Original Clip from Der Untergang (2004)
About
“The Hitler Meme” or “Hitler finds out” is a video meme involving the addition of new subititles to the dramatic scene of Hitler’s final meltdown from the German movie Downfall directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel. The subtitles are often anachronistically altered with humerous English subtitles surrounding current events.
From the NYTimes: “Fire up YouTube. There you can see the Hitler figure erupt in frustration over his Xbox. He flips out because his friends aren’t going to Burning Man. And, recently, he loses it because Sarah Palin isn’t working out as a running mate. Something in the spectacle of an autocrat falling to pieces evidently has widespread appeal.”
Origin
The earliest known subtitle spoof of Downfall was uploaded by YouTube user DReaperF4 on August 10th, 2006. Titled “Sim Heil: Der untersim” and subbed in Spanish, the video shows Hitler fuming over the lack of new features in the demo trial of Microsoft’s Flight Simulator X, which was later released in October 2006.
Then on August 30th, DReaperF4 uploaded the English sub version of “Sim Heil” upon popular request in the comments, making the joke accessible to the rest of Flight Sim fans on YouTube. The original YouTube video was deleted upon copyright claim by the film stdio on December 26, 2009, as documented by YouTomb.
Update: Director’s Approval
On January 15th, 2010, New York Magazine‘s entertainment blog Vulture caught up with Hirschbiegel about his opinion of how the scene has been used online.
Excerpt:
Someone sends me the links every time there’s a new one…
I think I’ve seen about 145 of them! Of course, I have to put the sound down when I watch. Many times the lines are so funny, I laugh out loud, and I’m laughing about the scene that I staged myself! You couldn’t get a better compliment as a director.
Read more: The Director of Downfall Speaks Out on All Those Angry YouTube Hitlers — Vulture
Notable Spoofs & Parodies
Hitler gets banned from X-Box Live:
Hitler plans Burning Man:
Hitler’s Windows Vista Problems:
Real Estate Downfall:
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Meme Details
Origin
Youtube
Year
2006
Additional Links
