Germany was planning to get rid of the legacy of the Nazi era by revising the phonetic spelling table introduced by supporters of the regime 86 years ago, and temporarily replacing it with a version that the then authorities canceled because it was “too Jewish.” Reported by The Guardian.
A table that assigns code words to each letter of the alphabet to help to establish communication and avoid confusion, especially in radio communications and phone calls, arose in the late 19th century. In 1934, it was adapted by the Nazis, who purged it of all Jewish names as part of the regime’s drive to exclude all Jews from German life, which ultimately led to the Holocaust.
So, the name “Samuel” used to denote the letter S was changed to “Siegfried”, “Zacharias” became “Zeppelin” for the letter Z, and “David” was replaced by “Dora”. Preference was given to Scandinavian names instead of Hebrews, and where there were no suitable names, for example, as in the case of the letter N, for which the name “Nathan” was originally used, objects or place names were chosen, for example “Nordpol” (” Nordpol “) – North Pole.
Michael Blume, the Anti-Semitism Ombudsman in Baden-Württemberg, a position recently introduced in 13 states across the country to counter the growing attacks on Jews in Germany, is campaigning to get rid of the Nazi version of the system. The fact that the table has remained the same for so long, Blum said, is itself proof of “deeply rooted anti-Semitic and racist thinking” in Germany.
Blum advocates a return to the pre-1934 version, the so-called Weimar table. President of the Central Council of Jews Josef Schuster said he welcomed Blum’s initiative and that “it’s time for us to get rid of the Nazi language and its remnants.”
It is noted that when news of the imminent changes spread on social media, many commentators said they were unaware of the Nazi authorship of the code words, which are known and widely used in everyday life by most people in Germany and are seen as a practical method of solving problems by pronouncing names by phone.