Das Dritte Reich: A Contribution to the Study of the Idea of the "Third Kingdom" in German Literature from Herder to Hegel

Abstract

'Das dritte Reich,' 'the Third Realm,' is the name given to the present political state established by the National Socialist party in Germany, but even in Germany there is no unanimity as to what were the first and second realmsl, and it is not generally known that it is unnecessary to give any specific political divisions, for 'the Third Realm' or, to give it the correct translation, 'the Third Kingdom,' is, in reality, an application of the old name, 'das dritte Reich,' which denotes a period of political and individual perfection and has long played an important part in German philosophy. It is usually accepted that it was Lessing who introduced the idea into German thought, but that Lessing's theory has little in common with the later conception which became synonymous with 'justification of the senses' and was part of the doctrines of the SaintSimonians and the Young German Movement. An attempt to show that the theory of the three stages of human progress was not confined to Lessing but was one of the chief problems in the thought of the eighteenth century, that the religion of the Young German Movement was the natural outcome of this thought and therefore not directly indebted to French influence, and that the idea still greatly influences the politics and thought of German youth to-day, may be especially appropriate at this time when 'das dritte Reich' is a topic of general interest. Aspirations to a future state of perfection on earth are characteristic of man and were fostered by the vision of the Apocalypse, the preaching of Joachim Floris, who in the thirteenth century foretold the coming of a third kingdom, that of the Holy Ghost, the dreams of the New Jerusalem of Antoinette Bourignon de la Porte, whose works were known to Herder2, and the allegory of a new dawn, as in the Aurora of Jakob Bohme. Belief in Chiliasm was widespread in Germany. Herder and Goethe refer sceptically to the teaching of Bengel, Crusius and Petersen3,