Language of the Nazis

8/7/2019 Language of the Nazis

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The Language of National Socialism

Nancy Kerr and Jonathan Edward


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Relationship Between Language

and Politics Dont you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to

narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall makethoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will beno words in which to express it. George Orwell,1984

This quote exemplifies a link between language, perception,and potential action. In this particular case the state aims togovern peoples actions by controlling the language whichthereby controls the peoples thoughts.

The Nazis were aware of this significance and created acommunicative environment which perpetuated theirpolitical power and facilitated their goals

1 . Changes in structural and stylistic features2 . Effective linguistic methods of imposing their ideology and

silencing their opponents


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1) Changes in Structure & Stylistic

Features


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Heightened attention to / use of

existing features: The perception of Jews as Christian enemies led

to extensive anti-Jewish vocabulary woven into

the German language during nearly two millenniaof Anti-Semitism in Europe.

Nazis expanded on a preexisting vocabulary of

contempt for Jews and increased its use. Theyused this vocabulary to create a false, hateful, anddehumanized image of Jews.


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Modifications and Changes in

Structure and Style Lexical innovation

Creation of designations for new organizations / institutions /policies such as Blitzkriegand also abbreviations such as

Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei) and SS, which sometimesbecame intimidating symbols

Creations of new compound words with a particularly highfrequency of the compounding elements Volk, Blut, and Rasse

(12) (13)

Germanization process in which archaic German wordswere reintroduced or new German words were coined toreplace foreign words


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Modifications and Changes in

Structure and Style (cont.) Redefinition and Re-association of Existing Terms

Examples: Abstammungsnachweis (pedigree) changes from referring to animal

husbandry to defining human racial origins Blutschande changes from referring to familial incest to one denoting sexual

relations between Aryans and non-Aryans

Words that had previously carried negative connotations became positivelycharged, such as fanatisch and brutal

Extensive use of euphemisms opaque and distorted camouflage or codewords were given new meanings to render their new purpose ambiguouswhile also retaining their original meanings as well

Euphemisms used extensively in official and unofficial texts: when thehorrific connotations of a particular euphemism became too well known itwas requested that a new word be used instead which would ultimatelyacquire the same connotations

Evakuierung(evacuation) substituted forAuswanderung(emigration) to meanforced transportation of Jews to ghettos and concentration camps eventhough both retained their original usage throughout.


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Creation of Powerful Metaphors

and ImageryTruth is always relative to a conceptual system that is defined in large part bymetaphor and the people who get to impose their metaphors on the culture get todefine what we consider to be true absolutely and objectively true. Townson

Subjects:

Struggle and contest contains images of war and competitive sports such asboxing

German people compared with boxers wiping blood from their eyes so they canresolutely go into the next round

Anthropology and medicine Self-exaltation and defamation of opponents throughsuch oppositions as the health of the Germanic and the sickness of the non-Aryan

Religion extensive use of Christian imagery and references to the Bible Hitler presented as a savior figure The people were all of Adolf Hitler and through Adolf Hitler. Herman Goering Hitler is the incarnation of the thought of the race. Vlkischer Beobachter(the Nazi

Party newspaper)

Technical images using vocabulary of metal-working where people are the objectsrather than the subjects of the activity and also people being referred to as material has a dehumanizing effect


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Absence of Argument and Dialectic

Methods of propaganda (pamphlets, speeches, etc.) often consistedof blocks of slogans, memorable phrases, and/or claims placednext to each other but which were independent of sentencestructure and without logical connectors (a predominance of

nouns with comparatively very few verbs) the result was appealto emotions rather than to logic

The Nazi worldview as absolute and final led their discourse tohave no room for argument or deviations within its framework

The liturgical nature of Nazi discourse where the role of themasses was restricted to pre-ordained responses required no use ofpersonal intellect and therefore prevented deviation


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2) Effective linguistic

methods of imposing theirideology and silencing their

opponents


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Creation of Identifying Groups

In-groups and out-groups for friend and foeidentification

This division was linguistically achieved throughnaming and definitions creating one acceptablediscourse and the abolishment of rival or

opposing discourse


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Media Regulations

Methods Censorship Banning and destruction of texts Incarceration of authors or intimidation Control of publication outlet and distribution networks

Voluntary self-censorship rewards Enactment

Cancelled basic rights (press & assembly) Assumed responsibility for national radio Seized publishing facilities Ban on formation of new periodicals Instructions on acceptable phrasings and topics

Reserving key terms for special usages by forbidding use in other contexts Fhrer: could only be used in reference to Hitler. The title for a U-boat captain(U-Bootfhrer) was changed to (U-Bootkommandant)

Forbidding positive terms for reference to the enemy The Press had to refer to Britains Central Office of Information as The

Ministry of Lies and Advertising (end)


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Examples

Compounds Blut

Blutschutz(protection of [German] blood)

Rasse Rassenschande (violation [sexually] of the race [German])

Volk

Volksbazillen (bacteria) referring to the Jewish people, anidea based on Anti-Semitic scientific principles (back)


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Examples

Volkund Rasse In the context of Nazi Germany, Volk is almost always

translated as race because of the clear intent behind Nazipolicy and Hitlers own obsession with racial purity and

pollution.

Rasse and Volkwere not interchangable in Nazi Germany vlkish translates accurately as ethnic race was so empirically defined, even the most zealous Nazis could

not accurately describe it.

Nazi writers labeled Jews racial comrades (Rassengenossen)

Nazi writers labeled Aryans asethnic comrades(Volksgenossen)

Neither Hitler nor the other major Nazis spoke of a racial state

(Rassenstaat). Instead they used such terms as Volkskrper(bodypolitic), Volksgemeinschaft(ethnic community) and Volksseele (ethnic


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The intentions behind the attempted regulationof language are clear: by seeking to impose a

standardized discourse, the fascists wished toimpose a standard worldview, stifle opposition,

and commit the population to their policies inother words, the regulation of language serves to

regulate thought and behavior. Townson


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References

Klemperer, Victor, and Roderick H. Watt. An Annotated Edition oVictor Klemperer's LTI, Notizbuch eines Philologen. Studies

in German Thought and History. Vol. 17. Lewiston: EdwinMellen Press, 1997.

Koonz, Claudia. The Nazi Conscience. Cambridge, Mass.:Belknap Press, 2003.

Michael, Robert, and Karin Doerr. Nazi-Deutsch/Nazi German :An English Lexicon of the Language of the Third Reich.Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002.

Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Penguin Book, Inc., 1977. 52. Pringle, Heather Anne. The Master Plan : Himmler's Scholars and

the Holocaust. 1st ed. New York: Hyperion, 2006. Townson, Michael. Mother-tongue and fatherland : Language an

politics in German. Manchester ; New York; New York:Manchester University Press; Distributed in the USA andCanada by St. Martin's Press, 1992.

Language of the Nazis

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