Henchman
A henchman ( mhd . Hantlanger ) is an unskilled auxiliary worker ( unskilled worker, auxiliary worker, clerk, etc.). The Duden defines henchmen as both unskilled workers, unskilled workers, especially in the construction industry, and pejorative for “someone who only does subordinate work for others”. In a further meaning, a henchman is also referred to pejoratively as someone "who can be used without scruples as a worker or helper in a reprehensible act".
Concept history and transmission
The word was first established in the 15th century for a "compliant companion" for support workers in building trades . The latter part of the compound word derives from long for 'stretch out, reach, grasp'. While Pierer's Universal Lexicon, for example, still defined the term in 1859 as “workers without a profession ”, “who provide the masons with the materials necessary for building, sifting the sand, etc. Get the lime canning; on 2–3 bricklayers one counts one handlanger. "In Meyers Großes Universiallexikon 1907 it is already figuratively - still with a positive connotation, but with a slight irony - as a" frequently used proverbial phrase "," after Kaiser Wilhelm II. Had said in a speech on February 26, 1897 in relation to his grandfather: »In the vicinity of whom, through God's guidance, there were many a good, capable adviser who had the honor of being able to carry out his thoughts, but who were all his accomplices (another reading: tools of his sublime will) were "."
In this metaphorical sense, a person who executes and fulfills the intentions or orders of another person is now used rather derogatory. The henchman assumes the role of an executive tool of the superior person (as it were the hand in relation to the thinking, planning and decisive mind), whose will and command he obeys. The term also describes people who perform subordinate, often unpleasant or “dirty”, sometimes also criminal or semi-criminal tasks for their superiors or clients. In the media in particular, the term is often used for war criminals, order recipients or collaborators with Hitler , such as Martin Bormann , Philippe Pétain or Joachim von Ribbentrop . The documentary series Hitler's Helpers and Hitler's Warriors directed by Guido Knopp - first broadcast by ZDF in 1998 - dealt with very different personalities, such as Field Marshals Erwin Rommel , Wilhelm Keitel , Erich von Manstein , Friedrich Paulus and Admiral Wilhelm Canaris .
Examples of henchmen in the field of fictional storytelling
In addition, henchman describes a literary role in novels, comics and films, by which a conscientious and unscrupulous subordinate is meant. Such henchmen stage crimes and perform servant duties to the detriment of the respective hero . The figure of the sidekick can be seen as a counter figure on the side of the hero .
Examples of henchmen who have become famous include:
- Odd Job , biters and frills as a stooge of the James Bond -Gegenspieler Goldfinger , Karl Stromberg (or Hugo Drax) and Scaramanga,
- Luca Brasi as Don Vito Corleone's sidekick in The Godfather ,
- Mister Smee as Captain Hook's henchman in Peter Pan ,
- Bob the Goon as the Joker's henchman in Batman or
- Emil Antonowsky as Clarence Boddicker's assistant in RoboCop .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Handlanger in duden.de; accessed on March 29, 2019
- ↑ henchman in DWDS ; accessed on March 29, 2019
- ↑ henchman ; In: Pierer's Universal Lexikon, Volume 7. Altenburg 1859, p. 953. Online in zeno.org
- ↑ Handlanger in Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon , Volume 8. Leipzig 1907, p. 756. Online in zeno.org
- ↑ The Hunt for Hitler's Henchman - The Many Lives of Martin Bormann ; Spiegel online from December 6, 2012
- ^ Hitler's henchman ; Süddeutsche.de from May 29, 2019
- ^ Hitler's helpers: Albert Speer and Joachim von Ribbentrop ; orf.at of July 5, 2015
- ↑ TIME HISTORY: Hitler's henchmen in FOCUS magazine | No. 42 (1998)
