Germans learn to laugh at Hitler

www.bbc.co.uk ^ | 01/11/2007 | Steve Rosenberg

[Wilhelm Tell]

Do you think this movie can make people remember and wish to learn more about the real historical background to it?

I don't know. I would hope that most people know the historical background. And I think the main reason this satire would be funny is because people who remember Hitler or know about him and hate him would enjoy watching satire in which a Hitler character is humiliated. I can't spit on his grave but I can laugh at jokes about him - that sort of thing.

[skraut]

''It bothers me to no end that Germans are now able, and so eager, to make light of their crimes against humanity. How soon, and how conveniently, they forget''

That's utter BS. Nobody - I know over here - wants to forget anything. But the real problem today are people like you, who are unable to differentiate, and try to judge people by their heritage, race or wrong deeds( supposedly or real) of past generations in a collective manner. This was exactly what the NAZIS did. What an irony!!

[LibWhacker]

No, the problem isn't people like me who won't forget; it's people like you who chuckle at comedy skits about tossing millions of people into ovens.

Don't cry about collective punishment. Collective punishment for collective deeds... Seems right to me. If you prefer, let's exempt the one German in a couple of thousand Germans who might have behaved admirably after Hitler's rise to power. That could well be you. But for heaven's sake, let's at least ostracize the rest. And that's all it is. It's not like we're throwing Germans into gas chambers.

By rights, every German should hang his head in shame for 50 million years. One year for every person who died in that war (and we won't mention Germany's earlier pogroms, for which there has NEVER been the slightest hint of personal or collective regret). That's not too much to ask, is it? If you take a life, throw a baby onto a bonfire, say, you should feel bad for at least a year because of it, shouldn't you? But no! Germans can barely muster 50 years of remorse for killing 50 million people and now actually want to make a big joke out of it.

[wolf78]

By rights, every German should hang his head in shame for 50 million years. One year for every person who died in that war (and we won't mention Germany's earlier pogroms, for which there has NEVER been the slightest hint of personal or collective regret). That's not too much to ask, is it? If you take a life, throw a baby onto a bonfire, say, you should feel bad for at least a year because of it, shouldn't you? But no! Germans can barely muster 50 years of remorse for killing 50 million people and now actually want to make a big joke out of it.

First of all: The one who wants "to make a big joke out of it" is a SWISS jew (Dany Levi). Is it ok to laugh about Hitler? Certainly, the guy was a cretin. Is it ok to make fun of the Holocaust? Personally, I don't think so, I found "La vita e bella" utterly tasteless.

Secondly: Once you're two to three generations removed, certain events enter into history. Whether that's good or bad is not up for discussion, it's simply an unavoidable fact. A German born in the 1910s had been instilled with an insatiable rage towards France during his childhood (due to the unequivocally unjust Treaty of Versailles). A Western German child of the 1970s like myself grew up 3 miles from a US army base, played with his or American neighbors and slowly came to realize that if there should ever be a nuclear war, both Germanys would be hit first and the hardest.

Yes, history must be remembered, but you can't hold someone who by pure coincidence was born a German and not an American or Briton, PERSONALLY responsible for the crimes of his or her great-grandparents. Even collective guilt only goes so far.

So while I totally agree with you that certain things simply aren't funny, I also have to point out that remembrance indeed is possible without perpetuating blantant racism and anti-German stereotypes.

[skraut]

''Is it ok to laugh about Hitler? Certainly, the guy was a cretin. Is it ok to make fun of the Holocaust? Personally, I don't think so, I found "La vita e bella" utterly tasteless.''
Personally, I agree to this as well. But living in a free society, we have to live with the fact, that other people have other ideas. And despite the fact, that they are not even of German nationality, we got the blame, as usual.