Every once in a while, someone writes a book or article deconstructing the use of humor in bleak times. A perfect example is Stalin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s USSR, where jokes were told, quietly, all over the country.<\/p>\n
But I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard anyone talking about humor in Nazi Germany before, and I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because of two reasons.<\/p>\n
One: People (Americans, at least) feel more outraged and upset about Nazis than about Stalin, because Stalin mainly didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go for genocide. Murder is one thing, but people really get pissed off about genocide, and for good reason. Also, Stalin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s crimes weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t discovered in such a rapid and overwhelming way. They leaked out.<\/p>\n
Two: People think of Germans as fully on-board with the Nazi machine. The idea is that the German people weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t making subversive jokes because they weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t subversive.<\/p>\n
A new book coming out in Germany challenges statement number two. \u00c2\u00a0There were subversive jokes, and people died for them.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0Spiegel reviews \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Heil Hitler, das Schwein ist Tot.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (<\/span>link<\/a>) The review gives a few examples of the jokes, and plenty of discussion about how this kind of book represents the new Germany, which allows itself to look on its past in taboo-breaking ways. <\/span><\/p>\n The jokes don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always translate very well, but the main point is the bite. The very fact that people were telling them is a new idea for those of us raised on brain-washed Germans.<\/p>\n