ABSTRACT
Jewish humor was a response to World War I, the postwar socio-economic crises, the Red and White terrors, antisemitic pogroms, and the reversal of Jewish emancipation in Hungary after 1919. The war and socio-political crises were not only a source of innumerable tragedies and deep sorrow. There had always been something forced, humiliating, and comical about the ways in which wealthy Jews and non-Jews tried to live up to the expectations and conform to the world of the traditional social and political elite. Finally, Jewish jokes after 1919 served as an outlet for the increased religious, social, and political tension among Jews themselves: between the Orthodox and the Neologs, urban and rural Jews, the poor and the better-off, the traditionalists and the culturally assimilated, and Hungarian patriots and Zionists. Unlike Jewish humor during the Holocaust, the jokes were meant to reach the majority society and change the hearts and minds of enemies and neutral bystanders alike.
