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Can the holocaust ever be a joke?

Posted on10 February 2010.

Can the holocaust ever be a joke?

Two students face expulsion from university after their Facebook group started an international media frenzy.

University of Huddersfield students Nicholas Rowley and Anthony Pike, the pair who formulated the now infamous ‘Hitler Drinking Game’, deleted the offending group after provoking international debate on whether the Holocaust can ever be a joke.

The Facebook page had detailed the rules of the game, which is a variation of popular student game Kings. These include referring to a participant as ‘Mein Fuhrer’, downing a mix of drinks entitled ‘The Holocaust’, and regularly shouting ‘Heil Hitler’.

However, despite deleting the offending group, and Rowley’s insistence that “This game, group and its creators in no way support, encourage or promote Adolf Hitler or the ideologies of the Nazi Party,” he has faced intense public criticism for the offensive undertones of the game. This includes the threat of expulsion from university.

Professor Peter Slee, deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Huddersfield, said of the game: “We are shocked to hear about this game, and extremely disturbed at the allegations that students at this university have been taking part in it.”

“This is a highly unusual incident and the university prides itself on its multi-cultural, cohesive campus.”

“We will be investigating these allegations, which we take very seriously, and will take appropriate action once these investigations are complete.”

Yet, despite the fierce criticism leveled at the game, a copy of the group has arisen on Facebook under the same title of ‘Hitler Drinking Game’, and has gained over 7,000 members. On this page, one member has stated that “the holocaust last night was crazy”.

The group has split student opinion down the middle: should it be taken merely as a fun game or can the systematic murder of six million people ever be considered remotely humorous?

While some members of the Facebook group have commented, “This is absolutely brilliant!”, others have been more scathing in their assessment.

One student appeared to summarise the feelings of those who cannot see the fun in playing a game where the gas chambers of Auschwitz are replicated in a supposedly funny manner:

“This game is sick. Somebody told me about it and I honestly thought they were joking. It makes a joke about one of the biggest and most horrific acts of genocide in human history, you should all be ashamed of yourselves.”

Others have chosen to be more blunt, with one commenting: “I think you are all seriously disrespectful fuckers for being part of this.”

However, fans of the group insist those who criticise are taking an overly serious approach, and not seeing the game for what it is, namely light-hearted fun with drinks amongst friends.

by David Bateman

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  • eyt4life
    I think Canon makes a good point about context being important. I very much doubt that the vast majority of people playing the game are doing so without irony.

    Under the (i think fair) assumption that the game was created and played as an ironic and light hearted drinking game, who is to say what qualifies as an acceptable topic? The period of the Third Reich is unquestionably an awful time in history, however I can't image other events with equally terrible consequences being met with such venom if they were used in humour. The example of the Crusades has been mentioned. For instance, the plague in Europe killed approximately half the population of the continent, but would raise little controversy if turned into a drinking game.

    And while I appreciate that the holocaust is a more contemporary example I still think great problems arise when people begin to say that subjects A, B and C are acceptable to parody, but subject D is not. Surely, either every topic must be open to satire or none is.

    Some humour will always offenend people and some will cross lines of what people find funny/decent. But if you want free speech I don't think you can really pick and choose how free you want it to be.
  • Canon
    It's an interesting discussion. But one that is a little hypocritical. I would imagine that many people make jokes about the Crusades, hell there might even be a Crusades drinking game. I would definitely put the Crusades up in a list of the more despicable things humanity has done. There are games like cowboys and indians, how is that not incredibly insulting to the native americans?

    It's all contextual, give it another 60 years. I as a 20 yr old am divorced from the Second World War, I know it happened but I didn't until recently realise why the international airport for Germany is in Frankfurt. (not a direct link to the second world war but it was a result of the aftermath of the germany being split in half.)
    In 60 years the generations will have no relatives who lived through the atrocities and only it will stop being as immediate.

    (I would like to say I could see myself playing this amongst a group of small friends who understand the context of the game and aren't going to be offended by it, I wouldn't however make a facebook group about it.)
  • I can't say I've ever heard jokes about the Crusades, and I think the Holocaust is different for many reasons.

    Firstly, the Crusades were roughly 800 years ago, as opposed to roughly 80 years ago. I think it will take substantially longer than 60 years for the Holocaust to lose its significance.

    Secondly, I think the Holocaust is perhaps the most extreme case of mans brutality against one another. While the Crusades may have resulted in many deaths, I highly doubt it was near the same number as the Holocaust.

    Thirdly, there exists substantially more evidence of the Holocaust. It's hard to imagine how it will becomes less significant in 60 years when there are museums dedicated to it, images depicting the brutality, and written documents like Anne Frank's diary. I don't think the Holocaust will ever becomes less significant, because I can't see a day when people don't watch Schindler's List, read Anne Frank's diary, visit Auschwitz, or learn about it in school.

    You're right though, the discussion can be hypocritical. A lot of people criticise the group's creation, yet admit they would play it amongst friends.
  • Kirsty
    How can anyone make a game from the holocaust, that;s just sick - Facebook shud ban them
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