Meaning of Gleichschaltung | Babel Free

Definitions

The forced standardization of political and social institutions under an authoritarian regime, originally with reference to Nazi Germany.

countable, uncountable

Examples

“Far less identified with the party than the old Freikorps (anticommunist vigilante groups active just after World War I) mercenaries, the new element saw in the SS the true elite organization of the Nazi regime, and did not hesitate to attempt Gleichschaltungs within the Gleichschaltung, that is, to have the SS take over already Nazified organizations.”

“Consequently, Croatia’s new leaders have lost little time in purging these last outposts of the old regime. In the name of democracy and human rights, all the media will henceforth be sympathetic to the new government, a process of Gleichschaltung that is being cheered on by the West.”

“So what we have today is a university whose uniqueness is to be attacked and destroyed so that it falls in line where a gleichschaltung is achieved, a non dissenting institution with dead pan faces, with caste identities or communal hatred pervasive, unquestioning students roaming around writing meaningless objective type exams for different testing services.”

CEFR level