The Nazis used “language Instruction” (Sprachregelungen) to influence German press publications after 1933. These secret instructions were provided to a select group of journalists, who then spread them throughout the German press with the warning that they were to share their notes only with trusted colleagues and destroy them regularly. These practices have been studied extensively by the Jewish philologist Viktor Klemperer, cousin to both the conductor Otto Klemperer and American actor Werner Klemperer (better known as Colonel Klink from the sixties TV show Hogan’s Heroes). With an emphasis on Klemperer’s writings, we will look at examples of these press instructions in translation, as well as how they were reflected in the newspapers of the period.

Convener: J. Katharina Barbe, associate professor emerita and former chair of NIU foreign languages, was the co-editor and a contributor for Modern Germany in the series Understanding Modern Nations.

*Week 2 will be held at Founders Memorial Library (Room 339)*