ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes public speeches and publications on the idea of Europe, both within Nazi Germany and its broader sphere of influence. In doing so, it identifies five ideological assumptions that could not be called into question by anyone who wished to comment publicly on Europe. The conceptual development of these central tenets of a Nazi “new Europe” went hand in hand with a host of rhetorical reinterpretations and innovations, which were folded into canonized words or phrases. Anyone who commented on Europe was virtually obliged to use these terms, which effectively placed significant limits on the criticism they might voice. The chapter describes the appropriation of this language by those contributing to the discourse on Europe as a process of learning to speak “Nazi-European.”
