Notes on a Discourse Analysis
Tab 19. Power Letter - September 1996 - Part A
Passage 1
"They CAN'T win this Holocaust debate. That's why they
slink away like thieves in the dark, only to sick their
dogs of war (read ARA, for instance!) and persecuting
(read governmental institutions and lapdog media!) on
us, using one government body, toady and opportunist
after another."
Analysis
This passage expresses a positive attitude on the part of
the writer toward the Third Reich and a negative attitude
toward the enemies of the Third Reich. The positive attitude
is revealed in the use of clearly and courageously in
the first sentence, while the negative attitude toward those
who opposed the Third Reich is reflected in the terms
enemies of freedom ... relentless and destructive. The
opponents of the Third Reich are also cast as the writers
enamels as well, through the use of the possessive pronoun
our in the second sentence. The use of our is
interesting in this passage. Two distinct types of first
person plural pronouns (we, us, our) exist: the
inclusive sense in which the pronoun is used to include the
hearer/reader into the group, and the exclusive sense in
which the hearer/reader is excluded from the group. The use
here is inclusive in nature, inviting the reader to consider
him/herself to be a part of the same group as the writer.
This use establishes a dichotomy between "our race" and "our
enemies", namely the Jews. The writer associates himself (?)
with the policies of the Third Reich and claims that it and
the writer are united in their opposition to the enemies of
the Third Reich.
The enemies of the Third Reich and of the writer, and in
fact the enemies of all of us who defend Western culture,
are implicitly Jews, as the use of the term Judiazalion to
characterize the enemies expresses. This implication is
strengthened by the use of the code term (mental and
[Page 25]
spiritual) circumcision. While circumcision is clearly not
a practice unique to Jews, it is nevertheless used as a
buttressing epithet. Similarly, the use of Holocaust
debate again directs attention to an issue associated with
Jews. Moreover, Jews are characterized as ignoble through
the use of the verb slink away and the noun thieves.
A central theme of the passage is the attempt to dignify the
government of the Third Reich and to denigrate its enemies,
the Jews. It attempts to deny the reality of the Second
World War, replacing it with an imagined conflict between
Jews, the enemies of Western civilization, and the non-Jews,
who champion Western civilization. Moreover, the writer
asserts that this real war is still in progress and the
members of "our" group should rally in support of the cause
to eliminate the enemies of Western civilization.
Passage 2
Analysis
In the expression Holocaust Reparations Racket, the writer
uses the negative term racket ("an organized illegal
activity, such as the extortion of money by threat or
violence; a dishonest scheme, business activity, etc."
Random House Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 1991) to
stipulate the existence of an organized entity which is
criminal in nature (reflected in the NP extortion system)
and which has as its intent to defraud Germans. The writer
also expresses the attitude that the Holocaust is not true,
through the use of the expression alleged tragedy.
(allege "to assert without proof", Random House Webster's
Collegiate Dictionary, 1991). The tragedy under discussion,
via the principle of relevance and via the reader's
assumed pragmatic knowledge, is the Holocaust. Since the
Holocaust tragedy affected Jews, the writer implies that the
Jews are the source of the Holocaust Reparations Racket,
thereby singling out Jews as a group and accusing them as a
group of criminal activity.
Tab 20. Power Letter- October 1996
[Page 26]
against him. The world cared little about the fate of
the Jews - that only supplied the excuse and world-
wide, well organized lobby and the boycott agitators.
World War II was not about this so-called "Hitler Anti-
Semitism" - it was about the loss of interest, obtained
without labor."
Analysis
The crucial issue here is who does the writer mean by the
"established Old Order of Bankers"? Whoever they are, the
writer asserts it was they who went to war against Hitler
(and not vice versa) The Old Order of Bankers is most
relevantly identified with Jews (by the Gricean maxims of
manner and relevance and via Sperber and Wilson's theory
that the reader/hearer makes identification of new
information expressions in such a way as to be maximally
congruent with the on-going context). The use of
capitalization in Old Order of Bankers also lends a sense
of long-term conspiracy to the group. This identification is
specifically supported by the use in the second sentence of
the expression the fate of the Jews. This sentence would
have no relevance if it did not fit into the context in a
coherent manner (e.g., replace it with The world cared
little about the fate of the penguins to see that the
expression Jews must be associated with the Old Order of
Bankers). This identification is further enhanced through
the next sentence's use of Anti-Semitism. Finally, this
group is accused of ill-gotten gains, namely interest,
obtained without labor. Such an expression also serves to
activate the semantic field earlier established in which
Jews are seen as parasites feeding upon society and making
no worthwhile contribution to it. This negative attitude
thus singles out Jews as a group which is characterized by
as seeking illicit financial gain.
Using the inversion strategy, the passage constructs a
representation of Jews as the cause of World War II, with
the stipulated implicit warrant that the Jews were attacking
Hitler rather than vice versa, thereby inverting the
victims, the Jews, into the victimizers, and the Nazis into
the victims. Since the implicit warrant has no status, it
singles out Jews as war-makers and isolates them as a group
subject to be treated with derision and abhorrence.
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of Selected Zündelsite Materials
(Part 9 of 13)
"The enemies of freedom, civilization, culture and our
race, so clearly and courageously identified by
Germany's government from 1933-45, are still at war
with us - all those of us, be they German, Canadian,
American, Russian, British, French, Italian etc. who
defend and want to protect Western civilization from
Judiazation and mental and spiritual circumcision of
all we hold dear. Our enemies are relentless in their
destructive drive. They know what is at stake."
"We were going full blast, on KXEL, having finished a
34-segment show on the theme "Did Six Million Really
Die?", another long segment on the "German Contribution
to American", another series on "Jewish-German (Nazi)
Relations Before the War" - until we did a tough show
on "The Holocaust of the Germans by the Allies" and
were just finishing our toughest topic yet: "The
Holocaust Reparations Racket". I talked clearly and
freely about how this extortion system was perpetrated
to defraud the German people and the world - by people
who milk an alleged tragedy for tremendous political
advantage and mega-billions in dollars and marks!"
"There will be more in future Zgrams about this topic -
but very briefly, here: THAT policy of Adolf Hitler's
was the real reason why the established Old Order of
Bankers went to war