Germanophile

A Germanophile, Teutonophile, Teutophile, or Deutschophile is a person who is fond of German culture, German language, German people and Germany in general, or who exhibits German patriotism in spite of not being either an ethnic German or a German citizen. The love of the German way, called "Germanophilia" or "Teutonophilia", is the opposite of Germanophobia.

History

The term "Germanophile" came into common use in the 19th to 20th centuries – after the 1871 formation of the German Empire and its subsequent rise in importance.

In 19th-century romanticism in Britain, the term's antonym was Scandophile, expressing a dichotomy of associating "Anglo-Saxon" culture either with continental West Germanic culture or with North Germanic (Scandinavian) culture (the "Viking revival"). With an affinity to "Teutonic" or Germanic culture and worldview seen as opposed to a predilection for Classical Antiquity.

In 19th-century Continental Europe, the dichotomy was rather between Germany and France, the main political players of the period, and a Germanophile would choose to side with Germany against French or "Romance" interests taken to heart by a Francophile. The corresponding term relating to England is Anglophile, an affinity, in turn, often observed in early-20th-century Germans choosing to side against French influence.

This term was also popularly used in the 20th century to refer to admirers and adherents of the Prussian model of higher education created by Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835), which were leading in the early 1800s and widely adopted by elite universities from Oslo to Harvard.

A number of Serb elites in the 19th century and in the interwar period were staunch Germanophiles.

Argentine poet and writer Jorge Luis Borges was a self-described Germanophile.