In the history of

German humour German humour is the conventions of comedy and its cultural meaning within the country of Germany. German humour encompasses traditions such as Kabarett and other forms of satire as well as more recent trends such as TV shows and stand-up comedy. ...

, whisper jokes () were

joke A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laugh and is usually not meant to be interpreted literally. It usually takes the form of a story, often with dialogue, ...

s that could not be told in public, because they addressed

taboo A taboo is a social group's ban, prohibition or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

subjects, for instance criticizing authorities.

Nazi Germany

Whisper jokes spread in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

under

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

, and served different purposes. Inside Germany, the jokes voiced criticism against the totalitarian regime, which would otherwise have been subject to persecution. They could thus be seen as a form of resistance. In the

occupied ' ( Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October ...

areas, and especially in the

Nazi ghetto Beginning with the invasion of Poland during World War II, the Nazi regime set up ghettos across German-occupied Eastern Europe in order to segregate and confine Jews, and sometimes Romani people, into small sections of towns and cities furtheri ...

s, whisper jokes can be interpreted as a

survival mechanism Survival or survivorship, the act of surviving, is the propensity of something to continue existing, particularly when this is done despite conditions that might kill or destroy it. The concept can be applied to humans and other living things ...

. The following is an example of a whisper joke in Nazi Germany, parodied from the children's prayer: "Dear God, make me good / so I can go to heaven" (''Lieber Gott, mach mich fromm / Daß ich in den Himmel komm''), rephrased as "Dear God, make me dumb / so I don't come to

Dachau Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

" (''Lieber Gott, mach mich stumm / Daß ich nicht nach Dachau kumm''). There have been quite a few whisper jokes about

: Hitler is visiting an

asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea * ...

. The patients lined up by their beds greet him with "

Heil Hitler The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute, or the ''Sieg Heil'' salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. The salute is performed by extending the right arm from the shoulder into the air with a straightened han ...

!". Only one man stands aside and does not greet. Hitler gets angry and asks him why. He answers: "I'm not crazy, I am the head of the ward." In 1944, a person was executed for telling this joke: Hitler and Göring are standing on the

Berlin Radio Tower The Berliner Funkturm or Funkturm Berlin (Berlin Radio Tower) is a former broadcasting tower in Berlin, Germany. Constructed between 1924 and 1926 to designs by the architect Heinrich Straumer, it was inaugurated on 3 September 1926, on the ...

. Hitler tells Göring he wants to do something to cheer up the people of Berlin. "Why don't you just jump?" Göring suggests.

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

Sportpalast speech The speech () or Total War speech was a speech delivered by Nazi Germany, German Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels at the Berlin Sportpalast, Berlin to a large, carefully selected audie ...

led to the spread of a late-war whisper joke, popular in the western part of Germany, especially the

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a populati ...

: During the war, there were a number of jokes related to the war, such as: * Someone from Essen and someone from Berlin talk about the damage done by allied bombing campaigns. Says the guy from Berlin: The last bombing run on the capital was so serious, the window panes kept falling out until five hours after the raid. The guy from Essen replies: That's nothing! After the last bombing run, pictures of the Führer kept flying out of the windows for fourteen days! * German Christmas 1943: The English throw Christmas trees (German expression for target marker flares), the

flak Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-bas ...

(anti-aircraft gun) contributes "Christmas tree balls" (in German: "Kugel" can be both, also a bullet), Göring donates tinsel (chaff), Goebbels tells Christmas stories ("Märchen" = fairy tales), and the German people light candles in the basement and await the gift giving ("Bescherung" = gift giving, but also "mess") descending from above. Late in the war the following whisper jokes circulated: * Time is flying. A thousand years are already over ... (mocking the term "thousand-year Reich") * Which city has the most warehouses? Berlin: Wherever you look, there were houses ... (In the center of Berlin, more than 50% of the apartments had been destroyed or severely damaged by the end of the war.Kriegsschäden in Berlin - Zerstörung in Zahlen
/ref>) - This is a pun with the two German words "Waren" (goods, wares) and "waren" (there/they were). * Soldiers of the

Volkssturm The (, ) was a ''levée en masse'' national militia established by Nazi Germany during the last months of World War II. It was set up by the Nazi Party on the orders of Adolf Hitler and established on 25 September 1944. It was staffed by conscri ...

are now being sent to the front in pairs. One throws a stone, and the other one shouts "boom!".

References

Citations

Sources

* Rudi Hartmann (1983),
Flüsterwitze aus dem Tausendjährigen Reich
' (Whispered Jokes from the Thousand Year Reich), Knaur, , Google Books, snippet.

in German. (''GDR Jokes, or Socialism is sickening!''), Klartextsatire.de
"DDR-Humor Darüber lachte der Osten"
in German. Mz-web.de, 2017. * Gamm, H.-J. (1964), ''Der Flüsterwitz im Dritten Reich'', München (List). * Bos, D. & Hart, M. (2008), ''Humour and Social Protest'', Cambridge (CUP).

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whisper Joke German humour Joke cycles