Ipswich High School - Tiger Yearbook (Ipswich, MA)

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llllllillllllilllllllllllll That again shows the power of humor to persist even in the darkest moments of war. Our other Big Three allies, the Russians. also had a sense of humor left despite the fact that their land was ravaged by the German hordes early in the war. However, living in a dictatorship where jokes on the gov- ernment, home front, etc., are not so popular and because they take them- selves and their experiment in govern- ment very seriously, the Russians did not satirize themselves as much as the British and Americans. Most of their humor was directed against the Ger- mans. One joke that is especially liked in Russia was this o11e which describes the wit of the Russian soldiers in deal- ing with complaining Germans. A Russian soldier was leading a cap- tured German spy to a lonesome place outside of a Russian town for the pur- pose of executing him without head- quarters knowing about it. All in all, the Russian and his prisoner covered ten miles before the former was satis- fied as to the proper place for getting rid of the Nazi. The German was a little puzzled and irritated. He turned around said to his guard, f'l expected to get killed when caught but why do l have to walk ten miles before being shot? The Russian soldier replied slyly, What are you worrying about? l've got to walk back. - And, contrary to general opinion, the Germans also showed an occasional glimmer of humor during the war, al- though in many instances their humor was unintentional. Some of the things they said which seemed humorous to us were really meant to be taken seri- ously. The following. which we might interpret as satire, is an example of such. A wounded Nazi soldier returned to Berlin for treatment. He went to the hospital where he saw two doors. One sign read Officers,,' the other HTroops. He walked through the Troops door and was confronted by two other doors marked Seriously VVounded and Slightly NVounded.,' He walked through the .door marked Slightly Wounded and again discov- ered two doors. This time the signs read. Nazi party membersn and Non-Nazi party members. He en- tered the door marked 'tNon-Nazi party members and found that he was right out in the street again. He reported to his family: T didnit get any treatment for my wounds - but the organization was perfect. Of course, some of the German humor was intentional. The Nazis could see the lighter side of war just as we could but not as often and not with as much breeziness. Many of their intentional jokes revealed the increasingly differ- ent task the Nazis had in trying to hold down the inhabitants of the oc- cupied countries and the often disas- trous consequences for the persons at- tempting to do such. One of these tells of a Gestapo of-

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to make. Just taste this. He put a spoonful of a certain liquid to the Lieu- tenant 's lips. The Lieutenant tasted the liquid and said, What's the matter with that? I think that is very fine soup. The private replied, Yeah, that's what l told the mess sergeant. He said it was coffee. Selectees and draft boards in the United States have been the subjects of innumerable jokes also. One of the old chestnuts pertaining to these is the one told about the determined selec- tee who approached his draft board officer with the remark, They can't make me fight! To which the draft board officer re- plied, Maybe not, but they can take you where the fighting is and you can use your own judgment. The following one satirizes the ex- aminations, or lack of examinations. which the draft board oficers were giving selectees when men were badly needed. A young man, classified in 1-A, was examined by the local draft board's doctor. Does this mean I'm in the Army? he asked. Me, with my bad eyes? You're in, said the doctor, un- less they flunk you at the Army Medi- cal Office at Governor's Island. How bad must my vision be before they flunk me at Governoris Island? asked the nervous selectee. The way they 're taking 'em now, said the doctor, if you can find Gov- ernor's Island, you're in! British War humor is similar to ours in directing its darts at home front shortages, high prices, and travel con- ditions. However, as was mentioned before, Britons are more polite in lampooning these things than Ameri- cans are. They are also a little more indirect although the satire is still easily apparent. The following is an example of a Briton's treatment of the food shortage. An English officer, home on leave, went to a fashionable West End res- taurant, expecting to sit down to a hearty meal. He gave his order to the waiter as follows: UI should like a porterhouse steak drowned in mush- rooms, with some delicately browned toast and plenty of butter. The waiter retorted, Pardon me, sir, are you trying to order or just reminiscing? ' ' But there was one subject about which the British could joke that Americans, never having experienced bombing, could not. Being bombed is not usually considered conducive to the display of humor but the British, with their indomitable spirit, managed to see the lighter side of the blitz at times. For example, a middle-aged London woman one day early in 1942, during a lull in the Luftwaffeis activi- ties, told Mrs. Vincent Sheean, wife of the famous author: You know, I think a lot of us here really miss the blitz. Those nasty Jerries certainly took our minds off the war.

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ficer who was assigned to the position as protector of a Czechoslovakian city. Not knowing what was in store for him, he felt very thankful for the pro- motion. Thank you, he said, saluting his superior officer smartly. Now what should be my first move? I suggest, replied his superior officer, that you notify your nearest of kin. And speaking of the occupied coun- tries, they were the scenes of innumer- able humorous anecdotes, most of which reflect the bitter sarcasm directed against the Germans by the oppressed people. This humor coming from the occupied nations showed the undaunted spirit of their inhabitants as much as anything could with the possible ex- ception of their retaliating sabotage. The Norwegians, Dutch, and Danes were especially sardonic toward the German overlords. Of course, the Nazis didn 't let these bits of humor directed against them leak out any more than possible, but nevertheless we did hear about them, mostly through neutral correspondents stationed in the occu- pied lands or escaped natives from those nations. One of the stories to come out of Norway tells of an old man who was openly repugnant to the superior Ar- yans. One day he was seen talking to a friend of his by a Gestapo agent. The suspicious agent drew near the old Norwegian to hear what he was talk- ing about. After getting just within hearing range, he heard the old man say to his friend, You may say all you please against Hitler 's soldiers, but personally l'd rather work for ten Ger- mans than one Norwegian. The Gestapo agent was not only astonished but elated. VVith an air of friendship he said to the old man, What is your occupation? I am a grave digger, was the reply. The newspapers of the occupied countries although German-controlled, still managed to print their share of satire. A frequent target of this satire was the propaganda front of Joseph Goebbels. An excerpt from a Danish newspaper concerning this was smug- gled out of Denmark by a Swedish journalist. It concerned the attack of some British bombers on a war plant in the Danish town of Skive. Dr. Goebbels had issued a eommunique saying that no damage was done, except that a cow had been hit. The Skive newspaper dutifully car- ried the eommunique the next day, and then commented simply: The cow burned for four days. The sad part of it was that often- times the ones who had ,the courage to flout the 'tsupermen overlords were afterwards penalized by the Ger- mans. However, the fact that the people of these seized countries persisted in waxing satirical about the Germans is exempliiication enough of the inability