The truth hurts.

Laughing at Hitler is nothing new. Mel Brooks did it in his "The Producers," and, in one of my favorite comedies, "To Be Or Not To Be," Brooks actually plays Hitler ("Heil myself.").

Susan, I think you should consider that we laugh in order to come to terms with evil and all other sorts of disturbing human behavior.

If Germans would have laughed during Hitler's evil rants, could he have ever led them into WWII?

We laugh in order to remain sane in a universe of pain and sorrow.

I think laughing at Hillary and the sexism that has been shown to her in this campaign is just as awful. You should be just as offended by that! and by comparing her to Hitler is unforgiveable.

Makes me want to just go right out and support "The One" - NOT!

Comedians and our warped sense of humor will always be around and laughter does mask our pain sometimes..But in our laughter let us PROMISE NEVER TO FORGET..HITLER, SADDAM,yes Sadaam, America has already forgotten the evils of this modern day Hitler, especially since the body bags of their sons and daughters started coming home from Iraq.Laugh but let us promise NEVER TO FORGET LEST HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF.
A good article and a sobering thought Ms.Estrich.

OUTSIDER ON THE INSIDE.

Laughing at Hitler is nothing new. Mel Brooks did it in his "The Producers," and, in one of my favorite comedies, "To Be Or Not To Be," Brooks actually plays Hitler ("Heil myself.").

Susan, I think you should consider that we laugh in order to come to terms with evil and all other sorts of disturbing human behavior.

If Germans would have laughed during Hitler's evil rants, could he have ever led them into WWII?

We laugh in order to remain sane in a universe of pain and sorrow.

There is nothing funny about that. How funny do you think it would be to put Obamas face on Osama Bin Ladin.After all he they still think he is a muslum and he asociates with a known tarisest. Would that be funny no Obama would call that racist. Know wouldn't he?

In "Stranger in a Strange Land" Robert A Heinlein had his Martian figure out why we laugh when a group of people laughed at monkeys; "We laugh so we won't cry" This is why people laugh at and parody Hitler.

Having come from a family who lived thru Hilter and my grandmother almost being put to death in Nazi Germany, Hitler is not funny then nor now. Some young people in this day and age do not get what Hitler did to the world and to the people of Europe. Schools are not teaching about the Holocost nor World War II. What has happened in the past will repeat itself if we do not remember. The saying we are doomed to repeat the past if we do not remember the past still stands true today. Yes, the world does have funny jokes and makes fun of people all the time, but really Hitler is not someone I would want to be compared to.

How could seeing thousands of freezing,starving men,women,children loaded in cattle cars to be taken to be tortured and killed ever be

"To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven." One wonders whether public, perpetual grief would prevent recurrences of slavery, genocide, or other crimes against humanity. Frequently the action of consoling the grieving involves some levity of thought, humor, to raise the spirits from the pit of despair.
It is the STUPIDITY of policies that produced the atrocities and injustices endured by minorities that should be feared, and prevented by education. That they (co-workers) were "cringing" too indicates that education has done its job and there is little to fear.
Can we say the same for the policies of a party that focuses on the superficial issues of race, gender, sexual orientation and abortion (infant genocide) as the basis for rallying its diverse minority components? Maybe the author has hit on something.........

I hope that we never lose the propensity to laugh at the ridiculous. Be thankful that you still have the right to laugh at ourselves or caractures of others. Political correctness has already taken too much of that sort of thinking away from us already.

Dear Susan,

It is NOT at all a conflict between the fact that the real Hitler was one of history's worst leaders and that the German people went along so easily with such horrific terrorism and being able to spoof the odd seriousness of other misconceptions The "progressive tax code" is every bit as contrarian as the tragedies of WWII.
But humor is the grandest of all emotions even overcoming the dreariest drama. Humor excludes nothing, no matter how offensive, not even the most egregious violations. We can both cry for the victims and laugh at the intrinsic egregiousness of the offense..