The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute, or the Heil Hitler salute, was an official greeting gesture performed in Nazi Germany. The salute was carried out by extending the right arm into the air and saying ‘Heil Hitler’.

Shortly after the Nazis came to power, the salute became the official German form of greeting. It quickly spread to public events – although its use in the private sphere was limited and declined throughout the 1930s.

By 1934, special courts had been established to punish those who refused to perform the salute. The punishments ranged from imprisonment in concentration camps to intimidation or fines.

Despite the Nazis punitive efforts, some people refused to perform the salute. August Landmesser publically refused to perform the salute at the launch of a new Germany navy vessel at the Blohm+Voss shipyard in Hamburg in 1936, where he worked.

Anti-Nazi jokes were used as a way of expressing discontent with the Nazi regime in general, or with specific policies. In a regime that demanded complete conformity and removed the freedom of the press, telling anti-Nazi jokes provided a way to criticise and resist the regime with a much smaller risk of punishment.

Anti-Nazi jokes were on a variety of subjects: anti-Jewish policies were mocked, as well as economic policies and even Hitler himself.

In 1939, Count Alfred Hessenstein (who was previously part of the German Grand Duchy of Hesse and had emigrated to Britain) collected and published a volume entitled The Joke’s on Hitler – Underground Whispers from the Land of the Concentration Camp [J.M Dent and Sons, England, 1939].

Two of the jokes from the collection are used as examples below. The first implies that Hitler has lost his mind and is unfit for office. The second suggests that only lunatics or the mentally ill would perform a Heil Hitler salute.

‘Brown Herrings:

I stepped into the popular Aschinger restaurant in Berlin and ordered a Bismarck herring. ‘I beg your pardon, sir’ apologized the waiter, ‘I can only serve you a Hitler herring’. ‘Well – what is the difference?’ ‘The Bismarck herring had a head, sir; the Hitler herring hasn’t’’.

‘Heil Hitler!:

The Führer visited a lunatic asylum. All the patients were told to stand in a row, and they were given instructions on how to salute him. When Hitler approached they all raised their right hands and shouted: ‘Heil Hitler!’ Only the last man in the row uttered no sound and did not raise his hand. Red with rage Hitler stepped up to him and shouted: ‘Don’t you know who I am? Why don’t you raise your hand?’ ‘I beg your pardon,’ replied the man politely, ‘I am the doctor. I’m not a lunatic’.’

The Nazis sought to control music by promoting music which they deemed German and acceptable, and by suppressing music that they considered bad or ‘ degenerate ’.  In 1933, the Reich Music Chamber was created to pursue these aims.

Despite these restrictions, people in German used music and song to oppose the Nazis repressive rule. This form of nonconformity took several forms. Some continued to listen to music by composers that the Nazis had banned, or forms of music that the Nazis believed to be ‘degenerate’. One style of music that the Nazis particularly opposed was Jazz.

Jazz music was seen by the Nazis as un-German and inferior, primarily due to their anti-Black racist beliefs, and belief that Jazz music had possible links to Jews. The increasing popularity of Jazz music in the 1920s and 1930s was also presented as proof by the Nazis that foreign music could infiltrate and weaken traditional German culture.

In the camps and ghettos, prisoners also used music as a way of resisting the Nazi persecution, preserving their humanity and recording their experiences. New songs were created that dealt with the latest news from the front, or stories of personal loss of family, friends and home.