Drawing on modern pragmatic and text-linguistic analysis methods, this work aims to redescribe National Socialist language use and, as far as possible, also assess its effects.

Central to the theoretical framework is the development of an operable concept of style based on text linguistics and pragmatics. A special role is played by fundamental connections between ideology and language: National Socialist language style manifests not only in various phenomena on the text surface but also in argumentative routines based on National Socialist ideology.

A key guideline for the reevaluation of National Socialist language use is thus argumentation analysis, which examines the specific argumentative utility of various stylistic elements. The work simultaneously addresses questions about the genesis of a specifically National Socialist style, presents fundamental considerations on the dissemination of this style, and in its practical analyses, not least focuses on historical mentalities.