The Obligation to remember - David Gramling presentation at Language and the Art of Resistance. IUG 14 April 2015.

1. !
David!Gramling!
Assistant!Professor!of!German!Studies!
University!of!Arizona,!Tucson!
dgl@email.arizona.edu!
The$Obliga+on$to$
Remember:$
Victor!Klemperer!Undoing!
Occupied!Language!(1933G1947)!
1!

2. GreeKngs!!
!
dgl@email.arizona
.edu!
2!

3. UniversiKes!of!Arizona,!Dresden,!and!Gaza!
3!

4. 4!

5. 5!

6. Lingua!!
TerKi!!
Imperii!
“Language!of!the!
Third!Empire”!
!
(1933G1945)!
published!1947!
6!

7. • 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!!
7!

8. 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.”!!!
8!

9. …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.”!!
9!

10. …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.”!!
10!

11. 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.!!
11!

12. 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?!
12!

13. Thank!
you!!
!
dgl@email.arizona
.edu!
13!