Introduction
Overview of Nazism
National Socialism or Nazism is a political ideology which was the doctrine of political leadership in Germany at the time of the Third Reich, and in several other countries. According to many political propagandists has much in common with fascism and communism and usually classified as one of its variants. The term "fascism" is used to refer to a wide range of political movements that have existed in different countries, while the term "national socialism" is used most often in connection with the Nazi Party and the Third Reich. The first systematic and critical analysis of Nazism as totalitarian system, comparing it with other inhumane system - communism was made in the work of American political scientist of German origin, sociologist and philosopher Hannah Arendt - "Origins of Totalitarianism".
History of Nazism
On January 30, 1933 after Adolf Hitler became the Chancellor, he quickly overcame all opposition and potential rivals and established sole power of Fuhrer (leader), who was considered above all laws and his word has become a law. Only a few closest to him, officials had relative autonomy. Under the control of Heinrich Himmler's secret police (Gestapo) and the Schutzstaffel (SS) have eliminated the influence of liberal and communist opposition, persecuted Jews and Roma and controlled society, which was completely covered by Nazi propaganda. Education, Arts and media have been under control of NSDAP that promoted the uniqueness of the German people; it belongs to the Aryan race. Nazism, as a state policy, was promoted in all social institutions; it has begun from German youth organization the Hitler Youth, in which membership was compulsory. Education paid great attention to racial biology and physical education. Joseph Goebbels, the Propaganda Minister, has used actively and creatively the cinema, mass demonstrations, radio and speech to manipulate the public opinion. Nationalism has penetrated into all aspects of life, especially in culture. Given the totality of control the Nazis had in their affairs over Germany, this essay seeks to investigate on the matter further in the realm of everyday life. Victor Klemperer, a part-Jewish German who stood as among the few and lucky survivors of Nazi cruelty before and during the Second World War, has detailed the emphasis of the Nazis on total control through the use of his two books: I Will Bear Witness, his diary, and LTI – Lingua Tertii Imperii. The life story of Klemperer, alongside his firsthand analysis of the Nazis, as contained in his two books, have both been instrumental in exploring the full extent of the totality of control Nazis had over daily life in Germany at the height of their power.
“Total” Control of Daily Life in Nazi Germany, According to Klemperer
About Klemperer
The books written by Klemperer – his diary I Will Bear Witness and his work on the language of the Third Reich, LTI - Lingua Tertii Imperii, both provided perspectives on the totality of control the Nazis had in Germany at the pinnacle of their reign. Klemperer was a German philologist, writer and journalist, researcher of totalitarian thought and language of Nazi Germany. Particularly at the height of Nazi power in Germany, Klemperer was known to have kept and maintained a diary, entitled I Will Bear Witness, where day by day, he noted the events that transpired around him - not only as a keen observer, but also as an attentive agent who noted several changes in everyday life in the city of Dresden as the Nazis took over and started to impose their campaign against the Jews, among many others. Klemperer noted that the discrimination against people of Jewish blood in Germany took a gradual pace, starting from the removal of specific exemptions and privileges erstwhile made available for people like him.
First Book: I Will Bear Witness
Klemperer wrote I Will Bear Witness as his personal diary, which he first kept when he was 17 years old. Being part-Jewish, Klemperer lived with his wife Eva in Dresden and were both known for their socially endearing nature. A man of many friends, Klemperer used his diary as his outlet for everyday life, a large portion of which containing his anxiety over the takeover of the Nazis throughout Germany. The significance of the diary written by Klemperer is just massive, that it was able to influence the scholarship on the history of Nazi Germany, had it not for one of his students who found and presented it to the Dresden State Library, with its first publication following much later in 1995.
The totality exercised by the Nazis over Germany was described by Klemperer in a very daunting manner, in that he detailed his own experience as a part-Jewish German on discrimination, which somewhat felt life a noose slowly locking on his breath. Erstwhile a professor of romance languages at the Dresden Technical University, Klemperer constantly expressed his identity with Germany and his unorthodoxy to Jewish ways, best exemplified by his decorated service to the nation during the First World War, for which he was able to earn a Distinguished Service Medal. Despite the fact that Klemperer took pride in his German identity, he still felt unsafe over the anti-Jewish policy of the Nazis. True to fears, Klemperer gradually suffered from the clampdown the Nazis inflicted on any person with Jewish blood in Germany prior and before the Second World War.
As an owner of a rather costly house funded by earnings as a professor of Dresden State University, Klemperer noted his numerous anxieties over the way the Third Reich constantly threatened him with their policies that appeared to gradually restrict people with Jewish blood in Germany. The marriage of Klemperer to Eva, an Aryan, saved him from being immediately oppressed and killed by the Nazis, which went all-out against people of Jewish heritage. Such is because of the fact that marriage to an Aryan served as an exemption from oppression under the Nazis, although Klemperer and others like him soon lost that privilege.
The events that followed have caused Klemperer with a great deal of fear over his life and that of Eva, who was ailing physically from a disease. Klemperer lost his job as professor at the Dresden Technical University due to his Jewish ancestry, in accordance to the restrictions set by the Third Reich. Such has left Klemperer unable to pay for his household expenses, with a loan coming from his brother proving inadequate for him and Eva. Employment was virtually unavailable for people like Klemperer, with institutionalized discrimination having been implemented step-by-step by the Nazis in Dresden and other parts of Germany. The imposition of the Nuremberg Laws, which removed all of the rights previously afforded to the Jews, led many people with Jewish, including the friends of Klemperer, to escape Germany. Nevertheless, Klemperer still chose to keep a positive disposition in spite of the discrimination against people like him. But things got worse for Klemperer when he started to lose access to the reading room of the local library, which he had to access for his work as a freelance journalist. Klemperer also started losing more money, with his means of relaxation – driving his car, having started to become more costly. Yet, Klemperer was amazed by the kindness shown to him by many Germans in Dresden, which gives him hope against the propagandist nature of the Third Reich against people with Jewish blood.
However, the noose got even tighter for Klemperer. Total control over Germany by the Nazis commenced in full throttle, particularly with regard to their anti-Semitic views, hence leaving many Jewish people, including friends of Klemperer, hopeless and suicidal. Many of the friends of Klemperer died, either in concentration camps or depression in their own homes due to severe hopelessness. Economic harassment also started to rattle Klemperer, as his household bills started to rise against his already-meager income from freelance journalism. Illnesses soon charged both Klemperer and Eva, leaving them occasionally weak to conduct employment. Klemperer finally experienced discrimination when police came to ask him about weapons possession. When police found weapons inside the house of Klemperer, despite his argument that he was a war veteran during the First World War, he faced arrest for hours. With such proving the complete turning point for Klemperer, he thought that he had no other choice but to escape Dresden. The confusion over the news of the bombing of Dresden in 1945 finally gave Klemperer and Eva the opportunity to flee the city to an American-controlled area in Germany.
Second Book: LTI - Lingua, Tertii, Imperii
As a result of the takeover of Germany by the Nazis, the LTI has turned from language of the group into a people's language, it means it has subdued all the public and private spheres of life: politics, law, art, science, school, sports, family, kindergartens and nurseries. Of course, the LTI has been subdued by the army with great energy. In one chapter, Klemperer compares the reign of the Nazis with the Weimar Republic and the rule of the Kaiser. Klemperer came to the conclusion that even during the reign of the Kaiser, there was no such censorship. On the first year after the Nazis has come to power, they have established a commission to the nationalization of universities and eventually, their campuses began to feature and use anti-Jewish slogans. Such exhibited the quickness of Nazi ideology in penetrating through all spheres of life of the Germans.
Klemperer claimed that everything has changed in Germany under the Nazis. Expressionist artists have come under the influence of Nazism in their works. The rune "victory" was added to the simple letters in typesetting. The author notes that even the punctuation has changed in sentences; especially popular was the exclamation mark and ironic quotation marks. Klemperer noted that there have been changes on the names and titles. The author draws parallels with the use of the French and American names during the revolution to that done by the Nazis. For example, the French Revolution featured popular Roman names, especially names of the tribunes of the plebs, while the Third Reich have used popular old Germanic names. Jews actively have changed their names and surnames on old Germanic. The Germans have begun to call their children: Uwe, Dieter, Ingrid, etc. However, the Germans have tried to avoid Christian names. Perhaps the most striking fact Klemperer has pointed out was that Nazis have changed the street names and even titles of entire cities and villages.
Conclusion
Summarizing all the mentioned above it should be stated that Klemperer’s books are among the most significant works about the Third Reich. Based on the works of Klemperer, it is thus reasonable to contend that the Nazis were absolutely total and their ideology has been able to penetrate all spheres of life in German society. The experience of Klemperer under the Nazis was that of gradual oppression, through which his patience was tested up to the point when he decided to flee Dresden with Eva when he got the opportunity.
Bibliography
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Klemperer, Victor. I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years 1942-1945. New York City, NY: Random House, Inc., 2001.
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