Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Rīga : AGB, 2004.
Description
"Victor Klemperer (1881-1960) was Professor of French Literature at Dresden University. As a Jew, he was removed from his university post in 1935, only surviving thanks to his marriage to an Aryan. From 1933 to 1935 Klemperer kept detailed diaries, which contain in note form some of the raw material for the German edition of LTI: Lingua Tertii Imperii. First published in 1957, The Language of the Third Reich arose from Klemperer's conviction that the language of the Third Reich helped to create its culture. As Klemperer writes: 'It isn't only Nazi actions that have to vanish, but also the Nazi cast of mind, the typical Nazi way of thinking, and its breeding ground: the language of Nazism.' This brilliant book is by turns entertaining and profound, saddening and horrifying. It is deservedly one of the great twentieth-century studies of language and its engagement with history. Translated by Dr Martin Brady"--… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member meggyweg
A sort of combination memoir and philology book. The author undertakes a serious study of language in Nazi Germany, but that study is part and parcel of his own experience living as a Jew in Dresden, and he includes many anecdotes about his own experiences. I admit I'm not into philology -- okay, I
I was intrigued, sometimes fascinated, by Klemperer's observations of how language evolved under Nazism. An example: readers of concentration camp memoirs will be familiar with the camp term "organize," meaning "to steal." Well, according to Klemperer, the ordinary German people also used the term "organize" meaning to obtain something illegally, either by theft or black marketing -- as in, "They don't issue ration cards for that anymore, you'll have to organize it." I had no idea the same term was used outside the camps -- and Klemperer, it appears, had no idea it was used within the camps, because he doesn't mention it.
I think he would have been very intrigued by 1984 and Newspeak. I also think that if I applied his methods of observation to the media and conversation in my country, I would probably learn some disquieting things.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in language, the Holocaust or World War II. I would also recommend Klemperer's diaries “I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years, 1933-1941”, “I Will Bear Witness 1942-1945: A Diary of the Nazi Years” and the post-war one, “The Lesser Evil: The Diaries of Victor Klemperer 1945-1959”. Especially the first two.
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had to look up the word in the dictionary -- and I only read the book because Klemperer kept talking about it in his diaries. And in turn he talks about his diaries a lot in this book. So they complement each other, although they can and do stand on their own as well.I was intrigued, sometimes fascinated, by Klemperer's observations of how language evolved under Nazism. An example: readers of concentration camp memoirs will be familiar with the camp term "organize," meaning "to steal." Well, according to Klemperer, the ordinary German people also used the term "organize" meaning to obtain something illegally, either by theft or black marketing -- as in, "They don't issue ration cards for that anymore, you'll have to organize it." I had no idea the same term was used outside the camps -- and Klemperer, it appears, had no idea it was used within the camps, because he doesn't mention it.
I think he would have been very intrigued by 1984 and Newspeak. I also think that if I applied his methods of observation to the media and conversation in my country, I would probably learn some disquieting things.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in language, the Holocaust or World War II. I would also recommend Klemperer's diaries “I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years, 1933-1941”, “I Will Bear Witness 1942-1945: A Diary of the Nazi Years” and the post-war one, “The Lesser Evil: The Diaries of Victor Klemperer 1945-1959”. Especially the first two.
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LibraryThing member Tikimoof
This book was amazing.
The Nazis lost World War II eventually, but during their 12-year reign they destroyed entire peoples via extermination camps, book burnings, and renaming regions and towns. At the end of the war, often there weren't enough people left alive to go back to their old town and
As their control of Germany became more and more complete, the Nazis also constantly revised the image that they projected to their people and the rest of the world. The early-mid-30's seemed to have the most violent language for starting a war in the pursuit of Lebensraum, but the anti-Semitic language was conversely less murderous. And because the Nazis were putting out so much propaganda and revising it so often (Klemperer notes one popular textbook was on its twelfth edition after just eight years of publication), it's easy to lose track of how often the Nazis changed their story.
Klemperer's notes, written continuously during the Nazi regime, serve as a chronology of how the Nazis corrupted all of German life, up to the everyday phrases that people would parrot in the streets. Of how his erstwhile friends would gradually give in to anti-Semitic rhetoric by giving up, believing Hitler (many people believed Hitler would never lose the war, even in April 1945), or just picking up the common vernacular.
He talks about the weird Norse/Teutonic obsession of the Nazis, how they always took the easiest linguistic solution (if you can find an old German word to replace an obviously Latin or American word, do it! But if not, the Latin is fine), their strange obsession with the past. (To my mind, the current usage of the word 'cuckold' is a good English example of the same concept.)
For me, there was a constant undertone of sorrow, especially when Klemperer would talk about developing theories during the war, discussing it with colleagues and friends working in the Jews' House (or from his time as a professor). Almost all references to these friends and colleagues would include an aside of when they died in Auschwitz, or when they were sent to Theriesenstadt and then extermination in the Final Solution.
I highly recommend this book, especially if you know some German - it explained the comparisons a lot more to me, but my German is not strong enough to read a largely academic text.
The Nazis lost World War II eventually, but during their 12-year reign they destroyed entire peoples via extermination camps, book burnings, and renaming regions and towns. At the end of the war, often there weren't enough people left alive to go back to their old town and
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remember the pre-Nazi way of life. You can still see evidence of this if you visit smaller towns in Germany: the old synagogue may be preserved as a museum, but there's no existing Jewish congregation that has replaced it.As their control of Germany became more and more complete, the Nazis also constantly revised the image that they projected to their people and the rest of the world. The early-mid-30's seemed to have the most violent language for starting a war in the pursuit of Lebensraum, but the anti-Semitic language was conversely less murderous. And because the Nazis were putting out so much propaganda and revising it so often (Klemperer notes one popular textbook was on its twelfth edition after just eight years of publication), it's easy to lose track of how often the Nazis changed their story.
Klemperer's notes, written continuously during the Nazi regime, serve as a chronology of how the Nazis corrupted all of German life, up to the everyday phrases that people would parrot in the streets. Of how his erstwhile friends would gradually give in to anti-Semitic rhetoric by giving up, believing Hitler (many people believed Hitler would never lose the war, even in April 1945), or just picking up the common vernacular.
He talks about the weird Norse/Teutonic obsession of the Nazis, how they always took the easiest linguistic solution (if you can find an old German word to replace an obviously Latin or American word, do it! But if not, the Latin is fine), their strange obsession with the past. (To my mind, the current usage of the word 'cuckold' is a good English example of the same concept.)
For me, there was a constant undertone of sorrow, especially when Klemperer would talk about developing theories during the war, discussing it with colleagues and friends working in the Jews' House (or from his time as a professor). Almost all references to these friends and colleagues would include an aside of when they died in Auschwitz, or when they were sent to Theriesenstadt and then extermination in the Final Solution.
I highly recommend this book, especially if you know some German - it explained the comparisons a lot more to me, but my German is not strong enough to read a largely academic text.
Show Less
LibraryThing member iffland
Learn how the Third Reich misused the German language for its cause (and check whether you see any patterns repeating nowadays!)
"Ewige Wachsamkeit ist der Preis der Freiheit!"
"Ewige Wachsamkeit ist der Preis der Freiheit!"
LibraryThing member TheCrow2
Chillingly amazing book about how the official language of the Third Reich changed the language of everyone in Germany used even the ones opposed the Nazis.
Subjects
Language
Original language
German
Original publication date
1947
1975 (1e traduction et édition française, Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme, Paris / Inter-Nationes, Bonn, Reclam Verlag, Leipzig, 1975)
1996-10-30 (Nouvelle édition française augmentée d'une préface de Johann Chaputot, Albin Michel)
Physical description
286 p.; 21 cm
Pages
286
ISBN
9984663655 / 9789984663654
Local notes
Cilvēks un sabiedrība