This photo shows an election poster created by the NSDAP (the Nazis). I assume it dates to ca.1930, but the precise year is irrelevant to my question.
I am interested in the text on the card being held by the fellow on the lower right. Three ‘words’, in particular, struck me as unusual:
Sozlalabbau
Koppuption
Teppop
It seems, for example, that in the last two words there’s been a substitution of ‘p’ for ‘r’. Why is that? Is it to suggest an association with Bolshevism or the Soviets, i.e. with ‘p’ equal in some sense to ‘r’ in Russian (similar to the use of “faux Cyrillic” to give English words the appearance of being Russian, with the poster for BORAT being a nice example of this type of thing). That would certainly be the type of message the Nazis would have wanted. That said, I have no idea what the “Sozlalabbau” is getting at. Any ideas? Any comments in general?
Can’t help you with the first word, but #2 IS Korruption, and #3 is Terror. If you look at the “p” in the second word, it looks nothing like the "R"s. Old style German printing has stylized doo-dads* all over their lettering. If I can scope out the first word, I’ll be back.
Man in the upper right, meant to represent the non-Nazi Right: Versprechungen: promises Beamtenabbau: reduction of civil servants Arbeitslosigkeit: unemployment Notverordnungen § 48: emergency degrees as per Article 48 of the Weimar constitution (an instrument that the last Chancellors of the Weimar Republic used to bypass a gridlocked parliament).
Man in the lower right, meant to represent the Left: Sozialabbau: reduction of social benefits Terror: terror Hetze: spreading hate Lüge: lying
I am guessing Sozlalabbau is something like “social breakdown” or “destruction of society”. As opposed to the Nazi ideals of Kinder, Küche, Kirche except without the Kirche part.
It might be expressed nowadays as “breakdown of traditional values”.
I’ve never heard the term “social dumping”, but have heard Sozialabbau used to mean the dismantling or slashing of social welfare programs, and the poster is saying this is what the other parties will do if they get in.
The National Socialists are implying that they are against what the “other guys” will do, though they don’t come right out and say they’ll do the opposite.
Title: Wir bauen auf (we build, we are constructive)
Unsere Bausteine (our building blocks)
Arbeit (work, employment)
Freiheit (freedom)
Brot (bread)
Also: Nationalsozialisten, Liste 8 (therfore, national socialists, list 8)
Baupläne der anderen (construction plans of the others)
Versprechungen (promises)
Beamtenabbau (reduction of officials, reduced number of government jobs)
Notverordnungen (emergency decrees, see answer by MEBuckner)
Sozialabbau ( decreased social aid)
Korruption (corruption)
Terror (terror)
Hetze (agitation, rabble-rousing)
Lüge (lies)
This is a very interesting find! I would never had guessed that the term Sozialabbau (i. e. cutting back on social benefits, but with a distinctly disapproving connotation) had been used on a Nazi election poster. I was sure that the expression was coined fairly recently. It’s a fighting word which today is used almost exclusively by left-leaning politicians, trade unionists, journalists, church officials, activists etc. whenever aspects of the welfare state are discussed.
Don’t you dare mentioning the fact that the expression Sozialabbau was also used by the Nazis some 80 years ago when talking to a German with even a somewhat center-left political leaning. You’d be in a world of hurt.
