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Glossary entry

German term or phrase:

kostenlos entbräunt

English translation:

denazified without costs

Added to glossary by Katy L Dean
Sep 22, 2017 15:51
6 yrs ago
German term

kostenlos entbräunt

German to English Social Sciences History Nazi trials
It's from a quote by Ferdinand Porsche after being exonerated during the Nuremberg trials. Just wondering what exactly this phrase means:

"Am 30. August 1949 wurde auch das Entnazifizierungsverfahren gegen Porsche abgeschlossen - mit dem für ihn bestmöglichen Urteil. "Ich wurde kostenlos entbräunt", schrieb er"

Thanks in advance

Katy
Proposed translations (English)
1 +5 denazified at no expense
4 I was fully cleared from any Nazi connection/denazified
Change log

Sep 22, 2017 22:12: writeaway changed "Field" from "Law/Patents" to "Social Sciences"

Discussion

Björn Vrooman Oct 2, 2017:
Hello beermatt Sorry for the late reply--just hadn't been on ProZ last week, basically.

I think we may have a misunderstanding here. Although I could not find any such link between 1930 tourism and 1950 denazification, I won't dispute that there may be one. I don't think either of us is old enough to have been a witness to those events. It is somewhat colloquial; most will put it in quotation marks.

But use of the term has been more widespread:
"Zusätzlich zu den dortigen Infos sei darauf hingewiesen, dass der § 240 StGB ursprünglich durch einen 'Führerbefehl' erlassen worden ist und 1953 lediglich leicht 'entbräunt' wurde."
http://www.grundrechtekomitee.de/node/376

See also links using the noun, "Entbräunung." I think it depends.

In this context, I believe it's a bit more serious. As said below, the crucial part of the quote (about the cost) was cut off and fits nicely to what Kathy said in her closing comment. Similar to:
"Am 24. Februar 1949 aber meldete sie mit tiefer Erleichterung, daß sie nun endlich amtlich 'entbräunt' sei; ihre Einstufung in Klasse 5 bedeutete 'unschuldig = unbelastet'."
http://www.webarchiv-server.de/pin/archiv03/4903ob45.htm

Not that flippant.

Best
beermatt Sep 25, 2017:
an Björn Vrooman: "entbräunt" was definitely a not-entirely-serious expression used by "ex-Nazis" for their "denazification".
"Gebräunt" was a term frequently used by Kraft Durch Freude tourists in the 1930s, and "entbräunt" was used appropriately by "ex-Nazis" to express their "non-involvement" in Nazi crimes.
Björn Vrooman Sep 23, 2017:
Hello Katy, Phil and Wendy 1) Agree with Phil and Wendy; there is no mention of the Nuremberg trials and there can't be: Ferdinand Porsche wasn't there.
https://www.quora.com/Was-Ferdinand-Porsche-ever-tried-in-th...

2) Don't agree with David; you can read all about it in the book I'll reference below. The trial would have cost him 39,000 Deutschmarks. The original quote consists of two sentences, one of which has been omitted in this article: "Ich wurde kostenlos entbräunt. Das ›kostenlos‹ war sehr bedeutend für mich."

3) I wonder whether Phil or Wendy would agree to changing the first part to avoid repetition. If you read a bit in the book, you'll see that "my name has been cleared" may not hit the right tone. Porsche was an SS member, albeit to an extent probably any technocrat would be--at arm's length, but still aware of what's going on. He returned from Austria only when everything had calmed down. I'd rather have him using the technical term here.

Reference:
"Porsche: Vom Konstruktionsbüro zur Weltmarke" by Wolfram Pyta,Nils Havemann,Jutta Braun [Siedler Verlag, 18.09.2017; via GoogleBooks]

Best
Wendy Streitparth Sep 22, 2017:
I prefer Phil's suggestion because (if I have it right) it was industry (here the Porsche company), the judicial system, the army, the teaching profession etc that was "entnazifiziert" and not individuals. I.e. Nazis were removed (at least at the beginning) from positions of power, authority, etc.
philgoddard Sep 22, 2017:
Since Entnazifierung and Entbräunung mean the same thing, you could avoid repetition by saying "my name has been cleared".

Proposed translations

+5
7 mins
Selected

denazified at no expense

I was denazified at no expense at my Nuremberg trial on August 30th, 1949

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Note added at 7 mins (2017-09-22 15:59:50 GMT)
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another way of wording it:

I was denazified at no expense on sentencing at my Nuremberg trial on August 30th, 1949

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Note added at 1 hr (2017-09-22 16:52:42 GMT)
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source in German (no sources in English found so far):

Ferdinand Porsche - Ein Leben für vier Räder - Wirtschaft ...
www.sueddeutsche.de › Wirtschaft -

Die zwei Porsches und Anton Piëch wurden am 15. Dezember 1945 in Baden-Baden festgenommen.

Für den bereits 70-jährigen Ferdinand Porsche folgte ein zweieinhalbjähriges Hin und Her, das seine Schaffenskraft und seine Gesundheit massiv schwächen sollte. Am 5. Mai 1948 sprach ihn das Militärtribunal Dijon frei, damit hatte er die Bestätigung einer französischen Behörde, dass er kein Kriegsverbrecher war.

Die "Property Control" wurde erst im März 1949 aufgehoben

Nach seiner Rückkehr aus der Gefangenschaft hätte sich Ferdinand Porsche gerne wieder um die Firma gekümmert.


Am 30. August 1949 wurde auch das Entnazifizierungsverfahren gegen Porsche abgeschlossen - mit dem für ihn bestmöglichen Urteil. "Ich wurde kostenlos entbräunt", schrieb er. Als er am 30. Januar 1951 in Stuttgart starb, war das für die Firma kein Problem. Der Generationenwechsel war längst abgeschlossen, Ferry Porsche hatte das Unternehmen fit für die Zukunft gemacht.
Peer comment(s):
agree philgoddard : Though you need to give references. http://umgangssprache_de.deacademic.com/7075/Entbräunung. And you can't say "I was denazified at my expense at my Nuremberg trial..." because the German doesn't say that.
1 min
Thanks, Phil, just posted my reference after your peer comment
agree Helen Shiner : 'at no cost to me' is what is meant. Clearly it costs a great deal of money to run the Nuremberg trials.
4 mins
Thanks for your helpful peer comment, Helen, certainly appreciate it, in line with your suggestion: I was denazified at no cost to me
agree Ramey Rieger (X)
1 hr
Thanks!
agree beermatt : In principle I agree, "denazified" conveys the correct meaning, but fails to convey the context of the post-war situation in Germany, and Porsche's rather flippant expression. In the 1950s it was all the rage to be "gebräunt" - sun-tanned from holidays!
2 hrs
Thanks!
agree Björn Vrooman : I don't see any link to sun tanning and it's not "flippant"--it's a rather cautious statement and the term has been used by German officials as well. I think it's best to keep your version here, but do not involve Nuremberg (see disc.)
20 hrs
Thanks, Björn, for your peer comment correcting me on my mistaken mention of Nuremberg! Certainly appreciate it.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks very much for all the suggestions and additional explanations. I actually opted for 'exonerated at no costs' having mentioned 'denazification' in the previous sentence. The reason I put 'without costs' is due to an earlier explanation stating that people who were found to be any form of Nazi would be subject to hefty fines, even 'Mitläufer', so what he means by 'kostenlos' was that he didn't have any form of 'Strafe' imposed upon him: "Und selbst bei Einordnung in die häufigste Kategorie, die der »Mitläufer«, war mit einer sogenannten Sühnestrafe zu rechnen, deren Höhe allerdings 2000 DM im Regelfall nicht überstieg." Hopefully this makes sense to all contributors. Thanks again, Katy"
11 hrs

I was fully cleared from any Nazi connection/denazified

I would say

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Note added at 11 hrs (2017-09-23 03:36:07 GMT)
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"kostenlos" versteht sich im übertragenenen Sinne in diesem Zusammenhang

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Note added at 11 hrs (2017-09-23 03:40:51 GMT)
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du mußt auch bedenken, daß "braun" eine ganz bestimmte Bedeutung hat

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Note added at 11 hrs (2017-09-23 03:43:20 GMT)
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In der Diskussion über rechtsextreme Gewalt taucht immer wieder der Begriff „brauner Terror“ auf. Braun war die Kennfarbe der Nationalsozialisten während der NS-Diktatur.

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Note added at 11 hrs (2017-09-23 03:51:38 GMT)
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"entbräunt" = "denazified" und hat nicts mit der Sonne zu tun

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Note added at 12 hrs (2017-09-23 03:53:09 GMT)
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so up to you

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Note added at 12 hrs (2017-09-23 03:56:47 GMT)
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"at no cost to me" is the idea but doesn't ring true

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Note added at 12 hrs (2017-09-23 03:57:36 GMT)
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also wie du willst

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Note added at 12 hrs (2017-09-23 04:28:24 GMT)
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and "at no (personal) expense to me"
Something went wrong...
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