Sprachregelung is a

German language German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is als ...

term meaning "speech code". It refers to a formal or informal agreement, or order, that certain things should be expressed in specific ways in official communications by an organization or by a political entity. It can also cover such concepts as agreed "lines-to-take",

talking point A talking point, often used in the plural, is a pre-established message or formula used in the field of political communication, sales and commercial or advertising communication. The message is coordinated ''a priori'' to remain more or less inv ...

s, and the exertion of

message discipline Message discipline is the concept that politicians and other public policy advocates should talk about what is relevant to achieve their aims, and not allow themselves to be sidetracked either by their own thoughts or the questions of press or a ...

. An example came in January 1945 when

Ribbentrop Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (; 30 April 1893 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945. Ribbentrop first came to Adolf Hitler's not ...

sent emissaries to contact the Western Allies in Sweden and Switzerland, aiming to negotiate a separate peace; they carried with them a list of ''Sprachregelungen'' to ensure they gave the same message.''Hitler and America'', Klaus P. Fischer, p 259, A certain number of Sprachregelungen are adopted by most mid-sized to large companies in Germany, to avoid confusing and seemingly contradictory messages being given out, and to enhance the outward appearance of unity, but also to avoid negative-sounding statements about the company by replacing them with more or less appropriate

euphemism A euphemism () is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes ...

s. The term is most commonly used in connection with media and politics when it comes to disputed or sensitive subjects. The Cold War period was especially rich in these conventions, especially in the way the two Germanys referred to themselves and each other. For example, during the immediate post-war decades the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south ...

did not recognize the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

as a separate state, and so one Sprachregelung adopted over time was that the latter was only to be referred to in quotation marks: even the abbreviated form DDR always appeared as "DDR". In

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under m ...

the Sprachreglung required the two parts of the city be referred to as Berlin (West) and Berlin (East), implying that a single city had been occupied and divided. On the other hand, the GDR adopted the Sprachregelung that

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as West Berlin. From 13 August 1961 u ...

was never to be referred to as such, but always as "Berlin, capital of the GDR", whereas

was always to be written and pronounced as the single word "Westberlin". This was supposed to avoid recognition of the continuing allied occupation of the whole city of Berlin, and to imply

had an entirely separate political identity. Also,

s of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, like "

final solution The Final Solution (german: die Endlösung, ) or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question (german: Endlösung der Judenfrage, ) was a Nazi plan for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews during World War II. The "Final Solution t ...

" for what is today known as

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

, have been regarded as a case of Sprachregelung as recounted in

Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. She is widely considered to be one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century. Arendt was bor ...

's coverage of the trial of

Eichmann in Jerusalem ''Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil'' is a 1963 book by political thinker Hannah Arendt. Arendt, a Jew who fled Germany during Adolf Hitler's rise to power, reported on the trial of Adolf Eichmann, one of the major organizers ...

References

{{reflist German language

See also

References