page_title: Volksdeutsche
hierarchical_section_title: Volksdeutsche
caption_attribution_description: English: German cavalry enters the Polish city of Łódź (Litzmannstadt) greeted by members of the city considerable ethnic German community.
context_page_description: In Nazi German terminology, Volksdeutsche were "people whose language and culture had German origins but who did not hold German citizenship". The term is the nominalised plural of volksdeutsch, with Volksdeutsche denoting a singular female, and Volksdeutsche, a singular male. The words Volk and völkisch conveyed the meanings of "folk".
  The Volksdeutsche shed their identity as Auslandsdeutsch and morphed into the Volksdeutsche in a process of self-radicalisation. This process gave the Nazi regime the nucleus around which the new Volksgemeinschaft was established across the German borders.
  Volksdeutsche were further divided into "racial" groups—minorities within a state minority—based on special cultural, social, and historic criteria elaborated by the Nazis.
context_section_description: In Nazi German terminology, Volksdeutsche ([ˈfɔlksˌdɔʏtʃə] or German people) were "people whose language and culture had German origins but who did not hold German citizenship".  The term is the nominalised plural of volksdeutsch, with Volksdeutsche denoting a singular female, and Volksdeutsche(r), a singular male. The words Volk and völkisch conveyed the meanings of "folk". 
  The Volksdeutsche (Ethnic Germans at the time) shed their identity as Auslandsdeutsch (Germans abroad) and morphed into the Volksdeutsche in a process of self-radicalisation. This process gave the Nazi regime the nucleus around which the new Volksgemeinschaft was established across the German borders. 
  Volksdeutsche were further divided into "racial" groups—minorities within a state minority—based on special cultural, social, and historic criteria elaborated by the Nazis.
caption: Volksdeutsche from Łódź greeted German cavalry in 1939.
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