Read Online Dead Funny: Humor in Hitler’s Germany by Rudolph Herzog - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Rudolph Herzog
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cabaret house Catacomb. This small theater became something of a legend in postwar Germany, but despite its later reputation, Catacomb was not strictly a venue for political cabaret. Instead, it put on variety shows that featured sketches and small-stage acts. A chanson singer usually appeared, and then a mime, before Finck took the stage. One could say that he was responsible for the political segment of a general entertainment. Indeed, some artists who worked in the Catacomb in the early 1930s considered it too apolitical and founded a harder-hitting cabaret house of their own.
Those artists were forced into exile after Hitler’s assumption of power, while Finck became a master of ambiguity. His performances were famous for what they
didn’t
say. Every one of his appearances was a dance on a knife’s edge. Finck knew that if his criticism of the regime became too explicit, the Nazis would ban his act, label him a political enemy, and send him to a concentration camp. He was forced to adopt a number of tricks in order to conceal political messages in harmless packaging. His audiences knew the point of Finck’s game, and the comedian’s daring verbal acrobatics gave his act an additional appeal. The kick one got was similar to watching a high-wire artist working without a net. People thrilled to the danger and laughed because they were able to read between the lines. Finck himself accurately described the situation when he said that during the Third Reich, one only had to strike a tiny bell with a tiny hammer to create a deafening uproar, whereas later you could hit a giant bell with a giant hammer and only a tiny sound would come out. Germans under Hitlerwere highly sensitized and could tell when invisible boundaries were being crossed.
Finck, the master of humorous transgressions, was also a sly operator. In 1933, for instance, he founded the seemingly innocent “Fighting Association for Harmless Humor” (KfhH), an organization whose name sounded well in Nazi ears. In the Catacomb’s program, the “Association” published the following Finck verses:
A fresh wind is blowing
We want to laugh again
Humor, awaken!
We’ll give you free rein
.
While the lion is crowned
And Mars rules the hour
Good cheer, which we all love
,
Is slowly turning sour
.
Let’s not allow the devil
Or any other powers
To rob us of the fun
That is rightfully ours
.
Let the power of words
Vibrate the eardrums
And if anyone objects, he can
Kiss us on our bums
.
These lines were full parodies of Nazi slogans, such as “Germany, awaken!,” and authorities intervened and banned the program. Finck’s rhyming takeoff on Nazi jargon prodded the Nazis in whatwas apparently a sore spot. But in the pseudo-tolerant years of the early Third Reich a modicum of criticism was tolerated. Indeed, the Nazis occasionally had some kind words for Finck. In a review of a Catacomb spring show, published in the Nazi party’s chief organ, the
Völkischer Beobachter
, an adjutant to Propaganda Minister Goebbels praised the performer for his “witty joking and sometimes surprising punch lines.” And the editor-in-chief of
Der Angriff
, which was published by Goebbels himself, wrote in the Catacomb’s visitor’s book: “Dangerous or not—keep going!”
Later, in the 1960s, Finck related an anecdote that summed up the absurdity of situation in the supposedly liberal era of the early Third Reich. One evening he was approached by a man in civilian clothing. After some hemming and hawing, the man revealed that he was an officer in the SA. The man invited Finck to visit his office, saying that they could tell politically incorrect jokes there and have a lot of fun. The offer was meant completely ingenuously, although Finck, understandably, declined.
The surprising instances of tolerance and the friendly remarks quickly came to an end. The propagandistic display of liberalism in the initial months after Hitler assumed power was just a step toward
Those artists were forced into exile after Hitler’s assumption of power, while Finck became a master of ambiguity. His performances were famous for what they
didn’t
say. Every one of his appearances was a dance on a knife’s edge. Finck knew that if his criticism of the regime became too explicit, the Nazis would ban his act, label him a political enemy, and send him to a concentration camp. He was forced to adopt a number of tricks in order to conceal political messages in harmless packaging. His audiences knew the point of Finck’s game, and the comedian’s daring verbal acrobatics gave his act an additional appeal. The kick one got was similar to watching a high-wire artist working without a net. People thrilled to the danger and laughed because they were able to read between the lines. Finck himself accurately described the situation when he said that during the Third Reich, one only had to strike a tiny bell with a tiny hammer to create a deafening uproar, whereas later you could hit a giant bell with a giant hammer and only a tiny sound would come out. Germans under Hitlerwere highly sensitized and could tell when invisible boundaries were being crossed.
Finck, the master of humorous transgressions, was also a sly operator. In 1933, for instance, he founded the seemingly innocent “Fighting Association for Harmless Humor” (KfhH), an organization whose name sounded well in Nazi ears. In the Catacomb’s program, the “Association” published the following Finck verses:
A fresh wind is blowing
We want to laugh again
Humor, awaken!
We’ll give you free rein
.
While the lion is crowned
And Mars rules the hour
Good cheer, which we all love
,
Is slowly turning sour
.
Let’s not allow the devil
Or any other powers
To rob us of the fun
That is rightfully ours
.
Let the power of words
Vibrate the eardrums
And if anyone objects, he can
Kiss us on our bums
.
These lines were full parodies of Nazi slogans, such as “Germany, awaken!,” and authorities intervened and banned the program. Finck’s rhyming takeoff on Nazi jargon prodded the Nazis in whatwas apparently a sore spot. But in the pseudo-tolerant years of the early Third Reich a modicum of criticism was tolerated. Indeed, the Nazis occasionally had some kind words for Finck. In a review of a Catacomb spring show, published in the Nazi party’s chief organ, the
Völkischer Beobachter
, an adjutant to Propaganda Minister Goebbels praised the performer for his “witty joking and sometimes surprising punch lines.” And the editor-in-chief of
Der Angriff
, which was published by Goebbels himself, wrote in the Catacomb’s visitor’s book: “Dangerous or not—keep going!”
Later, in the 1960s, Finck related an anecdote that summed up the absurdity of situation in the supposedly liberal era of the early Third Reich. One evening he was approached by a man in civilian clothing. After some hemming and hawing, the man revealed that he was an officer in the SA. The man invited Finck to visit his office, saying that they could tell politically incorrect jokes there and have a lot of fun. The offer was meant completely ingenuously, although Finck, understandably, declined.
The surprising instances of tolerance and the friendly remarks quickly came to an end. The propagandistic display of liberalism in the initial months after Hitler assumed power was just a step toward
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