Talk:Gleichschaltung

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I have created three legislation pages for Reichstag Fire Decree, Enabling Act, and Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defense, which in part reproduce the legislation. I have done the translation to English myself; if you find any bad wording there, please do correct, my Legal English is imperfect. -- djmutex 2003-04-30

"Enabling act" is a common legal phrase. Your current article will have to be renamed and "Enabling Act" turned into a disambiguation page...something like "Enabling Act (Reichstag)". —B 19:19, Oct 23, 2003 (UTC)

use of the word in american politics

I removed this part entirely:

"Revival of the Word in American Politics

In the last fifth of the twentieth century, both the left and the right in the U.S.A. use this word, although it is quite uncommon, to describe each others' tactics in the so-called "culture wars". The classic example of its use is that all members of the American Legal Association succumbed to a proclamation that the ALA as a whole believed in the laws concerning abortion in the U.S. What could conservatives do to say that they had opinions of their own, when confronted with this diktat?

Similarly, the left uses it to decry the attempts of "stealth candidates" on the right to undo certain "progressive" issues which the left had gotten made law, habit, or accepted practice by means that the right considers unfair. But both the left and the right use any of various means other than outright plebiscite or grassroots program to make or attempt to unmake any such laws.

The word is not used for attempts of the right to silence the press, spy on the public, or overthrow regulatory agencies. Those actions are too blatant to require the revival of an obscure term that most Americans have never seen and which is difficult for them to pronounce."

Especially the last paragraph is wrong, biased and completely uncalled for. I'm not sure about the other parts but I don't know enough about the use of the word in american politics to separate fact and opinion.saturnight 16:50, Dec 2, 2004 (UTC)

Gleichschaltung means 'bringing into line' by force, not 'coordination'

Gleichschaltung roughly means 'bringing into line', and done so by pressure or force, most certainly not 'coordination', which implies equals finding a common denominator (co-). This stays true both according to Duden (see here and mainly here) and the Spiegel article referenced in the lead. Arminden (talk) 13:02, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

The Nazi use of the term implied something other than simply "bringing into line" as many scholars of Nazi Germany and linguists of the German language have made clear. Oxford's definition is "the standardization of political, economic, and social institutions as carried out in authoritarian states." Since it does not easily translate into English, it is best explained for many simply as "coordination." See LEO's definition for instance: (https://dict.leo.org/german-english/Gleichschaltung) Other definitions from German university dictionaries also include: enforced (political) conformity AND/OR synchronization. Since these definitions vary, it's why the page goes to the lengths that it does to explain the term. For this reason, your edit was reverted, as simple dictionary definitions are not how the scholars define it. Take to the Talk Page for future changes.--Obenritter (talk) 17:19, 23 November 2024 (UTC)