Heinrich Claß (29 February 1868 – 16 April 1953) was a German right-wing politician, a Pan-Germanist, an

anti-Semite Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

and a "rabid racialist". He presided the Pan-German League from 1908 to 1939.

Early life

Claß was born in

Alzey Alzey () is a ''Verband''-free town – one belonging to no ''Verbandsgemeinde'' – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the fifth-largest town in Rhenish Hesse, after Mainz, Worms, Germany, Worms, Ingelheim am Rhei ...

. His father was a notary.Heinrich Claß 1868–1953
, Deutsches Historisches Museum He studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

at the

Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially ), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1 ...

and the

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the German-speaking world. It is named afte ...

up to 1891, when he became a legal trainee. In 1894, he settled in

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

as a lawyer.

Political advocacy and involvement

In 1894, Claß was a founding member of the nationalist German Association, which propagated "pure Germanism" by excluding ethnic minorities. In 1897, he became a member of the Pan-German League, where he was elected to the directorate in 1901. After becoming the president in 1908, he began to change the direction of the League to more radical positions. He came into sharp conflict with

Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg Theobald Theodor Friedrich Alfred von Bethmann Hollweg (29 November 1856 – 1 January 1921) was a German politician who was chancellor of the German Empire, imperial chancellor of the German Empire from 1909 to 1917. He oversaw the German entry ...

, especially during the

Agadir Crisis The Agadir Crisis, Agadir Incident, or Second Moroccan Crisis, was a brief crisis sparked by the deployment of a substantial force of French troops in the interior of Morocco in July 1911 and the deployment of the German gunboat to Agadir, ...

in 1911, and the League showed its radical positions. From the "hereditary hostility" to France and a "moral inferiority" of England, Claß advocated a speedy war, which was to lead the German Reich to "world power" and territorial expansion. Also in 1911, he was one of the founding members of the (German Army Society), which tried to push the armament of Germany. Claß is commonly known for his books about far-right policy that were written under the pseudonym ''Daniel Frymann'' or ''Einhart''. The most famous was his 1912 book ''Wenn ich der Kaiser wär'' (If I Were the

Kaiser Kaiser ( ; ) is the title historically used by German and Austrian emperors. In German, the title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (). In English, the word ''kaiser'' is mainly applied to the emperors ...

) in which he agitates for

imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...

Pan-Germanism Pan-Germanism ( or '), also occasionally known as Pan-Germanicism, is a pan-nationalist political idea. Pan-Germanism seeks to unify all ethnic Germans, German-speaking people, and possibly also non-German Germanic peoples – into a sin ...

and

Anti-Semitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Claß called for the annexation of Belgium. In 1917, he founded the German Fatherland Party with

Alfred von Tirpitz Alfred Peter Friedrich von Tirpitz (; born Alfred Peter Friedrich Tirpitz; 19 March 1849 – 6 March 1930) was a German grand admiral and State Secretary of the German Imperial Naval Office, the powerful administrative branch of the German Imperi ...

and Wolfgang Kapp. After 1918, Claß met

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

and supported his putsch in 1923. In 1931, he was one of the founding members of the Harzburg Front. From 1933 to 1939, Claß was a member of the National Socialist Party in the Reichstag. It is noteworthy that his radical imperialism, pan-Germanism and anti-Semitism had a significant influence on the Nazis.

Later life

From 1943 to 1953, Claß lived with his daughter in

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

, where he died.

Works

* ''Bilanz eines neuen Kurses.'' – Berlin : Alldt. Verl., 1903 * (as Einhart): ''Deutsche Geschichte.'' – Leipzig : Diederich, 1909 * (as Daniel Frymann): ''Wenn ich der Kaiser wär': Politische Wahrheiten und Notwendigkeiten.'' – Leipzig : Dieterich, 1912 (from 1925 known as ''Das Kaiserbuch'') * ''West-Marokko deutsch!.'' – Munich : Lehmann, 1911 * ''Wider den Strom : vom Werden und Wachsen der nationalen Opposition im alten Reich.'' – Leipzig : Köhler, 1932 * ''Zum deutschen Kriegsziel. Eine Flugschrift.'' – Munich : Lehmann, 1917

References

External links