Nigger (dog)

Nigger (*? † May 16, 1943 in Scampton ) was a black Labrador who became known for the documentary and fictional depictions of the British air raids on German dams during World War II ( Operation Chastise ) .

Life

Niggers tombstone

Nigger was the dog of Wing Commander Guy Gibson , commander of No. 617 Squadron of the RAF . Gibson acquired the dog as a puppy around 1941 and took him on missions while he was on a night hunt . In the bomber units he took him on training flights, where niggers curled up in the bombardier's glass dome. Nigger was the season's mascot too . In the officers' mess he was poured beer in his bowl when Gibson spent the evening there. A few hours before the dams attacked, nigger was run over by a car, damaging the morale of Gibson and the bomber crews. Gibson gave orders to bury the dog in front of his office at midnight, the time when he would attack the Möhne Reservoir. After the attack, Gibson used the code word nigger as a signal that the Möhne dam had been destroyed.

Operation Chastise was documented in the 1951 book The Dam Busters by Paul Bruckhill, which also portrayed the importance of niggers for the 617th season. In the 1955 movie The Dam Busters based on it, nigger was portrayed by an RAF explosives detection dog. In the movie, Nigger's name was pronounced a dozen times. However, in later TV broadcasts the name was removed or changed to Trigger on US television , which sparked public protests.

When director Peter Jackson announced a remake of The Dam Busters in 2006 , the discussion about the dog name flared up again. The newspaper The Independent spoke of at unenviable choice: ditch historical accuracy or risk widespread offense. Screenwriter Stephen Fry insisted on keeping the Nigger name for historical accuracy. However, it is uncertain whether the film announced for 2013 will still be made.

literature

• Paul Brickhill: The Dam Busters , Pan 1999, ISBN 978-0-330-37644-0
• Alan Cooper: The Dam Buster Raid: A Reappraisal, 70 years on , Pen & Sword 2013, ISBN 978-1-4738-2835-3
• Guy Gibson: Enemy Coast Ahead Uncensored , Crecy, Manchester 2006, ISBN 978-0-85979-118-2
• Max Hastings : Chastise. The Dambursters Story , William Collins, London 2019, ISBN 978-0-00-828052-9
• James Holland : Dambusters , Atlantic Monthly, New York 2012, ISBN 978-0-8021-9306-3

Web links

• Scene with nigger and Gibson in The Dam Busters , accessed December 4, 2016
• Photos of Gibson, the RAF crews, and niggers, accessed December 4, 2016

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Max Hastings: Chastise. The Dambursters Story , William Collins, London 2019, ISBN 978-0-00-828052-9 , p. 72
2. ^ Alan Cooper: The Dam Buster Raid: A Reappraisal, 70 years on , Pen & Sword 2013, ISBN 978-1-4738-2835-3
3. ↑ James Holland: Dambusters , Atlantic Monthly, New York 2012, ISBN 978-0-8021-9306-3
4. ↑ ^{a b} Kathy Marks: Nigsy? Trigger? N-word dilemma bounces on for Dam Busters II. The Independent, May 6, 2009, accessed December 5, 2016 . 
5. ↑ Max Hastings: Chastise. The Dambursters Story , William Collins, London 2019, ISBN 978-0-00-828052-9 , p. 302
6. ↑ ^{a b} Elinor Florence: Dambusters Dog has Unspeakable Name. November 20, 2013, accessed December 5, 2016 . 
7. ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/5281875/Fur-flies-over-racist-name-of-Dambusters-dog.html
8. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/media/2001/jun/11/itv.broadcasting
9. ↑ http://www.moviepilot.de/news/steven-spielberg-und-peter-jackson-planen-geheimprojekt-174594