Humour in the Nazi camps: a defence against dehumanisation

In this article we discuss the use of humour in the Nazi camps. This is not an easy subject to approach, and some may fear that doing it diminishes the gravity and horror of the “Final Solution.” However, we will show that it is one of the most acute manifestations of psychic resistance, both individual and collective, of the deportees, who, in a state of weakness and humiliation and faced with the omnipresence of death, managed to express their life drive, as well as their subjectivity, through the pleasure of laughter. We will then look at the various manifestations of humour in the camps, from operettas to more spontaneous humour. In addition, we will discuss the various defensive functions, from the social act of creating a bond and recreating a community, to the defence mechanism of distancing oneself from the horrifying reality, to the Symbolic action that, for a time, distanced one from the reduction to the Real body. All of these played a fundamental role in maintaining the deportee's position as a subject.