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!David!Gramling!Assistant!Professor!of!German!Studies!University!of!Arizona,[email protected]!
The$Obliga+on$to$Remember:$Victor!Klemperer!Undoing!Occupied!Language!(1933G1947)!
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UniversiKes!of!Arizona,!Dresden,!and!Gaza!3!
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Lingua!!TerKi!!Imperii!“Language!of!the!Third!Empire”!!(1933G1945)!published!1947!
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• Klemperer!(1881G1960)!• Professor!of!Romance!Literatures!
• Studied!philosophy,!German!literature,!French!and!Italian!
• Converted!from!Judaism!to!ProtestanKsm!in!1912!
• Married!to!a!ChrisKan!named!Eva!Schlemmer!!
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Totalitarian!speech!is…!• “Its!strongest!effects!were!not!exercised!through!individual!speeches,!nor!through!arKcles!or!flyers,!posters!or!flags.!It!did!not!realize!itself!through!anything!that!one!needed!to!internalize!with!conscious!thought!or!conscious!feeling.!Rather,!Nazism!glided!into!the!flesh!and!blood!of!the!masses!through!the!individual!words,!turns!of!phrase,!and!sentence!structures!that!it!foisted!upon!them!through!millionGfold!repeKKon!unKl!they!were!mechanically!and!unconsciously!taken!on.”!!!
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…omnipresent!&!impoverished…!• “I!heard!the!workers!speaking!while!sweeping!the!streets!or!in!the!machine!room:!it!was!always—in!print!or!in!speech,!among!the!educated!and!the!uneducated—the!same!cliché!and!the!same!vocal!Kmbre.!And!even!among!those!who!were!the!most!grievously!persecuted!vicKms!and!thus!necessarily!the!mortal!enemy!of!NaKonal!Socialism,!even!among!Jews—in!their!conversaKons!and!lehers,!and!even!in!their!books,!as!long!as!they!were!sKll!allowed!to!publish!them—what!prevailed!was!the!LTI:!just!as!allGpowerful!as!it!was!impoverished,!and!allGpowerful!precisely!because!of!its!impoverishment.”!!
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…and!recognizes!no!difference!or!privacy.!
• “LTI!knows!no!private!sphere!disKnct!from!a!public!one,!nor!a!wrihen!language!disKnct!from!a!spoken!one—everything!is!speech,!and!everything!is!public.”!!
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Speech!that!anKcipates!freedom:!
• “Is!it!permihed!for!me!to!enter?”!he!called.!“Since!when!are!you!so!polite?”!came!the!!answer!from!within.!And!Waldmann!responded!immediately.!“It’s!coming!to!an!end,!so!I!have!to!become!accustomed!again!to!the!conversaKonal!tone!with!my!customers,!and!I’m!starKng!right!now!with!you.”!He!was!speaking!in!complete!seriousness,!he!certainly!had!not!intenKon!to!joke;!his!heart!longed!for!the!old!social!status!of!his!language.!!
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Concluding!quesKons!
• In!dark!Kmes,!what!does!it!mean!to!use!a!language!that!anKcipates!freedom?!
• What!does!everyday!speech!look!like!when!it:!– remembers!freedom!– Is!aware!of!historical!changes!(in!language!itself)!– Is!commihed!to!outliving!occupaKon?!
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