A number of völkisch movements that had developed during the late 19th century in the German Empire, under the impress of National Romanticism, were reorganized along propagandistic lines after the German defeat in World War I. The untranslatable word völkisch has connotations of "people- powered" and "folkloric". The movement combined sentimental patriotic interest in German folklore, local history and a "back-to-the-land" anti-urbanism that is misinterpreted now as a concern with ecology in its modern sense, with the arcane and conspiratorial aspects of occultism, along with "racial superiority" and anti-Semitism linked to ethnic nationalism. The ideas of völkisch movements also included anti-liberal, anti-immigration, anti-capitalist, and anti-democracy. Their ideologies were influential in the development of Nazism. Indeed, Joseph Goebbels publicly asserted in the 1927 Nuremberg rally that if the völkisch movement had understood power and how to bring thousands out in the streets, it would have gained political power on 9 November 1918, Armistice Day [1]  (http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/rpt27c1.htm). The term German Empire (Deutsches Reich) commonly refers to Germany, from its consolidation as a unified nation-state on January 18, 1871, until the abdication of Kaiser ( Emperor) Wilhelm II on November 9, 1918. ... Liberty leading the people, embodying the Romantic view of the French Revolution of 1830; its painter Eugène Delacroix also served as an elected deputy Romantic nationalism (also organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of a... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... German folklore was an idea originally created by Johann Gottfried von Herder. ... Local history is the study of the history of a relatively small geographic area; typically a specific settlement, parish or county. ... Ecology can mean either: the natural environment, or an analysis or study using the principles and methods of ecological science. ... For other uses of this term, see occult (disambiguation). ... An African-American drinks out of a water cooler designated for use by colored patrons in 1939 at a streetcar terminal in Oklahoma City. ... Anti-Semitism (alternatively spelled antisemitism) is hostility towards Jews (not: Semites - see the Misnomer section further on). ... Ethnic nationalism is the form of nationalism in which the state derives political legitimacy from historical cultural or hereditary groupings (ethnicities); the underlying assumption is that ethnicities should be politically distinct. ... The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ... Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels (October 29, 1897 – May 1, 1945) was Adolf Hitlers Propaganda Minister (see Propagandaministerium) in Nazi Germany. ... This article is about the city in Germany. ... Armistice Day is the anniversary of the official end of World War I, November 11, 1918. ...

The secret society called the Teutonic Order or the German Order, representing pathological nationalism in an extreme form, was founded in Berlin in 1912 by Theodor Fritsch, Hermann Pohl, Philipp Stauff as a splinter group formed from the Masonic Germanische Glaubensgemeinschaft ("Community for German Beliefs"), founded in 1907 by Professor Ludwig Fahrenkrog of Bremen. A typical Völkisch organization, it required its candidates to prove that they had no non-Aryan bloodlines and required each to promise to maintain purity of his stock in marriage. Local groups of the sect met to celebrate the summer solstice, an important neopagan festivity in Völkisch circles and later in Nazi Germany, and more regularly to read the Eddas as well as some of the German mystics [2]  (http://www.intelinet.org/swastika/swasti01.htm#anchor36373). Theodor Fritsch (1852-1933) was a rabid German anti-semite whose views did much to influence popular German opinion against Jews in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ... The summer solstice is an astronomical term regarding the position of the Sun in relation to the celestial equator. ... Neopaganism (sometimes Neo-Paganism, meaning New Paganism) is a heterogeneous group of religions which attempt to revive ancient, mainly European pre-Christian religions. ... For Edda great-grandmother as the ancestress of serfs see Ríg. ...

Another Völkisch society, the Thule-Gesellschaft (Thule Society), was founded August 17, 1918, by Rudolf von Sebottendorff. Its original name was Studiengruppe für Germanisches Altertum (Study Group for German Antiquity), but it soon started to disseminate anti-republican and anti-Semitic propaganda. The Thule Society was instrumental in the foundation of the Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei (German Workers' Party, or DAP) which later became the NSDAP (Nazi Party). It had members from the top echelons of the party, including Rudolf Hess and Alfred Rosenberg, though not Adolf Hitler. Its press organ was the Münchener Beobachter (Munich Observer) which later became the Völkischer Beobachter (People's Observer). The Thule-Gesellschaft (Thule Society) was founded August 17, 1918, by Rudolf von Sebottendorff. ... Thule is, in the Greek and Roman mythologies, a place, usually an island, in the far north, perhaps Scandinavia. ... August 17 is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1918 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Rudolf Freiherr von Sebottendorf was the alias of Adam Alfred Rudolf Glauer (November 9, 1875 – May 8, 1945), who also occasionally used another alias, Erwin Torre. ... Anti-Semitism (alternatively spelled antisemitism) is hostility towards Jews (not: Semites - see the Misnomer section further on). ... The National Socialist German Workers Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), better known as the NSDAP or the Nazi Party was a political party that was led to power in Germany by Adolf Hitler in 1933. ... The Nazi swastika symbol The National Socialist German Workers Party ( German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), better known as the NSDAP or the Nazi Party was a political party that was led to power in Germany by Adolf Hitler in 1933. ... Rudolf Hess Rudolf Hess should not be confused with the other prominent Nazi, Rudolf Höß (also spelled Höss or Hoess. ... Alfred Rosenberg in 1933 Alfred Rosenberg ( January 12, 1893– October 16, 1946) was a Nazi ideologist and politician. ... Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945), a German politician who was the founder of the Third Reich (1933-1945), is widely regarded as one of the most significant and reviled leaders in world history. ...

Adolf Hitler wrote in the Mein Kampf (My Struggle) "the basic ideas of the National-Socialist movement are völkisch and the völkisch ideas are National-Socialist." Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945), a German politician who was the founder of the Third Reich (1933-1945), is widely regarded as one of the most significant and reviled leaders in world history. ... Mein Kampf (German My Struggle) is a book written by Adolf Hitler, combining elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitlers political ideology, National Socialism. ...

Another völkisch movement of the same time was the Tatkreis. The Tatkreis, or Action Circle, was a Völkisch movement which existed during the era of the Weimar Republic. ...