"" ˈjeːdəm das ˈzaɪ̯nə is a German translation of "", the Latin phrase meaning "to each his own" or "to each what he deserves."

Antiquity

The Latin phrase goes back to an old Greek

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 principle of justice

Justice

Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity, along with the punishment of the breach of said ethics; justice is the act of being just and/or fair.-Concept of justice:...

 which translates literally into English as "to each his own". In his Republic, Plato

Plato

Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...

 concluded that "justice is when everyone minds his own business, and refrains from meddling in others' affairs" (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

: "...τὸ τὰ αὑτοῦ πράττειν καὶ μὴ πολυπραγμονεῖν δικαιοσύνη ἐστί...", 4.433a). Everyone should do according to his abilities and capabilities, to serve the country and the society as a whole. Also, everyone should receive "his own" (e.g., rights) and not be deprived of "his own" (e.g., property) (433e).

The phrase was made famous by the Roman

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 author, orator and politician Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC): "Iustitia suum cuique distribuit." ("Justice renders to everyone his due." (De Natura Deorum, III, 38.) De Finibus, Bonorum et Malorum, liber V, 67: "(...) ut fortitudo in laboribus periculisque cernatur, (...), iustitia in suo cuique tribuendo." - "so that fortitude (courage) may be seen in hardship and danger, (...), justice in attributing to each his own".)

Prussia

Suum cuique was the motto of the The Order of the Black Eagle

Order of the Black Eagle

The Order of the Black Eagle was the highest order of chivalry in the Kingdom of Prussia. The order was founded on 17 January 1701 by Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg . In his Dutch exile after WWI, deposed Emperor Wilhelm II continued to award the order to his family...

 (German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

: Hoher Orden vom Schwarzen Adler), the highest order of chivalry in King Frederick the Great's Kingdom of Prussia

Kingdom of Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...

. It was a symbol of the liberalism and religious tolerance of the Prussian Kingdom, which meant that "each can do as they choose", but all citizens had to unite in their support of Prussia. The motto is still used by the German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 military police

Military police

Military police are police organisations connected with, or part of, the military of a state. The word can have different meanings in different countries, and may refer to:...

 (the Feldjäger

Feldjäger

For the German Military Police in WWII see: Feldjaegerkorps and FeldgendarmerieIn presence Feldjäger is the name of military police of the Bundeswehr, Germany's armed forces. The term Feldjäger, literally meaning field huntsmen or field Jäger, has a long tradition and dates back to the mid-17th...

).

Nazi Germany

In 1937, the Nazis constructed the Buchenwald concentration camp

Buchenwald concentration camp

Buchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil.Camp prisoners from all over Europe and Russia—Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes,...

, near Weimar

Weimar

Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...

, Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

. The slogan Jedem das Seine was placed over the camp's main entrance gate. Jedem das Seine was a typical propaganda phrase of the time, similar to Arbeit macht frei

Arbeit macht frei

"'" is a German phrase, literally "work makes free," meaning "work sets you free" or "work liberates". The slogan is known for having been placed over the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust, including most infamously Auschwitz I, where it was made by prisoners...

("work makes [you] free"), the slogan placed above the entrances at some other Nazi concentration camps

Nazi concentration camps

Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...

, including Auschwitz, Dachau, Gross-Rosen

Gross-Rosen concentration camp

KL Gross-Rosen was a German concentration camp, located in Gross-Rosen, Lower Silesia . It was located directly on the rail line between Jauer and Striegau .-The camp:...

, and Sachsenhausen

Sachsenhausen

Sachsenhausen may refer to:* Sachsenhausen , a quarter of Oranienburg, Germany* Sachsenhausen concentration camp, a detention and extermination facility established there in 1936...

, as well as the Theresienstadt ghetto

Ghetto

A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...

).

Other uses

The phrase is still used commonly as a proverb in German-speaking countries. It is also the title of one of Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

's cantata (BWV 163): Nur jedem das seine, which was composed for the 23rd Sunday after Trinity.

Several modern advertising campaigns in the German language, including ads for Nokia

Nokia

Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...

, REWE

REWE

REWE is a supermarket chain in Germany and part of the Cologne-based REWE Group. REWE have more than 15,000 stores and 211,000 employees world wide.Their catchphrase is "Jeden Tag ein bisschen besser."...

 grocery stores, Burger King

Burger King

Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...

, and Merkur Bank have been marred by controversy after using the phrase Jedem das Seine or Jedem den Seinen. An ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil

Exxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil, is an American multinational oil and gas corporation. It is a direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil company, and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. Its headquarters are in Irving, Texas...

 ad campaign in January 2009 touted Tchibo

Tchibo

Tchibo is a German chain of coffee shops and cafés, also known for its weekly-changing range of other products. The latter includes: clothing, household items, electronics and electrical appliances...

 coffee drinks at the company's Esso

Esso

Esso is an international trade name for ExxonMobil and its related companies. Pronounced , it is derived from the initials of the pre-1911 Standard Oil, and as such became the focus of much litigation and regulatory restriction in the United States. In 1972, it was largely replaced in the U.S. by...

 stores with the slogan Jedem den Seinen! The ads were withdrawn after protest from the Central Council of Jews in Germany, and a company spokesman said its advertising contractor had been unaware of the proverb's association with Nazism. In March 2009, a student group associated with the Christian Democratic Union

Christian Democratic Union (Germany)

The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...

 used the slogan for an education campaign in North Rhine-Westphalia

North Rhine-Westphalia

North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...

 (Germany), but later withdrew it due to public outcry.

The ironical Jedem das Seine - mir das Meiste ("to each his own; to me the most") can be traced as far back as to Zuckmayer

Carl Zuckmayer

Carl Zuckmayer was a German writer and playwright.-Biography:Born in Nackenheim in Rheinhessen, he was four years old when his family moved to Mainz. With the outbreak of World War I, he finished school with a facilitated "emergency"-Abitur and volunteered for military service...

's play, "Captain of Köpenick

The Captain of Köpenick (play)

The Captain of Köpenick is a satirical play by the German dramatist Carl Zuckmayer. First produced in 1931, the play tells the story, based on a true event that happened in 1906, of a down-on-his-luck ex-convict shoemaker who impersonates a Prussian Guards officer, holds the mayor of a small town...

".