Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian ideology of the National Socialist German Workers Party, or Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator.

Related Topics:
Germany - 1933 - 1945 - Totalitarian - National Socialist German Workers Party - Führer - Adolf Hitler - Dictator

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Third Reich, used as a near-synonym for Nazi Germany, is the English variant of the German expression Drittes Reich, which would literally be translated as Third Empire, (however when the expression is used in English the second word is seldom translated). It refers to the government and its agencies rather than the land and its people. The term was first used in 1922 as the title of a book by conservative writer Arthur Moeller van den Bruck. It was adopted by Nazi propaganda, which counted the Holy Roman Empire as the first Reich, the 1871–1918 German Empire the second, and its own regime as the third. This was done in order to suggest a return to former German glory after the failure of the 1919 Weimar Republic. The reasons for the accession of the Nazis to power are complex.

Related Topics:
Synonym - German - Reich - Arthur Moeller van den Bruck - Nazi propaganda - Holy Roman Empire - 1871 - 1918 - German Empire - 1919 - Weimar Republic

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The Nazi Party deliberately attempted to combine traditional symbols of Germany with Nazi Party symbols in an effort to reinforce the perception of their being one and the same. Thus the Nazi Party used the terms "Drittes Reich" and "Tausendjähriges Reich" ("Thousand-Year Reich") to connect the allegedly glorious past to its supposedly glorious future. In speeches, books and articles about the Third Reich post 8 May 1945, the 1000 years is often juxtaposed against the 12 years of the Third Reich's existence. There is evidence that Hitler himself disliked the term "Drittes Reich", because of its suggestion that his new order stood in a subordinate position to its predecessors, but a copy of Moeller's book was found in the Berlin bunker where both Hitler and his Reich came to their violent end.

Related Topics:
Nazi Party - 8 May - 1945

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During their 12-year rule, the Nazis sent massive armies throughout almost all of continental Europe (with the exception of Switzerland, Spain, Liechtenstein, Sweden, Portugal, Andorra, the Vatican and the land near the Ural Mountains). As part of this, the Nazis endorsed the idea of a Greater Germany, with Berlin renamed Germania as its capital, and integration of all people of supposed pure Germanic origin. This policy manifested itself in the systematic extermination of an estimated 11 million people of racial minorities (Jews, Gypsies, Slavs), political opponents (liberals, communists), and social outcasts (the disabled, homosexuals), as well as opposing inhabitants and tens of millions of others as a direct or indirect result of combat.

Related Topics:
Continental Europe - Switzerland - Spain - Liechtenstein - Sweden - Portugal - Andorra - The Vatican - Ural Mountains - Greater Germany - Berlin - Germania - Pure Germanic origin

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