The following discussion is an archived record of a request for comment. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.
Option 1 Germany – says Germany, links to Nazi Germany. Continues previous consensus, there was no such country as Nazi Germany, consistent with other usages, and a noticeable supermajority of support. --GRuban (talk) 17:15, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

RfC Statement and Options Notices will be/have been placed on WikiProject Germany, WikiProject Military History, WikiProject History, the Neutral POV Noticeboard, and Jimbo's talkpage (for the watchers - there are a lot, and this would create a community consensus)

Should military units active only during the Third Reich/Nazi Germany-era use in their infoboxes for "Country";
  1.  Germany – says Germany, links to Nazi Germany
  2.  Nazi Germany – says and links to Nazi Germany
  3.  Third Reich – says Third Reich, links to Nazi Germany

This will affect articles in Category:Military units and formations of the Luftwaffe, Category:Military units and formations of the Kriegsmarine, Category:Military units and formations of the German Army in World War II, Category:Military units and formations of the Waffen-SS and other related articles that may not be listed in these categories.

!Voting[edit]

Remember to be civil and focus on the content, not other editors

  • @Alexbrn: It took one of the MilHist 'Veterans', Hawkeye7, to remember it being in a discussion archived in page 49/143 (2007). The few others that responded had not seen it, nor heard of the consensus for it with a remark that it should have been added to the MilHist MOS. Cheers, Doctor Crazy in Room 102 of The Mental Asylum 06:31, 4 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Well, I'm no military historian but a moment of searching turns up this related RfC from 2013 which was closed with the decision "The expression 'Nazi German' will not be used in Military History Project articles". In the light of this I don't think the exposition of this RfC is entirely accurate about the state of consensus. Alexbrn (talk) 06:50, 4 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • If that is the case why do all the battle/campaign articles, in their infoboxes, use  Germany almost exclusively as opposed to  Nazi Germany? Surely those articles are viewed far more frequently by the "widest selection of readers" than those of individual Wehrmacht units, yet all of those articles (I've checked exhaustively) use "Germany" rather than "Nazi Germany". Usage should be consistent. Italia2006 (talk) 17:24, 5 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Even if *all* articles don't currently use the method I prefer, the reason I'd prefer it doesn't change. The point of the RFC is to solicit opinion, not to blindly follow the status quo. (Hohum @) 20:54, 5 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Nor was the above comment expecting you to "blindly follow the status quo." The point is that there is clearly a silent consensus to use "Germany" on the articles which are far and away given more attention than individual Wehrmacht unit articles. There's no reason to have "Nazi" as a differentiating adjective when all of these units only existed for the duration of a single regime. Italia2006 (talk) 21:26, 5 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • "Silent consensus" is meaningless, this RFC is for gathering actual consensus. (Hohum @) 00:46, 6 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • (1) The contemporary name in German has no relevance here. (2) This is the point of hyperlinks, no? So the general reader can click on them for further information if necessary? (3) The meaning is very easily conveyed by  Germany, and there shouldn't be confusion because the units in question only existed under one regime. Italia2006 (talk) 23:36, 5 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Imagine if they didn't even have to click on the link for the context to be clear. General readers don't already know the nuances of when certain units existed. Those that do know are likely reading more detailed, advanced sources than wikipedia anyway. (Hohum @) 00:51, 6 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • No imagination is required.  Germany is perfectly clear, and the link is there for a reason. There's no need to have "Nazi" in front of Germany. It's not a nuance. Italia2006 (talk) 01:03, 6 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Your whole argument in favor of "Nazi Germany" seems to be predicated on the assumption that Wikipedia's potential readers are completely ignorant. So where exactly does that end, then? Do articles have to dumb down their language also in order to appeal to the "widest selection of readers?" Does this mean everything should be written in simple English? I could understand this completely if there weren't a link involved, but there is. Not to mention that, let's be honest here, "general readers" aren't looking for these articles. The ones that most pertain to "general readers", the battles, the article World War II itself, etc., use "Germany" extremely consistently rather than Nazi Germany. Italia2006 (talk) 01:15, 6 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • That's a strawman and I'm not engaging with you any further. (Hohum @) 01:37, 6 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • (1) You replied to the above comment, and I responded. (2) It's not my problem that you can't give a good reason for your position. (3) As you said, the point of this RFC is discussion, so an unwillingness to respond doesn't help anything. You've given your vote, if you don't want to discuss then leave the page. Italia2006 (talk) 02:03, 6 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • Actually, that's wrong. The infobox for World War II simply links to Axis powers rather than list all of them individually in the infobox. However, the Axis powers page has  Germany, so my point stands. Italia2006 (talk) 06:26, 6 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • You're looking at the wrong parameter my friend. You're a bit confused I think. Italia2006 (talk) 07:10, 6 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Discussion/General Comments[edit]

Remember to be civil and focus on the content, not other editors

I an tending towards option 2, but what is the argument for 1? Martin Hogbin (talk) 14:56, 5 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

(1) Consistency with the wide (perhaps complete) usage of  Germany rather than  Nazi Germany in the battle, campaign, and theater articles relating to World War II. (2) The lack of need to have "Nazi" as a distinguishing adjective. All of the units in question only existed in the period 1935–45. (3) The fact that there is an actual link right there that could immediately connect the reader to the article Nazi Germany and therefore dispel any doubt as to which Germany the reader is dealing with. (4) In short, consistency with far more prominent articles, i.e. World War II, Eastern Front (World War II), Battle of Berlin, etc. (By prominent I mean those which undoubtedly receive more attention from both editors and potential readers who are just visiting Wikipedia), and the complete lack of need to have "Nazi" as a distinguishing adjective. Italia2006 (talk) 17:35, 5 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
That seems a good argument to me. I have in the past been quite active on the Battle of Britain page and note that 'Germany' was used there. Consistency in WP seems a good thing to me.
What is the reason that some want 'Nazi Germany'? Martin Hogbin (talk) 18:23, 5 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Specificity. Showing Nazi Germany and the Nazi Germany flag puts the unit clearly in line with the Adolf Hitler time frame, leaving no doubt about whose loyalty the unit was sworn to uphold. Its a legitimate point, though if looked at by history as opposed to political science I could see why that would be subject to question by the community. TomStar81 (Talk) 02:52, 6 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
(1) Specificity is not required, once again, because the units we are discussing only existed under one regime. If a division had existed under the German Empire and also the German state from 1933–45, then I would support having Nazi in front of Germany. We have the Nazi flagicon Nazi Germany (an extremely well-known symbol) and a link to the main article Nazi Germany. We don't need a tertiary line of specification. Italia2006 (talk) 05:06, 6 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
The line item we are discussing is the unit's country, not the period in the nation's history during which it served. As I said above, it would be like listing a British unit as having allegiance to Victorian England. Torven (talk) 05:37, 6 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
For individuals who served across multiple regimes, 100% agree. In fact I believe that is the status quo with biographical pages atm anyway. Italia2006 (talk) 07:29, 6 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
In that particular context Mr. Bee I highly doubt anyone would disagree whatsoever. Italia2006 (talk) 07:31, 6 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I think I now tend to agree more with Italia2006. Having simple basic principles and sticking to them is a good way of avoiding this kind of argument.

I can understand the desire to make the Nazi period a special case but this will only lead to more problems in the future as MisterBee1966 has noted. Let us continue to be consistent with the rest of WP. Martin Hogbin (talk) 09:52, 6 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

MisterBee is actually stating the opposite; "...just Germany is misleading". And the course he lays out is the one that should be continued to be followed for personnel who served in the armed forces at different periods of time. Kierzek (talk) 14:34, 6 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I might also add that a screen reader would also read the parts of the article itself that give the years of existence as well as the article's introduction, which mentions World War II and Nazi Germany. I'm pretty sure that is more than enough to "deduce" the time period. Italia2006 (talk) 16:30, 7 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Rather than Third Reich, what if we used German Reich? As opposed to options 2 and 3, it is actually the name of a country.Torven (talk) 22:59, 7 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

There's been three German Reichs. That's worse than any of the other options. Italia2006 (talk) 23:20, 7 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Also goes against WP:COMMONNAME by some margin. Italia2006 (talk) 23:21, 7 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Third Reich was just a way of connecting the Nazi regime to the Kaiser's, without having to acknowledge the Wiemar Republic. In reality, all three government's ruled the same German Reich, which was the nation's official name from 1871 until 1943. If you do not want to use a historical country's actual name, then I believe the proper form is to use the historical common name, rather than the modern one. Based on contemporary news articles and diplomatic documents, I believe that is Germany. However, if you can pull up some contemporary sources referring to it as "Nazi Germany", I would be willing to discuss it. Torven (talk) 04:47, 8 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
In the history of Germany we refer to Germany as the German Reich in the timeframe from 1871 to 1943, and Großdeutsches Reich from 1943 to 1945. In the time spanning 1871 to 1945, Germany fought in two World Wars. Subsequently, in context of this RFC, it would be wise that the guideline established here would also apply for military articles of the World War I era. MisterBee1966 (talk) 07:35, 8 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Respectfully MisterBee1966, no, that would not be a "wise" idea. This RfC's scope has already been !Voted on, therefore making any changes to the scope would be disruptive and rightfully reverted no matter the reasoning behind the changes. A second RfC can be created - after this one has finished - to discuss and !Vote on the issue of using "Nazi Germany/Third Reich/Großdeutsches Reich" in articles covering the WWI and WWII eras. After all, we're in no rush to decide things. Cheers, Doctor Crazy in Room 102 of The Mental Asylum 00:24, 9 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
You may have missed the core of my comment. The recommendations put forward here need to scale up to the timeframe 1871 to 1945, they need to stand up to the larger litmus test. Cheers MisterBee1966 (talk) 07:03, 9 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
How do they need to be scaled up when this RFC is about units active exclusively from 1935 to 1945? I'm missing something here, clearly. Italia2006 (talk) 14:36, 9 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
So, 1st Panzer Division (Wehrmacht) gets  Nazi Germany while 2nd Panzer Division (Wehrmacht) gets  Germany, 3rd Panzer Division (Wehrmacht) gets  Nazi Germany and 4th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht) gets  Germany, because there is a 1st Panzer Division (Bundeswehr), but no 2nd Panzer Division (Bundeswehr), a 3rd Panzer Division (Bundeswehr) but no 4th Panzer Division (Bundeswehr)? And this is supposed to be transparent to users and consistently used over all relevant articles? Good luck! ÄDA - DÄP VA (talk) 15:54, 9 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
This was already addressed above. Both the flag Nazi Germany (an extremely well-known symbol) as well as the link to Nazi Germany are already present. There's no need for a tertiary line of specification. No luck required. Italia2006 (talk) 17:29, 9 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
If you do feel that that's not enough, just explain the reason why we have flags or hyperlinks in the first place if the entire thing has to be spelled out in the "simplest" terms anyway. Italia2006 (talk) 17:32, 9 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I am all for the KISS principle. Since you invoked consistency (twice) and argued 'Nazi' is not needed for disambiguation, the simple question is, why one WWII division is having a 'Nazi' and the other not. More so, users have argued against the use of a the name for a political party as unnecessary, but the use of that party's flag is not? Intuitionally, I would argue, that the same flag icon and the same country name should be used for all units and formations in the period, which would then be 'Nazi Germany'. Just because some units don't have an equivalent in past or present, should not disrupt the pattern of well-established custom and practice, me thinks. ÄDA - DÄP VA (talk) 19:36, 9 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Nazi Germany is not a country name. It wasn't even the common name for the nation at the time. It is a period in the history of the nation, much like we would refer to Victorian England or Antebellum America. On the other hand, the swastika flag was Germany's national flag during that period. 76.93.226.132 (talk) 05:36, 10 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
It depends what you mean by country name. It's the WP:COMMONNAME in English for Germany at that period. It's totally not the same as Victorian England or Antebellum America which are terms used in different ways. --Bermicourt (talk) 08:43, 15 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Time has expired. I think the consensus is for Option 1 - Germany, and I think this RfC can be closed on that basis. Any disagreement on that conclusion? Cheers, Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 07:33, 5 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
There seems to be significant disagreement between options 1 and 2, more like a "no consensus" result imo. (Hohum @) 19:08, 9 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I've asked for an uninvolved close. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 07:49, 10 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

References[edit]

References

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.