Nazi-Deutsch/Nazi German: An English Lexicon of the Language of the Third Reich [Hardcover]

Karen Doerr (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 031332106X | ISBN-13: 978-0313321061 | Publication Date: January 30, 2002

Created and used as an instrument of coercion and indoctrination, the Nazi language, Nazi-Deutsch, reveals how the Nazis ruled Germany and German-occupied Europe, fought World War II, and committed mass murder and genocide, employing language to encode and euphemize these actions. Written by two scholars specializing in socio-linguistic and historical issues of the Nazi period, this book provides a unique, extensive, meticulously researched dictionary of the language of the Third Reich. It is an important reference work for English- and German-speaking scholars, students, and teachers of the interwar years, the Nazi era, World War II, and the Holocaust.

The first and only comprehensive German-English dictionary of the Third Reich language, the book provides clear, concise, expert definitions with background information. Using up-to-date research, the book provides access, in a single volume, to a specialized, charged vocabulary, including the terminology of Nazi ideology, propaganda slogans, military terms, ranks and offices, abbreviations and acronyms, euphemisms and code names, Germanized words, slang, chauvinistic and anti-Semitic vocabulary, and racist and sexist slurs. The volume is an indispensable tool for research, study, and reading about World War II and the Holocaust.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

An important and unique addition to the literature of Nazi Germany, this lexicon serves as a dictionary of the terminology and specialized vocabulary of Nazi ideology. It covers hundreds of propaganda slogans, military terms, abbreviations and acronyms, euphemisms, and code names. It also defines ranks and offices in the Nazi Party, the German Reich government, and the armed forces. An appendix includes lists of concentration camps, Nazi songs, the Nazi Party Program, the Hitler oaths, and examples of Nazi material included in children's textbooks.

Each entry includes the Nazi-German term, its abbreviation if applicable, the literal English translation, and the definition of the term within its Third Reich context. Cross-references help draw related terms together.

Familiar, if disturbing, terms such as "Juden raus!" (Jews out) and Blut und Boden (blood and soil) illustrate the aggressive and chauvinistic nature of Nazi German, while terms such as "Arbeit macht frei" (work will set you free)--a slogan placed at Auschwitz and other death camps--illustrate the ironic and euphemistic qualities that often made Nazi German a kind of doublespeak.

Although most definitions are brief, some, such as Endlosung der Judenfrage (the "Final Solution of the Jewish question"), contain a more detailed description of how and when the term was used. There are also illuminating and scholarly essays by the authors that detail "The Tradition of Anti-Jewish Language" and "Nazi-Deutsch: An Ideological Language of Exclusion, Domination, and Annihilation."

Because this work provides great detail, it adds a dimension not completely covered in The Penguin Dictionary of the Third Reich (Penguin, 1997) or Dictionary of the Holocaust: Biography, Geography, and Terminology (Greenwood, 1997). This compilation will be a strong research tool for academic, public, and high-school libraries, especially those with students or scholars studying Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, or World War II. RBB
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Review

"Karin Doerr and Robert Michael have created a fine book....[T]he lexicon is extensive and will undoubtedly assist students of the Third Reich, World War II, and the Holocaust in their research. College students enrolled in courses on these topics and other nonspecialists stand to benefit the most. This volume gives them the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the terminology of the Third Reich. Attaining knowledge of the Nazis' linguistic code will in turn enable them to make sense of the documentary evidence....[M]ichael's and Doerr's thought-provoking essays raise the issue of continuity and are thus of particular interest to historians."-German Studies Review

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 504 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood (January 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031332106X
• ISBN-13: 978-0313321061
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,176,139 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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