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Gleichschaltung

English translation: riding roughshod

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:Gleichschaltung
English translation:riding roughshod
Entered by: Susan Welsh

00:40 Mar 3, 2009
German to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Government / Politics
German term or phrase: Gleichschaltung
A Czech politician says that the old EU Member States are worried that further enlargement will lead to a loss of coherence and discipline, whereas the new Member States are concerned about discrimination and the *** glajchšaltování *** (the Gleichschalt-ing) of the Union. This is obviously a deliberately chosen term with certain connotations. Is there any way of reflecting the cultural context in English?
Stuart Hoskins
Local time: 14:56
riding roughshod
Explanation:
This definitely has a connotation of the Nazi-era "leveling" (as it is literally translated sometimes), such that everyone had to believe the same thing. My confidence level is 3 only because I'm not sure how best to convey this in your sentence. You could say that the eastern states fear "the Union's discrimination and riding roughshod over them."
A translation I've seen and that I like is "marching in lock-step," which conveys Nazism much more than mine, but I can't see how it would work here.

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Note added at 45 mins (2009-03-03 01:26:15 GMT)
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This link may help you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleichschaltung
Selected response from:

Susan Welsh
United States
Local time: 08:56
Grading comment
After consulting my Slovak proof-reader we decided that, while all the answers were perfectly valid and interesting, Susan’s “riding roughshod” suggestion, in the context of a speech, would best convey what the speaker was trying to allude to. Thanks very much for your help.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +4Conformity, loss of sovereignty,
hoare-spitall
4and the union's requirement to speak with one voice.
Dr.G.MD (X)
3riding roughshod
Susan Welsh
3progressive reduction of pluralism
Silvia Autenrieth


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


42 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
riding roughshod


Explanation:
This definitely has a connotation of the Nazi-era "leveling" (as it is literally translated sometimes), such that everyone had to believe the same thing. My confidence level is 3 only because I'm not sure how best to convey this in your sentence. You could say that the eastern states fear "the Union's discrimination and riding roughshod over them."
A translation I've seen and that I like is "marching in lock-step," which conveys Nazism much more than mine, but I can't see how it would work here.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 45 mins (2009-03-03 01:26:15 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

This link may help you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleichschaltung


Susan Welsh
United States
Local time: 08:56
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 7
Grading comment
After consulting my Slovak proof-reader we decided that, while all the answers were perfectly valid and interesting, Susan’s “riding roughshod” suggestion, in the context of a speech, would best convey what the speaker was trying to allude to. Thanks very much for your help.
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57 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Gleichschalt
and the union's requirement to speak with one voice.


Explanation:
I would propose to reword this tricky passage. Also, I would like to point out that 'Gleichschaltung der Parteien' is linked to the Nazi Party's move to extinguish democratic life in Germany in 1933, following the Nazi Party coming to power. Mz advice would be to better avoid Gleichschaltung altogether.

Dr.G.MD (X)
Local time: 14:56
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
Notes to answerer
Asker: I can see your point about avoiding "Gleichschaltung", but it really does stand out in the Czech sentence. It might be worth noting that the Czech government (despite protestations in certain quarters) is fundamentally opposed to what it sees as excessive EU interference in Czech sovereignty.

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8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
Gleichschalt
Conformity, loss of sovereignty,


Explanation:
The speaker is almost certainly making an allusion to the Gleichschaltungsgesetze or Conformity Laws of 1933 whereby the individual German states lost their relative autonomy/sovereignty to the central government. The process of Glaichschaltung was carried out subsequently in the annexed lands (Zurück ins Reich) and it's quite conceivable that some politicians would compare this the the loss of sovereignty issues voiced in connection with the EU.

hoare-spitall
Germany
Local time: 14:56
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
Notes to answerer
Asker: I'm beginning to wonder if I'm reading too much into it, but it's definitely borderline pejorative. Other occurrences of the word occur in relation to the Communists (specifically in relation to "purging" in the 1950s and in general for the whole Communist era in Czechoslovakia - "ideological Gleichschaltung"). Is Gleichschaltung applied to the regime in East Germany (if not, the term is probably has a broader meaning in Czech)?

Asker: For clarity: my note above applies to Czech in general, not the specific text I am translating.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Silvia Autenrieth: Yes, exactly that is the meaning of "Gleichschaltung".
23 mins
agree  Inge Meinzer
4 hrs
agree  Anne-Marie Grant (X)
6 hrs
agree  Helen Shiner: to be absolutely clear, I think I would say 'enforced political conformity'./Loss of sovereignty is an extrapolation, so I would avoid that here.
9 hrs
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8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
progressive reduction of pluralism


Explanation:
This is a translation that I found in the IATE database, and I agree that this is the way the term has come to be used in more recent times. Yes, "Gleichschaltung" is a notorious term which dates back to the Nazi regime (if not further back), but it is also used her in Germany in connection with the former GDR (e.g. with regard to the media) and, as you described, Stuart, with regard to countries of the former Eastern Bloc. And it is definitely pejorative--you are not imagining things here.


    Reference: http://iate.europa.eu/iatediff/SearchByQuery.do;jsessionid=9...
Silvia Autenrieth
Germany
Local time: 14:56
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: German
PRO pts in category: 8
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