Toonstalgia: Donald Duck and the Nazis

Toonstalgia

Donald Duck has a nightmare where he's a Nazi

You can skip this part.

I am afflicted. Every time new cracks form in the veneer of sanity and decency, I get these violent chills. I know it's a somatoform expression of the overwhelming emotions but it's unpleasant. My hope, my fears, my anger, my heart, my head, my soul physically hurt. I hope the things I'm doing help. I can't do nothing. I promise you, I will never shut up. Even if I have to communicate with carrier pigeons, I will never shut up.

Normally, I seek out topics to take me out of it. Tonight, not so much.

The subject of Nazis has been on my mind for obvious effing reasons. I keep thinking about the Marvel/DC Crossover where the Joker met the Red Skull. Even the Joker hated the Red Skull because he was a Nazi. "I may be a criminal lunatic, but I'm an American criminal lunatic!" This is a little insight into where my brain is right now. The Joker is a psychotic serial killer and even he hates Nazis (although I'm not sure if the crossover is canon. Probably not now if it ever was.)

The Cartoon in Question

I watched @theLindsayEllis deconstruct Der Fuehrer's Face and learned about the Donald Duck cartoon that would never be shown on Disney Channel today (hopefully).

"When the Fuhrer says we never will be slaves. [Bleep]"

I bleeped it in the quote because I don't want to write the next part of that line without a good reason. It's a curse word in my mind. If you want to hear it, watch it. That feeling of profanity made this whole cartoon a bit more unfun than the rest I've watched. I can watch offensive cartoons and view them with an academic interest but this cartoon is just triggering to me.

It's a well done cartoon. The content is somewhat critical of the Nazis (Eff Nazis. Eff every Nazi bastard) but it's critical in a fairly benign way. It's not funny and I don't know if it ever was. The song was a popular parody and that seems to be what the cartoon was known for at the time.

The short was originally called "Donald Duck in Nutziland" but changed to "Der Fuehrer's Face" after the record became a hit. It sold 350,000 and lead to $60,000 in war savings bonds being sold by October 22, 1942.

In attempting to answer this question, "Did they know what was happening?" I looked to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to find my answer, "On November 24, 1942, Wise held a press conference to announce Nazi Germany was implementing a policy to annihilate the European Jews." So there's my answer. Perhaps they didn't know the full extent of the horrors. The violence being committed against the Jewish people was being covered in the American press.

It's natural to try to refract the horror of the world through the lens of parody. Some things just aren't funny.

To cleanse my brain, I will be watching Dough for Dodo and trying to find a break with the lingering cloud of doom. I'm sorry, dear reader. This was kind of a downer.

Resources

Der Fuehrer's Face, a Disney Cartoon

https://www.ushmm.org/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Fuehrer%27s_Face

The Evening Times, October 22, 1942, Page 6