Etymology

inner emigration

Today it means: The retreat to one's private life in the face of an oppressive state, instead of overt opposition or emigration to another country. Full definition →

German innere Emigration
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. German · calque ofinnere Emigration
  2. English todayinner emigration

Calque of German innere Emigration, popularized by German writer Frank Thiess in his response to Thomas Mann's BBC broadcast, defending the choice of some German intellectuals to remain in Nazi Germany despite being opposed to Nazism.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.