UBC: Klemperer, Lingua Tertii Imperii

[truepenny]

Language of the Third Reich: LTI: Lingua Tertii Imperii by Victor Klemperer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book is what happens when a Jewish philologist takes up a project to keep from going insane under Nazi rule. It is
amazing
.

Klemperer was a Jew married to an "Aryan" woman who refused to give him up. So he spent the years of the Third Reich in Dresden, working in a factory instead of a university, living in a "Jews' House," being harassed by the Gestapo, forbidden to read any books written by Aryans. . . and to keep himself sane, he started what today we would call #LTI: notes in his diary about the Lingua Tertii Imperii, the way Nazis used language, and the way their use of language infected and corrupted the German language as a whole.

This is a brilliant book. His observations about language always lead back to the society he's living in, the oppression he's suffering under, the way ordinary Germans behaved (along a sliding spectrum of anti-Semitism), the way the Gestapo thugs behaved, the character of Goebbels as revealed in his speeches . . . thousands of tiny details that even the best social history of the Third Reich can't offer, because this is a man observing and analyzing from ground zero.

I tend to prefer secondary sources to primary sources (I feel this is a terrible character flaw, but there it is), but Klemperer is both. He's analyzing his own experiences as they happen to him, analyzing his own reactions, and always digging at words, the words people use, the words people don't use, the way metaphors influence the way people think.

This reprint was published by Bloomsbury in 2013 (in a TERRIBLE sans serif font which I hate with a cold and venomous hatred), so it's still readily available. I got it from Amazon. If you are interested in the Holocaust, in Nazi Germany, or in linguistics, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.



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Comments

[sovay]

If you are interested in the Holocaust, in Nazi Germany, or in linguistics, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

I have read about this book but not read it; I didn't realize it was available, I'm sorry to hear about the sans serifs, thank you for letting me know.

[truepenny]

You were one of the people I was thinking about in my enthusiastic recommendation, yes.

[sovay]

You were one of the people I was thinking about in my enthusiastic recommendation, yes.

Thank you.

[larryhammer]

I gotta wonder: WHICH terrible sans-serif font?

:pulls up Amazon look inside:

Typeset in India? -- Huh!

The preview is low-rez enough I can't determine exactly which modern gothic that is, but -- erg, no, on using that as a body font. Too light, not enough contrast between letterforms. I kinda get the moderne Germany feel they designer was going for, but that was not well-executed.

[truepenny]

Yes, I appreciate the aesthetic intent, but oh hell no.

[ckd]

When I saw his name, I wondered "hmm, any relation?"

Otto (conductor/composer) was his first cousin, and Otto's son Werner (actor) his first cousin once removed.

[mekare]

I‘ve been meaning to read one of his books anyway, so thanks for giving me a push to this one.
Urgh sans serif fonts are terrible for reading. The German edition has a better font but that‘s not an option for you I guess.

[oracne]

Cooooooooooool.

[jesse_the_k]

Okay, I'm hooked. The library copy is from 2002 so I hope it doesn't have the venomous font.

Does this book include specific details about individual murders/tortures, or is the view pulled back a little?