“Reich” means “empire” in German. National Socialist Germany—or Nazi Germany—led by Adolf Hitler from 1933 to 1945, was the Third Reich, characterized by a totalitarian, racist, and expansionist regime.
Following the Holy Roman Empire (the First Reich) and the Second Reich founded by Bismarck, Hitler came to power in 1933 and established the Third Reich amid an economic crisis that helped secure his election. Territorial conquests were a key objective for the Third Reich. The goal of Hitler (the Führer, or leader) and National Socialism—or Nazism—was to silence all political opposition and extend their power throughout Europe and even beyond.
The Third Reich was responsible for starting World War II. Convinced that they belonged to a “superior race,” the Nazis displayed a voracious thirst for conquest. By the end of the Reich in 1945, they had nearly achieved their goal, having carried out the Occupation of most of the European continent. The Third Reich relied on formidable structures: the Waffen-SS (an armed protection organization serving Hitler, which ran the extermination camps), the Gestapo (political police), the Wehrmacht (German army), and numerous other administrative, military, or paramilitary structures commanded by high-ranking Nazi officials zealously serving the Führer.
In addition to its hegemonic and expansionist ambitions, the Third Reich—a dictatorial and totalitarian regime—was characterized by racial and eugenic policies. The radical, planned, and industrialized genocide perpetrated against the Jews of Europe (6 million dead) and the Roma was also accompanied by discriminatory measures against homosexuals and people with disabilities.
Hitler’s hatred—and that of all Nazis—extends to intellectuals, artists, scientists, and all opponents of the regime (particularly communists) who dared to challenge the ideology of the Third Reich and refute the supposed superiority of the Germanic Aryan race over all other human groups.
After the Third Reich was defeated by France and its allies, Nazism was recognized as a criminal regime at the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal (November 1945–October 1946). It was charged primarily with war crimes and crimes against L’Humanité.
References:
– Shirer, William L. 1960, *The Third Reich: From Its Origins to Its Fall*, Volume 2. Presses de la Cité
– Arendt, Hannah, 1995, *The Origins of Totalitarianism*. Volume 3: *The Totalitarian System*. Editions du Seuil
