The threefold character of the German territory

From the Handbook for Schooling the Hitler Youth

Chapter Seven: The German Territory (Handbook online is here)

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The following has been edited for greater brevity -cy

By German Territory we mean every region of central Europe inhabited by Germans in more or less permanent settlements, which has received its cultural imprint from the German people. This territory includes the heart of Europe, and it's location has influenced tremendously the historical fate of our people.

For many centuries it was the center of conflict for spiritual movements from the east and west, north and south. The spirit of north and south struggled against each other during the Thirty Years' War. During the last century our people had to struggle with the ideas of western liberalism and eastern Bolshevism. Warlike attacks threatened to destroy the very life and culture of the European continent; the Avars were overcome on the Danube in 735, the Magyars at Riade and Augsburg in 933 and 955, the Mongols at Liegnitz in 1241, and the Turks near Vienna in 1683. The German people have always been able to fulfill the task assigned to them by their central European location.

Furthermore, by reason of its central location Germany's neighbors, located on the rim of Europe, were forced to direct all their efforts for expansion and growth against German territory. The history of the German people is the story of innumerable wars in defense of its territory.

But the central position of the German territory also brought with it certain advantages. The German people became the medium of cultural and economic interaction among all the peoples of Europe, large and small. Traces of Germany's philosophy and outlook on life have, as a result, spread far beyond the borders of our frontiers. Many less populous peoples have received their cultural and spiritual standards from the disinterested leadership of the German people.

The position of the German territory in the midst of 25 foreign peoples has both its light and its dark sides. For a people torn to pieces and lacking unity such a position must always seem to be a curse, but for a Reich which is united, forcefully led, and strong, it signifies a blessing.

The threefold character of the German territory

In addition to the political area of the German Reich there is a German population area and a cultural area. The German Reich, the political area of the German people, includes only a small part of the German territory. Since the downfall of the emperor's power, as it was during the middle ages, the political area of the Reich has become smaller and more circumscribed. Several German states have broken away from the Reich and part of them have become completely estranged from the German people. Moreover some parts of the Reich have been seized by foreign peoples. (See the maps in the Handbook.)

The German population area extends as far as the German tongue wags. It extends far beyond the political frontiers of our Reich and includes the compact German population areas which are in the possession of non-German states. In spite of attempts by foreign peoples to win over the German population area, it has been mostly able to preserve its original boundaries. This is an indication of the strong vitality and unbending will of the German people. Millions of German comrades along the frontiers of the Reich are daily giving up goods and property, blood and life for the sake of the German population area.

The German culture area extends even farther, beyond the German population area toward the east. It includes lands of non-German peoples who have received their historical consciousness, their culture, and their national character from Germans. In this German culture area traces of German life are recognizable everywhere. German language, German art, and German law are present throughout the German culture area. Many large islands of Germans lie scattered about in it. They preserve intact, even today, the living bond between the German culture area and the Germans themselves.