply to draw a line between themselves and the Nazis, trying to tell the world, "We Germans were mocking and satirizing them in our jokes, we were always against them." Germans simply attributed Germany's crimes to the personal actions of Hitler and others, but were unwilling to admit that it was precisely their own indifference and condoning, if not cooperation and obedience, that led Germany step by step into the abyss. They were unwilling to admit the inglorious role they played during the Nazi era. Therefore, although the so-called German political jokes also contained some dissatisfaction, resentment and even anger at reality, their will and ability to resist cannot be compared with Soviet jokes.
History is long gone, but looking back today at Nazi propaganda films, Germans see not only the evil and hideousness of Nazism, but also its absurdity and ridiculousness. Germans cannot help but ask themselves, how could a whole generation commit such terrible crimes just at the summons of a dictator with a silly mustache and a loud voice? Were Germans under some kind of spell? Or hypnotized by Hitler? The answer is of course no. The real reason is that under the powerful Nazi propaganda machine, Hitler was bestowed with a sacred aura, and Nazi actions were also given an undeniable, unrefusable absolute legitimacy. The evil and laughable hidden beneath this aura was intentionally or unintentionally ignored by Germans. Although history does not deal in hypotheses, we can still hypothesize today - if every German could see through the aura to the evil and ridiculous in Hitler and the Nazis, and take a small personal step towards spiritual freedom, then Germany as a whole nation would take a big step away from blind worship and enslaved obedience.