Dear Friedrich,
I was on my way to a cell meeting the other day when I met a friend on the street who greeted me with a raised-arm salute. I wanted to return her greeting, yet I couldn’t tell whether she had given me a Roman or a Nazi salute, and I didn’t want to commit a faux pas by returning the “wrong salute.” Could you please explain the difference between the two?
Vielen Dank,Torsten
Dear Torsten,
As they say in the Vaterland, “Es macht keinen Unterschied.” In both the Römischen Gruß and the Nazi Gruß, the right arm is held out forward and straight, palm down and fingers touching. The confusion between the two greetings arises from the fact that different people raise their arms to different heights when firing off the old Seig Heil.
In some versions of the Römischen Gruß, the arm is raised upward at an angle; in others it is held out parallel to the ground. The former posture is also called the Nazi Gruß, and it is widely considered a symbol of fascism today, despite the fact that the last two presidents were apparently fond of the salute.
The next time someone salutes you on the street, return the greeting in kind. There is no right or wrong response. The Römischen Gruß and the Nazi Gruß are interchangeable. The only way you can go wrong is if you were to high five your friend. That’s a greeting and a horse of another color.
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