IF I WERE THE EMPEROR …»: HEINRICH CLASS'S IDEAS AND JUDGMENTS ABOUT THE PAN-GERMAN ALTERNATIVE OF DEVELOPMENT OF GERMANY (the first quarter of the 20th century)

The paper analyzes one of the major sources on Pan-Germanism history (not translated in Russian) – a political lampoon by Heinrich Class, the leader of the Pan-German Union. The author considers the structure, logics of statement, and also Class‘s essentially important conceptual approaches regarding the reorganization of the German state and society on the eve of World War I. Class's conception attracts research interest, first, as it reflects the views of the conservative nationalist block of the German elite, secondly, as it is the source testifying to a change of consciousness in a part of the German society that predetermined its loyalty to the national socialist regime. The fact of its numerous reprinting, including post-War (more than ten times) testifies to the popularity of Class‘s lampoon. The author critically considers Class‘s intention to keep the name of the lampoon even after the revolution and the crash of monarchy in Germany. The paper considers the researchers‘ points of view on the problem of Pan-Germanism and Pan-German published works (J. Leicht, R. Hering, H. Hagenlücke). The paper bases on the documents collected by the author in German archives and libraries.