Germans living outside the borders of the Deutsches Reich were commonly referred to in Germany as Volks-Deutsche, or ethnic Germans, despite their possible citizenship in other sovereign states or personal feelings of connection to Germany or lack of personal feelings of connection to Germany. For intance, the German-speaking citizens of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were citizens of a much older polity than the German Empire.
This is sometimes called the Second Reich, with the Holy Roman Empire being the first and Nazi Germany being the third.
see also
![[Home]](wikipedia.png)