Yes, today is Der Fuhrer's birthday. We remember him only as the last century's foremost mass murderer, challenged only by Mao Zedong, and followed by runners-up, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and Pol Pot. We could remember Der Fuhrer by listing his atrocities which remain well documented and commemorated in western culture. I choose to build on that foundation through the form of humor we know as satire. It's been described as the most effective form of ridicule by far and a staple in public discourse and entertainment beginning with the Greeks 2500 years ago.
In our time the film industry has produced some wonderful examples of satire applied to Der Fuhrer. For some it is difficult to understand. In a 2018 National Public Radio interview, Mel Brooks, the comic who brought us The Producers explained his motivations for making the film:
. . . Listen, get on a soapbox with Hitler, you're gonna lose — he was a great orator. But if you can make fun of him, if you can have people laugh at him, you win. . . . The comedy writer is like the conscience of the king . . . . He's got to tell him the truth. And that's my job: to make terrible things entertaining.
I would add the terrible things not only become entertaining but also survivable, understood, and acceptable. Yes, there is healing in this humor.
Here are three examples, first from Charlie Chaplin's, The Great Dictator (1940), and second and third, from Mel Brooks's, The Producers (1968).
And from The Producers, it's "Springtime For Hitler."
Sources
Photos and Illustrations:
Hitler pin cushion figurine, World War II era, OTR personal collection
Text:
NPR Morning Edition interview with Susan Stamberg, April 26, 2018, https://www.npr.org/2018/04/26/605297774/mel-brooks-says-its-his-job-to-make-terrible-things-entertaining
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