It's Carnival in Germany ...

[percival]

... so I thought I'd post something funny. I'm from the Carnival area, and boy do I miss it.

Don't click on this if you don't like Nazi jokes - for those of you who do, let me introduce to you the legendary Alfons Hatler, former butler, now psychiatrist. One man, one mike, one life, one song - "My Way". Pure genius.

Incidentally, the actor, Christoph Maria Herbst, plays the Ricky Gervais role in "Stromberg", the German version of "The Office".

Comments

[actionreplay.livejournal.com]

oh dear.... that is very funny.

[joesther.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the warning about Nazi jokes. See, to me, the idea that Nazi jokes exist is a bit... offensive. More than a bit, actually.

[(Anonymous)]

Ah, there is a lot to be said about these kinds of jokes. Viktor Klemperer, a Jew who survived the Third Reich in Germany (!) made a very detailed study of how jokes were used to cope with the reality of living under the regime. Good Nazi jokes draw on the dichotomy between pomposity and reality. On one level, Hitler was truly evil, on the other hand, he was a pathetic lazy daydreamer. I think it's important to be aware of both sides of him. If you look at studies of the Nazi regime, for example Ian Kershaw's fantastic "Hitler - Nemesis", what is so striking is that a lot of the truly horrible crimes weren't committed by incarnations of evil, but by weak and fallible people. It is no coincidence that the modern german extreme right consists mostly of power hungry morons. Humour can help highlight this, but it can also sanitise it and make the unacceptable more acceptable. Klemperer saw this effect at work in nazi germany. even though the jokes were "verboten" and dangerous, they also acted as an anaesthetic and thus indirectly helped the ones who were being ridiculed.

hope this makes sense!