Die metaphorische Mauer : Eine Untersuchung zu Metaphern in Walter Ulbrichts Rede zum Mauerbau

Sammanfattning: The Berlin Wall divided the city for almost 28 years. In June 1961, just two months before the building thereof, Walter Ulbricht said that no one had any intention to build a wall. In August the same year, the wall was built. Ulbricht, one of the most prominent politicians in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), held a speech 5 days after the building of the wall, as an attempt to defend the actions of his government. This thesis focuses on that speech. In this thesis, Walter Ulbricht’s use of language in his speech is analysed using the theory of conceptual metaphors by Lakoff & Johnson. The aim is to investigate how Ulbricht used language to try to defend the actions that made him be called a hypocrite by many. This is done through exploring how certain words can be understood as metaphors and how this could indicate how a person perceives the world. The words Bruder (eng. brother) and Frieden (eng. peace) are focused on, as these were important and central political words at the time. A central part of this thesis is therefore a discussion of how these words were used in the GDR to be able to later compare this to Ulbricht’s own use.  The conclusion shows that Bruder is used to highlight the German identity, rather than a “West German” or an “East German” one. Furthermore, Frieden is used to call attention to the perceived differences in politics and everyday life. In addition to this, these two words were found to be used intertwiningly, which could be seen through how Ulbricht emphasised that the brothers were the ones fighting for peace. This leads to yet another metaphor that Ulbricht uses in his speech, namely a wall.