Why you need Persil in your Laundry

[miele_ge]

Excellent Vintage ad... not sure when it is from, but I am guessing it is Pre WWII?

Funny, or not so funny, aside... I am reading a novel called "The Good German" that deals with the US in Germany after WWII. In the book a comment was made about the background of one of the characters being "Persilized". The American looked puzzled and asked "You mean like the soap?". And the response was "Yes, makes everything white".

 

[launderess]

Persilized

Persil had become so fixed in the German mindset to equal "clean" or "white" that after WWII former Nazi officals/members who had undergone a process of "rethinking" or "cleansing" of their previous beliefs were called "Persilized". Such persons were then deemed proper to rejoin society and or accept positions within the new government.

What methods were used in this cleansing history one does not know.

 

[mrboilwash]

The proper term is "Persilschein", which means Persil-certificate or in other words to have a clean slate.