Political joke

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A political joke is a very short text (brief dialogue, joke question, etc.) that aims to expose current political conditions or events to laughter.

Stylistic devices

Stylistic devices of all kinds are used ( irony , sarcasm , satire and others). Political jokes have been passed down from all eras of history, from ancient times to the present. Modern political cabaret likes to bring up political jokes in the form of alleged reports, comments or role-plays. Often the people in question are heads of state or top politicians.

A stylistic device that deviates from this is the ambiguous statement. In a dictatorship in which the intended message is considered too dangerous, subtle criticism can be “hidden” in a seemingly harmless statement, but in such a way that the intended ambiguity remains sufficiently understandable - at least for the addressee. It is by no means limited to political cabaret. For example, towards the end of the National Socialist era , the conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler is said to have been asked by Joseph Goebbels , who was responsible for the cultural sector, about his wishes for the Berlin Philharmonic . Thereupon the latter replied: “We need more brass and fewer strings, Minister.” The composer Leo Blech , classified as a Jew, had already left Germany, Julius Streicher was Gauleiter in Nuremberg.

Social impact

Political jokes are not politically correct . Some states threaten telling such jokes with a fine. Other states allow jokes because the joke initially discharges dissatisfaction with no further effect. As a rule, however, they can hardly be prevented; Their attraction lies partly (also) in the fact that they are at the limit of what is permitted or not entirely acceptable. The number of political jokes is related to the “felt” political situation. Some of them disappear very quickly if they are no longer up to date. They resemble the political cartoon .

Cabaret in dictatorships The typical behavior of cabaret artists in dictatorships is
correspondingly complex, sometimes ambivalent , but mostly consistently negative, with subtle finesse in pun, consistently combined with great courage. An example was provided by the Berlin cabaret artist Werner Finck during the Nazi era , who is said to have said once in the “Katakombe” when he discovered a “recorder” of the Nazis in the audience: “Am I not too fast? Are you coming with you, or should I come with you? ”He was locked up in the Esterwegen concentration camp in 1935 for such boldnesses, but after some time he was released overnight after being banned from working for a year.

The same applies to the cabaret artists Karl Valentin and Weiß Ferdl, who are very popular in Munich .

Examples

antiquity

A later successor to Caesar as emperor loved one of his steeds so much that he publicly married him. One commented: “Most wisely from our dear Emperor. How nice it would have been if his father had already possessed this wisdom. "

Austria

  • During the First World War , the army had to withdraw from the city of Przemyśl . The emperor was informed: “Przemyśl has fallen.” The emperor replied: “Sorry! Sad! Was he young? "
  • It was said of the heir to the throne, Karl: "Emperor Karl is thirty years old, looks like a twenty-year-old and thinks like a ten-year-old."

Soviet Union

USA and People's Republic of China

USA and the Soviet Union

  • Reagan and Brezhnev run around the White House . - The Western press writes: "Reagan came first, Brezhnev lost." - The Soviet press reports: "Brezhnev gloriously achieved second place, Reagan came second to last."

Germany

Whispering jokes under National Socialism

More recent research refutes the portrayal of an allegedly brutal persecution of joke-tellers, which has been common since the 1960s, and which was used as evidence of total oppression or as an example of broad resistance among the population. Regionally preserved Gestapo documents from Essen and Düsseldorf for 1933 to 1945 show that the so-called whispering joke was actually carried out in public. The “perpetrators” had by no means distinguished themselves through oppositional attitudes: they had not been noticed beforehand, they had no “bad repute ”, and NSDAP members were not infrequently represented among them . Most of the accused belonged to a lower social class.

In 1936, Reinhard Heydrich ordered that the first time “a basic check should be made as to whether a warning was not a sufficient measure.” Often there was no court judgment at all, and the penalties were comparatively mild. In Essen, out of 53 cases examined, only eight prison sentences were pronounced (extreme case: 15 months, average 4 months), 19 cases ended with an oral or written warning, other proceedings led to acquittals or fines amounting to one month's wages. In 7 of the 53 cases examined, the Gestapo took the accused into “protective custody” for between 4 and 21 days, which meant temporarily admitting them to the concentration camp.

Nevertheless, one had to be aware that telling political jokes was a gamble that could turn out very badly. In this unpredictability of the consequences “lies a special joke” of telling political jokes in dictatorships.

Joseph Goebbels endeavored z. B. to curb political cabaret with moderate means (“straightening”), and wrote in his diary in February 1939: “The machinery of prohibiting comedians' cabaret is now being made afloat.” […] “Long fight for cabaret Comedian . I straighten Willy Schaeffers [sic]. He cries something to me. But I stick to my point of view. The political joke will be eradicated. With stump and stem ... ".

The applicable as "agitators" Walter Tiessler from the Party Central Office warned against explicitly by reference to the means of brute force ( "attrition type", see below) against the suggestion to show clemency and to respond with "counter-jokes": As a remedy In March 1943, he proposed the “spreading of party-damaging jokes” to have those concerned “rubbed off” by reliable men who remained unpunished. This suggestion was not taken up any further.

In fact, however, the political joke remained an outlet to express dissatisfaction or doubts about the Führer and about the final victory. In the reports from the Reich , the secret mood reports of the security service , it is reported on July 8, 1943: “The telling of state-repulsive and mean jokes, even about the Fiihrer, has increased considerably since Stalingrad . In discussions in restaurants, businesses and other gatherings, the people of the people would tell each other the "latest" political jokes and often make no distinction between such somewhat harmless content and clearly opposing ones. Even people who hardly know each other would exchange political jokes. Apparently, one assumes that someone can tell any joke today without having to reckon with energetic rebuff, let alone report to the police. The feeling that listening to and telling political jokes of a certain kind is simply an impossibility for decent Germans and National Socialists has apparently been lost to large sections of the population and also to a part of the party association. "[In italics in the original]

Examples of political jokes during the Nazi era :

  • "What new jokes are there?" - "2 months Dachau "
  • An internist and a psychiatrist meet. The psychiatrist greets: “ Heil Hitler!” The internist replies: “Why me? You're the insane doctor! "
  • Text on a well-known march melody: The negroes in East Africa / they all call: / "We want to be German negroes, / we want to go home to the Reich !"
  • What does a real Aryan look like ? Blond like Hitler, tall like Goebbels and slim like Göring!
  • What is the difference between Christianity and National Socialism? In Christianity one died for all!
  • While visiting the front, Hitler talks to a common soldier. Hitler asks: "Comrade, what do you wish for when you are at the forefront of the shell fire?" The soldier replies: "That you, my Führer, stand next to me!"
  • In the summer of 1941 two concentration camp prisoners talked about the reason for their arrest. The first: “I said on May 5th, Hess is crazy!” - The second: “I said on May 15th, Hess is not crazy!”
    (Comment: Rudolf Hess flew on May 10th, 1941 with a Messerschmitt Bf 110 to Scotland to negotiate peace with the supposed leader of the English peace movement, the Duke of Hamilton . In Great Britain Hess was arrested as a prisoner of war. In Germany his flight was declared as a result of mental confusion: It sounds like a song in the German land: / "We're going against Engeland." / But if someone really drives / then he is declared crazy. )
  • Adolf Hitler is asked who he counts among the worst mass murderers. Hitler's answer: "I - think - Haarmann ."

Another joke on the subject:

  • Hess was also introduced to Churchill , who asked him: "So you are the crazy one?" To which Hess replied, "Oh no, just his deputy."

And a political night prayer:

Dear God, make me mute so
that I don't come to Dachau .

Dear God, make me blind
that I find everything wonderful.

Dear God, make me deaf
that I believe the lies.

Make me blind, dumb, deaf at the same time so
that I can pass into the Third Reich .

Whispering jokes in the GDR

The lack of freedom in the GDR also left the citizen only to joke as an opportunity for political protest. In the first few years this dominated a. the subjects of anti-communism, anti-Stalinism, economy of scarcity, reparations, prohibition of freedom of expression. Here, too, it was customary to pass on the jokes in a whisper and in front of the hand. After all, in the early years of the GDR, political jokes could be interpreted as "anti-Soviet attacks" or "sabotage of socialist construction" and given prison sentences. This first phase of the political joke in the GDR lasted until the building of the Berlin Wall, which increased the lack of freedom, but stabilized the GDR state.

With the increasing detente also the political wit and consequently the penalties imposed soothed. The state even tried to promote an "officially sponsored joke" with the satirical magazine Eulenspiegel . Since, however, only marginal phenomena of domestic problems were addressed, the free joke continued to exist, which also did not leave out the taboos of government, party, military, bondage and state borders.

In turn, cabaret in the GDR had to observe precisely these taboos. Official humor in the GDR was under the constant control of cultural officials who had to approve a program before it was published. Over the years, the audience learned to “read between the lines”. Ultimately, the joke in the GDR was a reaction to the contradiction between the idea and reality of a socialist state. And so the political joke and also the repression were more pronounced in the GDR than in the Federal Republic of Germany. The following joke from this time therefore contains a tragic reality:

  • Walter Ulbricht asks Willy Brandt if he has a hobby. “Of course,” he says, “I collect jokes that people tell about me. And you? ”-“ It's the other way around for me. I collect people who tell jokes about me. "
  • Why were there so many jokes in real socialism? Because nobody takes him seriously.
  • The GDR is to get a new symbol in its state flag: a sheep and a chair. Anyone who complains has to sit down.
  • In communism everyone is the same, party members are the same, party functionaries are the most equal and our Erich is the most equal .
  • In a GDR prison, the prisoners started to roll call. "Tomorrow our President Wilhelm Pieck is coming, " the supervisor announced. A prisoner calls out: "But it was high time."
  • What does Wilhelm Pieck see when he stands naked in front of the mirror? - His only follower. - What if he turns around? - The divided Germany.
  • The GDR will only exist until October 7, 2014. Why not longer? Then she turns 65 and is allowed to leave. (Allusion to the regulation that citizens of the GDR were only allowed to leave the country after they reached the age of 65. The GDR was founded on October 7, 1949.)
  • A man comes into a consumer goods store, looks around and asks a salesperson: "Say, you have no bread?" Answer: "There are no breads over there, there are no vegetables."
  • "You papi, why is the Trabant 601 called Trabant 601?" - "Because 600 have ordered it and someone will get it."
  • “What was the difference between a craftsman and a Honecker ? The craftsman didn't come and Honecker didn't go. "
  • "Oh Lord, give us the fifth kingdom - the fourth is like the third !"
  • SED = shop , exquisite , delicacy
  • "What is the Stasi's service schnapps called ?" - " Melde-Korn !"
  • "The way we work today, Berliners will live tomorrow!"
  • What are the four enemies of the energy industry called? - Spring, summer, autumn and winter.

At the turning point

  • In East Berlin , considerations were being made at this time to rename the People's Chamber to Chamber. Lack of people.
  • After observing the SED and its goings-on from heaven for 40 years, Karl Marx wrote a telegram to all communist parties in the world on October 7, 1989 on the occasion of the founding anniversary of the GDR : “Proletarians of all countries, forgive me! "

Federal Republic of Germany until 1989

  • One member of the Bundestag to the other: “We should slowly prepare for the time after Adenauer .” The other replies: “Nonsense! It never dies. "

Federal Republic of Germany after 1989

  • Have you ever heard? Pensioners are now allowed to cross the street when it is red. (Allusion to the crisis in the social security systems).
  • Why will there soon only be three-ply toilet paper? One copy goes to Schily and one goes to Beckstein . (Allusion to suggestions made by the two interior ministers regarding fingerprints in passports , telephone surveillance and similar measures to allegedly strengthen internal security .)
  • Two members of the Bundestag after the EU constitution was confirmed : "Will we soon be unemployed?" - "Not that, just seemingly self-employed ."
  • The Ossi sadly says to the Wessi: “You broke your promise.” - The Wessi replies: “It doesn't matter at all. You get a new one. "

literature

  • Milo Dor , Reinhard Federmann : The political joke. dtv, Munich 1966, ISBN 3-423-00358-8 .
  • Alexander Drozdzynski : The political joke in the Eastern bloc , ISBN 978-3-7700-0395-2 .
  • Hans-Ulrich Engel (Ed.): Nothing new on the Finnish-Chinese border. The political joke from Eastern Europe. Olzog, Munich and SOI, Bern 1984, ISBN 3-85913-128-1 and ISBN 3-85913-128-1
  • Hans-Jochen Gamm : The whispering joke in the Third Reich. Oral documents on the situation of the Germans during National Socialism. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1993, ISBN 3-492-11417-2 .
  • Richard Hermes: joke against Nazi - Hitler and his millennium. 500 anecdotes, rumors, oddities and whispered jokes; botanized and ketched, hidden from the Gestapo's lynx eyes, prepared and skewered and brought into a system. Hamburg 1946.
  • Rudolph Herzog: Heil Hitler, the pig is dead! Laughing under Hitler - comedy and humor in the Third Reich. Berlin 2006.
  • Kurt Hirche: The brown and the red joke - Two German dictatorships in 1200 political jokes , Heyne Verlag, 1964, at that time no ISBN.
  • Hans J. Mesterharm: Völker hears the laughter. Political jokes. Bechtle, Munich, ISBN 3-7628-0449-4 .
  • Bodo Müller: Laughing against powerlessness - GDR jokes targeted by the Stasi . Ch.links, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-86153-914-8 , pp. 144 .
  • Franz Osterroth (alias Jörg Willenbacher): German whisper jokes - The Third Reich under the magnifying glass. Carlsbad 1935
  • Andreas Schiewe: Joke Culture in the GDR. A contribution to language criticism . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2000, ISBN 3-525-34025-7 ( digitized version )
  • Arn Strohmeyer : Even the party laughs - whisper jokes from the GDR. Moewig, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-8118-6809-8 .
  • Arn Strohmeyer: New GDR Jokes & Demos. Eichborn, Frankfurt / Main 1990, ISBN 3-8218-2159-0 .
  • Ralph Wiener : Behind closed doors. The political joke in Germany. Militzke, Leipzig 2003, ISBN 3-86189-283-9 .
  • Ralph Wiener: Dangerous laughter. Black humor in the Third Reich. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1994, ISBN 3-499-19653-0 .
  • Meike Wöhlert: The political joke in the Nazi era using the example of selected SD reports and Gestapo files . Frankfurt / Main 1996, ISBN 3-631-30779-9 .

References and comments

  1. ↑ Paul Feiler (Ed.): Con Spirito. Musician anecdotes from the 20th century. Bärenreiter-Verlag, 6th edition 1991. ISBN 3-7618-0841-0 .
  2. ↑ Further examples can be found in an Internet forum on contemporary history, see in particular article # 8 .
  3. ↑ Meike Wöhlert: The political joke in the Nazi era using the example of selected SD reports and Gestapo files. Frankfurt / M. 1997, ISBN 3-631-30779-9 .
  4. ↑ Meike Wöhlert: The political joke ... p. 152
  5. ↑ The insider book Der SS-Staat by Eugen Kogon provides information on what was behind the euphemistic term of the concentration camp .
  6. ↑ Joseph Goebbels: Diaries. Munich 2003, Vol. 3, ISBN 3-492-21413-4 , pp. 1304 f. on February 1st and 3rd, 1939
  7. ↑ This is reminiscent of the punitive beatings ("going over the buck") in the concentration camps.
  8. ^ Peter Longerich: Hitler's deputy . Munich 1992, ISBN 3-598-11081-2 , p. 126 f.
  9. ↑ Heinz Boberach (Ed.): Messages from the Reich. Herrsching 1984, ISBN 3-88199-158-1 , Vol. 14, pp. 5445 f.
  10. ↑ Michael Horn: Historical serial killers. Volume 2: Human monsters from the late Middle Ages to… . Verlag Kirchschlager 2009, ISBN 978-3934277250 , p. 208
  11. ↑ http://www.steiner-verlag.de/uploads/tx_crondavtitel/datei-daten/9783515093552_p.pdf - accessed on November 18, 2018
  12. ↑ https://www.worldcat.org/title/deutsche-flusterwitze-das-dritte-reich-unterm-brennglas/oclc/654258 - accessed on November 18, 2018