This documentary takes a closer look at Nazi society and Nazi comedy as a form of propaganda and how comedy was often censored in Germany.
Comedy and the Nazis is not really a combination of words that are often seen together. This documentary breaks the mould and looks at how comedy and comedians were dealt with during the reign of the Third Reich. Comedy is an area that many underrate as a political influence. A lot of comedy focuses on political issues and at a time when political relations were so fragile the Nazis considered it to be a potential method of propaganda.
In this film, it shows how members of the Nazi Party including Adolf Hitler himself and Dr Joseph Goebbels saw comedy as a genre that required censorship, persecution and, in some cases, execution to make sure it could not be used as a propaganda tactic against the Nazi Party. The title of Laughing with Hitler really does strike an ironic chord as this film shows the depressing impact the Nazis had on comedy in Germany.
