
German nationalism () is an ideological notion that promotes the unity of
Germans
Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...
and of the
Germanosphere into one unified
nation-state. German nationalism also emphasizes and takes pride in the
patriotism and
national identity of Germans as one nation and one people. The earliest origins of German nationalism began with the birth of
romantic nationalism during the
Napoleonic Wars
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Napoleonic Wars
, partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
, image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg
, caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
when
Pan-Germanism started to rise. Advocacy of a German nation-state began to become an important political force in response to the invasion of German territories by France under
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
.
In the 19th century, Germans debated the
German question over whether the German nation-state should comprise a "
Lesser Germany" that excluded the
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...
or a "Greater Germany" that included the Austrian Empire or its German speaking-part. The faction led by
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
n
Chancellor Otto von Bismarck
Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (; born ''Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck''; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as ...
succeeded in forging a Lesser Germany.
Aggressive German nationalism and territorial expansion was a key factor leading to both World Wars. Prior to
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, Germany had established a
colonial empire in hopes of rivaling Britain and France. In the 1930s, the
Nazis
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
came to power and sought to unify all ethnic Germans under the leadership of
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
eventually leading to the extermination of
Jews
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
,
Poles
Pole or poles may refer to:
People
*Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland
* Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name
* Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist
...
,
Romani, and other people deemed ''
Untermenschen'' (subhumans) in
the Holocaust
The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
After the defeat of
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
, the country was divided into
East
East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...
and
West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
in the opening acts of the
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
, and each state retained a sense of German identity and held reunification as a goal, albeit in different contexts. The creation of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
was in part an effort to harness German identity to a
European identity. West Germany underwent its
economic miracle following the war, which led to the creation of a
guest worker program; many of these workers ended up settling in Germany which has led to tensions around questions of national and cultural identity, especially with regard to
Turks who settled in Germany.
German reunification
German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...
was achieved in 1990 following ''
Die Wende''; an event that caused some alarm both inside and outside Germany. Germany has emerged as a
great power inside Europe and in the world; its role in the
European debt crisis and in the
European migrant crisis have led to criticism of German authoritarian abuse of its power, especially with regard to the
Greek debt crisis, and raised questions within and outside Germany as to Germany's role in the world.
Due to post-1945 repudiation of the Nazi regime and its atrocities, German nationalism has been generally viewed in the country as taboo and people within Germany have struggled to find ways to acknowledge its past but take pride in its past and present accomplishments; the German question has never been fully resolved in this regard. A wave of national pride swept the country when it hosted the
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...
.
Far-right parties that stress German national identity and pride have existed since the end of World War II but have never governed.
According to the
Correlates of War
The Correlates of War project is an academic study of the history of warfare. It was started in 1963 at the University of Michigan by political scientist J. David Singer. Concerned with collecting data about the history of wars and conflict among s ...
project, patriotism in Germany before World War I ranked at or near the top, whereas today it ranks at or near the bottom of patriotism surveys. However, there are also other surveys according to which modern Germany is indeed very patriotic.
History
Defining a German nation
Defining a German nation based on internal characteristics presented difficulties. In reality, most group memberships in "Germany" centered on other, mostly personal or regional ties (for example, to the
Lehnsherren) - before the formation of modern nations. Indeed, quasi-national institutions are a basic prerequisite for the creation of a national identity that goes beyond the association of persons. Since the start of the
Reformation
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...
in the 16th century, the German lands had been divided between
Catholics and
Lutherans and linguistic diversity was large as well. Today, the
Swabian,
Bavarian,
Saxon and
Cologne
Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
dialects in their most pure forms are estimated to be 40%
mutually intelligible with more modern
Standard German
Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the umbrella term for the standard language, standardized varieties of the German language, which are used in formal contexts and for commun ...
, meaning that in a conversation between any native speakers of any of these dialects and a person who speaks only standard German, the latter will be able to understand slightly less than half of what is being said without any prior knowledge of the dialect, a situation which is likely to have been similar or greater in the 19th century. To a lesser extent, however, this fact hardly differs from other regions in Europe.
Nationalism among the Germans first developed not among the general populace but among the intellectual elites of various German states. The early German nationalist
Friedrich Karl von Moser, writing in the mid 18th century, remarked that, compared with "the British, Swiss, Dutch and Swedes", the Germans lacked a "national way of thinking".
[Jansen, Christian (2011), "The Formation of German Nationalism, 1740–1850," in: Helmut Walser Smith (Ed.), ]
The Oxford Handbook of Modern German History
'. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 234-259; here: p. 239-240. However, the cultural elites themselves faced difficulties in defining the German nation, often resorting to broad and vague concepts: the Germans as a "Sprachnation" (a people unified by the same language), a "Kulturnation" (a people unified by the same culture) or an "Erinnerungsgemeinschaft" (a community of remembrance, i.e. sharing a common history).
Johann Gottlieb Fichte – considered the founding father of German nationalism – devoted the 4th of his ''
Addresses to the German Nation'' (1808) to defining the German nation and did so in a very broad manner. In his view, there existed a dichotomy between the people of Germanic descent. There were those who had left their fatherland (which Fichte considered to be Germany) during the time of the
Migration Period and had become either assimilated or heavily influenced by
Roman language
Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...
,
culture
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
and
customs
Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...
, and those who stayed in their native lands and continued to hold on to their own culture.
Later German nationalists were able to define their nation more precisely, especially following the rise of
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
and formation of the
German Empire
The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...
in 1871 which gave the majority of German-speakers in Europe a common political, economic and educational framework. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, some German nationalists added elements of racial ideology, ultimately culminating in the
Nuremberg Laws, sections of which sought to determine by law and genetics who was to be considered German.
19th century
It was not until the concept of nationalism itself was developed by German philosopher
Johann Gottfried Herder that German nationalism began. German nationalism was
Romantic in nature and was based upon the principles of collective self-determination, territorial unification and cultural identity, and a political and cultural programme to achieve those ends. The German
Romantic nationalism derived from the
Enlightenment era philosopher
Jean Jacques Rousseau's and
French Revolutionary philosopher
Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès' ideas of
naturalism and that legitimate nations must have been conceived in the
state of nature. This emphasis on the naturalness of ethno-linguistic nations continued to be upheld by the early-19th-century Romantic German nationalists
Johann Gottlieb Fichte,
Ernst Moritz Arndt, and
Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, who all were proponents of
Pan-Germanism.
The invasion of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
(HRE) by Napoleon's
French Empire and its subsequent dissolution brought about a German
liberal nationalism as advocated primarily by the German middle-class bourgeoisie who advocated the creation of a modern German
nation-state based upon
liberal democracy,
constitutionalism, representation, and
popular sovereignty while opposing
absolutism. Fichte in particular brought German nationalism forward as a response to the French occupation of German territories in his ''
Addresses to the German Nation'' (1808), evoking a sense of German distinctiveness in language, tradition, and literature that composed a common identity.
After the defeat of France in the
Napoleonic Wars
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Napoleonic Wars
, partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
, image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg
, caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
at the
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...
, German nationalists tried but failed to establish Germany as a nation-state, instead the
German Confederation was created that was a loose collection of independent German states that lacked strong federal institutions. Economic integration between the German states was achieved by the creation of the ''
Zollverein'' ("Custom Union") of Germany in 1818 that existed until 1866. The move to create the ''Zollverein'' was led by
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
and the Zollverein was dominated by Prussia, causing resentment and tension between
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
and Prussia.
Romantic nationalism
The Romantic movement was essential in spearheading the upsurge of
German nationalism in the 19th century and especially the popular movement aiding the resurgence of
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
after its defeat to
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
in the 1806
Battle of Jena.
Johann Gottlieb Fichte's 1808 ''
Addresses to the German Nation'',
Heinrich von Kleist's fervent patriotic stage dramas before his death, and
Ernst Moritz Arndt's
war poetry during the
anti-Napoleonic struggle of 1813-15 were all instrumental in shaping the character of German nationalism for the next one-and-a-half century in a
racialized ethnic rather than
civic nationalist direction. Romanticism also played a role in the popularization of the
Kyffhäuser myth, about the
Emperor Frederick Barbarossa sleeping atop the
Kyffhäuser mountain and being expected to rise in a given time and save Germany) and the legend of the
Lorelei (by
Brentano and
Heine) among others.
The
Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
movement later appropriated the nationalistic elements of Romanticism, with Nazi chief ideologue
Alfred Rosenberg writing: "The reaction in the form of German Romanticism was therefore as welcome as rain after a long drought. But in our own era of universal cosmopolitanism, internationalism, it becomes necessary to follow this racially linked Romanticism to its core, and to free it from certain nervous convulsions which still adhere to it." Paul Joseph Goebbels, Joseph Goebbels told theatre directors on 8 May 1933, just two days before the Nazi book burnings in Berlin, that: "German art of the next decade will be heroic, it will be like steel, it will be Romantic, non-sentimental, factual; it will be national with great pathos, and at once obligatory and binding, or it will be nothing."
This made scholars and critics like Fritz Strich, Thomas Mann and Victor Klemperer, who before the war were supporters of Romanticism, to reconsider their stance after the war and the Nazi experience and to adopt a more anti-Romantic position.
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine, Heinrich Heine parodied such Romantic modernizations of medieval folkloric myths by 19th century German nationalists in the "''Barbarossa''" chapter of his large 1844 poem ''Deutschland. Ein Wintermarchen, Germany. A Winter's Tale'':
Forgive, O Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor, Barbarossa, my hasty words!
I do not possess a wise soul
Like you, and I have little patience,
So, please, come back soon, after all!
...
Restore the old Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, Holy Roman Empire,
As it was, whole and immense.
Bring back all its musty junk,
And all its foolish nonsense.
The Middle Ages I’ll endure,
If you bring back the genuine item;
Just rescue us from this bastard state,
And from its farcical system...
Revolutions of 1848 to German Unification of 1871

The Revolutions of 1848 led to many revolutions in various German states, but widespread national feeling for a united Germandom still seemed elusive.
Nationalists did seize power in a number of German states, and assembled an Frankfurt Parliament , all-German parliament in Frankfurt in May 1848. The Frankfurt Parliament attempted to write a national constitution for all German states, but rivalry between Prussian and Austrian interests resulted in the parliament advocating a "small German" solution (a monarchical German nation-state without the multi-ethnic Austria of the Habsburgs) with the German State Crown, imperial crown of Germany being granted to the King of Prussia. The King of Prussia refused the offer, and efforts to create a leftist German nation-state faltered and collapsed.
In the aftermath of the failed attempt to establish a liberal German nation-state, rivalry between Prussia and Austria intensified under the agenda of
Otto von Bismarck
Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (; born ''Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck''; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as ...
, who became Minister President of Prussia from 1862 and blocked all attempts by Austria to join the . A division developed among German nationalists: one group led by the Prussians supported a "Lesser Germany" that excluded Austria or its German-speaking part, and another group advocated for a "Greater Germany" that included Austria. The Prussians sought a Lesser Germany to allow Prussia to assert hegemony over Germany that would not be guaranteed in a Greater Germany. This was a major propaganda point later asserted by Hitler.
By the late 1850s German nationalists emphasized military solutions. The mood fed on hatred of the French, a fear of Russia, a rejection of the 1815 Vienna settlement, and a cult of patriotic hero-warriors. War seemed a desirable means of speeding up change and progress. Nationalists thrilled to the image of an entire people in arms. Bismarck harnessed the national movement's martial pride and desire for unity and glory to weaken the political threat the liberal opposition posed to Prussia's conservatism.
Prussia achieved hegemony over Germany in the "wars of unification": the Second Schleswig War (1864), the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 (which effectively excluded Austria from Germany), and the Franco-Prussian War (1870 - 1871). A German nation-state was founded in 1871 called the
German Empire
The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...
. It embodied a "Lesser Germany", with the King of Prussia taking the throne as German Emperor () and Bismarck becoming Chancellor of Germany.
From 1871 to World War I, 1914–1918
Unlike the prior German nationalism of 1848 that was based upon liberal values, the German nationalism utilized by supporters of the German Empire was based upon Prussian authoritarianism, and was conservative, reactionary, anti-Catholic, liberalism, anti-liberal and Anti-socialism, anti-socialist in nature. The German Empire's supporters advocated a Germany based upon Prussian and Protestant cultural dominance. This German nationalism focused on German identity based upon the historical crusading Teutonic Order. These nationalists supported a German national identity claimed to be based on Bismarck's ideals that included Teutonic values of willpower, loyalty, honesty, and perseverance.
The Catholic Church, Catholic-Protestant divide in Germany at times created extreme tension and hostility between Catholic and Protestant Germans after 1871, such as in response to the policy of ''Kulturkampf'' in
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
by German Chancellor and Prussian Prime Minister
Otto von Bismarck
Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (; born ''Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck''; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as ...
, that sought to dismantle Catholic Church, Catholic culture in Prussia, that provoked outrage amongst Germany's Catholics and resulted in the rise of the pro-Catholic Centre Party (Germany), Centre Party and the Bavarian People's Party.
There have been rival nationalists within Germany, particularly Bavarian nationalism, Bavarian nationalists who claim that the terms that Bavaria entered into Germany in 1871 were controversial and have claimed the German government has long intruded into the domestic affairs of Bavaria.
German nationalists in the German Empire who advocated a Greater Germany during the Bismarck era focused on overcoming dissidence by Protestant Germans to the inclusion of Catholic Germans in the state by creating the ''Los von Rom!'' ("Away from Rome!") movement that advocated assimilation of Catholic Germans to Protestantism. During the time of the
German Empire
The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...
, a third faction of German nationalists (especially in the Austrian parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) advocated a strong desire for a Greater Germany but, unlike earlier concepts, led by Prussia instead of Austria; they were known as ''Pan-Germanism, Alldeutsche''.
Social Darwinism, messianism, and Racialism (racial categorization), racialism began to become themes used by German nationalists after 1871 based on the concepts of a people's community (''Volksgemeinschaft'').
Colonial empire
An important element of German nationalism, as promoted by the government and intellectual elite, was the emphasis on Germany asserting itself as a world economic and military power, aimed at competing with French Third Republic, France and the British Empire for world power. German colonial rule in Africa (1884–1914) was an expression of nationalism and moral superiority that was justified by constructing and employing an image of the natives as "Other". This approach highlighted racist views of mankind. German colonization was characterized by the use of repressive violence in the name of ‘culture’ and ‘civilization’, concepts that had their origins in the Enlightenment. Germany's cultural-missionary project boasted that its colonial programs were humanitarian and educational endeavors. Furthermore, the widespread acceptance among intellectuals of social Darwinism justified Germany's right to acquire colonial territories as a matter of the ‘survival of the fittest’, according to historian Michael Schubert.
Interwar period, 1918–1933

The government established after WWI, the Weimar republic, established a law of nationality that was based on pre-unification notions of the German Volk (German word), volk as an ethno-racial group defined more by heredity than modern notions of citizenship; the laws were intended to include Germans who had immigrated and to exclude immigrant groups. These laws remained the basis of German citizenship laws until after reunification.
[
The government and economy of the Weimar republic was weak; Germans were dissatisfied with the government, the punitive conditions of war reparations and territorial losses of the Treaty of Versailles as well as the effects of Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic, hyperinflation. Economic, social, and political cleavages fragmented Germany's society. Eventually the Weimar Republic collapsed under these pressures and the political maneuverings of leading German officials and politicians.
]
Nazi Germany, 1933–1945
The Nazi Party (NSDAP), led by Austrian-born Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
, believed in an extreme form of German nationalism. The first point of the National Socialist Program, Nazi 25-point programme was that "We demand the unification of all Germans in the German question#Later influence, Greater Germany on the basis of the people's right to self-determination". Hitler, an Austrian-German by birth, began to develop his strong patriotic Pan-Germanism, German nationalist views from a very young age. He was greatly influenced by many other Austrian pan-German nationalists in Austria-Hungary, notably Georg Ritter von Schönerer and Karl Lueger. Hitler's pan-German ideas envisioned a Greater German Reich which was to include the Austrian Germans, Sudeten Germans and other ethnic Germans. The annexing of Austria ''(Anschluss)'' and the Sudetenland ''(Sudetenland#Sudetenland as part of Nazi Germany, annexing of Sudetenland)'' completed Nazi Germany's desire to the German nationalism of the German Volksdeutsche (people/folk).
The ''Generalplan Ost'' called for the extermination, expulsion, Germanization or enslavement of most or all Czechs, Poles, Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians for the purpose of providing more Lebensraum, living space for the German people.
From 1945 to the present
After WWII, the German nation was divided into two states, West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
and East Germany, and the former German territories east of the Oder–Neisse line were made part of Poland and Russia. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany which served as the constitution for West Germany was conceived and written as a provisional document, with the hope of reuniting East and West Germany in mind. Saarland was separated by France to become Saar Protectorate, its protectorate in 1946, but later joined West Germany in early 1957.
The formation of the European Economic Community, and latterly the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
, was driven in part by forces inside and outside Germany that sought to embed Germany identity more deeply in a broader European identity, in a kind of "collaborative nationalism".
The reunification of Germany became a central theme in West German politics, and was made a central tenet of the East German Socialist Unity Party of Germany, albeit in the context of a Marxist vision of history in which the government of West Germany would be swept away in a proletarian revolution.[
The question of Germans and former German territory in Poland, as well as the status of Königsberg as part of Russia, remained hard, with people in West Germany advocating to take that territory back through the 1960s.][ East Germany confirmed the border with Poland in 1950, while West Germany, after a period of refusal, finally accepted the border (with reservations) in 1970.]
The desire of the German people to be one nation again remained strong, but was accompanied by a feeling of hopelessness through the 1970s and into the 1980s; Die Wende, when it arrived in the late 1980s driven by the East German people, came as a surprise, leading to the East German general election, 1990, 1990 elections which put a government in place that negotiated the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany and reunited East and West Germany, and the process of inner reunification began.[
The reunification was opposed in several quarters both inside and outside Germany, including Margaret Thatcher, Jürgen Habermas, and Günter Grass, out of fear of that a united Germany might resume its aggression toward other countries. Just prior to reunification West Germany had gone through a national debate, called Historikerstreit, over how to regard its Nazi past, with one side claiming that there was nothing specifically German about Nazism, and that the German people should let go its shame over the past and look forward, proud of its national identity, and others holding that Nazism grew out of German identity and the nation needed to remain responsible for its past and guard carefully against any recrudescence of Nazism. This debate did not give comfort to those concerned about whether a reunited Germany might be a danger to other countries, nor did the rise of skinhead neo-nazi groups in the former East Germany, as exemplified by riots in Hoyerswerda in 1991.] An identity-based nationalist backlash arose after unification as people reached backward to answer "the German question", leading to violence by four Neo-Nazi/Far-right politics in Germany, far-right parties which were all banned by Germany's Federal Constitutional Court after committing or inciting violence: the Nationalist Front (Germany), Nationalist Front, National Offensive, German Alternative, and the Kamaradenbund.[
One of the key questions for the reunified government, was how to define a German citizen. The laws inherited from the Weimar republic that based citizenship on heredity had been taken to their extreme by the Nazis and were unpalatable and fed the ideology of German far-right nationalist parties like the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) which was founded in 1964 from other far-right groups.] Additionally, West Germany had received large numbers of immigrants (especially Turks in Germany, Turks), membership in the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
meant that people could move more or less freely across national borders within Europe, and due to its declining birthrate even united Germany needed to receive about 300,000 immigrants per year in order to maintain its workforce.[ (Germany had been importing workers ever since its post-war German economic miracle, "economic miracle" through its Gastarbeiter program.) The Christian Democratic Union of Germany, Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union in Bavaria, Christian Social Union government that was elected throughout the 1990s did not change the laws, but around 2000 a new coalition led by the Social Democratic Party of Germany came to power and made changes to the law defining who was a German based on ''jus soli'' rather than ''jus sanguinis''.][
The issue of how to address its Turkish population has remained a difficult issue in Germany; many Turks have not integrated and have formed a parallel society inside Germany, and issues of using education or legal penalties to drive integration have roiled Germany from time to time, and issues of what a "German" is, accompany debates about "the Turkish question".]
Pride in being German remained a difficult issue; one of the surprises of the 2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...
which was held in Germany, were widespread displays of national pride by Germans, which seemed to take even the Germans themselves by surprise and cautious delight. In a 2011 article published by the University of Pennsylvania, it was stated that:"Patriotism in Germany has been a taboo topic since the time of Adolf Hitler, with the vast majority of Germans accepting that they cannot express any form of national pride".
Germany's role in managing the European debt crisis, especially with regard to the Greek government-debt crisis, led to criticism from some quarters, especially within Greece, of Germany wielding its power in a harsh and authoritarian way that was reminiscent of its authoritarian past and identity.
Tensions over the European debt crisis and the European migrant crisis and the rise of right-wing populism sharpened questions of German identity around 2010. The Alternative for Germany party was created in 2013 as a backlash against further European integration and bailouts of other countries during the European debt crisis; from its founding to 2017 the party took on nationalist and populist stances, rejecting German guilt over the Nazi era and calling for Germans to take pride in their history and accomplishments.
In the 2014 European Parliament election in Germany, 2014 European Parliament election, the NPD won their first ever seat in the European Parliament, but lost it again in the 2019 EU election.
German nationalism in Austria
After the Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas, Revolutions of 1848/49, in which the liberal nationalistic revolutionaries advocated the Greater German solution, the Austrian defeat in the Austro-Prussian War (1866) with the effect that Austria was now excluded from Germany, and increasing ethnic conflicts in the Habsburg monarchy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a German national movement evolved in Austria. Led by the radical German nationalist and anti-semite Georg Ritter von Schönerer, Georg von Schönerer, organisations like the ''Pan-German Society'' demanded the link-up of all German-speaking territories of the Danube Monarchy to the German Empire, and decidedly rejected Austrian patriotism. Schönerer's völkisch and racist German nationalism was an inspiration to Hitler's ideology. In 1933, Austrian National Socialism, Austrian Nazis and the national-liberal Greater German People's Party formed an action group, fighting together against the Austrofascism, Austrofascist regime which imposed a distinct Austrian national identity. Whilst it violated the Treaty of Versailles terms, Hitler, a native of Austria, unified the two German states together ''"(Anschluss)"'' in 1938. This meant the historic aim of Austria's German nationalists was achieved and a German question#Later influence, Greater German Reich briefly existed until the end of the war. After 1945, the German national camp was revived in the Federation of Independents and the Freedom Party of Austria.
In addition to a form of nationalism in Austria that looked toward Germany, there have also been forms of Austrian nationalism that rejected Anschluss, unification of Austria with Germany and German identity on the basis of preserving Austrians' Catholic Church in Austria, Catholic religious identity from the potential danger posed by being part of a Protestant-majority Germany, as well as their different historical heritage regarding their mainly Celts, Celtic (It is location of first Celtic culture[Carl Waldman, Catherine Mason. ''Encyclopedia of European Peoples''. Infobase Publishing, 2006. P. 42.] and Celts were its first settlers), Slavs, Slavic, Pannonian Avars, Avar, Rhaetian people, Rhaethian and Ancient Rome, Roman origin prior to the colonization (of the Germanic peoples, Germanic) Bavarians, Bavarii. In addition; some states of Austria also recognize minority languages as their official languages beside German such as Croatian language, Croatian, Slovenian language, Slovenian, and Hungarian language, Hungarian.
Symbols
File:Flag of Germany.svg, Flag of Germany, originally designed in 1848 and used at the Frankfurt Parliament, then by the Weimar Republic, and the basis of the flags of East and West Germany from 1949 until today
File:Flag of the German Empire.svg, Flag of the German Empire, originally designed in 1867 for the North German Confederation, it was adopted as the flag of Germany in 1871. This flag was used by opponents of the Weimar Republic who saw the black-red-yellow flag as a symbol of it. Recently it has been used by far-right nationalists in Germany.
File:Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg, Flag of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. This flag was used by the Nazi Party and is now banned in many European countries, including Germany and Austria. The flag is used today by neo-Nazis. It is based on the colours of the flag of the German Empire.
Nationalist political parties
Current
In Germany
*Alternative for Germany (2013–present)
*Christian Centre, Christian Centre — For a Germany according to GOD's commandments (1988–present)
*German Party (1993) (1993–present)
*National Democratic Party of Germany (1964–present)
*The Republicans (Germany), The Republicans (1983–present)
*Third Way (Germany), Third Way (2013–present)
In Austria
*Freedom Party of Austria (1956–present)
Defunct
In Germany
*All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights (1950–1961)
*Citizens in Rage (2004–June 2023)
*Free Conservative Party (1867–1918)
*Free German Workers' Party (1979–1995)
*German Party (1947), German Party (1947–1960)
*German People's Union (1987–2011)
*National Democratic Party of Germany (East Germany), National Democratic Party of Germany (1948–1990)
*National Offensive (1990–1992)
*German Fatherland Party (1917–1918)
*German National People's Party (1918–1933)
*Deutsche Reichspartei, German Reich Party (1950–1964)
*Deutsche Rechtspartei, German Right Party (1946–1950)
*German Social Union (West Germany), German Social Union (1956–1962)
*German Socialist Party (1918–1922)
*German Social Party (Weimar Republic), German Social Party (1921–1929)
*German Völkisch Freedom Party (1922–1924)
*German Workers' Party (1919–1920)
*Harzburg Front (1931–1933)
*National Liberal Party (Germany), National Liberal Party (1867–1918)
*National Socialist Freedom Movement (1924–1925)
*Nazi Party, National Socialist German Workers' Party (1920–45)
*National-Social Association (1896–1903)
*Nationalist Front (Germany), Nationalist Front (1985–1992)
*Old Social Democratic Party of Germany (1926–1932)
*Pro Germany Citizens' Movement (2005–2017)
*Pro NRW (2007–2019)
*Volkssozialistische Bewegung Deutschlands/Partei der Arbeit, People's Socialist Movement of Germany/Labour Party (1971–1982)
*Socialist Reich Party (1949–1952)
*Völkisch-Social Bloc (1924–1924)
*Völkisch Work Community (1920s–1933)
In Austria
*Federation of Independents (1949–1955)
*Freedom Party in Carinthia (1986–2010)
*German People's Party (Austria), German People's Party (1896–1920)
*German-National Party (????–????)
*Greater German People's Party (1920–1934)
*Landbund (1919–1934)
*National Democratic Party (Austria, 1967–88), National Democratic Party (1967–1988)
In Austria-Hungary
*Deutscher Nationalverband, German National Association (1911–1917)
*German Workers' Party (Austria-Hungary), German Workers' Party (1903–1918)
In Czechoslovakia
*German National Party (1919–1933)
*German National Socialist Workers' Party (Czechoslovakia), German National Socialist Workers' Party (1919–1933)
*Sudeten German Party, Sudeten German and Carpathian German Party (1935–1938)
*Sudeten German Party (1933–1935)
In Liechtenstein
*German National Movement in Liechtenstein (1938–1945)
In Luxembourg
*Volksdeutsche Bewegung, Ethnic German Movement (1940–1945)
In Poland
*Deutscher Volksverband, German People's Union in Poland (1924–????)
*Jungdeutsche Partei, Young German Party in Poland (1931–????)
In Romania
*German Party (Romania), German Party (1919–1944)
*German People's Party (Romania), German People's Party (1935–1938)
In Slovakia
*German Party (Slovakia), German Party (1938–1945)
In Switzerland
*Eidgenössische Sammlung, Federal Collection (1940–1943)
*National Front (Switzerland), National Front (1933–1940)
*National Movement of Switzerland (1940–1940)
*Volkspartei der Schweiz, People's Party of Switzerland (1951–????)
*Swiss Nationalist Party (2000–2022)
Personalities
*Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
*Albert Speer
*Anton Drexler
*Arminius
*Claus von Stauffenberg
*Erich Ludendorff
*Ernst Jünger
*Ernst Niekisch
*Gregor Strasser
*Heinrich Himmler
*Hermann Goering
*Joseph Goebbels
*Karl Dönitz
*Otto Ernst Remer
*Otto Strasser
*Otto von Bismarck
Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (; born ''Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck''; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as ...
*Rudolf Hess
*Wilhelm II, German Emperor, Wilhelm II
See also
*Antisemitism in 21st century Germany
*Austrian nationalism
*Deutschtum
*Völkisch nationalism
**Völkisch movement
*German diaspora
*Nordicism
*Racism in Germany
*Reichsbürgerbewegung
*Scandinavism
*Unification of Germany
*War guilt question
*Prussian nationalism
*Swiss nationalism
References
Citations
Works cited
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Further reading
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*Helmut Walser Smith. 2020. ''Germany: A Nation in Its Time, Before, During, and After Nationalism, 1500–2000''. W.W. Norton.
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{{Authority control
German nationalism,
History of Europe
Antisemitism in Germany