German word for "people" or nation. The term has a strongly nationalistic and even raciai implication.

The Volk, or "folk" is a German term which Hitler used to refer to the people of Germany, but it is a larger term than a mere body count. It includes the history, spirit, mythology, language, religious nature, customs, and so on in which the 'whole is greater than a sum of its parts'. The unified 'Volk' moves a a whole body, each person is a part of the whole. More than just a nationalistic concept, it was used as a reason to dismiss Jews as German citizens, and declare the need for 'Lebensraum'.

The concept of Volk (people, nation, or race) has been an underlying idea in German history since the early nineteenth century. Inherent in the name was a feeling of superiority of German culture and the idea of a universal mission for the German people.

a novelist and essayist