Blood and Soil
Blood and Soil (German: Blut und Boden) refers to a nationalist ideology/movement focusing on descent / race (Blood) and homeland / fatherland (Soil). The German expression was coined in the late 19th century, influenced by Romantic nationalism and the Völkisch movement.
The German Blood and Soil movement celebrated the relationship of a people to the land that they live on and cultivate. It placed high esteem on the virtues of country (as opposed to urban) living.
Richard Walther Darré popularized the phrase at the time of the rise of National Socialist Germany. Darré was an influential member of the NSDAP and assisted the party greatly in gaining support among common Germans outside the cities. He became Reich Minister of Food and Agriculture in 1933. The "State Hereditary Farm Law" of 1933 implemented the ideology, stating that its aim was to "preserve the farming community as blood-source of the German people".
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