..Von Allgemeine

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Snicklefritz
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..Von Allgemeine

#1

Post by Snicklefritz » 17 Aug 2014, 01:29

I was watching this particular edition of The German Newsreel series (with English voice-over) and it seems that every single general, and/or commander mentioned, has a “Von” in front of their surname.

“German Newreels 3 of 11 (Part 1 of 2)” [] - http://youtu.be/eMGNzNZ32P0?t=22m45s

As a non-German speaker, I was wondering if during the Third Reich era generals had that title added to their otherwise more pedestrian names as an honorary. Possibly even having the towns they grew up in renamed after them, thus making the “Von” moniker more factual ??? (Of town-name / From town-name.)

Just curious if there is anything to this wild conjecture of mine, that might explain why pretty much every general had the "Von Surname" format.

harry6116
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Re: ..Von Allgemeine

#2

Post by harry6116 » 17 Aug 2014, 11:46

taken from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von

In German, von [fɔn] is a preposition which approximately means of or from.
When it is used as a part of a German family name, it indicates almost always a noble patriarchal lineage. "von" is usually a nobiliary particle, like de in French.[1] The von particle is also often part of commoners' surnames; thus, "Hans von Duisburg" meant Hans from [the city of] Duisburg. The Dutch van, which is a cognate of von but does not indicate nobility, has preserved this meaning

hope that helps.

Michael


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Helmut0815
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Re: ..Von Allgemeine

#3

Post by Helmut0815 » 17 Aug 2014, 11:58

Snicklefritz wrote:I was watching this particular edition of The German Newsreel series (with English voice-over) and it seems that every single general, and/or commander mentioned, has a “Von” in front of their surname.
The fraction of aristocrats in the entire Wehrmacht officers corps was less than 10%, among the generals it was somewhat higher, maybe 20 - 30% and of course not every single Wehrmacht General had a "von" in his name. Check it out at the alphabetic list of Wehrmacht generals at http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Per ... rung-R.htm
Snicklefritz wrote:As a non-German speaker, I was wondering if during the Third Reich era generals had that title added to their otherwise more pedestrian names as an honorary.
This was common practice under Kaiser Bill but the Nazi government was anti-aristocrat and did not ennoble its honourable officers.

regards


Helmut

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Snicklefritz
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Re: ..Von Allgemeine

#4

Post by Snicklefritz » 17 Aug 2014, 18:10

That all seems perfectly reasonable; and thank you.

Yet, I'd like to explain to myself how it happened that in the video the number is closer to 95%+ than 30%. Unless all the aristocrat generals consolidated for the Belgian/French efforts that are depicted in that edition.

I'm left with the sneaking suspicion that the English-dub simply added “Von” to all the Generals names that didn't already have it. Later on in the next one he seems to confuse “communist” and “socialist” of all things, when talking about “capitulating” Russians. And he pronounces it “Furor” consistently instead of Führer.

I wonder what the story is with the English-dub, when, and who that announcer is. ..But that's for another thread.

I'll have to watch it again, and use your very helpful link of Wehrmacht generals to finalize the Von thing.

Thanks again for your help.

harry6116
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Re: ..Von Allgemeine

#5

Post by harry6116 » 18 Aug 2014, 04:50

that english voiceover sounds like it was done just by someone as a hobby.

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