Nazis decided to get rid of Hebrew first names from this alphabet during the Second World War out of antisemitism.
By SARAH CHEMLA DECEMBER 6, 2020 05:18
Some of the Jewish names removed by the Nazis in 1934 were “Jacob” for the letter “J”; “Samuel” for “S”; “David” for “D”; “Albert” for “A”; and “Zacharias” for “Z,“ which became respectively “Julius,” “Siegfried,” “Dora,” “Anton” and “Zeppelin.”
In response, the DIN agreed to devise new terms for the problematic letters.
But the fact it had stayed in place for so long, said Blume, was proof in itself of a “deep-seated antisemitic and racist mindset” in Germany.
“Just in that one name change, Nathan to Nordpol, which we still use today, you can see how deeply into our language and our thinking this Nazi idea has seeped, with no one really questioning it,” he told the broadcaster Deutschlandfunk, The Guardian reported.