your context certainly deals with relief from a deadlocked or standpat situation
the technical translation for ***Totlage***, which does not apply here, would be ***dead-point position / stagnation point***
sources:
dict.cc dictionary :: ***Totlage :: German-English translation - dict.cc German-English Dictionary: Translation for Totlage. ... Totlage {f} [z. B. eines Kolbens]: tech. dead-point position*** ...
www.dict.cc/german-english/Totlage.html -
Langenscheidt Routledge German Technical Dictionary: German-English - Routledge (Firm) - 2004 - Technology - 1839 pages
<Comp & DV> dead zone; 2. <Elektrotech> dead band (Regler); 3. ... deadwood (Schiffbau) ***Totlage f<Phys> stagnation point*** ...
books.google.com/books?isbn=0415335868...