Word of the day: Gleichschaltung

See if this reminds you of anything.

I have found that when I use the German word “Gleichschaltung” to describe certain current events, many people don’t know what I am talking about. So as a public service, I am posting excerpts of its Wikipedia entry. It is worth consulting the full entry as well”

The Nazi term Gleichschaltung (German pronunciation: [ˈɡlaɪçʃaltʊŋ] ^ⓘ), meaning "synchronization" or "bringing into line", was the process of Nazification by which Adolf Hitler—leader of the Nazi Party in Germany—established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of German society "from the economy and trade associations to the media, culture and education".^[1]

Although the Weimar Constitution remained nominally in effect throughout Hitler's dictatorship, near total Nazification was achieved by 1935 with the resolutions approved during that year's Nuremberg Rally, fusing the symbols of the party and the state (see Flag of Nazi Germany)^[2] and depriving German Jews of their citizenship (see Nuremberg Laws).

Terminology

Gleichschaltung is a compound word that comes from the German words gleich (same) and schaltung (circuit) and was derived from an electrical engineering term meaning that all switches are put on the same circuit allowing them all to be activated by throwing a single master switch.^[4] Its first use is credited to Reich Justice Minister Franz Gürtner.^[5] It has been variously translated as "coordination",^[6][7][8] "Nazification of state and society",^[9]"synchronization",^[5] and "bringing into line".^[9] English texts often use the untranslated German word to convey its unique historical meaning. In their seminal work on National Socialist vernacular, Nazi-Deutsch/Nazi-German: An English Lexicon of the Language of the Third Reich, historians Robert Michael and Karin Doerr define Gleichschaltung as: "Consolidation. All of the German Volk's social, political, and cultural organizations to be controlled and run according to Nazi ideology and policy. All opposition to be eliminated."^[10] This accords with the general description provided by historian Jane Caplan, who characterized the term as "the coordination of German institutions into a cohesive, Nazified whole."^[11][a]

Legal basis

The Nazis were able to put Gleichschaltung into effect due to multiple legal measures enacted by the Reich government during the 20 months following 30 January 1933, when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany.^[12]

• Reichstag Fire Decree. The day after the Reichstag fire, President of Germany Paul von Hindenburg, acting at Hitler's request and based on the emergency powers in article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, issued the Reichstag Fire Decree (28 February 1933). This decree, formally titled "Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State," suspended most civil rights and civil liberties enshrined in the constitution, including the right of habeas corpus, freedom of speech, press, assembly and privacy of communications. This allowed for the arrest of political adversaries, mostly Communists, and for terrorizing of other voters by the Sturmabteilung (SA) (Nazi paramilitary branch) before the upcoming election.^[13]

• Enabling Act. When the newly elected Reichstag convened – not including the Communist delegates whose participation in politics had been banned – it passed the Enabling Act (23 March 1933). This law, formally titled "Law to Remedy the Distress of the People and the Reich," gave the government (the Reich Chancellor and his cabinet) the right to enact laws for a period of four years without the involvement of the Reichstag or the Reich President. Under certain circumstances, these laws could "deviate from the Constitution." As a constitutional amendment, it required a two-thirds majority for passage. Even with the proscription of the Communists, the Nazis and their ally the DNVP were still short of this number. Through intimidation of deputies by surrounding the Reichstag with a cordon of SA members, and through promises of religious freedom protections to the Catholic Centre Party, the required supermajority was obtained. With only the SPD in opposition, the Enabling Act passed 444–94. For all intents and purposes, the entire Weimar Constitution was rendered void.^[16] It formed the cornerstone on which Hitler circumvented the constitutional framework of the Weimar Republic and was able to impose his will on the nation by decree. For all intents and purposes, it converted his government into a legal dictatorship.^[17]

• Law for the Restoration of a Professional Civil Service. Another measure of Nazi Gleichschaltung was the enactment of the "Law for the Restoration of a Professional Civil Service" (7 April 1933), which mandated the "co-ordination" of the civil service – which in Germany included not only bureaucrats, but also schoolteachers and professors, judges, prosecutors, and other professionals – at the federal, state and municipal level, and authorized the removal of Jews and Communists from these positions.^[21]

• Law to Secure the Unity of Party and State. With the Nazi Party as the only remaining legal party, Hitler now sought to extend the Party's grasp over all the levers of state power and administration through the "Law to Secure the Unity of Party and State" (1 December 1933), which was enacted by the Reich government under the provisions of the Enabling Act. The Nazi Party was legally established as a public corporation with jurisdiction over its members. The Party and the SA became official organs of the German Reich. The Deputy Führer of the Party (Rudolf Hess) and the Stabschef of the SA (Ernst Röhm), were made ex officio members of the Reich government as ministers without portfolio, further interlocking the leadership of the Party and State. Government agencies, including public safety and law enforcement authorities such as the police, public prosecutors and the courts, were obligated to provide the Party and the SA with administrative and legal information and investigatory assistance.^[29] Party courts (Parteigerichte) received the status of official legal institutions of the State and any crime committed against the Party now was considered a crime against the State. These courts were now authorized to impose detention or imprisonment as punishment.^[30]

• Law Concerning the Head of State of the German Reich. With Reich President von Hindenburg fatally ill, the Reich government enacted the "Law Concerning the Head of State of the German Reich" (1 August 1934). This law was signed by the entire Reich cabinet. It combined the office of Reich President with that of Reich Chancellor under the title of "Führer and Reich Chancellor," and was drawn up to become effective on the death of the Reich President, which occurred the next day. With this law, Hitler became not only Germany's head of state, but also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.^[34] It also removed the last remedy by which Hitler could be legally removed from office, and with it all checks on his power.

Propaganda and societal integration

Joseph Goebbels in 1942

Elon Musk in 2025

One of the most critical steps towards Gleichschaltung of German society was the introduction of the "Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda" under Joseph Goebbels in March 1933 and the subsequent steps taken by the Propaganda Ministry to assume complete control of the press and all means of social communication. This included oversight of newspapers, magazines, films, books, public meetings and ceremonies, foreign press relations, theater, art and music, radio, and television.^[39] To this end, Goebbels said:

[T]he secret of propaganda [is to] permeate the person it aims to grasp, without his even noticing that he is being permeated. Of course propaganda has a purpose, but the purpose must be concealed with such cleverness and virtuosity that the person on whom this purpose is to be carried out doesn't notice it at all.^[40]

This was also the purpose of "co-ordination": to ensure that every aspect of the lives of German citizens was permeated with the ideas and prejudices of the Nazis. From March to July 1933 and continuing afterward, the Nazi Party systematically eliminated or co-opted non-Nazi organizations that could potentially influence people. Those critical of Hitler and the Nazis were suppressed, intimidated, or murdered.^[12]

Every national voluntary association, and every local club, was brought under Nazi control, from industrial and agricultural pressure groups to sports associations, football clubs, male voice choirs, women's organizations—in short, the whole fabric of associational life was Nazified. Rival, politically oriented clubs or societies were merged into a single Nazi body. Existing leaders of voluntary associations were either unceremoniously ousted, or knuckled under of their own accord. Many organizations expelled leftish or liberal members and declared their allegiance to the new state and its institutions. The whole process ... went on all over Germany. ... By the end, virtually the only non-Nazi associations left were the army and the Churches with their lay organizations.^[41]

Another more important part of the "co-ordination" effort was the purging of the civil service, both at the Federal and state level. Top Federal civil servants—the State Secretaries—were largely replaced if they were not sympathetic to the Nazi program, as were the equivalent bureaucrats in the states, but Nazification took place at every level. Civil servants rushed to join the Nazi Party, fearing they would lose their jobs if they did not. At the local level, mayors and councils were terrorized by Nazi stormtroopers of the SA and SS into resigning or following orders to replace officials and workers at local public institutions who were Jewish or belonged to other political parties.^[43]

Coordination of the trade union movement

When the Nazis came to power at the end of January 1933, there was some sentiment for a general strike by SPD politicians and trade unionists, but the national leadership was wary of such an action in the face of the worst unemployment crisis the nation had experienced. Though there were some sporadic isolated incidents, no general policy of resistance was undertaken.^[47] The Nazis embarked on a policy of violence and intimidation against all their opponents, including the SPD-affiliated trade unions. In an effort to safeguard his organization and its members, Leipart declared the ADBG politically "neutral" within weeks of the Nazis coming to power.^48] Meanwhile, Party leaders convinced conservative elements among the police, the judiciary, prison administrators and civil servants that suppression of the labor movement was justified.^[49]

Strength Through Joy

An all-embracing recreational organization for workers, called Kraft durch Freude ("Strength Through Joy") was set up under the auspices of the German Labor Front.^[56] Hobbies were regimented and all private clubs, whether chess, football, or woodworking, were brought under the control of Strength Through Joy, which also provided vacation trips, skiing, swimming, concerts, and ocean cruises. Some 43 million Germans enjoyed trips via the Strength Through Joy initiative. This effort inspired the idea of Germans acquiring automobiles and the construction of the Autobahn. It was the largest of the many organizations established by the Nazis and a propaganda success.^[57] Workers were also brought in line with the party through activities such as the Reichsberufswettkampf, a national vocational competition.^[58]Many unemployed people were also drafted into the Reich Labour Service where they were given uniforms and tools and put to work; the disappearance of unemployed people from the streets contributed to the perception that the Nazis were improving the economic conditions of Germany.^[59]

Implications

Historian Claudia Koonz explains that the word Gleichschaltung stems from the arena of electricity, where it refers to converting power from alternating current to direct current, which is called "rectification" in English; the word Gleichschaltung translates literally as "phasing." Used in its socio-political sense, Gleichschaltung has no equivalent in any other language. The Nazis also used other similar terms, such as Ausschaltung, which constituted the removal or "switching off" of anyone who stained or soiled the German nation.^[60] This seemingly clinical terminology captured both the mechanical and biological meaning for members of German society; as one German citizen visiting London explained, "It means the same stream will flow through the ethnic body politic [Volkskörper]."^[61]

When the blatant emphasis on racial hatred of others seemed to reach an impasse in the school system, through radio broadcasts, or on film reels, the overseers of Nazi Gleichschaltung propaganda switched to strategies that focused more on togetherness and the "we-consciousness" of the collective Volk, but the mandates of Nazi "coordination" remained: pay homage to the Führer, expel all foreigners, sacrifice for the German people, and welcome future challenges.^[64] While greater German social and economic unity was produced through the Gleichschaltung initiatives of the regime, it was at the expense of individuality and to the social detriment of any nonconformist;^[65] and worse—it contributed to and reinforced the social and racial exclusion of anyone deemed an enemy by National Socialist doctrine.^[66] The Nazi Gleichschaltung or "synchronization" of German society—along with a series of Nazi legislation^[67]—was part and parcel to Jewish economic disenfranchisement, the violence against political opposition, the creation of concentration camps, the Nuremberg Laws, the establishment of a racial Volksgemeinschaft, the seeking of Lebensraum, and the violent mass destruction of human life deemed somehow less valuable by the National Socialist government of Germany.^[68][69]