I was recently speaking with a professor at my university and she mentioned that modern German has significant differences from German spoken prior to World War II. She claimed that due to a decade's worth of militarization, many words were lost as children were taught solely Nazi propaganda that focused on German nationalism and commands. She also claimed that this was facilitated by the fact that a great deal of German lives were lost during the war--meaning those with broader vocabularies didn't return to expand their children's vocab.
I'm struggling to believe this and have been unable to find any resources supporting her claim. Her knowledge comes from the fact she was a child that lived in Germany during WWII. When we spoke, she implied that this was NOT the push for a standard German language (ie the dying of northern Low German dialects).
I appreciate any feedback, thanks!
You know I remember reading something similar to this but I don't recall where - that after World War II there was a certain shift in attitude regarding Germanizing words that was part of the general weariness to all things nationalist. But now I can't find it anywhere. Certain words were simply abandoned by the populace due to being now inexorably linked to the Nazi regime and its propaganda like "Führer" or "Volk", of course. The source I remember reading also noted shifts like "Auto" becoming more popular than "Wagen".
I wish I could actually find it.
First of all and as r/Tetrarca mentioned, before the war and particularily during the 19th century, the active germanization of well-used and established loan words was not only common, but also encouraged and pursued systematically by respected scholars. Unless practical purposes motivate the introduction of a German word, I doubt it is done today.
Apart from obvious national socialist vocabularies, quite a few older phrases and words related to militarism, authoriarianism, colonialism and ideas of German supremacy became taboo or lost their status. "Reich" is a typical example. This trend was however not a specific German one.
The DDR and the BRD both had to "relaunch" their identities as German nations. In both cases, language acted as an important tool, which was especially true in the former case. You'll find quite a few strange words in Eastern Germany that didn't exist before 1949 and are more or less unheard of in the west, most of them being political (and diminishing)
One cannot forget that Germany shrank after the war. The inhabitants of East Prussia - which was ceded to the USSR -, and West Prussia, Pommerania and Silesia, which were incorporated into Poland, were forcibly located to present day Germany. Furthermore, a vast majority of those who Hitler labeled "Volksdeutsche" - germanspeakers in Poland, Czech Republic (Sudetenland), Romania, the Baltic States, etc - either fled or faced a similar fate. Such a major change does of course have linguistic consequences. These dialects are slowly going extinct as their last surviving native speakers disappear.
Source: Stedje, Astrid: "Deutsche Sprache, gestern und heute", 2007. UTB, Stuttgart.
Edit: Some minor changes.