How did the word "Reich" become associated with Nazi Germany?

Question

Reich was the last name of a jewish guy

Answer 1

~Adolf Hitler had two primary allies in his early years before the Beer Hall Putsch, Herman Hess and Josef Goebels. It was on their ill-advised prompting that he attempted his failed coup. In Landsberg prison, he met Rheinhardt Reich. Reich and Hitler became steadfast friends and Reich was far more politically savvy than Hitler. Under the tutelage of Reich, Hitler first became Chancellor and then absolute ruler of Germany. Out of gratitude (and not in little part because Reich was a true German with Aryan ancestry) Hitler agreed to call his new empire "Reich" . 'Third' was added simply because of the rhythm and meter of the name (der Dritten Reiche). A poll by Goebels showed that name to have great popular appeal and Hitler win his early elections. It is akin to "The New Frontier" of Jack Kennedy or the "Great Society" of Lyndon Johnson.

Answer 2

Reich is the German word used by Nazi Germany to refer to Germany and the conquered territories. Nazi Germany was often referred to as the Third Reich; in Nazi propaganda, the First Reich referred to the Holy Roman Empire and the Second Reich referred to the German empire of 1871-1918.

But that word is not exclusively Nazi Germany's. It simply means "kingdom", "empire", or in a general sense "country" or "realm" in the common German language. For example, the country of Austria had always been known in German as Österreich, or "eastern kingdom", because it was a country to Germany's east. Austria retains that name today. In this usage, the word reich in Österreich has zero association to Nazi Germany.

Answer 3

Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer!

edit- Reich means Empire. The 1st Reich was the Holy Roman Empire, which lasted from 800 to 1806. The 2nd Reich was the Empire of Bismarck from 1871-1918. Hitler envisioned his 3rd Reich lasting 1000 years, like the first did.

Answer 4

Thorfinn didn't quite nail it.

The Hohenzollern dynasty under Kaiser Wilhelm I established the 2nd Reich after the Franco-Pussian War. Bismarck was the first Chancellor of the empire that was declared in 1871, a position he held for nearly 20 years, leaving office within 2 years of the accession of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1888.

BTW "reich" means rich, whether in terms of money or food, just as in English.

Answer 5

Hilter referred to Germany as the Third Reich.

Answer 6

The Nazis called their rule "the Third Reich" or the "Thousand year Reich".

Answer 7

reich means reign like the 1st reich was the form of government

Answer 8

It's the german word for empire.

Answer 9

Thorfinn nailed it.