Auschwitz and Srebrenica Jokes

As told 6

“That's why I fully understand... a whole sub-genre... of Auschwitz jokes.”
1:30:26 Digital Consortium Lecture - Reality as Materialized Ideology Inaugural lecture by Slavoj Zizekpub. 2021-06-12 · 1:52:09

“when you are really in deep shit, tragedy, mass murders, it. too early, it's still too traumatic for you. to adopt a properly tragic attitude... the only way to do it is through jokes.”
1:29:37 Slavoj Žižek — Democracy: Is This The End?2022-11-04 · 2:17:03

“do you know there was a whole subspecies of Auschwitz humor? In Bosnia, of Srebrenica humor. So I accept this.”
1:35 The revolution and the real2022-05-29 · 59:04

What it carries

one story, many jobs: the ideas this anecdote is deployed to argue, one tally mark per use (an idea page shows the same relation from the other end, as its shelf of stories)

contents · one story, 3 jobsuses

permanent trauma ×1 jokes as defense against trauma ×1 surplus enjoyment ×1

Its cast and sources

populated by

Hamdan Ballal2 Esther2 Jordan Bardella2 Balaji Srinivasan2 Yuval Kremnitzer2 Groucho Marx2 Bertrand Russell2 Linda Tripp1

alongside works

Canudos2 The 18th Brumaire2 Network State2 No Other Land2 Venus in Furs1 The Last Laugh1 The Wolf Man1 The Vikings1

Told together with

20% Judith Butler: 'be one species among many', Žižek's respectful refusal 2 shared talks 20% The Handmaid's Tale 2 shared talks 14% Lenin in Warsaw 2 shared talks 6% Niels Bohr's horseshoe 3 shared talks

Every retelling 6

1:30:26 Digital Consortium Lecture - Reality as Materialized Ideology Inaugural lecture by Slavoj Zizekpub. 2021-06-12 · 1:52:09

Žižek argues that the existence of a sub-genre of Auschwitz and Srebrenica jokes is not bad taste, but proof that the events were too traumatic to deal with face-to-face. If one can report on it peacefully, it wasn't a trauma., illustrating ideological trauma,trauma

1:29:37 Slavoj Žižek — Democracy: Is This The End?2022-11-04 · 2:17:03

Žižek argues that jokes about the Holocaust and the Bosnian War (Srebrenica) are not trivial but necessary defenses against trauma, as the tragedy is too overwhelming for a 'properly tragic attitude.', illustrating jokes as defense against trauma

1:35 The revolution and the real2022-05-29 · 59:04

Žižek claims there exists a whole subspecies of humor produced inside Auschwitz and later Srebrenica, tasteless but real, as evidence that extreme suffering cannot be processed as tragedy but only through humor., illustrating humor as survival under extreme conditions,the limits of tragic form

4:14 Slavoj Zizek - What are network states?2025-04 · 2:12:08

Žižek cites Jewish friends who told him there were jokes in Auschwitz and a Bosnian friend who said there were jokes in Srebrenica, arguing that stupid jokes are necessary to survive horror without total depression., illustrating ideology,everyday-life

11:53 Žižek Chillstep Lofi background lecture for cleaning with ADHD | 2025 Slavoj Zizek Downtempo2025-09-04 · 1:12:48

Jokes exist in concentration camps and mass graves not as humor, but as a survival mechanism to prevent total depression or numbness in the face of horror., illustrating history,everyday-life

7:32 Like a Thief in the Night: A Question of Manners2018-03-09 · 1:54:02

During the Siege of Sarajevo when the city ran out of gas, the vulgar joke circulated: 'What is the difference between Auschwitz and Sarajevo? In Auschwitz at least they never ran out of gas.' Žižek cites it as desperate humor that signals the horror is too fresh for dignified treatment., illustrating comedy versus tragedy as responses to atrocity,surplus enjoyment