ABSTRACT
Focused on the German Colonial Press of the interwar period, this chapter outlines the contentious relationship between a German colonial movement bent on returning overseas and a Nazi government more interested in continental expansion. It argues that this cleavage led to a growing colonial collaboration between German colonialists and Italian fascists. Together they created an ideological union and shared sense of belonging, one that coincided with the political and military alliances of the Axis powers, but was not dictated by them. Rather, this community of fascist colonialists incorporated and bent National Socialist and fascist ideas of race and space as they co-constructed an alternative vision of a fascist overseas empire and a new Europe. As such, they demonstrate the utility of viewing Nazi imperialism as an outgrowth of nineteenth century European empire building, while at the same time emphasizing the continued importance of a transnational transfer of knowledge as crucial to this endeavor.
