The German noun ''Volk'' () translates to
people
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...
,
both uncountable in the sense of ''people'' as in a
crowd, and countable (plural ''Völker'') in the sense of ''
a people'' as in an
ethnic group or
nation
A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by th ...
(compare the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
term ''
folk'').
Within an English-language context, the German word is of interest primarily for its use in
German philosophy, as in ''
Volksseele'' ("national soul"), and in
German nationalism
German nationalism () is an ideological notion that promotes the unity of Germans and German-speakers into one unified nation state. German nationalism also emphasizes and takes pride in the patriotism and national identity of Germans as one n ...
– notably the derived adjective ''
völkisch'' ("national, ethnic").
Etymology
The term ''Volk'' in the medieval period (
Middle High German
Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. Hig ...
''volc'')
had the primary meaning of "large crowd, army", while the more general sense of "population" or "people" was expressed by ''diet'' (adjective ''
dietsch, deutsch'' "popular, of the people"). It was only in the early modern period that ''deutsch'' acquired the meaning of an ethnic self-designation. Beginning in 1512, the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...
was
named ''Imperium Romanum Sacrum Nationis Germanicæ'', rendered in German as ''Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation'', suggesting that Latin ''germanicus'' "German, Germanic" was now expressed by the adjective ''deutsch''.
''Volk'' is the
cognate of English ''
folk'' and also overlaps in the usage of the latter as in ''Volksmusik'' "
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...
", ''Volksglaube'' "
folk belief" etc.
In the 18th century, German ''Volk'' was mostly reserved for "crowd" or "mass of the population", while the concept of "a people" or "a nation" was now expressed by the Latinism ''Nation''.
Use of ''Nation'' in this sense was replaced by ''Volk'' after 1800, explicitly in the context of emergent
German nationalism
German nationalism () is an ideological notion that promotes the unity of Germans and German-speakers into one unified nation state. German nationalism also emphasizes and takes pride in the patriotism and national identity of Germans as one n ...
.
Compounds in which ''Volk-'' translates to "populace" or "nation" include ''Volksentscheid'' (
plebiscite
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of ...
, literally "decision of/by the people") ''Völkerbund'' (
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference th ...
). The somewhat obsolete meaning of the
common people, ''
hoi polloi'',
working class
The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...
is visible in the brand name ''
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
'' "people's car", historically a name chosen by the
German Labour Front
The German Labour Front (german: Deutsche Arbeitsfront, ; DAF) was the labour organisation under the Nazi Party which replaced the various independent trade unions in Germany during Adolf Hitler's rise to power.
History
As early as March 1933, t ...
in 1937 for a car designed to be affordable to the "common man".
In contrast to German ''Volk'' being elevated to the sense of "nation" in the early 19th century,
English ''folk'' came to be seen as inelegant at around the same time, being mostly replaced by the latinate ''people''.
It re-entered formal or academic English only through the invention of the word ''folklore'', coined in 1846 by
William J. Thoms as an Anglo-Saxonism. This word revived folk in a modern sense of "of the common people, whose culture is handed down orally", and opened up a flood of compound formations, e.g. ''folk art'' (1921), ''folk-hero'' (1899), ''folk-medicine'' (1898), ''folk-tale'' (1891), ''folk-song'' (1847), ''folk-music'' (1889), ''folk-dance'' (1912).
German national identity
In
German philosophy of the late 18th and 19th centuries, ''
Volksgeist'' is used in the sense of "national spirit", not necessarily in reference to the German nation, but still strongly correlated with the development of a German national identity in the wake of the dissolution of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...
.
The
völkisch movement originates in this time, proposing the formation of a German
nation state
A nation state is a political unit where the state and nation are congruent. It is a more precise concept than "country", since a country does not need to have a predominant ethnic group.
A nation, in the sense of a common ethnicity, may ...
as a solution to the "
German Question".
Johann Gottlieb Fichte in his ''
Addresses to the German Nation
The ''Addresses to the German Nation'' (German: ''Reden an die deutsche Nation'', 1806) is a political literature book by German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, pe ...
'', published still during the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fre ...
from 1808 onwards, asked, in the eighth address, “What is a ''Volk,'' in the higher sense of the term, and what is love of the fatherland?,"
He answered that it could only be that "particular spiritual nature of the human environment out of which he himself, with all of his thought and action... has arisen, namely the people from which he is descended and among which he has been formed and grown into that which he is".
The movement combined sentimental patriotic interest in
German folklore,
local history
Local history is the study of history in a geographically local context, often concentrating on a relatively small local community. It incorporates cultural and social aspects of history. Local history is not merely national history writ small ...
and a "back-to-the-land" anti-urban populism with many parallels with expressions of
Romantic nationalism in other parts of Europe, such as the writings of
William Morris
William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He w ...
. "In part this ideology was a revolt against modernity," Nicholls remarked.
Throughout much of the 19th century, it was not universally agreed that there was such a thing as a single "German nation" (''Volk'').
The "Germans" (''die Deutschen'') were rather seen as the equivalent of what would now be called the
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...
, i.e. a large ethno-linguistic
phylum comprising a number of peoples (such as the German
"stems" or tribes of the
Franks
The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools ...
(or
Franconians),
Swabians,
Bavarians,
Thuringians,
Saxons
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
, etc.; also included into the term were the
Scandinavians
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and ...
and the
Anglo-Saxons
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened ...
, e.g. the Brothers' Grimm ''
Deutsche Sagen'' of 1816–1818 which includes legends of Germanic antiquity as well as of German, Austrian and Swiss folklore.
In the wake of the
Revolutions of 1848
The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europ ...
, the
Frankfurt Parliament attempted to create a national constitution for all German states but rivalry between Prussian and Austrian interests resulted in proponents of the parliament advocating a "Lesser German" solution (a monarchical German nation-state without Austria). The
King of Prussia,
Frederick William IV of Prussia, refused the offer and efforts to create a liberal German nation-state faltered and collapsed.
A division developed among German nationalists, with one group led by the Prussians that supported a "
Lesser Germany
{{more citations needed, date=April 2017
The term Lesser Germany (German: ''Kleindeutschland'') or Lesser German solution (German: Kleindeutsche Lösung) denoted essentially exclusion of Austria of the Habsburgs from the planned German unification ...
" that excluded Austria and another group that supported a "
Greater Germany" that included Austria.
Prussia achieved hegemony over Germany in the "wars of unification": the
Second Schleswig War (1864), the
Austro-Prussian War (1866), which effectively established the separation of Austria from Germany, and the
Franco-Prussian War of 1870/1, after which the
unification of Germany was finally achieved, by the fusion of the
North German Confederation (dominated by
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...
) and the South or Central German states of
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...
,
Württemberg
Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart.
Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...
,
Baden
Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine.
History
The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...
and
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are ...
.
Nazi era
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...
in ''
Mein Kampf'' denounced usage of the word ''völkisch'' as he considered it too vague as to carry any recognizable meaning due to former over-use, although he used it often, especially in connection with ethnic Germans or ''
Volksdeutsche
In Nazi German terminology, ''Volksdeutsche'' () were "people whose language and culture had German origins but who did not hold German citizenship". The term is the nominalised plural of ''volksdeutsch'', with ''Volksdeutsche'' denoting a sing ...
''.
During the years of the
Third Reich, the term ''Volk'' became heavily used in nationalistic political slogans,
particularly in slogans such as ''
Volk ohne Raum'' "(a) people or race without space" or ''
Völkischer Beobachter'' ("popular or racial observer"), an NSDAP party newspaper. Also the
political slogan ''Ein Volk, ein
Reich, ein
Führer
( ; , spelled or ''Fuhrer'' when the umlaut is not available) is a German word meaning "leader" or " guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
Nazi Germany cultivated the ("leader princip ...
'' ("One nation, one empire, one leader"); the compound word ''Herrenvolk'', translated as "
master race
The master race (german: Herrenrasse) is a pseudoscientific concept in Nazi ideology in which the putative "Aryan race" is deemed the pinnacle of human racial hierarchy. Members were referred to as "''Herrenmenschen''" ("master humans").
T ...
"; the "
Volksjäger" jet fighter, translated as "people's
fighter"; and the term ''
Volksgemeinschaft'', translated as "people's community".
The term Volk, in the vision of Nazis, had a broad set of meanings, and referred sometimes to the entirety of German nation and other times to the
Nordic race.
In the writings of leading Nazi thinkers, such as
Alfred Rosenberg and
Hans Günther several ''Völker'' or "peoples" made up a ''Rasse'' or "race", so these two terms did not always denote the same concept.
After 1945
Unlike the adjective ''
völkisch'', which became associated with German nationalism,
the German noun ''Volk'' remains the unmarked term for "a people" or "nation"
(while its older meanings of "a crowd of people" or "commoners" are less current).
The
Reichstag building retains its dedication, inscribed in 1916, reading ''dem deutschen Volke'' ("to the German people").
While ''Volk'' suggests an ethnic group or nation, the term ''Bevölkerung'' is used in the sense of "populace, resident population".
The term ''
Volksdeutsche
In Nazi German terminology, ''Volksdeutsche'' () were "people whose language and culture had German origins but who did not hold German citizenship". The term is the nominalised plural of ''volksdeutsch'', with ''Volksdeutsche'' denoting a sing ...
'' for "ethnic Germans" retains some usage but is increasingly replaced by ''Deutschstämmige'' ("
eopleof German descent").
In composition, ''Volks-'' retains the meaning "of/for the common people", after the pattern of ''
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
'', sometimes used humorously in advertising (as in ''Volks-Zahnbürste'' "people's toothbrush")
"Wir sind das Volk!" ("We are the people!") was a chant used by the
Monday demonstrators during the peaceful demonstrations of 1989/1990 to end the
GDR and bring down the
Berlin Wall. The slogan meant that the "simple people" would no longer endure the dictatorship, and wanted to reform the political system of the GDR. It did not necessarily express support for the idea of a reunification. However, the slogan was also altered to "Wir sind ein Volk!" ("We are one people") during the course of the protests, indicating the ethnic meaning of ''Volk'', where the division of Germany was regarded as unjust because of the common ethnic identity of all Germans.
In 2015 the slogan "Wir sind das Volk" became popular again among members of
PEGIDA (a nationalist movement), and various groups that claimed to stand in the tradition of Monday Demonstrations. Here, however, the ethnic connotation of "Volk" quickly became obvious. While the slogan "Wir sind ein Volk" was no longer in use since the reunification, the slogan "Wir sind das Volk" was given a new meaning. Now the word "Wir" was used by right wing protesters to refer to themselves, in order to distinguish from migrants and so-called "Gutmenschen" ("Good People", meaning Germans that supported refugees). After Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to give shelter to a growing number of refugees, especially from Syria, in 2015, right wing groups as well as more modest movements, that were referred to by the media as "the concerned citizens", started to use the slogan. They wanted to indicate that, according to their beliefs, the ''Volk'' (meaning only ethnic ''Germans'') should have more rights than immigrants and especially refugees. The similarity to the National Socialist ''Volk'' conception was pointed out by various media. The protesters also made references to the protests against the dictatorship of the GDR, since they regarded it as their right to decide whether the state should give shelter to refugees or not. This, however, is a constitutional right in Germany for "
rsons persecuted on political grounds" that can not be changed unless the constitution is changed with a two-thirds majority in both houses of the parliament; however, asylum seekers who enter "from a member state of the European Communities" already have no constitutional right to asylum.
See also
*
Volcae#Namesake
*
populus
*
pueblo
*
people
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...
*
þeod
*
Volksdeutsche
In Nazi German terminology, ''Volksdeutsche'' () were "people whose language and culture had German origins but who did not hold German citizenship". The term is the nominalised plural of ''volksdeutsch'', with ''Volksdeutsche'' denoting a sing ...
*
Johann Gottfried Herder
*
Volksgeist
*
Volkshalle
The ("People's Hall"), also called ("Great Hall") or ("Hall of Glory"), was a proposal for a monumental, domed building to be built in a reconstituted Berlin (renamed as Germania) in Nazi Germany. The project was conceived by Adolf Hitler a ...
*
Volksmusik
*
Volkshochschule
*
Volkssturm
*
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
*
Dutch
*
Folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...
*
Zhōnghuá Mínzú
References
Notes
Bibliography
* Henning Eichberg (2004), ''The People of Democracy. Understanding Self-Determination on the Basis of Body and Movement''. (= Movement Studies. 5) Århus: Klim (Theory of folk, people, and civil society with Scandinavian background)
*
Emerich K. Francis (1965) ''Ethnos und Demos. Soziologische Beiträge zur Volkstheorie''. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot (classical German-American sociology of folk, ethnos and demos)
* Emerich K. Francis (1976) ''Interethnic Relations. An Essay in Sociological Theory''. New York u.a.: Elsevier.
* Raphael Samuel (1981) (ed.), ''People's History and Socialist Theory''. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
{{Authority control
Germanic languages
Germanic mysticism
German nationalism
Romantic nationalism
German words and phrases
de:Volk