German law
:
May contain traces of Nazis
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A nurse and a pharmacist measure medicines in the Dresden Mothers’ Home at Dittersbach Castle. Symbolic picture taken in 1937.
(Photo: United Archives/Hansmann/IMAGO)
Some are already thinking about gender-sensitive language in legal texts. But there is still a need for action elsewhere: an amazing number of laws are linguistically reminiscent of the Nazi era.
From
Ronen Steinke, Berlin
A few years ago, the ZDF presenter Katrin Müller-Hohenstein said about a goal by the then hapless German striker Miroslav Klose at the 2010 World Cup: Wow, that was definitely an “internal Nazi party rally” for him. What was meant was a great joy. The moderator used a phrase that did not express a pro-fascist opinion in any way, but did reveal its linguistic origins in the Nazi era.
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