[ibme]

“The Third Reich” means third reign of the Holy Roman Empire. Nazism is a Catholic thing.

[ohioman]

First, I will state that I am a Protestant. Second, your statement that the Nazis were a "Catholic thing" is one of the dumbest statements I have seen on FR. Unfortunately, you could probably get full-tenure at a local college.

[Romulus]

Hitler hated Christianity, especially Catholicism, whch he characterised as weak, feminine, passive, and most of all "Jewish".

[jboot]

Very funny! I like a good historical joke on Mondays.

Oh. You're serious?

The Third Reich refers to Hitler's reign, 1933-1945.
The Second Reich refers to the Wiemar Republic, 1919-1933.
The First Reich refers to Imperial Geramany, 1870-1918.

In no way is the Holy Roman Empire involved.

[Blake#1]

Congrats to you! Nazism came out of Southern Germany, the Catholic part of the nation. Keep in mind the number of American, French, etc. Catholics that died to rid the world of National Socialism. World War II was not about religion!

[dead]

“The Third Reich” means third reign of the Holy Roman Empire.

Are you retarded?

[Skooz]

The monumental ignorance of that statement is breathtaking.

The utter lack of historical knowledge in that statement is astonishing.

[Goetz_von_Berlichingen]

“The Third Reich” means third reign of the Holy Roman Empire."

Perhaps I can help out here. Reich is cognate with the English word "reach", and is generally translated as "realm." Thus Frankreich = "France", Königreich = "kingdom" (literally: "king's reach").

The 1st Reich, to give it the full German title, is das heilige Römische Reich deutscher Nation or "The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation." Both the 2nd and 3rd Reichs are simply called das deutsche Reich, or "the German Realm." The traditions of the Holy Roman Empire were borne by the Habsburg family in Austria-Hungary, which was entirely excluded from the 2nd Reich, and only partially included in the 3rd.