Whisper jokes (from the German Flüsterwitze) are jokes that cannot be told in public because they address taboo subjects. In totalitarian dictatorships, whisper jokes often criticise authorities.
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Whisper jokes in Nazi Germany
Whisper jokes spread in Germany under the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler, and served different purposes. Inside Germany, the jokes voiced criticism against the totalitarian dictatorship which otherwise would have been subject to persecution. They could thus be seen as a form of resistance. In the occupied areas, and here especially in the Ghettos, whisper jokes can be interpreted as a means of a survival mechanism.
The following is an example of a whisper joke (translated from German):
Dear good Lord, please make me dumb,
that I don't go to a concentration camp.
Dear good Lord please make me deaf,
that I don't tamper with the radio.
Dear good Lord please make me blind,
that I think everything is fine:
If I'm deaf and dumb and blind,
I am Adolf’s favourite child...
Examples for whisper jokes in the GDR
In the GDR, whisper jokes ridiculed the main board of the party, how the state was run (elections, laws, STASI) or the appalling living conditions in the communist state. Most consumer goods were either totally lacking or of inferior quality as compared to the West-products.
1)
A customer asks a sales-assistant in a department store:
Excuse me please, where can I find no tights?
You’re wrong here, I’m afraid. Here we only have no washing machines. No tights you’ll find in storey nb two.
2)
The regime took a way a citizen’s phone. When he asked for the reason they said: You tried to defame the Stasi! – Me. In which way? - While on the phone, you repeatedly said, they would eavesdrop on you.
3)
Three prisoners are sitting in the cell in Bautzen:
1. prisoner: "How come you’re in jail?"
2. prisoner: "I always came five minutes early. So I was convicted (?) of spying."
2. prisoner: "And why are you in jail?"
1. prisoner: "I always came five minutes late. So I was convicted of sabotage."
1. prisoner is turning to the third prisoner: "And now you have to tell us why you are in jail."
3. prisoner: I always came on time. So they discovered that I had West-watches."
4)
Early in the morning; Honecker comes into his office, opens his window, faces the sun; saying: “Good morning, dear Sun.”
The sun answers: “Good morning, Mr Staatsratsvorsitzender, I wish you a recreative day.”
“This is kind of you, dear Sun,” Erich Honecker replies. Then he works. At lunch he goes to the window again, addressing the sun: “Good day, dear Sun.”
The sun replies: “Good day, dear Erich.”
In the evening Erich goes to the window again, sighing: “Thanks, dear Sun, I had a pleasant day!”
“Rats”, says the sun, “Kiss my ass, now I am in the West.”