The authorship of the cynical catchphrase is often attributed to the German propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. We checked if this is true.

It should be noted that the massive mention of Joseph Goebbels as the author of this quote is typical for the post-Soviet space. It was attributed to the main Nazi propagandist and the editors of the encyclopedia "1000+ short biographical information", and writers Victor Pelevin and Yulian Semyonov (minimum twice), and culturologist Mikhail Epshtein, and the last Minister of Culture of the USSR Nikolay Gubenko. Among the examples in the West is the historian David Starkey and philosopher Slavoj Zizek.

In general, in the West, the author of the aphorism is no less often called another major figure of the Third Reich - Hermann Goering. There are also options with Heinrich Himmler. The popularity of the phrase is evidenced by the fact that it has been used for many decades as a template for similar statements.

One of the first references we found to Joseph Goebbels in connection with this expression dates back to June 13, 1946. Then the USSR representative to the UN Security Council Andrei Gromyko spoke out about the content that the German fascists put into the concept of “culture”, and cited as an example the words of the Reich Minister. On Goebbels referred and another Soviet figure Andrei Upit in the newsletter of the Soviet embassy in the United States, issued in 1943.

However, in the available archives - in Russian, English or German - there is no mention of any specific cases in which this or a similar phrase was uttered by any of the above-mentioned German figures.

Mikhail Weller in his lecture “Russian classics as apocrypha,” which he read at the University of Turin in 1990, attributes the authorship of the phrase by the head of the Hitler Youth, Baldur von Schirach. According to Weller, von Schirach put these words into the mouth of a character in one of his plays. However, Weller is wrong, and here's why.

In 1933, the German poet, playwright and National Socialist Hans Jost wrote a play on the occasion of the Nazis' rise to power "Schlageter". Judging by the plot, this is exactly the play Weller is talking about. Its main character is a young German who was executed by the French in 1923 for sabotage. In one episode of the play, he talks to student Thiemann, who declares: “Wenn ich Kultur höre... entsichere ich meinen Browning” (“When I hear the word culture, I take the safety off my Browning”). Despite the fact that the protagonist Schlageter is shocked by the belligerent attitude of his interlocutor, after the premiere of the play this statement gained popularity in the National Socialist environment. In particular, it was used by the same Baldur von Schirach in his speech dating back to 1938. Americans saw this vivid episode, accompanied by the drawing of a real pistol, thanks to Frank Capra's 1942 propaganda documentary Prelude to War:

The film does not indicate which Nazi says these words from the podium. This could give rise to different versions. Note that the word “Browning” (the brand name) in those years was synonymous with any pistol, so it is not surprising that the word “revolver” appeared in some versions of the phrase.

Thus, the real author of the phrase about the word “culture” and weapons is the German playwright and National Socialist Hans Jost, and none of the major Nazi figures (Goebbels, Goering, Himmler) were seen quoting it.