# Finally, the Wife Can Join the Nazi Party of Germany **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 4, 2015, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601 "2015-06-04T03:06:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601/41 "2015-06-06T01:00:15Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Does anyone remember when a standard question by airport security was “Has anyone offered to watch or repack your luggage for you?” Eventually, the TSA realized that nobody with even the smallest shred of intelligence is going to let some random stranger watch their bags, and the question disappeared. > > At the time the question was dropped, I recell reading a newspaper article which claimed that, as far as anybody knew, nobody had ever answered “Yes” to that question. > [@Malthus](#): > > Again, the idea behind that question was to pin the traveller down, not to get a “yes”. > > If they say “no” - as they all do - they can’t later claim “someone else musta put it there - my asshole b-in-law packed that bag” when Border Security finds a coupla grams of coke hidden in the person’s luggage. I don’t think that was the main purpose. IIRC, that question started being asked in the wake of the explosion of TWA flight 800 off of Long Island 19 years ago. I think they really were trying to look for planted explosives. Especially since I was only ever asked the question verbally, and my answer was never written down to be used as evidence in the future. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601/42 "2015-06-06T02:29:29Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Once, I was given the forms to apply for security clearance needed to work on programming for weapons systems. One of the questions asked “List all organizations you have belonged to since age 14 (excluding political organizations)”. > > I asked “So I have to list Boy Scouts Troop#48, but I wouldn’t have to list the Communist Party USA, because that’s a political group?” > > The reply was “If you were a member of the Communist Party USA, we’d already know that.” One of the things I wonder is whether the question is intended more as a gotcha for people who omit innocuous organizations (“Ha! You didn’t mention that you signed up for the Oak Glen Swim Club at age 16! No clearance for you!”), or whether they have a master list of “bad” organizations somewhere and their primary intent is to take your list and see if they can match any of the organizations you listed against the ones on their master list of no-no clubs. E.g. groups like Al-Qaeda, the Irish Republican Army, Taliban, Korean Workers’ Party, Hezbollah, Al-Nusra Front, Symbionese Liberation Army, and others of their ilk are all bad and mean no clearance (or at least a slim shot at one), while the West Lake Baptist Church Ladies’ Sewing Circle, Kansas City Model Railroad Society, Lions’ Club, the American Dental Association, or the Harvard Club are all fine, and they really don’t care much if you omit one as long as you don’t, like, try to conceal that you were moonlighting as a Hezbollah explosives instructor while you were working your way to the top of the National Education Association. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601/43 "2015-06-06T02:38:53Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Well, they _do_ say on the form that a “Yes” answer won’t necessarily mean you’re refused a visa. I’d like to see the explanations that ensue in the interview. “Yes, I _did_ recruit child soldiers, but ya see, it was like this …” Some religious groups have clubs for kids that have a vaguely paramilitary structure (e.g. a “Knights for Jesus” group where kids work their way up from commoner to squire to knight to senior knight to duke by memorizing passages from the Bible and doing missionary work in the neighborhood, but don’t ever get to touch anything other than plastic toy weapons), so if you were once a Sunday School superintendent or something and were responsible for calling all the parents to sign kids up, and were also autistic, you could argue that you did “recruit child soldiers…_into God’s Army!_ Ha ha ha! I can has visa nao?”. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601/44 "2015-06-06T02:55:15Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > It’s that time again. Every 10 years, we renew the wife’s visa for the US. And each time to my amusement, a standard question has been if she had ever been a registered member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Until now. Being asked as recently as 2005, the last time she renewed, that question has disappeared. So finally, we assume it’s safe for her to join up. _Don’t be a shtoopid, be a shmarty, come and join the Nazi Party!_ ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601/45 "2015-06-06T15:57:22Z")
hijack/ [Funny video of Hitler and Thailand by John Oliver.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wraq6VnXmGo) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2015, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601/46 "2015-06-07T03:55:54Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > hijack/ > > [Funny video of Hitler and Thailand by John Oliver.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wraq6VnXmGo) I’ve started a few threads about some of the stuff mentioned in that video: [Hitler Fried Chicken](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=695897&highlight=Hitler) and [Naughty Little Girls: Thai Female Catholic Hitler Youth](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=625800&highlight=Hitler). There are also [Is Josef Mengele Alive and Well in Thailand?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=665204&highlight=Hitler) and [Israeli, German Embassies Decry Hitler Billboard](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=536461&highlight=Hitler). The wife’s nephew was also a big Nazi fan when he was a little boy. It was the snappy uniforms that did it. I think he outgrew that though. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2015, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601/47 "2015-06-07T04:36:44Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Is it OK if I join the Grammar Nazis? Not if you can’t spell “okay”. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601/48 "2015-06-08T21:08:31Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > One of the things I wonder is whether the question is intended more as a gotcha for people who omit innocuous organizations (“Ha! You didn’t mention that you signed up for the Oak Glen Swim Club at age 16! No clearance for you!”), or whether they have a master list of “bad” organizations somewhere and their primary intent is to take your list and see if they can match any of the organizations you listed against the ones on their master list of no-no clubs. E.g. groups like Al-Qaeda, the Irish Republican Army, Taliban, Korean Workers’ Party, Hezbollah, Al-Nusra Front, Symbionese Liberation Army, and others of their ilk are all bad and mean no clearance (or at least a slim shot at one), while the West Lake Baptist Church Ladies’ Sewing Circle, Kansas City Model Railroad Society, Lions’ Club, the American Dental Association, or the Harvard Club are all fine, and they really don’t care much if you omit one as long as you don’t, like, try to conceal that you were moonlighting as a Hezbollah explosives instructor while you were working your way to the top of the National Education Association. Remember, this is for a security clearance. My guess is that this question was drawn up back in Cold War days, and the intent was more to get a list of places that investigators could swing by and say “So, did you ever really have a member named **robert\_columbia**?” (making sure it wasn’t invented back story for Igor Moscovitch) and/or “This **columbia** guy, ever notice him talking recently about money problems or anything?”(seeing if there were any reasons to think they were risky going forward). Obviously, zero organizations is also a bit suspicious, on the Moskovitch front. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601/49 "2015-06-08T21:10:32Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Not if you can’t spell “okay”. _OK_ is by all accounts [the original spelling](http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/words/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-ok). Turn in your Party membership card, please. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601/50 "2015-06-09T01:24:38Z")
That same question was on a form a flight attendant handed me returning to the USA around 2004 maybe? Along with a are you a communist one. Think I made a thread about it, I found it hilarious what were they going to do? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601/51 "2015-06-09T04:37:10Z")
Looks like she shouldn’t fly out of [Denver International Airport](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Denver+International+Airport/@39.8607734,-104.6728263,14198m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x876c7f2a98ff44ff:0x49583bb435b59c6a!6m1!1e1) ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601/52 "2015-06-09T17:22:21Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Once, I was given the forms to apply for security clearance needed to work on programming for weapons systems. One of the questions asked “List all organizations you have belonged to since age 14 (excluding political organizations)”… The rules lawyer in me has to ask whether there has ever been a formal definition of the term “organization” that is relevant here. For example, if I and a few friends get into the habit of meeting in Podunk-Town on most Friday nights to play poker and we slowly but gradually start to pick up additional attendees and de-facto procedures, at what point do we pass from being just a group of friends into becoming the Podunk-Town Friday Night Poker Association whose members must report said membership if they want a clearance? Do we remain a non-organization as long as we refrain from filing articles of incorporation or association with the government? Can we stay a non-organization by refusing to adopt a group name? E.g. “We’re not an organization, we just play poker. Real organizations have _names_, like the Valley Glen Pool Club or the Tri-County Dodgeball League. We’re _a bunch of friends who happen to like poker for some reason!_” If organization status can be achieved in a de-facto, informal manner, how would membership be defined? For example, if I only attend a third of the poker meetings and announce to the group that I refuse membership in any organization that might heretofore exist or come into existence in perpetuity throughout the universe, accepted for value - no levy due, but will continue to play poker with them, can I call myself a non-member guest and thus a non-member for clearance purposes? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601/53 "2015-06-16T04:53:08Z")
Followup: The wife had her interview this morning at the US Embassy and once again passed with flying colors. Good for another 10 years. This could be the last time if we follow through with our nascent plans to move back to Hawaii in the next few years. We’ll get her a green card in that case. Security at the embassy gets tighter all the time. I went inside the embassy with her on previous interviews – heck, I was pretty much required to be present when we were first married – but today they wouldn’t even let me inside the embassy at all, and I’m an American. I had to wait out on the sidewalk. Oddly though, the wife said some other applicants did have people with them. Maybe newlyweds or fiancees, dunno. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601/54 "2015-06-16T06:28:16Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Followup: … Umm, **Siam** , good buddy…This ain’t the followup we wanted to hear about. I mean, everybody pretty much assumed that your lovely wife would get her visa issued… Now, come on, you know what we _really_ want to hear: did she join the Nazi Party of Germany? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601/55 "2015-06-16T12:45:08Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > … Followup: The wife had her interview this morning at the US Embassy and once again passed with flying colors. Good for another 10 years. This could be the last time if we follow through with our nascent plans to move back to Hawaii in the next few years. We’ll get her a green card in that case. > > Security at the embassy gets tighter all the time. I went inside the embassy with her on previous interviews – heck, I was pretty much required to be present when we were first married – but today they wouldn’t even let me inside the embassy at all, and I’m an American. I had to wait out on the sidewalk. Oddly though, the wife said some other applicants did have people with them. Maybe newlyweds or fiancees, dunno. Bud, you’re on a terrorist watch list, no two ways about it. Consider yourself lucky you weren’t hit with a drone strike out on the sidewalk. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601/56 "2015-06-16T13:21:57Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Followup: The wife had her interview this morning at the US Embassy and once again passed with flying colors. Good for another 10 years. This could be the last time if we follow through with our nascent plans to move back to Hawaii in the next few years. We’ll get her a green card in that case. **Honolulu Sam** doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2015, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601/57 "2015-06-16T14:51:58Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > IIRC it’s still case that Germans born before 1928 have to apply for a visa in advance to visit Israel, even as a tourist; Germans born after that have the same visa-free access everyone else from the EEA does. No way! Great post. ETA: I liked the other ones too. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2015, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601/58 "2015-06-18T02:07:49Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Umm, **Siam** , good buddy…This ain’t the followup we wanted to hear about. I mean, everybody pretty much assumed that your lovely wife would get her visa issued… > Now, come on, you know what we _really_ want to hear: did she join the Nazi Party of Germany? > 🙂 Oh, that would be telling. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2015, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601/59 "2015-06-18T13:50:08Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Oh, that would be telling. 😉 The first rule of Nazi Party of Germany is … ? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2015, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601/60 "2015-06-18T22:05:40Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > **Honolulu Sam** doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. Maybe he could consider moving to El Portal or Groveland, CA - right outside **Yosemite** :). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finally-the-wife-can-join-the-nazi-party-of-germany/721601.md?page=4)