# das deutsche Wesen / Nazi lingo



## Kater Karo

I am looking for a useful equivalent to "das deutsche Wesen" as in "am deutschen Wesen soll die Welt genesen." in my context it is meant the German people, the Germans' soul will not accept certain things because it would be against their Wesen/deutschen Geist.

In a more general sense, I constantly come up with typical Nazi expressions as I am working on Nazi ideology and newspapers. Does anyone have an idea if there is a list, database or some such for terms that the Nazi era generated? The problem seems to be to find equivalents which carry the same political, pejorative, and racist freight.
I am talking about terms like
-rassisch untermorschte völker
-Erbübel der US-Geschichte
-verjudet sein
-aufnorden
-ausmendeln

etc.
(even though the last two should be no problem to explain. But, alas, the length of the footnotes these explanations will require!)

Many thanks in advance,
Kater Karo


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## Frank78

I am looking for a useful equivalent to "das deutsche wesen" as in "am deutschen Wesen soll die Welt genesen." in my context it is meant the german people, the Germans' soul will not accept certain things because it would be against their Wesen/deutschen Geist.

This is much older (mid 19th century) so no unique nationalsocialitst terminology. They just picked that up.

-rassisch untermorschte völker
-Erbübel der US-Geschichte
-verjudet sein
-aufnorden
-ausmendeln

All but "verjudet sein" are completly unknown to me where did you find them?

http://www1.uni-hamburg.de/rz3a035//ns_term.html

Here´s a link to some terminology they often used.


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## Kuestenwache

I didn't know "aufnorden" but it appears to be similar to "arisieren"
http://www.dict.cc/deutsch-englisch/aufnorden.html
Since most of them are neologisms I doubt that there exist exact translations. I also doubt that there exist terms that carry the same "political, pejorative and rasist freight" because these qualities of the ideology of the nazis were unequalled in modern history. I think for all those you are unable to find translations for you will not have much choise but to create neologisms in English yourself. Such as:
"racially rotten people"
"ingrained failing in US history"
"to be jewisized"
"to Mendel out"


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## Kater Karo

@ Frank78:
I was aware the Nazis picked it up, but it falls into the same category of "totalitäre Sprache" of which the Nazis are the most extreme examples. Thanks for the link, i'll check it out asap.
The terms appear constantly in Nazi newspapers, magazines, and also academic journals of the time. I work in issues of ethnology, history, and race, and the primary texts as much as academic sources use plenty of these terms. If it wasn't so horrible, one would constantly have to laugh about the crazy terminology.

@Küstenwache:
I had hoped someone had started a list for these neologisms and wondered if there was a debate which neologisms are accepted and closer to the original. I had thought of inventing them myself, but did not want to go ahead without checking forums first.
I liked your versions "racially rotten" and "to Mendel out" - even though the latter might still require an explanatory footnote.
for "Erbübel" I had thought of "heritable vice"  or something along those lines. The "Erbübel" meant here is the claim that atrocities occurred in all US wars (the text is from 1943), so "vice" seems better than "failing" - what do you think?
Thanks to both of you again,
Kater Karo


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## Kuestenwache

I used LEO to translate "Erbübel" http://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=ende&la...h&pinyin=diacritic&search=erb%FCbel&relink=on
About "ausmendeln" I don't think there is a possiblity to find a translation or even a synonym in German that would work without an explanation for those who are not aware of Mendel's work.


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## Kater Karo

Kuestenwache said:


> About "ausmendeln" I don't think there is a possiblity to find a translation or even a synonym in German that would work without an explanation for those who are not aware of Mendel's work.


 
I see it the same way. thanks.


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## Robocop

Kater Karo said:


> "am deutschen Wesen soll die Welt genesen."


My interpretation:
The salvation of the world lies in imposing the German nature/character onto the world.


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## Frank78

That´s even stronger than the German sentence. You´ve put even some religious elements in it, Robocop.


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## Kuestenwache

Maybe "The German nature will make the world prosper"


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## Frank78

Kuestenwache said:


> Maybe "The German nature will make the world prosper"



I like that much better, it grasps the meaning. But why not "The German being will make the world prosper"


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## Robocop

Kuestenwache said:


> Maybe "The German nature will make the world prosper"


Well, I agree that "recovery" might be more appropriate than "salvation" (up to the native speakers to tell) but on the other hand "prosper" does not fit here. You have to keep in mind that the topical statement implicitly contains the assessment that the world is *sick *(==> keine Genesung ohne Krankheit!!) and therefore in want of a recovery (to be provided by imposing the German nature).


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## Frank78

"Prosper" suits perfectly in my opinion because it originally was used to say "We have to civilize our colonies respectivly the people there"


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## Kater Karo

I agree with prosper, as well, as in the larger context "genesen" is meant as "to thrive" or "to prosper." However, I am unsure about both being and nature. "being" reminds me too much of an individual human being, so, nature would suit better. Yet, the expression would have to avoid ambiguities about nature in the sense of natural environment.


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## brian

Where is "prosper" ("florieren," to flourish) coming from??

Robocop's logic seems to make much more sense to me, unless perhaps the _underlying_ meaning of the sentence is that the German nature/being/etc. will make the world prosper.

As for _das deutsche Wesen_, how about _German essence._

I would propose this:

_The German essence will heal the world._

Using "heal" makes the Germans sound like _nice_ guys to the rescue. "Make prosper/thrive" does not have that connotation.


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## Frank78

Kater Karo said:


> I agree with prosper, as well, as in the larger context "genesen" is meant as "to thrive" or "to prosper." However, I am unsure about both being and nature. "being" reminds me too much of an individual human being, so, nature would suit better. Yet, the expression would have to avoid ambiguities about nature in the sense of natural environment.



Doesn´t "Wesen" have the same connotation to a human being?


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## Frank78

brian8733 said:


> .. the _underlying_ meaning of the sentence is that the German nature/being/etc. will make the world prosper.



That is exactly how I understand this phrase. It means we should export our culture and know how (both implies prosperity) because we´re the spearhead of the civilized world


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## Kuestenwache

I think we may have to interpret the sentence a little more disenganged from the actual meaning of the words "Wesen" and "genesen", after all they obviously mean to create a rhyme here. I don't think "genesen" actually means "heilen/gesund werden" but rather "gedeihen/aufblühen" in this case. It is really hard to come up with a good translation for the German "Wesen" in English, all the words like "nature/essence/being" only cover a part of it. I thought of "spirit" but that doesn't really fit too. Maybe a neologism would work here too, I'm thinking about something like "Germankind/Germanhood". "The Germanhood will make the world prosper" I think that catches the tenor of the sentence quite well.


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## Kater Karo

I agree with Küstenwache on the meaning of aufblühen=genesen. The approach with the neologism seems a valuable one in absence of a ready-made English term. I have been operating with Germanness earlier in my work, so I might as well consider using it in this context, too.


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## brian

I was thinking of _Germanness_ as well when I was writing my post above. I think it sounds better than _Germanhood_ or _Germankind_.

And for what it's worth, I actually think _German spirit_ works well, the only (possible) downside being that in English "the ___ spirit" usually has a very positive connotation, and I don't know if you want to have a positive or negative or neutral connotation here.


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## Frank78

"I don't know if you want to have a positive or negative or neutral connotation here."

It´s a translation you´re not allowed to change that. 
"Wesen" is rather neutral in German. The whole sentence of course has a positive connotation.


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## sokol

Frank78 said:


> "Wesen" is rather neutral in German. The whole sentence of course has a positive connotation.


I am sorry but I can't quite agree with that - at least here in Austria people are very well aware of the Nazi connotations, so you can't leave that out in a translation.
And honestly I just can't believe that Germans are not aware of that connotation.

Except if the text was written *before *the Nazi era, in which case the sentence "Am deutschen Wesen soll die Welt genesen" still would not be strictly positive in connotations but rather positively intended, but very ethnocentric. Same as patriotic lines from other nations. - And even then a footnote should be included stating that the phrase was used in that (older) text before it was re-interpretated by the Nazis.

But *since the Nazi era* the connotation of that phrase to me can only be negative really. (That is, that phrase used in texts written during or after the Nazi era.)

Anyway, I like Brian's suggestions of "Germanhood" and "Germankind". So why not something like:

May the world be healed by Germanhood.

Which still is way _too _positive a translation for this phrase, in my opinion.  Only its *absurdness *(to put a nation above all in a way like this is quite absurd, isn't it?) here gives some negative connotations.


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## Frank78

You completly misunderstood what I meant. I think in its original meaning it has got a positive connonation. Even if this changed it´s not good to translate it because it contains the translators point of view then. You can´t change such sentences by a retrospective history view. It was the intention of those people who used it to let it sound positive.


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## sokol

Frank78 said:


> You completly misunderstood what I meant. I think in its original meaning it has got a positive connonation. Even if this changed it´s not good to translate it because it contains the translators point of view then. You can´t change such sentences by a retrospective history view. It was the intention of those people who used it to let it sound positive.


Now you misunderstood me. 

The phrase originally certainly was intended to have positive connotations, but as the phrase is as ethnocentric as it is this is highly doubtful. As is the case with patriotic songs like English "Rule Britannia" - to not leave the impression that this is something specifically "German" because of course it isn't.
So far so good - concerning the first part of my post: in a historical context of course a translator should try and give the historical meaning.

But the use and misuse of this phrase in the Nazi era just changed connotations - you can't say today "Am deutschen Wesen soll die Welt genesen" without offending Germans who do not want to be identified with a Nazi-coined phrase (it is irrelevant that the phrase wasn't created by them but only used by them; the connotations are still there).

Just imagine a politician would use that phrase nowadays: I am sure that we both know exactly where to locate this politician in the political spectrum of modern Germany. (Jörg Haider used to say "Am Kärntner Wesen soll die Republik [= Österreich] genesen": here also it is clear without a doubt that only a politician of the extreme right ever would use such a phrase, even though "deutsches Wesen" is replaced by "Kärntner Wesen", and the "World" has become Austria.)

This also is *very *important for translators, they have no choice but to take into account that historical terms may change its meaning in society.


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## Frank78

sokol said:


> it is irrelevant that the phrase wasn't created by them but only used by them; the connotations are still there



If you really think so then I´m sorry for you. You´re making yourself indirectly the slave of those people. They determine your language usage posthumous.
Words exclusivly by the Nazis excluded, of course.

I still can say or hear words like "Jedem das Seine" without at first thinking of Buchenwald but maybe my perception as a historian is a bit different. For me such phrases are chronologically in my mind and thats how I use them, usually the orginal meaning is the main thing. If anyone should feel offended then it´s not my fault they could stick their noses in books rather than complaining about me being non-PC.

Sorry for being chatty but I wanted to say that.


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## Kuestenwache

That may be true and I agree that we should not abandon parts of our culture the nazis took advantage of, if they are not nationalistic or offensive all along ("Jedem das Seine" is a good exampe, so is "Heimatliebe"). Yet there are certain terms and phrases that have been used by the nazis so extensivly that their origin becomes insignificant. "Arbeit macht frei" was the titel of an, allowedly already nationalistic, novel by Lorenz Diefenbach, still we all have only one image in our heads when we hear it, sames goes for "Lebensraum für das deutsche Volk". And further more as already pointed out "Am deutschen Wesen soll die Welt genesen" is, even if not invented by the nazis, a phrase that could be linked to nothing but nationalism (not patriotism) I would even see a hint to expansionism in that, certainly nothing we would be proud of today. And of course certain expressions do change their meaning during history if they express an outdated oppinion ("Großdeutschland", "deutsches Reich" etc).


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## Hutschi

The original is from a poem: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Geibel from 19th century.

It certainly changed the meaning, like many others.

Is there any translation of his poem?
Or does there exist an English translation from the time of fascism?


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## Frank78

I´ve found that:

" The motto “_Am Deutschen Wesen soll die Welt genesen_” (The German spirit shall heal the world) was taken to articulate the association of the idea of healing with just such an ideology"

http://www.e-flux.com/journal/view/12

At the end of the fourth paragraph.


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## sokol

Frank78 said:


> If you really think so then I´m sorry for you. You´re making yourself indirectly the slave of those people. They determine your language usage posthumous.
> Words exclusivly by the Nazis excluded, of course.


Wrong.

They do not determine my use of language at all because I do not have the wish to use that phrase, ever. (I can't think of a context where I'd like to use it.)

The use of language by the Nazis determined the use of language in our *society; *that is a fact - nothing less.
If you say that you know about some (historical, political, whatever) connotations but that you choose to ignore them then those connotations are still there. So to give another example, if you use "Freundschaft!" as a greeting it may be associated with GDR (DDR) (that is, also with political orientation) in Germany - while in Austria this just identifies you as a Social Democrat, nothing more and nothing less. So, connotations are there even if you choose to ignore them - even if you *say *that you choose to ignore them.

But that's already going off-topic here really, as this thread is first and foremost about the *translation *of the phrase (in a "Nazi lingo" context as the title says).
It seems we can't agree on that matter anyway so it is rather pointless to discuss this in more detail.


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## Batterseaboy

> I think we may have to interpret the sentence a little more disenganged from the actual meaning of the words "Wesen" and "genesen", after all they obviously mean to create a rhyme here.


 

Agreed. I think that we need to get away from delving too deeply into the meaning of _Wesen_. After all, a translation is supposed to convey something meaningful and comprehensible to readers/speakers of the target language. So, I would suggest a free translation that sounds like a slogan in English, something that has a comprehensible, catchy (though possibly crazy) message. I would therefore suggest for _Am deutschen Wesen soll die Welt genesen_:

_The German way will be the world's salvation_.

I know this is very free and I'm well aware that _salvation_ is over the top if taken literally, but this version has the advantage of having a certain rhythm in English and sounds "sloganic" (if I may coin this word).

In all honestly, I don't think this version does violence to the German slogan. Apart from anything else, one needs to bear in mind that the German words were, surely, never meant literally.


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