THE LEGITIMATION OF COOPERATION: A RHETORICAL CRITICISM OF THE DANISH GOVERNMENT'S JUSTIFICATION OF COOPERATION, MARCH - AUGUST 1943

The present project examines the public discourses of the Danish government from the end of March until the 29th of August, 1943. This period marks the end of the cooperation between the Danish government and the Nazi German occupying force, as the Danish government was unable to quell a domestic resistance movement. The government's statements addressed both the German representatives and the Danish population who were intractably at odds. To uncover how the government attempted to simultaneously appease multiple power differentiated audiences with mutually exclusive aims, the method of persona criticism is used to show the different ideal auditors to whom the government spoke. This thesis finds that rhetorical techniques of strategic ambiguity, minimization of harms, and the hiding the origins of the harms provided the cover the government sought.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Rhode, Flemming Schneider

• Occupation

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/36158

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/36158