Freedom and honour! For ten long years Hitler and his coadjutor have manhandled, squeezed, twisted, and debased these two splendid German words to the point of nausea, as only dilettantes can, casting the highest values of a nation before swine. They have sufficiently demonstrated in the ten years of destruction of all material and intellectual freedom, of all moral substance among the German people, what they understand by freedom and honour. The frightful bloodbath has opened the eyes of even the stupidest German - it is a slaughter which they arranged in the name of 'freedom and honour of the German nation' throughout Europe, and which they daily start anew.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The speaker condemns the use of words like freedom and honour by political leaders.
- In plain terms
- Leaders twisted these words to hide their crimes.
- What can you take from it?
- Language can be used to mask atrocities.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do words shape perception?
- Can noble terms hide bad acts?
Another view
The criticism is directed at specific leaders without acknowledging the complexity of national struggles.
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