May each of you have the heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, and the hand to execute works that will leave the world a little better for your having been here. -- Ronald Reagan

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Learned a New Word Today: "Gleichschaltung"

Gleichschaltung: meaning "coordination", "making the same", "bringing into line", is a Nazi term for the process by which the Nazi regime successively established a system of totalitarian control over the individual, and tight coordination over all aspects of society and commerce. The historian Richard J. Evans offered the term "forcible-coordination" in his most recent work on Nazi Germany.
One goal of this policy was to eliminate individualism by forcing everybody to adhere to a specific doctrine and way of thinking and to control as many aspects of life as possible using an invasive police force.

Those critical of Hitler's agenda, especially his close ties with industry, were suppressed, intimidated or permanently silenced. The regime also assailed the influence of the churches...~~~Wikipedia

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