Germany to wipe Nazi traces from phonetic alphabet

Germany is to revamp its phonetic alphabet to remove words added by the Nazis. Before the Nazi dictatorship some Jewish names were used in the phonetic alphabet – such as “D for David”, “N for Nathan” and “Z for Zacharias”. But the Nazis replaced these with Dora, North Pole and Zeppelin, and their use has since continued with most Germans unaware of their anti-Semitic origin. Experts are working on new terms, to be put to the public and adopted in 2022. The initiative sprang from Michael Blume, in charge of fighting anti-Semitism in the state of Baden-Württemberg, backed by the Central Council of Jews in Germany. The job of devising new terms for the problematic letters is now in the hands of the German Institute for Standardization (DIN). The commonly-used equivalent in the UK is the Nato phonetic alphabet, with terms such as “F for Foxtrot, T for Tango”. But many English speakers also use terms like “D for Dennis, S for Sugar” on the phone. In order to preserve the memory of the anti-Semitic list, it will be presented as an annex to the new list to be put to a public consultation next year. After that discussion, the new German list is to be adopted in late 2022.

via bbc: Germany to wipe Nazi traces from phonetic alphabet