Polish "jokes" came from Nazi propaganda

Translation? The Jews?

Are you saying Hitler conspired with the Jews to create jokes about the Polish? Now I know Jews have a reputation for being good comics, but I just can't see them writing shtick for Hitler.

(Polish jokes are older than the 20th century)

I've always wondered about the origin, this is the most credible theory I've heard so far but I'd like to hear more about it (assuming you don't work for an astroturfing marketing organization).

Around the world, everyone has their Poland. But around the world (in my experience) the reasons were more obvious. For example, in Brazil it's the Portuguese, who Brazil gained independence from.

WW2 is a pretty obvious connection for the US having Poland as the butt of its jokes (even though jokes about Polish can certainly have existed before). If you have evidence that contradicts the WW2 connection I would love to see it (I'm serious in that I've been wondering about the connection for years).

Polish jokes, were/are, certainly part of the 20th century. Polish jokes came to America during WWI. WWII also had it's share of these jokes.

Remember that many, many Poles were executed in German death camps. Also, Jews did make jokes about the Polish because of their anti-semitism.

I don't know about conspiring with Hitler, but the Germans and Jews both made Polish jokes. Of course, it was not limited to these two groups.

I think I'm targeting the narrow thinking of the poster - the lumping of Hitler and Jews (excuse me, I mean Hollywood, left-wing communist yadda yadda). The Polish were being picked on long before Hitler and/or The Jews came on the scene. Yes, The Nazi Party loved to popularize Polish jokes, and certainly Jews (and most other European nations) are guilty too. I just think this poster is pointing the blame in a way that does not take into account the full history. Here's some info from Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Polish_sentiment

I follow what you are saying. Yup, I agree with you.

Sounds like the German theory for the introduction of the Polish jokes to America has a lot of adherents and few detractors in the academic community. Thanks for sending me that way.

I don’t know why you would bring up the Jews since I didn’t say anything about Jews. Do you know something I don’t know?


Polish “joke” Origination

The racist stereotype that Poles are "intellectually inferior" came from Nazi and Soviet propaganda. They then killed off the educated class of Poland first to make their racist stereotype of Poles a reality.

Polish "jokes" were in Hitler's two speeches after he invaded Poland.

Hitler ridiculed Poles in his Sept. 19, 1939 speech in Danzig (today called Gdansk) and in his Berlin speech in Oct. 6, 1939 with these hate-through-humor anti-Polish “jokes” and references.

Ironically, Left-wing Hollywood and the TV Networks (like NBC-TV) pushed these racist Polish “jokes” even though they claimed to hate Nazis. Hollywood and NBC-TV evidently hate Nazi propaganda but not when its applied to Poles. Hollywood and Network-TV (NBC) have a deep hatred for Anti-communist, Pro-American, Pro-Catholic Poland.

The recent movie “Katyn” shows the German Nazis and Soviets killing the educated Polish class in Poland in order to make Poland “intellectually inferior” and easier to rule. This was during the time Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia were collaborating with each other to destroy Poland as per their Molotov-Ribbentrop pact to destroy Poland together.

Polish jokes did not predate the 20th Century since it was introduced in America by left-wing bigots in Hollywood and TV networks like NBC-TV in the late 1960’s and 1970’s with anti-Polish “shows” such as “Laugh In”

Many Polish Americans who lived before this time have reported that they never heard these racist jokes until AFTER they were introduced by Left-Wing networks like NBC-TV in conjunction with Hollywood. NBC-TV launched Polish-bashing shows such as “Laugh In” which ridiculed Polish people constantly. In addition late night bigots were encouraged to bash Poles with “jokes” that portrayed the Polish people as having subhuman intelligence. Therefore the power of Television and motion pictures was used to demean Polish people with repetitive big lie type propaganda.

Anti-Polish movies such as “The End” were some of the earliest movies meant to degrade Poles with racist humor. In addition other anti-Polish shows such as “All in the Family” were used to degrade the Polish people even though the left-wing producer claimed the ruse that the show was suppose to be “against bigotry”. “All in the family” was filled with racist anti-Polish sound bites such as “Dumb Polak” in an attempt to influence its viewers to have the same anti-Polish prejudice that the producer of the show had.

The Sorbs, a minority living in Germany (and Poland), know "Polish jokes (and "German jokes") at least since early 19th century.

And I guess, such jokes are known in all (especially border) regions. They come and go - in waves.

The Polish jokes were quite popular in Germany ... in the 60's of last century, as a response to the Communist, cold war attitudes in Poland.

And in the 1880's and later. Because thousandths of 'Polish' workers (actually Germans of Polish origin) came in the Ruhr district.
Newspapers printed Polish jokes - identical to many told today - in special columns in the late 19th century. This got later a self-ironic touch and was famous until the late 70's of last century in (than) Germany's largest regional newspaper (WAZ).

Heard any good Newfie jokes, lately?

Correction of the above time: it started actually earlier (already in the 1860's, with a notable climax around 1880).

There are a lot of publications about "Polskie wychodźstwo zarobkowe w Zagłębiu Ruhry", including chapters of 'Polish jokes' ...

Emksemks, maybe you don't know the history of Jews in America, but when someone in this country starts a rant about Hollywood's left-wing communist sympathizers I assure you they are doing their version of being politically correct and not mentioning the word "Jews".

I think almost all races have had their share of cruel jokes. Various factors, mostly fear, tend to bring it out. I'm part Polish and growing up in the 60's and 70's my relatives heard plenty of this stuff while vacationing in places like the Catskills.Remember many of the comedians making the jokes were Poles themselves, in the same way Black comedians make fun of their own race today.

I think America got over it the same way they got over the Irish jokes, the German jokes, the Japanese jokes, etc. Times change and such things become socially unacceptable and no longer funny.

By the way, welcome to A2k. Would you care for some bigos and nice glass of tea?

"One day a Newfie goes down to the village carpenter and requests a wooden crate that is 1 inch tall, 1 inch wide and 50 feet long."

When the carpenter asks what he needs it for, the Newfie replies "The wife snapped her clothesline the other day, and I have to send it to Toronto to get it fixed."

(not exactly Jon Stewart material)

Destroying the intelligentsia is not necessarily the best way to destroy a nation. Professor seats are not hereditary, new people start their careers, often coming from clerk/worker/farm families.
Generally you are talking sense (but this may be the result of some Germanic anti-Jewish sentiments).
As to those jokes, they insult us, we don't know them first of all, and the movies and shows haven't been shown here. No one likes to be insulted, especially that we know we've had world-level filmmakers, writers, inventors, politicians.
My own research shows that Poland is perceived as an old, fallen country, and all the younger countries, which consolidated later, attempt to erase the memory about the old Polish kingdom, and basically turn us into "menials".

why should anyone in the world remember and revere old polish kingdom? do they remember the czech one? lithuanian? hungarian?

don't think so. i'd say look around a bit more. the easiest thing in the world is to pose as a victim and martyr.

ever heard a Radio Yerevan joke? Now THOSE are vicious.

Laughin? Laughin made fun of everything and everybody. The show made everybody look like jerks. Name something, they deflated it.

Joe(sockittome)Nation

Example:

Question to Radio Yerevan: What is the socialist friendship of nations?

Answer: It's when Armenians, Russians, Ukrainians, xxxs, and all other peoples of the USSR unite in a brotherly manner and all together set out to beat up the Azeris.

Or this one:

* Q: Who were the first people?
* A: It is well known that a man descended from an ape. Therefore we have to admit that the first people were: Aaron Gutan, a Jew, Chimpanidze, a Georgian, and Gavrilla, a Russian.

Interesting.

I'd imagine there was some interplay, as in even if the Nazi propaganda was an element I doubt it was the only element.

New immigrants who are competing for jobs and start out with the menial jobs nobody else wants are pretty much always going to be butts of jokes -- Irish, Italian, Polish, etc. I mentioned elsewhere that I recently had a discussion with some Polish (born in Poland, moved here as adults) friends about who the new Poles are, in terms of the jokes et al; my suggestion was Mexicans.

This is a misreading by the way -- the racist, xenophobic Archie Bunker was not someone the show thought anyone should emulate. He was an anti-hero, and was always being put in his place by someone (the show had a pretty liberal agenda overall).