Talk:Verschärfte Vernehmung

Euphemism
Verschärfte Vernehmung translates from German as "sharpened interrogation" or "enhanced interrogation". The term was used as a euphemism for torture by the Gestapo. Gobonobo T C 00:21, 3 February 2010 (UTC)


 * But that doesn't make it a euphemism.
 * There's a line between torture and harsh interrogation. The Gestapo weren't that squeamish about methods that they'd draw that line in the same place that you and I would.
 * Besides, this article goes to EIT, which is thoroughly biased. It needs to go to the more general term.
 * -- Randy2063 (talk) 04:24, 3 February 2010 (UTC)


 * I agree that Third degree (interrogation) is a better redirect than enhanced interrogation techniques. While they have their similarities, this refers to the a Nazi Germany policy and EIT refers to an American policy. It would be even better if this were turned into an article.
 * I disagree that this is not a euphemism. A euphemism is the substitution of an inoffensive term for one considered offensively explicit. In this case, Verschärfte Vernehmung was used by Nazis to refer to acts that could only be defined as torture. Nazi propaganda was filled with euphemisms, like Sonderbehandlung (special treatment) to refer to Jews taken through the death process at concentration camps or Entsprechend Behandelt (treated appropriately) for murdered. This euphemism was no different. Gobonobo  T C 05:35, 3 February 2010 (UTC)


 * I didn't think this was worth my time, but I see that it does affect everything else. The danger in assuming that everything the Nazis did was evil is that it turns them into cartoon characters.  The phrase "never again" becomes worthless if we see things in only that way.  It allows the real non-cartoon evils to hide in plain sight.
 * Verschärfte Vernehmung was first authorized in 1937. As such, its development wasn't for foreign prisoners in the war or to facilitate the Holocaust.  It was originally a police function that's rougher than EIT.  Except for flogging, it's not out of line with what the British did with their wartime prisoners.
 * You need to compare this to historical standards. Flogging was used by the U.S. military for its own soldiers and sailors until the mid-19th century.  It's still used as a criminal punishment in Singapore.  U.S. public schools still paddle kids in about 20 states.
 * The practice was surely abused, and it became real torture, but that has nothing to do with the origin of the term. As you point out, the origin of the word "cemetery" was as Greek euphemism.  Here, the origin of the word is as a police method.
 * I'm not removing this one yet, but it bears further examination.
 * -- Randy2063 (talk) 20:30, 7 February 2010 (UTC)