Why do I need to know Nebelkerze?
Originally the name of a specific piece of tactical military equipment, Nebelkerze has come to be used equally as often in a metaphorical context.
Whether your planning to enrol with the army or with a police unit, or if you simply want to impress your German colleagues next time the discussion turns to political news, this colourful German word is a good one to know.
What does it mean?
Nebel is the German word for fog, and eine Kerze is a candle. So die Nebelkerze is literally "the fog candle".
But better translations would be either a smoke grenade or a red herring (or smokescreen), depending on the use.
Nebelkerze: the weapon
If you search for term Nebelkerze you'll probably find the Wikipedia page for a smoke grenade among the top links.
A smoke grenade may more often be called a Rauchgrenate, but it can also be called a Nebelgrenate or a Nebelkerze.
A few other possible terms in German are Nebelwurfkörper, Nebelbombe, Nebelpetarde or Nebeltopf.
All of these words refer to the canister that a soldier or tactical police officer would deploy to unleash a thick cloud of smoke to disorient their target, and hide their own movements from view.
Nebelkerze: the metaphor
In a figurative sense, a Nebelkerze can be thought of as a smokescreen or a red herring. That is, it's something meant to distract you, or to pull your attention toward a certain detail rather than whatever may be behind the smoke.
This metaphor can be quite apt when deciphering political happenings and motives.
To offer just one example from the German press, an op-ed by Welt from earlier this year was titled "Merz and the nuclear smokescreen" (Merz und die nukleare NebelkerzeI). It discusses an offer by French President Emmanuel Macron to then Chancellor-elect Friedrich Merz for Germany to join in participation in the French nuclear umbrella i.e. joining in a nuclear defence programme.
The author doesn't think much of the offer, writing: "Europe should now take care of strengthening Ukraine militarily and invest billions in rearmament in the conventional sector instead of wasting time with smokescreens (Nebelkerzen) from Paris."
A more recent example could arguably be found in some of the comments made about BĂĽrgergeld in the weeks leading up to the government's latest proposal to reform it.
For weeks we heard politicians from Merz's black-red government talk about "the BĂĽrgergeld mafia", or organised crime targeting Germany's welfare system.
There were some proven cases of gang-related benefit abuse that German authorities had identified. But comments made by some politicians, and the numerous headlines that they created arguably made the issue look much bigger than it really was.
One might suggest that the story was a Nebelkerze in that it focused much of the media's attention on a somewhat niche aspect of welfare abuse, and obscured the broader debate around the costs and benefits of BĂĽrgergeld.
Use it like this:
Diese ganze Aktion ist eine Nebelkerze.
This whole action is a red herring.
Die Polizeieinheit warf Nebelkerzen in das Gebäude, bevor sie es stürmte.
The police unit threw smoke grenades into the building before going in.
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