From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fatherland is the nation of one's "fathers", "forefathers" or "patriarchs". It can be viewed as a nationalist concept, insofar as it relates to nations. (Compare to motherland and homeland.)

Groups that refer to their native country as a "fatherland"

Groups that refer to their native country as a "fatherland" (or rather, the most corresponding term to the English word in their languages), or, arguably, associate it primarily with paternal concepts include:

• Romans, Italians, Romanians as Patria (probably short for patria terra "native land")
• the Afrikaners as Vaderland

• the Arabs as Watan
• the Albanian as Atdheu.
• the Armenians, as Hayrenik (as in the national anthem Mer Hayrenik, literally meaning Our Fatherland)
• the Bulgarians as Tatkovina and Otechestvo
• the Colombians as Patria
• the Czechs as vlast or (rarely) otčina
• the Danes as fædreland
• the Estonians as isamaa (as in the national anthem Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm)
• the French as patrie
• the Filipinos as Amang bayan
• the Finns as isänmaa
• the Frisians as heitelân
• the Georgians as Samshoblo (სამშობლო - "[land] of parents") or Mamuli (მამული)
• the Germans, as Vaterland (as in the national anthem Das Lied der Deutschen)
• the Greeks as patris, the root word for patriotism.
• the Icelanders as föðurland literally meaning "land of the father"
• the Jews as Eretz Ha'Avot (Hebrew: ארץ האבות‎)this literal translation is Land of the Forefathers
• the Kazakhs as atameken
• the Korean as joguk(Korean: 조국)literally meaning "nation of ancestors"
• the Latvians as tēvija or tēvzeme (although dzimtene – roughly translated as "place of birth" – is more neutral and used more commonly nowadays)
• the Lithuanians as tėvynė
• the ethnic Macedonians as Tatkovina (татковина)
• the Dutch, as vaderland
• the Norwegians as fedreland
• the Pakistanis as Vatan
• the Persians as Sarzamineh Pedari (Fatherland), Sarzamineh Madari (Motherland) or Meehan
• the Peruvians as Patria
• the Poles, as Ojczyzna (but there is also macierz, that is Motherland, although it is seldom used)
• the Portuguese, the Brazilians and all other Portuguese speakers as Pátria.
• the Russians, as Otechestvo (отечество) or Otchizna (отчизна), although Rodina, that is birthland, is more common.
• the Serbs as otadžbina (отаџбина)
• the Walkers as people that reside in New Cumberland (отаџбина)
• the Welsh as the land of my fathers (Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau) .
• the Spaniards and all Spanish speakers as "patria."
• the Slovaks as vlasť, or rarely domovina.
• the Slovenes as očetnjava, although domovina (homeland) is more common.
• the Swedes as fäderneslandet, although fosterlandet is more common (meaning the land that fosterd/raised you).
• the Thais as pituphum (ปิตุภูมิ), the word is adapted from Sanskrit
• the Tibetans as pha yul (ཕ་ཡུལ་)
• the Vietnamese as Tổ quốc
• the Ukrainians as bat'kivschina (батьківщина) or, more rarely, vitchizna (вітчизна)

English usage and Nazi connotations

Assuming a specific Nazi usage of the term "Vaterland" (which in fact never existed), the direct English translation "fatherland" featured in news reports associated with Nazi Germany and in domestic anti-Nazi propaganda during World War II. As a result, the English word is now associated with the Nazi government of Germany (unlike in Germany itself, where the word means simply "homeland"). The word is not used often in post-World War II English unless one wishes to invoke the Nazis, or one is translating literally from a foreign language where that language's equivalent of "fatherland" does not bear Nazi connotations. The word Motherland in modern English carries similar associations with the Soviet Union.

Prior to Nazism, however, the term was used throughout Germanic language countries without negative connotations (e.g. in Hermann Broch's novel The Sleepwalkers), or often to refer to their homelands much as the word "motherland" does. For example, "Wien Neêrlands Bloed", national anthem of the Netherlands between 1815 and 1932, makes extensive and conspicuous use of the parallel Dutch word. In most European countries it is still the norm to use the term "fatherland" and many would be offended if it was in any way compared with Nazism.

Fiction

Fatherland can also refer to:

• Fatherland (novel), an alternative history novel by Robert Harris
  • Fatherland (TV movie), a TV movie inspired by Harris' novel
• Fatherland (Ken Loach's film), a 1986 film directed by Ken Loach
• For The Fatherland, a compilation album by white nationalist duo Prussian Blue
• Fatherland, a single released in 1993 by German metal band Die Krupps
• Fatherland, a song that appears on Metropolis, an album released in 2000 by Czech gothic rock band XIII Stoleti

See also

• Motherland
• Homeland
• National anthem

External links

• Nationalism and Ethnicity - A Theoretical Overview
• The problem of German identity...
• National anthems ("Allons enfants de la Patrie", "Blühe, deutsches Vaterland")
• Origins of the German State, Robert Selig, German Life