Carnival Cries and Heil Hitlers

It is a dark chapter of contemporary history, despite all the high spirits and joie de vivre: Carnival (»Fasching«) during the Nazi period. Although tradition has it that during the »fifth season« social hierarchy is turned upside down, that the people take power and politicians are ridiculed, the Nazis managed to reverse this custom. They recognised the unifying function of Carnival, and exploited it for propaganda purposes: anti-Semitic jokes were cracked during comedy performances, and Jews were paraded on Carnival floats, as well as being mocked in song lyrics. For the first time, historians Carl Dietmar and Marcus Leifeld provide impressive evidence of how this rich and popular cultural tradition was subjected to enforced Nazification and exploited as an ideological instrument.

»Fasching« and fascism – how the Nazis appropriated tomfoolery

Dr. Carl Dietmar, born in 1949, is a historian and editor at the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, has written numerous books on Cologne, and received the Cologne Literature Prize in 2005.

Marcus Leifeld, born in 1968, studied history, art history and auxiliary historic sciences in Bonn; he has already published on the subject of the Rhineland Carnival. He works as a historian for the City Museum of Cologne (Kölnisches Stadtmuseum).