GERMANY: Yes, Indeed

The men of Gilead said unto him, “Art thou an Ephraimite?” If he said, “Nay” then they said unto him, “Say now shibboleth,” and he said “Sibboleth” for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him and slew him at the passages of Jordan.—Judges 12: 5-6.

In Soviet-occupied Dresden last week, any German proclaiming his loyalty to the new regime with the German equivalent of

“Yes, indeed,” was as suspect as an Ephraimite. Dresden’s cops had forbidden under threat of fine the use of Jawohl as a typically Nazi version of Yes. Germans untainted with Naziism, said the authorities, should content themselves with the plain, unvarnished Ja.