Everything about German Reich totally explained
Deutsches Reich was the name for
Germany from
1871 to
1945 in the
German language. Its direct literal translation in
English is "
German Empire", however this full translation is only used 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" .
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 wasn't 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.
Under Hohenzollern rule, the German Reich was officially known 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 Convention. If "Empire" were still a valid word 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" doesn't 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, doesn't actually connote a monarchy.
Heads of state
The German Reich since 1945
End of World War II
On
8 May 1945, the commencement of the
capitulation of the German armed forces, the
supreme command of the
Wehrmacht was handed over to the
Allies. The Allies decided not 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
1972 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 emphasized 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.
Reunified Germany
When the
Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany between Germany and the war time Allies was signed on
September 12, 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'd to ratify, one of which was the creation of a united Germany which to come into existence had to also agree to certain conditions agreed in the treaty. On meeting these conditions under Article 7.2 "The United Germany [has] accordingly full sovereignty over its internal and external affairs."
Further Information
Get more info on 'German Reich'.
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