Pan-Germanism (German:Pangermanismus orAlldeutsche Bewegung), also occasionally known asPan-Germanicism, is apan-nationalistpolitical idea. Pan-Germanism seeks to unify all ethnic Germans,German-speaking people, and possibly also non-GermanGermanic peoples – into a singlenation-state known asGreater Germany.
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Pan-Germanism was highly influential in German politics in the 19th century during theunification of Germany when theGerman Empire was proclaimed as a nation-state in 1871 but withoutGermanophone Switzerland,[a]Austria-Hungary, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein (Kleindeutsche Lösung/Lesser Germany) and the first half of the 20th century in Austria-Hungary and the German Empire. From the late 19th century, many Pan-Germanist thinkers, since 1891 organized in thePan-German League, had adopted openlyethnocentric andracist ideologies, and ultimately gave rise to the foreign policyHeim ins Reich pursued byNazi Germany underAdolf Hitler from 1938, one of theprimary factors leading to the outbreak ofWorld War II.[1][2][3][4] The concept of a Greater Germany was attempted to be put into practice as theGreater Germanic Reich (German:Großgermanisches Reich), fully styled theGreater Germanic Reich of the German Nation (German:Großgermanisches Reich der Deutschen Nation). As a result of the Second World War, there was a clear backlash against Pan-Germanism and other related ideologies. Today, pan-Germanism is mainly limited to a few nationalist groups, mainly on thepolitical right in Germany and Austria.
The wordpan is aGreek word element meaning "all, every, whole, all-inclusive". The word "German" in this context derives fromLatin "Germani" originally used byJulius Caesar referring to tribes or a single tribe in northeasternGaul. In theLate Middle Ages, it acquired a loose meaning referring to the speakers ofGermanic languages some of whom spoke dialects ancestral tomodern German. In English, "Pan-German" was first attested in 1892.
In German various concepts can be included under the heading of Pan-Germanism, though often with slight or significant differences in meaning. For example adjectives such as "alldeutsch" or "gesamtdeutsch", which can be translated as "pan-german", typically refer to the Alldeutsche Bewegung, a political movement which sought to unite all German speaking people in one country,[5] whereas "Pangermanismus" can refer to both the pursuit of uniting all the German-speaking people and movements which sought to unify all speakers of Germanic languages.[6]
The origins of Pan-Germanism began with the birth ofRomantic nationalism during theNapoleonic Wars, withFriedrich Ludwig Jahn andErnst Moritz Arndt being early proponents.Germans, for the most part, had been a loose and disunited people since theReformation, when theHoly Roman Empire was shattered into apatchwork of states following the end of theThirty Years' War with thePeace of Westphalia.
Advocates of theGroßdeutschland (Greater Germany) solution sought to unite all theGerman-speaking people in Europe, under the leadership of theGerman Austrians from theAustrian Empire. Pan-Germanism was widespread among therevolutionaries of 1848, notably amongRichard Wagner and theBrothers Grimm.[3] Writers such asFriedrich List andPaul Anton Lagarde argued for German hegemony in Central and Eastern Europe, where German domination in some areas had begun as early as the 9th century AD with theOstsiedlung, Germanic expansion into Slavic and Baltic lands. For the Pan-Germanists, this movement was seen as aDrang nach Osten, in which Germans would be naturally inclined to seekLebensraum by moving eastwards to reunite with the German minorities there.
TheDeutschlandlied ("Song of Germany"), written in 1841 byHoffmann von Fallersleben, in its first stanza definesDeutschland as reaching "From theMeuse to theMemel / From theAdige to theBelt", i.e. as includingEast Prussia andSouth Tyrol.
Reflecting upon theFirst Schleswig War in 1848,Karl Marx noted in 1853 that "by quarrelling amongst themselves, instead of confederating, Germans and Scandinavians, both of them belonging to the same great race, only prepare the way for their hereditary enemy, theSlav."[7]
"There is, in political geography, no Germany proper to speak of. There are Kingdoms and Grand Duchies, and Duchies and Principalities, inhabited by Germans, and each separately ruled by an independent sovereign with all the machinery of State. Yet there is a natural undercurrent tending to a national feeling and toward a union of the Germans into one great nation, ruled by one common head as a national unit."
— The New York Times, 1 July 1866[8]
By the 1860sPrussia andAustria had become the two most powerful states dominated byGerman-speaking elites. Both sought to expand their influence and territory. The Austrian Empire—like theHoly Roman Empire—was amulti-ethnic state, but the German-speaking people there did not have an absolute numerical majority; its re-shaping into theAustro-Hungarian Empire was one result of the growing nationalism of other ethnicities—especially theHungarians. UnderPrussian leadership,Otto von Bismarck would ride on the coattails of nationalism to unite all of the northern German lands. After Bismarck excluded Austria and the German Austrians from Germany in theGerman war of 1866 and (following a few other events over the next few years), theunification of Germany, established the Prussian-dominatedGerman Empire in 1871 with the proclamation ofWilhelm I ashead of a union of German-speaking states, while disregarding millions of its non-German subjects (Poles,Danes,Sorbs, etc.)[9] who desiredself-determination from German rule. After World War I the Pan-Germanist philosophy changed drastically duringAdolf Hitler's rise to power. Pan-Germanists originally sought to unify all theGerman-speaking populations of Europe in a singlenation-state known asGroßdeutschland (Greater Germany), where "German-speaking" was sometimes taken as synonymous withGermanic-speaking, to the inclusion of theFrisian- andDutch-speaking populations of theLow Countries, andScandinavia.[10]
Although Bismarck had excluded Austria and the German Austrians from his creation of theKleindeutschland state in 1871, integrating the German Austrians nevertheless remained a strong desire for many people of both Austria and Germany.[11] The most radical Austrian pan-GermanGeorg Schönerer (1842–1921) andKarl Hermann Wolf (1862–1941) articulated Pan-Germanist sentiments in theAustro-Hungarian Empire.[1] There was also a rejection ofRoman Catholicism with theAway from Rome! movement (ca 1900 onwards) calling for German-speakers to identify withLutheran orOld Catholic churches.[4] The Pan-German Movement gained an institutional format in 1891, whenErnst Hasse, a professor at theUniversity of Leipzig and a member of theReichstag, organized thePan-German League, an ultra-nationalist[12] political-interest organization which promotedimperialism,antisemitism, and support forethnic German minorities in other countries.[13]The organization achieved great support among the educatedmiddle and upper class; it promoted German nationalist consciousness, especially among ethnic Germans outsideGermany. In his three-volume work, "Deutsche Politik" (1905–07), Hasse called for German imperialist expansion in Europe. TheMunich professorKarl Haushofer,Ewald Banse, andHans Grimm (author of the novelVolk ohne Raum) preached similarexpansionist policies.
During theGerman entry into World War I, ChancellorTheobald von Bethmann Hollweg authorized theSeptemberprogramm proposing that theGerman Empire use theFirst World War to seek territorial annexations similar to the ones demanded by pan-German nationalists. TheWest German historianFritz Fischer argued in his 1962 thesisGermany's Aims in the First World War that this and other documents indicated that Germany was responsible for World War I and intended to fulfill pan-German aims, although other historians have since disputed this conclusion. After Naval MinisterAlfred von Tirpitz resigned from the Cabinet under pressure from Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg over Tirpitz's push to introduceunrestricted submarine warfare,[14] Tirpitz united pan-German nationalists under theGerman Fatherland Party in theReichstag.[15]
After theRevolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas, in which theliberal nationalistic revolutionaries advocated the Greater German solution, the Austrian defeat in theAustro-Prussian War (1866) with the effect that Austria was now excluded from Germany, and increasing ethnic conflicts in the multinationalHabsburg monarchy, a German national movement evolved in Austria.[16] Led by the radicalGerman nationalist andAustrian antisemiteGeorg Ritter von Schönerer, organisations such as thePan-German Society demanded the annexation of all German-speaking territories under the rule of the Habsburg monarchy to the German Empire, and fervently rejectedAustrian nationalism and a pan-Austrian identity. Schönerer'svölkisch andracistGerman nationalism was an inspiration toAdolf Hitler'sNazi ideology.[17]
In 1933,Austrian Nazis and the national-liberalGreater German People's Party formed an action group, fighting together against theAustrofascistFederal State of Austria which imposed a distinct Austrian national identity and in accordance said that Austrians were "better Germans."Kurt Schuschnigg adopted a policy of appeasement towardsNazi Germany and called Austria the "better German state", but he still struggled to keep Austria independent.[18] With "Anschluss" of Austria in 1938, the historic aim of Austria's German nationalists was achieved.[19]
After the end of Nazi Germany and the events ofWorld War II in 1945, the ideas of pan-Germanism and anAnschluss fell out of favour due to their association with Nazism and allowed Austrians to develop their own national identity. Nevertheless, such notions were revived with the German national camp in theFederation of Independents and the earlyFreedom Party of Austria.[20]
The idea of including theNorth Germanic-speaking Scandinavians into a Pan-German state, sometimes referred to asPan-Germanicism,[21] was promoted alongside mainstream pan-German ideas.[22]Jacob Grimm adopted Munch's anti-Danish Pan-Germanism and argued that the entire peninsula ofJutland had been populated by Germans before the arrival of theDanes and that thus it could justifiably be reclaimed by Germany, whereas the rest ofDenmark should be incorporated intoSweden. This line of thinking was countered byJens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae, an archaeologist who had excavated parts ofDanevirke, who argued that there was no way of knowing the language of the earliest inhabitants of Danish territory. He also pointed out that Germany had more solid historical claims to large parts of France and England, and thatSlavs—by the same reasoning—could annex parts ofEastern Germany. Regardless of the strength of Worsaae's arguments, pan-Germanism spurred on the German nationalists ofSchleswig andHolstein and led to theFirst Schleswig War in 1848. In turn, this likely contributed to the fact that Pan-Germanism never caught on in Denmark as much as it did in Norway.[23] Pan-Germanic tendencies were particularly widespread among theNorwegian independence movement. Prominent supporters includedPeter Andreas Munch,Christopher Bruun,Knut Hamsun,Henrik Ibsen andBjørnstjerne Bjørnson.[3][24][25] Bjørnson, who wrote the lyrics for theNorwegian national anthem, proclaimed in 1901:
I'm a Pan-Germanist, I'm aTeuton, and the greatest dream of my life is for theSouth Germanic peoples and theNorth Germanic peoples and their brothers indiaspora to unite in a fellowconfederation.[3]
In the 20th century the GermanNazi Party sought to create aGreater Germanic Reich that would include most of the Germanic peoples of Europe within it under the leadership of Germany, including peoples such as theDanes, theDutch, theSwedes, theNorwegians, and theFlemish within it.[26]
Anti-GermanScandinavism surged in Denmark in the 1930s and 1940s in response to the pan-Germanic ambitions of Nazi Germany.[27]
World War I became the first attempt to carry out the Pan-German ideology in practice, and the Pan-German movement argued forcefully for expansionist imperialism.[29]
Following the defeat inWorld War I, the influence of German-speaking elites overCentral and Eastern Europe was greatly limited. At theTreaty of Versailles, Germany was substantially reduced in size.Alsace-Lorraine was also influenced by theFrancization after it returned to France.Austria-Hungary was split up. A rump Austria, which to a certain extent corresponded to theGerman-speaking areas of Austria-Hungary (a complete split into language groups was impossible due to multi-lingual areas and language-exclaves) adopted the name "German Austria" (German:Deutschösterreich) in hope for union withGermany. Union with Germany and the name "German Austria" was forbidden by theTreaty of St. Germain and the name had to be changed back to Austria.
It was in theWeimar Republic that the Austrian-bornAdolf Hitler, under the influence of thestab-in-the-back myth, first took up German nationalist ideas in hisMein Kampf.[29] Hitler metHeinrich Class in 1918, and Class provided Hitler with support for the 1923Beer Hall Putsch. Hitler and his supporters shared most of the basic pan-German visions with thePan-German League, but differences in political style led the two groups to open rivalry. The German Workers Party of Bohemia cut its ties to the pan-German movement, which was seen as being too dominated by the upper classes, and joined forces with theGerman Workers' Party led byAnton Drexler, which later became theNazi Party (National Socialist German Workers' Party, NSDAP) that was to be headed by Adolf Hitler from 1921.[30]
Nazi propaganda also used the political sloganEin Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer ("One people, one Reich, one leader"), to enforce pan-German sentiment in Austria for an "Anschluss".
The chosen name for the projected empire was a deliberate reference to theHoly Roman Empire (of the German Nation) that existed in theMiddle Ages, known as theFirst Reich in Nazi historiography.[31] Different aspects of the legacy of this medieval empire in German history were both celebrated and derided by theNazi government. Hitler admired theFrankish EmperorCharlemagne for his "cultural creativity", his powers of organization, and his renunciation of therights of the individual.[31] He criticized theHoly Roman Emperors however for not pursuing anOstpolitik (Eastern Policy) resembling his own, while being politically focused exclusively onthe south.[31] After theAnschluss, Hitler ordered the oldimperial regalia (theImperial Crown,Imperial Sword,the Holy Lance and other items) residing inVienna to be transferred toNuremberg, where they were kept between 1424 and 1796.[32] Nuremberg, in addition to being the former unofficial capital of the Holy Roman Empire, was also the place of theNuremberg rallies. The transfer of the regalia was thus done to both legitimize Hitler's Germany as the successor of the "Old Reich", but also weaken Vienna, the former imperial residence.[33]
After the1939 German occupation of Bohemia, Hitler declared that the Holy Roman Empire had been "resurrected", although he secretly maintained his own empire to be better than the old "Roman" one.[34] Unlike the "uncomfortablyinternationalist Catholic empire ofBarbarossa", the Germanic Reich of the German Nation would beracist andnationalist.[34] Rather than a return to the values of the Middle Ages, its establishment was to be "a push forward to a newgolden age, in which the best aspects of the past would be combined with modern racist and nationalist thinking".[34]
The historical borders of the Holy Roman Empire were also used as grounds for territorial revisionism by the NSDAP, laying claim to modern territories and states that were once part of it. Even before the war, Hitler had dreamed of reversing thePeace of Westphalia, which had given the territories of the Empire almost complete sovereignty.[35] On November 17, 1939,Reich Minister of PropagandaJoseph Goebbels wrote inhis diary that the "total liquidation" of this historic treaty was the "great goal" of the Nazi regime,[35] and that since it had been signed inMünster, it would also be officially repealed in the same city.[36]
TheHeim ins Reich ("Back Home to the Reich") initiative was a policy pursued by theNazis which attempted to convince theethnic Germans living outside ofNazi Germany (such as inAustria andSudetenland) that they should strive to bring these regions "home" into aGreater Germany. This notion also led the way for an even more expansive state to be envisioned, the Greater Germanic Reich, which Nazi Germany tried to establish.[37] This pan-Germanic empire was expected toassimilate practically all ofGermanic Europe into an enormously expanded Greater Germanic Reich. Territorially speaking, this encompassed the already-enlarged Reich itself (consisting of pre-1938 Germany plus theareas annexed into theGroßdeutsche Reich), theNetherlands,Belgium,areas in north-eastern France considered to be historically and ethnically Germanic,Denmark,Norway,Sweden,Iceland, at least theGerman-speaking parts of Switzerland, andLiechtenstein.[38] The most notable exception was the predominantlyAnglo-Saxon United Kingdom, which was not projected as having to be reduced to a German province but to instead become anallied seafaring partner of the Germans.[39]
The easternReichskommissariats in the vast stretches of Ukraine and Russia were also intended for future integration, withplans for them stretching to theVolga or even beyond theUrals. They were deemed of vital interest for the survival of the German nation, as it was a core tenet ofNazi ideology that it needed "living space" (Lebensraum), creating a "pull towards the East" (Drang nach Osten) where that could be found andcolonized, in a model that the Nazis explicitly derived from the AmericanManifest Destiny in theFar West and its clearing of native inhabitants.
As the foreign volunteers of the Waffen-SS were increasingly of non-Germanic origin, especially after theBattle of Stalingrad, among the organization's leadership (e.g.Felix Steiner) the proposition for a Greater Germanic Empire gave way to a concept of a European union of self-governing states, unified by German hegemony and the common enemy ofBolshevism.[citation needed] The Waffen-SS was to be the eventual nucleus of a common European army where each state would be represented by a national contingent.[citation needed] Himmler himself, however, gave no concession to these views, and held on to his Pan-Germanic vision in a speech given in April 1943 to the officers of the1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, the2nd SS Panzer DivisionDas Reich and the3rd SS DivisionTotenkopf:
We do not expect you to renounce your nation. [...] We do not expect you to become German out of opportunism. We do expect you to subordinate your national ideal to a greater racial and historical ideal, to the Germanic Reich.[40]
The defeat of Germany inWorld War II brought about the decline of Pan-Germanism, much asWorld War I had led to the demise ofPan-Slavism.[citation needed] Parts of Germany itself were devastated, and the country was divided, firstly into Soviet, French, American, and British zones and then intoWest Germany andEast Germany.Austria was separated from Germany and theGerman identity in Austria was also weakened. The end of World War II in Europe brought even larger territorial losses for Germany than the First World War, with vastportions of eastern Germany directly annexed by theSoviet Union andPoland. The scale of the Germans' defeat was unprecedented; Pan-Germanism became taboo because it had been tied to racist concepts of the "master race" andNordicism by theNazi party. However, thereunification of Germany in 1990 revived the old debates.[41]
18th century and before | 19th century | 20th century
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