"Many of the jokes that are at present circulating the land of Hitleria cannot be told quite openly. They are whispered among friends. The traffic is great and much whispering going on. Many people want to laugh. It seems a necessary release..."
- so observed one journalist fresh from his whirlwind journey through Hitler's Germany. He could not help but notice how painfully neurotic the Reich leadership was of being the object of Teutonic derision. This article is about the underground society of whispered jokes that the Nazis created; the journalist was good enough to write-up a few so that the free-world could take part in the chuckle-fest (some were lost in translation).
An example of the gallows humor that circulated around Hitler's Germany was found in this 1944 article
, that pertained to the difficulties in a bombed-out Berlin:
"There is a joke current in Berlin about the 'new Nazi Party regulations' -
• Every Nazi who recruits one new member is allowed to leave the Party.
• A Nazi whocan recruit five members will be given a letter stating that he never belonged to the Nazi Party.
• A Nazi who can recruit ten new members will be given a birth certificate ststing that he has a Jewish grandmother."
