Rudolph Herzog: "Heil Hitler, The Pig is Dead"

[tongodeon]

Yesterday on NPR they interviewed a German named Rudolph Herzog who wrote the book "Heil Hitler, The Pig is Dead", a collection of jokes that the German people told about Hitler while he was in power

Comments

[xiphias]

It's interesting, and kind of scary, to notice how well jokes age.

The story is told, and it's claimed to be true, although I've not seen the research paper myself:

Someone, as their thesis, was working on tracking down the origin of a Jewish joke told in Nazi Germany: A Jew and a Nazi officer are walking opposite ways down a street, and they bump into each other. The Nazi yells, "Schweinhund!" The Jew bows politely, and says, "Levine", and keeps walking.

Okay, not THAT funny a joke, but cute. It was apparently also told during the First World War, about a Jew and a Prussian officer. Also, in Russia, about a Jew and a Cossack. And it keeps going back and back.

The person gave up and just published what he had when he found a version from the Babylonian exile somewhere around 500 BCE.

It's kind of nice to know -- if Israel is destroyed, and Christianofascists and Islamofascists manage to take over their respective governments and institide repressive theocracies, MY people already have jokes written to mock them with.

[tongodeon]

The Jew bows politely, and says, "Levine", and keeps walking.

This would be funnier if I knew what a levine was. Is it a proper noun? After a google search I'm guessing it's a family name. The soldier is introducing himself as "Schweinhund" and the jew introduces himself as "Levine".

It's kind of nice to know -- if Israel is destroyed, and Christianofascists and Islamofascists manage to take over their respective governments and institide repressive theocracies, MY people already have jokes written to mock them with.

For me it's more like "why am I spending all my time trying to write clever political observations when I can just borrow them".

[xiphias]

Yep, that's the gag. The $REPRESENTATIVE_OF_REPRESSIVE_GOVERMENT yells some culturally-appropriate insult, and the Jew responds with their own name as if it were an introduction.

For what it's worth, I've done this myself, in junior high school. They didn't get it, but it did confuse them enough that I could walk away.

"Asshole!" "Osmond, nice to meet you."

[mopti]

There is a version of that about an Irish politican who ended up reperesnting the west of the country in the European Parliament. On his first day at lunch among all these exotic foreign types, he sits down at a canteen table opposite another MEP. "Bonjour Monsieur" says the other guy. And the Irish guy holds out his hand "Pleased to meet you mister Monsieur. Mark Killelea, Galway".

[mopti]

A: The American people.

And the people of Iraq, the people of Iran, the people of Venezuela, the people of ...

faint praise

[tongodeon]

To be fair, Ahmadinejad and Chavez are even crazier than Bush, not that I have to start picking favorites.

Re: faint praise

[mister_borogove]

I'm no fan of Chavez, but how many countries has he invaded, again?

Re: faint praise

[tongodeon]

Frank Chu hasn't invaded any countries either, but he's crazier (and less well spoken) than Ahmadinejad, Chavez, and Bush together.

You just Have To Love Them...

[drieuxster]

Ah yes, the fun of folks who consider GitMo a Comedic Moment, because, well of course everyone finds that illegal detention and extradition from one's homelands to be a part of the process

amazon.de has it

[freeasinbeer]

I searched for "herzog hitler"

20euros + postage

http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_ss_w/302-5974811-5386461?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85Z%C3%95%C3%91&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=herzog+hitler&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go

Re: amazon.de has it

[freeasinbeer]

it probably doesn't exist in english...

[mmcirvin]

"A hippie, a priest and Richard Nixon are the last three people in a plane that's going down. There are only two parachutes. Richard Nixon says, 'I'm the smartest man in the world, so for the benefit of humanity, I'm going to take a parachute.' He jumps. The priest says to the hippie, 'Go, my child, take the last parachute--your whole life is ahead of you.' The hippie says, 'No sweat, padre, the smartest man in the world just jumped out of the plane wearing my backpack.'"

I heard it in this form on a school bus around 1976. In the 1990s, I heard it with Newt Gingrich swapped in.

[tongodeon]

I'm wondering what version they told in the 40s before hippies were invented.

[mmcirvin]

I suppose a young GI would work just as well.

[mmcirvin]

Google "smartest man in the world" + backpack

Smartest men in the world also include lawyers, Bill Gates, and some unnamed guy who just claims to be the smartest man in the world. The hippie is sometimes a punk, a little girl or a Boy Scout (a dramatized form of the joke seems to be a mainstay of Boy Scout talent nights).