Greater Germanic Reich: Difference between revisions

{{Further|South Tyrol Option Agreement|Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral|Operational Zone of the Alpine Foothills}}

 

 

Hitler held immense admiration for the [[Roman Empire]] and its legacy.<ref name="Alex Scobie pp. 21-22">Alex Scobie. ''Hitler's State Architecture: The Impact of Classical Antiquity''. pp. 21-22.</ref> Hitler praised post-Roman era achievements of northern Italians such as [[Sandro Botticelli]], [[Michelangelo]], [[Dante Alighieri]], and [[Benito Mussolini]].<ref name="ReferenceB">R J B Bosworth. Mussolini's Italy: Life Under the Dictatorship, 1915-1945</ref> The Nazis ascribed the great achievements of post-Roman era northern Italians to the presence of Nordic racial heritage in such people who via their Nordic heritage had Germanic ancestors, such as German Foreign Affairs official [[Alfred Rosenberg]] recognizing Michelangelo and [[Leonardo da Vinci]] as exemplary Nordic men of history.<ref name="David B. Dennis 2012. p. 17-19">David B. Dennis. ''Inhumanities: Nazi Interpretations of Western Culture''. Cambridge University Press, 2012. p. 17-19.</ref> German official Hermann Hartmann wrote that Italian scientist [[Galileo Galilei]] was clearly Nordic with deep Germanic roots because of his blond hair, blue eyes, and long face.<ref name="David B. Dennis 2012. p. 17-19"/> Hitler emphasized the role of Germanic influence in Northern Italy, such as stating that the art of [[Northern Italy]] was "nothing but pure German",<ref name="Rich1974">Rich 1974, p. 317.</ref> and Nazi scholars viewed the [[Ladin language|Ladin]] and [[Friulian language|Friulian]] minorities of Northern Italy as being racially, historically and culturally a part of the Germanic world.<ref name="haar121">Wedekind 2006, pp. 113, 122–123.</ref> Hitler viewed Germans as more closely linked with the Italians than with any other people:{{blockquote|From the cultural point of view, we are more closely linked with the Italians than with any other people. The art of Northern Italy is something we have in common with them: nothing but pure Germans.