Deutsches Reich was the official name for
Germany from 1871 to 1945 in the
German language. The direct literal translation, "
German Empire", is used only when describing Germany under Hohenzollern rule (until 1918). For the entire 1871–1945 period, the English name given for Germany was the partially translated "
German Reich" ().
Following the German
Kaiser's (Emperor's) abdication of the German Empire after
World War I, the word "Empire" was dropped and the official name used in English was the "German Reich". Informally, this nation was also simply known as
Germany.
The name "Deutsches Reich" was also often applied in contemporary maps to the
supranational Holy Roman Empire (911–1806). The
history of Germany during the time of the (second) German Reich is conventionally broken into three distinct periods:
- the democratic republic, known retrospectively as the Weimar Republic (1919–33)
- the totalitarian dictatorship commonly known as the Third Reich or Nazi Germany (1933–45)
Following the
de-facto annexation of Austria in 1938, Germany informally named itself the
Greater German Reich (). This name was made the official state name only during the last two years (1943–45) of Nazi rule.
The difference between "Reich" and "Empire"
While the German word "Reich" translates to the English word "empire" (it also translates to similar words such as "realm" or "domain"), this translation was not performed throughout the full existence of the German Reich. Historically, only 1871–1918 Germany — where Germany was under the rule of an
Emperor — is known in English as the "German Empire", while the term "German Reich" describes Germany from 1871 to 1945.
["Germany" in the Encyclopædia Britannica]Under Hohenzollern rule, the German Reich was officially known as the German Empire.
[ — an example of a legal document where Germany is officially referred to as "the German Empire"] After the events of World War I, the official English name for Germany was the "German Reich" and this name was used as such on legal documents and English-language international treaties — for example, the
Kellogg–Briand Pact and the
Geneva Conventions. If the term "Empire" were still considered valid at this point, it would have been used on these documents instead of "Reich".
Apart from official documents, post-WWI Germany was referred to as the "German Reich" — never as the "German Empire" — for example, by British politicians and the word "Reich" was used untranslated by Allied prosecutors throughout the
Nuremberg Trials, with "German Empire" only used to signify pre-1918 Germany.
The fact that the word "Reich" was never translated to "Empire" after 1918 has to do with the somewhat untranslatable nature of the word. In German, "Reich" does not presuppose a monarchical form of government, but in English, the word "Empire" almost certainly does, notwithstanding the fact that the
Latin word
imperium, from which "empire" is derived, does not actually connote a monarchy.
Old English had the word "
rīc" which was cognate with
Reich, but this term has long since fallen out of use, except perhaps in the compound "bishop
ric".
Heads of state
The German Reich since 1945
End of World War II
On 8 May 1945, with the
capitulation of the German armed forces, the
supreme command of the
Wehrmacht was handed over to the
Allies. The Allies refused to recognise
Karl Dönitz as
Reichspräsident or to recognise the legitimacy of his
Flensburg government (so-called because it was based at
Flensburg and controlled only a small area around the town) and, on 5 June 1945, the four powers signed the
Declaration Regarding the Defeat of Germany in Berlin, creating the
Allied Control Council, and assumed
de jure supreme authority with respect to Germany.
Divided Germany
In its 1973 review of the previous year's
Basic Treaty between East and West Germany, the
German Federal Constitutional Court (
Bundesverfassungsgericht) ruled that the
Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) is identical with the German Reich and not merely its
legal successor. The court also explained that the FRG had only partial identity in questions concerning the territory because the German Democratic Republic and
the Polish- and USSR-occupied territories were outside of FRG territory.
The view, however, was contested by most other countries of the world. The three Western allies, the Soviet Union and most other Western countries regarded the German Reich as still being one nation — not synonymous with either the West or East German state but rather the two states in collective. Other countries tended to regard the German Reich to have been divided into two states. As of 1974, East Germany's official stance was that the GDR was a new state that is German in nature — but not a successor state to the Reich — and that there were then two German states that were different nations. The
Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany was made with agreement of at least the Western allied forces. It is also worth noting that the FRG was held responsible for
reparations after the war, while the GDR denied any legal responsibility for the German Reich.
Reunified Germany
When the
Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany between Germany and the wartime Allies was signed on 12 September, 1990, there was no mention of the term
Deutsches Reich, however the Allies paraphrased the international legal personality of Germany as "Germany as a whole" in the English version of the text. Instead the
states of the Federal Republic of Germany (
West Germany, FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (
East Germany, GDR) agreed to be bound by certain conditions which they had to ratify, one of which was the creation of a united Germany — which to come into existence was also required to agree to certain treaty conditions. On meeting these conditions under Article 7.2 "The United Germany [has] accordingly full sovereignty over its internal and external affairs."
See also
