# Is making "German = Nazi" themed jokes excessively rude to modern Germans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 26, 2004, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-making-german-nazi-themed-jokes-excessively-rude-to-modern-germans/252360 "2004-06-26T22:26:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-making-german-nazi-themed-jokes-excessively-rude-to-modern-germans/252360/1 "2004-06-26T22:26:04Z")
There was a bit of a scrum on that issue [in this thread - Nazi Supermen Are Our Superiors](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=263401), about a super muscular German baby, and it seemed to be the first time (that I can recall) that a person stepped in and said “Look, enough is enough with the German = Nazi jokes”. Several posters chided this poster for being a sourpuss, and some fell back on the classic “Simpsons did it!”, as to why to was funny (it was a Simpsons related joke) and why it was OK to make jokes about “Nazi Supermen” in relation to a strong German Baby. But is it? We’ve all grown up with jokes poking fun at Nazi’s, but for modern Germans it must be pretty tiresome, to be constantly re-linked to Nazis. Has this association crossed from culturally acceptable as joke fodder into the realm of cultural bullying, to keep picking at them for the sins a a regime that is almost 60 years past at this point? ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-making-german-nazi-themed-jokes-excessively-rude-to-modern-germans/252360/2 "2004-06-26T22:37:44Z")
I dunno about “cultural bullying”, but having lived with a German for two years I can tell you that yes, they are _really fucking tired_ of the Nazi jokes. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-making-german-nazi-themed-jokes-excessively-rude-to-modern-germans/252360/3 "2004-06-26T22:41:17Z")
Just confine yourself to flashing them a V. For victory. Not the Aussie implication. ---
**Author:** ![E72521](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@E72521](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E72521)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-making-german-nazi-themed-jokes-excessively-rude-to-modern-germans/252360/4 "2004-06-26T22:52:11Z")
Its been 25 years since I lived in the _Bundesrepublik_, and I can tell you, there was no easier way to guarantee an ass whipping than to make any reference to Nazis and modern Germans. I can only assume that they remain beyond sick and tired of it. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-making-german-nazi-themed-jokes-excessively-rude-to-modern-germans/252360/5 "2004-06-26T22:54:36Z")
I think so, yes. I don’t accept the notion of collective guilt, especially any “racial” collective guilt. Most of the German people were not even alive during those dreadful years. As well, none of us have that much claim to purity, white Americans were still opressing black Americans years after Hitler took the dirt nap. People who live in _Kristalnacht_ houses shouldn’t throw stones. Let’s work to maintain our innocence, and leave aside the question of who is guilty. ---
**Author:** ![Zagadka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zagadka/32/7272_2.png) [@Zagadka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zagadka)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-making-german-nazi-themed-jokes-excessively-rude-to-modern-germans/252360/6 "2004-06-26T22:57:36Z")
Dunno, is it still kosher to make jokes about the American South? ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-making-german-nazi-themed-jokes-excessively-rude-to-modern-germans/252360/7 "2004-06-26T22:59:50Z")
“Tiresome” sums it up perfectly. It doesn’t hurt me. It doesn’t cause any problem for me. It’s just that it is stupid, boring and it has been done thousands of times before. Here it is relatively rare, but visit a less intellectual hangout like [fark.com](http://www.fark.com) and look at _any_ topic involving Germany. There is nothing wrong with nazi jokes (or German jokes) per se and I liked the Simpson joke in its original context. The automatic association German-nazi is just extremely lame. Interestingly I have never met anybody in person who thought it was a clever idea. A Simpsons reference doesn’t change much about that. [This](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=263558) was thread on the same subject, same joke, no Simpsons this time. Phillip, German, born 1980, not a nazi ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-making-german-nazi-themed-jokes-excessively-rude-to-modern-germans/252360/8 "2004-06-26T23:03:02Z")
By which you mean like “redneck” jokes? Not at all. As a recovering Texan, I hold such humor to be entirely healthy. That might be the teensiest bit hypocritical. Luckily, I don’t care. Whats an Aggie seven course dinner? A six pack of Pearl and a road-kill possum. Good clean fun. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-making-german-nazi-themed-jokes-excessively-rude-to-modern-germans/252360/9 "2004-06-26T23:13:42Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > By which you mean like “redneck” jokes? . Umm… not really. I think the “German = Nazi” association carries a bit more offensive cultural gravitas with it (for Germans) than the Southerner = Redneck" association. It would be more akin to making “Southerner = KKK Member” jokes ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-making-german-nazi-themed-jokes-excessively-rude-to-modern-germans/252360/10 "2004-06-26T23:18:06Z")
> [@Zagadka](#): > > Dunno, is it still kosher to make jokes about the American South? This was not about outlawing jokes on Germans, nazis or German nazis. They should just make a little sense. e.g. just days ago I listened to Tom Lehrer’s song about Wernher von Braun and his personal nazi background. That was funny because it made sense. (ok, perhaps that wasn’t a perfect example, but it was the first that came to mind) A sick toddler who happens to fit a nazi cliché makes only half as much sense. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-making-german-nazi-themed-jokes-excessively-rude-to-modern-germans/252360/11 "2004-06-27T00:18:09Z")
As a jew ;j , yes it is. The Talmud teaches that a son is not responsible for the crimes of his father. Besides, if we anger the Germans they’ll stop sending us beer, sausage and chocolate. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-making-german-nazi-themed-jokes-excessively-rude-to-modern-germans/252360/12 "2004-06-27T00:29:03Z")
In this case it made sense, too, even w/o the Simpsons reference. The baby in question is, according to all news references, a German Super-Baby. The reference to Aryan Supermen was all but inescapable. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-making-german-nazi-themed-jokes-excessively-rude-to-modern-germans/252360/13 "2004-06-27T00:46:58Z")
I think “lame”, “tiresome”, and “offesive” seem to fit. And a “joke” long past its sell-by date anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-making-german-nazi-themed-jokes-excessively-rude-to-modern-germans/252360/14 "2004-06-27T01:21:14Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > As a jew ;j , yes it is. > > The Talmud teaches that a son is not responsible for the crimes of his father. > > Besides, if we anger the Germans they’ll stop sending us beer, sausage and chocolate. Are sausages kosher? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@The\_Tim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tim)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-making-german-nazi-themed-jokes-excessively-rude-to-modern-germans/252360/15 "2004-06-27T01:24:44Z")
I hope I get my point across well, because clearly there is a lot of room to make things worse by posting. I picked the Simpson’s quote as a thread title because it was a Simpson’s quote, and because it would draw views. MPSIMS thread titles are often that way. Obviously the kid isn’t a Nazi, isn’t from a family of Nazis, and isn’t the result of Nazi experiments. Also the thread clearly does make the German/Nazi connection. Jokes to the effect that all Germans are Nazis aren’t funny, and are stale. In this case I wouldn’t even call the title of the thread a joke, just a random quote of tangental relationship to the material in the thread. I know that saying the title of the thread is tangental to the material is making the German = Nazi connection. I’m sorry. Really. I didn’t think it was a big deal, I wasn’t thinking that it was stale and annoying to Germans. I really just wanted to post the article and when I was trying to come up with a title one of the things that came to mind was the Simpson’s quote. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-making-german-nazi-themed-jokes-excessively-rude-to-modern-germans/252360/16 "2004-06-27T02:30:25Z")
> [@ruadh](#): > > I dunno about “cultural bullying”, but having lived with a German for two years I can tell you that yes, they are _really fucking tired_ of the Nazi jokes. They sure are. I have no interest in my (or anybody else’s) cultural heritage. As it is, I have no clue what “nationalities” my friends are. So I was at a good buddy’s house watching the season finale of Enterprise in glorious HDTV. (Why do you think I was at his place?) Cut to the last five minutes, and our intrepid hero wakes up in makeshift hospital, which appears to be from the WWII era. He time travelled! And he’s in a…a…Nazi camp! Oh joy, such the cliffhanger. So we both derided this horrible turn of events. But then he says: “You know, Nazis were always the bad guys for decades. No matter where you turned, you could count on a Nazi bad guy showing up. Finally we got terrorists to take some of the heat, but no, Enterprise has to stick it to the Nazis again. Enough already.” As it turns out, he is of German descent. (Who knew?) But I can infer from his statement that he is _most definitely_ sick of Germans=Nazi jokes. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-making-german-nazi-themed-jokes-excessively-rude-to-modern-germans/252360/17 "2004-06-27T02:44:08Z")
Well, some actions have consequences which persist long after the original situation has been resolved. That’s just the way it is. It’s going to take more than just a few generations for those consequences to go away. On a side note, I live in an area with a large population of German descent. Letters to the editor in our local paper will decry associating Germans with Nazis. Yet when the city proposed a trade mission to Japan, to promote local business, a local citizen took the city government to task for even thinking of dealing with “those people who did such horrible things to us in WW II”. Said citizen had an extremely German surname. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-making-german-nazi-themed-jokes-excessively-rude-to-modern-germans/252360/18 "2004-06-27T04:23:40Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > Are sausages kosher? They certainly can be. I rather like kosher hot dogs. Pork sausages cannot be kosher, but beef or chicken ones can be–not that all of those are, there are beef and cheese sausages and those are not kosher. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-making-german-nazi-themed-jokes-excessively-rude-to-modern-germans/252360/19 "2004-06-27T04:30:30Z")
I want to personally thank all the posters who restrained themselves from making the expected crude, juvenile, and vulgar joke. You know who you are. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-making-german-nazi-themed-jokes-excessively-rude-to-modern-germans/252360/20 "2004-06-27T04:44:03Z")
> [@lee](#): > > They certainly can be. I rather like kosher hot dogs. Pork sausages cannot be kosher, but beef or chicken ones can be–not that all of those are, there are beef and cheese sausages and those are not kosher. You know, in all honesty, I _didn’t_ think about beef. When I think “German sausages” I think of ones made with pork. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-making-german-nazi-themed-jokes-excessively-rude-to-modern-germans/252360.md?page=2)