Hubertus Bengsch

In 1981, a film about the misadventures of a German U-boat crew in 1941 becomes a worldwide hit almost four decades after the end of the World War II. Millions of viewers worldwide make Das Boot the most internationally successful German film of all time. But due to disputes over the script, accidents on the set, and voices accusing the makers of glorifying the war, the project was many times on the verge of being cancelled.

"Laughing with Hitler" is a journey into a supposedly humorless time. In the Third Reich, however, the Führer and his Nazi bigwigs were laughed at. The political jokes of the Hitler years were a barometer of true public opinion. But those who dared to make jokes critical of the regime lived dangerously. In the early Nazi era, Hitler jokes were punished as "insidious", during the war even as "undermining of military strength" and the penalty was the death penalty! The conflict with the Nazi authorities ended more mildly for other pranksters: the cheeky cabaret artist Werner Finck was deported to a concentration camp, but was released again.

第2次世界大戦の1941年。ナチスドイツに占領されたフランスのラ・ロシェルの港から、出撃命令によって出航する潜水艦U96にヴェルナー（ヘルバート・グリューネマイヤー）が乗り込む。ベテランの艦長（ユルゲン・プロフノウ）や乗組員に囲まれながら、荒れた海での過酷な哨戒、次々と爆雷を放ってくる敵駆逐艦との攻防、海の藻くずと化していく敵の姿など、戦争の現実を次々と目の当たりにするヴェルナー。そんな中、U96に新たな命令が下される。