While consulting the 16 April 1938 edition of the Völkischer Beobachter newspaper in the course of our research, we came across an advert for Meyers Lexikon, a well-known encyclopaedia. The decision to place an advert in the National Socialist newspaper with the highest circulation reflects the encyclopaedia’s political orientation at the time. At first glance, this advert is nothing special, most likely one of many in this newspaper. However, after taking a closer look, we gained a different impression.
Of all the 300,000 terms in the encyclopaedia, its publisher chose to feature these three in the advert: »academic«, »worker« and »asocial« (»Akademiker« – »Arbeiter« – »asozial«). The entry for the latter informs readers that »asocial« individuals act in opposition to the community, a reference to the so-called national community (»Volksgemeinschaft«) under National Socialism. The entry gives »Landstreicher« (»vagrant«) and »Arbeitsscheue« (»workshy person«) as examples of such individuals and emphasises the measures taken against them by the state.
Source: Völkischer Beobachter (Wiener Ausgabe), 16. April 1938, S. 5, ANNO/Österreichische Nationalbibliothek
Source: Völkischer Beobachter (Wiener Ausgabe), 16. April 1938, S. 5, ANNO/Österreichische Nationalbibliothek
Asocial: someone who is internally indifferent and outwardly passive towards the duties and obligations imposed on him by the respective community or group (e.g. a vagrant or a workshy person). Asocial behaviour becomes antisocial through active resistance (e.g. criminals). – Unless the state intervenes (↑ protective custody), communities can assign asocials mandatorily to communal residences, in particular if they have already had to vacate their accommodation with private landlords. In particularly severe cases they are assigned to community ↑ workhouses…..
The selection of terms is by no means a coincidence. It demonstrates the importance of the term »asocial« during the National Socialist regime. The publisher evidently anticipated that it would pique the reader’s interest for the whole volume. This can be seen as an example of everyday propaganda.
The date that the advert appeared is significant. A few days later, the Gestapo began rounding up between 1,500 and 2,000 men and deporting them to Buchenwald concentration camp. This wave of arrests, which continued until the end of April 1938, was termed »Operation Workshy Reich« (»Aktion Arbeitsscheu Reich«) and targeted those deemed »asocial«. Several thousand more people were interned during a second wave of arrests in June of the same year. While these events were not reported in the Nazi press, the advert for the encyclopaedia illustrates that the hostile image associated with »asocials« had become embedded in public consciousness.
People were defined as »asocial« and faced persecution if they did not fit into the »national community« (»Volksgemeinschaft«) under Nazism. The groups affected were primarily the unemployed, the homeless, prostitutes or non-conformist youth. They were accused of posing a danger to society. The welfare authorities, justice system and police were among the institutions which worked together to persecute these individuals. They created a dense network of surveillance and compulsory measures.
The Nazis established the »Secret State Police« (Geheime Staatspolizei, abbr. Gestapo) to combat political opponents. It was also instrumental in the persecution of minorities. Gestapo officials did not require a court warrant to search apartments or to detain people, send them to concentration camps or murder them. They tortured people under interrogation to force confessions out of them. In the occupied territories members of the Gestapo participated in mass shootings and other crimes.
Authorities were already using the term »workshy« prior to 1933. For the Nazis it was a derogatory term for the unemployed, whom they accused of not wanting to find work. These people received no assistance from the state; instead, the welfare authorities made them perform heavy manual labour and the police imprisoned many of them in concentration camps. In 1938 alone the police arrested more than 10,000 »workshy« people. The Nazis considered a »workshy« disposition to be hereditary and a danger to the »national community« (»Volksgemeinschaft«).