The Kaiserreich Wiki
Advertisement

Heinrich Claß (spoken "Class") is a German racialist, antisemitic and ultranationalist politician and, since 1908, President of the Alldeutscher Verband (Pan-German League), a völkisch organisation that was founded in 1891 as a reaction to the controversial Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty and advocates radical far-right positions such as the Lebensraum concept, the violent repression of the "black, red and golden international" (referring to catholics, socialists and the Jewish-controlled high finance) or anti-parliamentary Sammlungspolitik of industry, middle class and agriculture against the harmful influence of democratic movements.

While Claß was once one of the most influential figures within the German far-right, especially in the timeframe between the publication of his highly controversial book "If I Were the Kaiser" in 1912 and autumn 1917 when the much more populist German Fatherland Party was founded, he has lost most of his influence ever since as militant antisemitism still remains a very contentious even among German rightist circles and therefore prevented him from emerging as a political leader with broad support among the populace, opposed to slightly less radical and more charismatic politicians such as Alfred von Tirpitz, Wolfgang Kapp or Ulrich von Hassell. Nowadays, Claß is still a respected personality in far-right circles, but doesn't really have any considerable political power anymore and is considered a spent force by many, while the AV is mostly known as an obscure, elitist high society club eternally stuck in the past.

Advertisement