Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Pan Germanicism

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Pan-Germanicism is an ideology that promotes the unity of the Germanic peoples.

History

Pan-Germanicism became especially significant beginning in 19th century Germany as a nationalist concept where it was promoted alongside pan-German ideas.

In the 20th century the German Nazi Party sought to create a Greater Germanic Reich that would include most of the Germanic peoples of Europe within it under the leadership of Germany, including peoples such as the Danes, the Dutch, the Norwegians, and the Flemish within it, with the possible exception of the British.

Pan-Germanicism met resistance within Scandinavian nations in the 19th century. They promoted Scandinavism (or pan-Scandinavianism) while rejecting pan-Germanicism, viewing Scandinavians as the "Old North" - descendents of the original Nordic peoples. Consequently, they were disgusted by the Germans attempting to dominate them, as they viewed Germans as inheritors of Nordic culture. Anti-German Scandinavism surged in Denmark in the 1930s and 1940s in response to the pan-Germanic ambitions of Nazi Germany.

References

Pan-Germanicism Wikipedia