Naza: An Exercise in Amtssprache
[There are no spoilers ahead for anyone who watched the news in the past years.]
I just saw the documentary in the theater. It was an intense experience. From the first moment they introduced the term NAZA, I couldn’t stop thinking about what Nazi war criminal Eichmann said about Amtssprache. He noted that the language used in the office made it easy to order the killing of fellow human beings.
Throughout the documentary, intelligence officers speak about killing entire families—and in one case, an entire city block. They keep referring to orders, roles, and responsibilities. Some of these officers didn’t even sound repentant. As they spoke, I couldn’t help but hear the echo of “I was just following orders.”
When the film ended, you could hear people sobbing in the audience. The brutality of what was revealed landed with the final scene. If you have the mental capacity, watch it when the Guardian makes it available online for free (and watch out for the copycat propaganda piece).
