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Nazism

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: World War II

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   Nazism or Naziism, officially called National Socialism (German:
   Nationalsozialismus), refers primarily to the ideology of the
   Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist
   German Workers Party, or NSDAP) under Adolf Hitler. It also refers to
   the policies adopted by the NSDAP government of Germany (1933–1945), a
   period in German history known as Nazi Germany (German: Nazizeit,
   literally "Nazi time") or the Third Reich (German: Drittes Reich).

   On January 5, 1919, the party was founded as the German Workers' Party
   (German: Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) by Anton Drexler. Hitler joined the
   party in September 1919, and became propaganda boss, renaming the party
   April 1, 1920, and becoming party leader July 29, 1921.

   Nazism is not a precise, theoretically grounded ideology. It consists
   of a loose collection of ideas and positions: extreme nationalism,
   racism, eugenics, totalitarianism, homophobia, anti-Semitism,
   anti-communism, and limits to freedom of religion. (See Key elements,
   below).

Terminology

   The term Nazi is derived from the first two syllables, as pronounced in
   German, of the official name of the German Nazi Party, the
   Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei. The Nazis did not
   originally refer to themselves as "Nazis," and instead used the
   official term, Nationalsozialisten ("National Socialists"). In German,
   Nazi mirrors the term Sozi, a common and slightly derogatory term for
   the Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei
   Deutschlands), the Nazis' main opponents before obtaining power.

Historical background

   Nazi opinions, an extension of various philosophies, came together at a
   critical time for Germany; the nation had not only lost World War I in
   1918, but had also been forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles, an
   intentionally devastating capitulation, and was in the midst of a
   period of great economic depression and instability. The
   Dolchstosslegende, or "stab in the back" legend, held that the war
   effort was sabotaged internally, suggesting a "lack of patriotism" had
   led to Germany's defeat (for one, the front line was off of German soil
   at the time of the armistice). In politics, criticism was directed at
   the Social Democrats and also the Weimar government ( Deutsches Reich
   1919- 1933), which had been accused of selling out the country. The
   Dolchstosslegende led many to look at "non-Germans" living in Germany
   for potential extra-national loyalties, like the Jews, raising
   anti-Semitic sentiments, regarding the Judenfrage (German for the "
   Jewish Question"), at a time when the völkisch movement and a desire to
   create a Greater Germany were strong.

   Although Hitler had joined the worker's party in September 1919, and
   published Mein Kampf in 1925- 1926 about the Aryan " master race" ("
   Herrenvolk"), the seminal ideas of Nazism trace back decades to
   previous groups and individuals, including: Schopenhauer, Guido von
   List, Jorg Lanz von Liebenfels, the List Society, the Germanenorden,
   and the Thule Society:

          + German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer wrote about Nordic race
            superiority in his 1851 book titled "Parerga und Paralipomena"
            ( ISBN 0-19-924221-6);

          + Guido von List ( 1849- 1919) interpreted folk-tales,
            place-names and heraldic symbols as a secret code formulated
            by an ancient, advanced Aryan priesthood to pass on occult
            teachings during Christian persecution, and List claimed that
            sexual laws had prohibited breeding with racial inferiors as
            the foundation of the Aryan advanced race.

          + Austrian Jorg Lanz von Liebenfels ( 1874- 1954) broke with
            Catholicism to develop his own occult theology that a
            super-human race of creatures had led to the breeding of
            mankind;

          + the Order of the New Templars (ONT) was founded in 1907 by
            Jorg Lanz and expropriated the name and symbolism of the
            Knight Templars, but required members posses Aryan physical
            characteristics and document their racial background.

          + the List Society was formed in 1908 by Lanz and other
            followers of Guido von List to sponsor reading his works and
            spread ideas across Austria and Germany;

          + the Germanenorden secret society with ONT and List members,
            symbolized by the swastika at 6 German cities in 1912, taught
            members about nordic race superiority, Pan-German aspirations,
            and antisemitism;

          + the Thule Society was formed in Munich in 1918 by ex-leader of
            the Germanenorden, Rudolf von Sebottendorff ( 1875- 1945), a
            German engineer who became interested in occultism while in
            the Middle East, and Sebottendorff transformed Thule from a
            religious cult into political activists dedicated to
            destabilizing the Weimar Republic.

   Nazism refers to the ideology held by the National Socialist German
   Workers Party and its so-called " Weltanschauung" when in power from
   1933 to 1945. Free elections in 1932 under Germany's Weimar Republic
   made the NSDAP the largest parliamentary fraction; no similar party in
   any country at that time had achieved comparable electoral success.
   Adolf Hitler's 30 January 1933 appointment to the chancellorship and
   his subsequent consolidation of dictatorial power, marked the beginning
   of Nazi Germany. During its first year in power, the NSDAP announced
   the Tausendjähriges Reich ("Thousand Years' Empire") or Drittes Reich
   ("Third Reich", a putative successor to the Holy Roman Empire and the
   German Empire). The Nazi regime ended with World War II ( 1945), when
   the party was declared a criminal organisation by the victorious Allied
   Powers and effectively destroyed.

   Since 1945, Nazism has been outlawed as a political ideology in
   Germany, as are forms of iconography and propaganda from the Nazi era.
   However, " Neo-Nazis" continue to operate in Germany and abroad.
   Following World War II and the Holocaust, the term "Nazi" and symbols
   associated with Nazism (such as the swastika) acquired extremely
   negative connotations in Europe and North America. Calling someone a
   "Nazi" or suggesting ties to Nazism is considered an insult. Many have
   compared opponents with Nazis to put their opponents in a negative
   light: a fallacy called " reductio ad Hitlerum." [See more at: Godwin's
   law and fascist (epithet).]

Ideological introduction

   In terms of ideology, Nazism has come to stand for a belief in the
   superiority of an Aryan master race, an abstraction of the Germanic
   peoples. During the time of Hitler, the Nazis advocated a strong,
   centralized government under the Führer and claimed to be defending
   Germany and the German people (including those of German ethnicity
   abroad) against communism and so-called Jewish subversion. Ultimately,
   the Nazis sought to create a largely homogenous and self-sufficient
   ethnic state, absorbing the ideas of Pan-Germanism and pairing them
   other abstract concepts, some related to social theory and even
   Nietzsche's Übermensch.

   However, historians often disagree on the principle interests of the
   Nazi Party and whether Nazism can be considered a coherent ideology.
   The original National Socialists claimed that there would be no program
   that would bind them, and that they wanted to reject any established
   world view. Still, as Hitler played a major role in the development of
   the Nazi Party from its early stages and rose to become the movement's
   indisputable iconographic figurehead, much of what is thought to be
   "Nazism" is in line with Hitler's own political beliefs - the ideology
   and the man continue to remain largely interchangeable in the public
   eye. Some dispute whether Hitler's views relate directly to those
   surrounding the movement; the problem is furthered by the inability of
   various self-proclaimed Nazis and Nazi groups to decide on a universal
   ideology.

Nazism and Fascism

   In both popular thought and academic scholarship, Nazism is generally
   considered a form of fascism - with "fascism" defined so as to include
   any of the authoritarian, nationalist, totalitarian movements that
   developed in Europe around the same time. The debate focuses mainly on
   comparisons of fascists movements in general with the Italian
   prototype, including the fascists in Germany. The idea mentioned above
   to reject all former ideas and ideologies like democracy, liberalism,
   and especially marxism (as in Nolte) make it difficult to track down a
   perfect definition of these two terms. However, Italian Fascists tended
   to believe that all elements in society should be unified through
   corporatism to form an "Organic State"; this meant that these Fascists
   often had no strong opinion on the question of race, as it was only the
   State and nation that mattered. German Nazism, on the other hand,
   emphasized the Aryan race or "Volk" principle to the point where the
   state simply seemed a means through which the Aryan race could realize
   its "true destiny." Since a debate among historians (especially Zeev
   Sternhell) to see each movement, or at least the German, as unique, the
   issue has been settled in most parts showing that there is a stronger
   family resemblance between the Italian and the German fascist movement
   than there is between democracies in Europe or the communist states of
   the Cold War; additionally, the crimes of the fascist movement can of
   course be compared, not only in numbers of casualties but also in
   common developments: the March on Rome of Mussolini to Hilter's
   response shortly after to attempt a coup d'etat himself in Munich.
   Also, Aryanism was not an attractive idea for Italians that had neither
   blond hair nor blue eyes, but still there was a strong racism and also
   genocide in concentration camps long before either was in place in
   Germany. The philosophy that had seemed to be separating both fascisms
   was shown to be a result of happening in two different countries: since
   the king of Italy never died, unlike the Reichspräsident, the leader in
   Italy (Duce) was never able to gain the absolute power the leader in
   Germany (Führer) did, leading to Mussolini's fall. The academic
   challenge to separate all fascist movements has since the 80's and
   early 90's been ground for a new attempt to see even more similarities.

Nazi theory

   There was no 'complete', official theory of Nazism, anywhere. Among
   comments on the Nazi movement, those of its leader Adolf Hitler are
   thought to be very influential. He claimed in his book Mein Kampf (My
   Struggle) that he first began to develop his views through observations
   he made while living in Vienna. He concluded that there was a racial,
   religious, and cultural hierarchy, and he placed " Aryans" at the top
   as the ultimate superior race, while Jews and " Gypsies" were people at
   the bottom. He vaguely examined and questioned the policies of the
   Austro-Hungarian Empire, where as a citizen by birth, Hitler lived
   during the Empire's last throes of life. He believed that its ethnic
   and linguistic diversity had weakened the Empire and helped to create
   dissension. Further, he saw democracy as a destabilizing force because
   it placed power in the hands of ethnic minorities who, he claimed,
   "weakened and destabilized" the Empire by dividing it against itself.

Nationalism and Socialism

   The Nazi state was founded upon a racially defined "German people" and
   principally rejected the idea of being bound by the limits of
   nationalism; that was only a means for attempting unlimited supremacy.
   In that sense, its nationalism and hyper-nationalism was tolerated to
   reach a world-dominating Germanic-Aryan Volksgemeinschaft. This is a
   central concept of Mein Kampf, symbolized by the motto Ein Volk, ein
   Reich, ein Führer (one people, one empire, one leader). The Nazi
   relationship between the Volk and the state was called the
   Volksgemeinschaft ("people's community"), a late 19th or early 20th
   century neologism that defined a communal duty of citizens in service
   to the Reich (opposed to a simple "society"). The term "National
   Socialism", derives from this citizen-nation relationship, whereby the
   term socialism is invoked and is meant to be realized through the
   common duty of the individuals to the German people; all actions are to
   be in service of the Reich. In practice, the Nazis argued, their goal
   was to bring forth a nation-state as the locus and embodiment of the
   people's collective will, bound by the Volksgemeinschaft as both an
   ideal and an operating instrument. In comparison, non-national
   socialist ideologies oppose the idea of nations. For further
   information on national socialism and socialism, and Nazism and
   fascism, see Fascism and ideology.

Militarism

   Nazi rationale also invested heavily in the militarist belief that
   great nations grow from military power and maintained order, which in
   turn grow "naturally" from "rational, civilized cultures". The Nazi
   Party appealed to German nationalists and national pride, capitalizing
   on irredentist and revanchist sentiments as well as aversions to
   various aspects of modernist thinking (though at the same time
   embracing other modernist ideas, e.g. admiration for engine power).
   Many ethnic Germans were deeply committed to the goal of creating the
   Greater Germany (the old dream to include German-speaking Austria) and
   some felt that the use of military force was necessary to achieve it.

Racism

   The Nazi racial philosophy wholly embraced Alfred Rosenberg's Aryan
   Invasion Theory, which traced Aryan peoples in ancient Iran invading
   the Indus Valley Civilization, and carrying with them great knowledge
   and science that had been preserved from the antediluvian world. This
   "antediluvian world" referred to Thule, the speculative pre-Flood/Ice
   Age origin of the Aryan race, and is often tied to ideas of Atlantis.
   Most of the leadership and the founders of the Nazi Party were made up
   of members of the "Thule-Gesellschaft" (the Thule Society), which
   romanticized the Aryan race through theology and ritual.

   Hitler also claimed that a nation was the highest creation of a race,
   and great nations (literally large nations) were the creation of
   homogeneous populations of great races, working together. These nations
   developed cultures that naturally grew from races with "natural good
   health, and aggressive, intelligent, courageous traits". The weakest
   nations, Hitler said, were those of impure or mongrel races, because
   they had divided, quarrelling, and therefore weak cultures. Worst of
   all were seen to be the parasitic Untermensch (Subhumans), mainly Jews,
   but also Gypsies, homosexuals, the disabled and so called anti-socials,
   all of whom were considered lebensunwertes Leben ("Life-unworthy life")
   owing to their perceived deficiency and inferiority, as well as their
   wandering, nationless invasions ("the International Jew"). The
   persecution of homosexuals as part of the Holocaust has seen increasing
   scholarly attention since the 1990s.

   According to Nazism, it is an obvious mistake to permit or encourage
   plurality within a nation. Fundamental to the Nazi goal was the
   unification of all German-speaking peoples, "unjustly" divided into
   different Nation States. Hitler claimed that nations that could not
   defend their territory did not deserve it. Slave races like the Slavic
   peoples he thought of as less worthy to exist than "leader races". In
   particular, if a master race should require room to live ( Lebensraum),
   he thought such a race should have the right to displace the inferior
   indigenous races.

   "Races without homelands", Hitler proclaimed, were "parasitic races",
   and the richer the members of a "parasitic race" were, the more
   "virulent" the parasitism was thought to be. A "master race" could
   therefore, according to the Nazi doctrine, easily strengthen itself by
   eliminating "parasitic races" from its homeland. This was the given
   rationalization for the Nazis' later oppression and elimination of
   Jews, Gypsies, Czechs, Poles, the mentally and physically handicapped,
   homosexuals and others not belonging to these groups or categories that
   were part of the Holocaust. The Waffen-SS and other German soldiers
   (including parts of the Wehrmacht), as well as civilian paramilitary
   groups in occupied territories, were responsible for the deaths of an
   estimated eleven million men, women, and children in concentration
   camps, prisoner-of-war camps, labor camps, and death camps such as
   Auschwitz and Treblinka.

   The belief in the need to purify the German race lead them to eugenics;
   this culminated in the involuntary euthanasia of disabled people and
   the compulsory sterilization of people with mental deficiencies or
   illnesses perceived as hereditary.

Religion

   Hitler extended his rationalizations into a religious doctrine,
   underpinned by his criticism of traditional Catholicism. In particular,
   and closely related to Positive Christianity, Hitler objected to
   Catholicism's ungrounded and international character - that is, it did
   not pertain to an exclusive race and national culture. At the same
   time, and somewhat contradictorily, the Nazis combined elements of
   Germany's Lutheran community tradition with its Northern European,
   organic pagan past. Elements of militarism found their way into
   Hitler's own theology, as he preached that his was a "true" or "master"
   religion, because it would "create mastery" and avoid comforting lies.
   Those who preached love and tolerance, "in contravention to the facts",
   were said to be "slave" or "false" religions. The man who recognized
   these "truths", Hitler continued, was said to be a "natural leader",
   and those who denied it were said to be "natural slaves". "Slaves" –
   especially intelligent ones, he claimed – were always attempting to
   hinder their masters by promoting false religious and political
   doctrines.

   Anti-clericalism can also be interpreted as part of Nazi ideology,
   simply because the new Nazi hierarchy was not about to let itself be
   overode by the power that the Church traditionally held. In Austria,
   clerics had a powerful role in politics and ultimately responded to the
   Vatican. Although a few exceptions exist, Christian persecution was
   primarily limited to those who refused to accommodate the new regime
   and yield to its power. The Nazis often used the church to justify
   their stance and included many Christian symbols in the Third Reich
   (Steigmann–Gall). A particularly poignant exemplar is the seen in the
   life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Other Roots

   The ideological roots that became German National Socialism were based
   on numerous sources in European history, drawing especially from
   Romantic 19th century idealism, and from a biological reading of
   Friedrich Nietzsche's thoughts on "breeding upwards" toward the goal of
   an Übermensch (Superhuman). Hitler was an avid reader and received
   ideas that were later to influence Nazism from traceable publications,
   such as those of the Germanenorden (Germanic Order) or the Thule
   society. He also adopted many populist ideas such as limiting profits,
   abolishing rents and generously increasing social benefits - but only
   for Germans.

Variants of Nazism and Hitlerism abroad

   Nazism as a doctrine is far from being homogeneous and can indeed be
   divided into various sub-ideologies. During the 20s and 30s, there were
   two dominant NSDAP factions. There were the followers of Otto Strasser,
   the so-called Strasserites and the followers of Adolf Hitler or what
   could be termed Hitlerites. The Strasserite faction eventually fell
   afoul of Hitler, when Otto Strasser was expelled from the party in
   1930, and his attempt to create an oppositional 'left-block' in the
   form of the Black Front failed. The remainder of the faction, which was
   to be found mainly in the ranks of the SA, was purged in the Night of
   the Long Knives, which also saw the murder of Gregor Strasser, Otto's
   brother. After this point, the Hitlerite faction became dominant. In
   the post war era, Strasserism has enjoyed something of a revival with
   many neo-Nazi groups openly proclaiming themselves to be 'Strasserite'.
   Whether they genuinely eschew Hitlerism in favour of Strasserism, or
   whether they simply think that by distancing Nazism from Hitler they
   can somehow make the ideology more acceptable is a matter of intense
   debate however.

   Hitler's theories were not only attractive to Germans: people in
   positions of wealth and power in other nations are said to have seen
   them as beneficial. Examples are Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor
   Company, and Eugene Schueller, founder of L'Oréal. Nevertheless, the
   support for these theories was highest among the general population of
   Germany.

Homosexuals

   The homosexuality of some supporters of Hitler, especially Ernst Röhm,
   was well known at the time and basis for satire and jokes. Although
   Hitler abhorred homosexuality, the SA and SS had not a significant, but
   still a surprisingly representative, number of homosexual members,
   which was generally ignored. Röhm was killed chiefly because he was
   perceived as a political threat, not for his sexuality. Once in power,
   Hitler targeted homosexuals for elimination.

Key elements of the Nazi ideology

     * The National Socialist Program
     * The rejection of democracy, and consequently abolishing political
       parties, labour unions, and free press.
          + Führerprinzip (Leader Principle) as a total belief in the
            leader (responsibility up the ranks, and authority down the
            ranks)
     * Extreme Nationalism
          + Anti- Bolshevism
          + Strong show of local culture
          + Social Darwinism (struggle of the nation)
          + Defense of Blood and Soil (German: "Blut und Boden" -
            represented by the red and black colors in the Nazi flag)
          + The Lebensraum policy of creation of more living space for
            Germans in the east
     * Racism and Eugenics:
          + Anti-Slavism
          + Anti-Semitism
          + The creation of a Herrenrasse (or Herrenvolk) (Master Race =
            by the Lebensborn (Fountain of Life; A department in the Third
            Reich)).
          + White Supremacism; more specifically, ranking of individuals
            according to their race and racial purity, with the Nordic
            race favoured the most
     * Limited freedom of religion (Point #24 in the 25 point plan).
     * Rejection of the modern art movement and an embrace of classical
       art
     * Association with Fascism or Totalitarianism

Other new elements

     * Animal rights ,
     * Environmentalism , , ,
     * Kraft durch Freude The well-being of the working classes.
     * Public health (Antismoking campaigns, asbestos restrictions,
       occupational health and safety standards)

Nazism and romanticism

   According to Bertrand Russell, Nazism would come from a different
   tradition than that of either Liberalism or Marxism. Thus, to
   understand values of Nazism, it would be necessary to explore this
   connection, without trivializing the movement as it was in its peak
   years in the 1930s and dismissing it as little more than racism.

   Anti-Semitism was shown to be a handy tool for Nazis to gain support,
   mainly due to the popular Houston Stewart Chamberlain. Personal
   accounts by August Kubizek, Hitler's childhood friend, have varied,
   offering ambiguous claims that anti-Semitism did and did not date back
   to Hitler's youth. One reason is the higher Jewish community in Austria
   and Germany because Germany had been a haven for many Jews over the
   years, including influential families such as the Rothschilds, although
   World War I and the Dolchstosslegende ended that legacy. Anti-Judaism
   had already been widely transformed into anti-Semitism before 1914 due
   to the new Europe-wide post-Darwin theory of racism. Historians
   universally accept that Nazism's mass acceptance depended upon
   nationalistic appeals and fear against "unnormal people" (which also
   could include xenophobia and anti-Semitism) and a patriotic flattery
   toward the wounded collective pride of defeated World War I veterans.
   Early support for the Nazis, displayed in various parades, came from
   the old conservative order that was the military.

   Many see strong connections to the values of Nazism and the
   anti-rationalist tradition of the romantic movement of the early 19th
   century in response to the Enlightenment. Strength, passion, frank
   declarations of feelings, and deep devotion to family and community
   were valued by the Nazis though first expressed by many Romantic
   artists, musicians, and writers. German romanticism in particular
   expressed these values. For instance, Hitler identified closely with
   the music of Richard Wagner, who harbored anti-Semitic views as the
   author of Das Judenthum in der Musik. Some claim that he was one of
   Hitler's role models, a comment of Kubizek's that is also disputed.
   Nevertheless, Wagner's most important operas of the Ring cycle express
   Aryanist ideals, and contain what some people interpret as anti-Semitic
   caricatures. Hitler admired Wagner's widow and visited Bayreuth
   Festival regularly.

   The idealization of tradition, folklore, classical thought, leadership
   (as exemplified by Frederick the Great), their rejection of the
   liberalism of the Weimar Republic, and calling the German state the
   "Third Reich" (which traces back to the medieval First Reich and the
   pre-Weimar Second Reich) has led many to regard the Nazis as
   reactionary.

Nazism and mysticism

   Thule Society emblem
   Thule Society emblem

   Nazi mysticism is a term used to describe a philosophical undercurrent
   of Nazism that denotes the combination of Nazism with occultism,
   esotericism, cryptohistory, and/or the paranormal. The esoteric Thule
   Society and Germanenorden were secret societies that, while only a
   small part of the völkisch movement, led into the Nazi party.

   Dietrich Eckart, a member of Thule, actually coached Hitler on his
   public speaking skills, and while Hitler has not been shown to have
   been a member of Thule, he received support from the group. Hitler
   later dedicated Mein Kampf to Eckart.

   Heinrich Himmler showed a strong interest in such matters, although as
   Steigmann–Gall points out, Hitler and many of his key associates
   attended Christian services.

Ideological competition

   Nazism and Communism emerged as two serious contenders for power in
   Germany after the First World War, particularly as the Weimar Republic
   became increasingly unstable. What became the Nazi movement arose out
   of resistance to the Bolshevik-inspired insurgencies that occurred in
   Germany in the aftermath of the First World War. The Russian Revolution
   of 1917 caused a great deal of excitement and interest in the Leninist
   version of Marxism and caused many socialists to adopt revolutionary
   principles. The Spartacist uprising in Berlin and the [[ Munich Soviet
   Republic in 1919 were both manifestations of this. The Freikorps, a
   loosely organized paramilitary group (essentially a militia of former
   World War I soldiers) was used to crush both these uprisings and many
   leaders of the Freikorps, including Ernst Röhm, later became leaders in
   the Nazi party. After Mussolini's Fascists took power in Italy in 1922,
   fascism presented itself as a realistic option for opposing
   "Communism", particularly given Mussolini's success in crushing the
   Communist and anarchist movements that had destabilized Italy with a
   wave of strikes and factory occupations after the First World War.
   Fascist parties formed in numerous European countries.

   Many historians, such as Ian Kershaw and Joachim Fest, argue that
   Hitler's Nazis were one of numerous nationalist and increasingly
   fascistic groups that existed in Germany and contended for leadership
   of the anti-Communist movement and, eventually, of the German state.
   Further, they assert that fascism and its German variant, National
   Socialism, became the successful challengers to Communism because they
   were able to both appeal to the establishment as a bulwark against
   Bolshevism and appeal to the working class base, particularly the
   growing underclass of unemployed and unemployable and growingly
   impoverished middle class elements who were becoming declassed
   (denounced as the lumpenproletariat). The Nazis' use of pro-labor
   rhetoric appealed to those disaffected with capitalism by promoting the
   limiting of profits, the abolishing of rents and the increasing of
   social benefits (only for Germans) while simultaneously presenting a
   political and economic model that divested "Soviet socialism" of
   elements that were dangerous to capitalism, such as the concept of
   class struggle, "the dictatorship of the proletariat" or worker control
   of the means of production. Thus, Nazism's populism, anti-Communism and
   anti-capitalism helped it become more powerful and popular than
   traditional conservative parties, like the DNVP. For the above reasons,
   particularly the fact that Nazis and Communists fought each other
   (often violently) during most of their existence, Nazism and Communism
   are commonly seen as opposite extremes on the political spectrum.
   However, this view is not without its challengers. A number of
   political theorists and economists, primarily those associated with the
   Austrian school, argue that Nazism, Soviet Communism and other
   totalitarian ideologies share a common underpinning in collectivism.

   The simplicity of Nazi rhetoric, campaigns, and ideology also made its
   conservative allies underestimate its strength, and its ability to
   govern or even to last as a political party. Michael Mann defined
   fascism as a "transcendent and cleansing nation statism through
   paramilitarism", with "transcendent" meaning that the all classes were
   to be abolished in order for a new, organic and pure people: all
   classes are abolished by transition, all "others" (an estimated
   two-thirds of the German population alone).

Support of anti-Communists for Fascism and Nazism

   Various far right-wing politicians and political parties in Europe
   welcomed the rise of fascism and the Nazis out of an intense aversion
   towards Communism. According to them, Hitler was the savior of Western
   civilization and of capitalism against Bolshevism. During the later
   1930s and 1940s, the Nazis were supported by the Falange movement in
   Spain, and by political and military figures who would form the
   government of Vichy France. A Legion of French Volunteers against
   Bolshevism (LVF) and other anti- Soviet fighting formations were
   formed.

Post-1933 development

   The British Conservative party and the right-wing parties in France
   appeased the Nazi regime in the mid- and late-1930s, even though they
   had begun to criticise its totalitarianism and in Britain especially,
   Nazi Germany's policies towards the Jews. However, Britain (from 1931
   onwards under an overwhelmingly Conservative government) had appeased
   pre-Nazi Germany. Important reasons behind this appeasement included,
   first, the erroneous assumption that Hitler had no desire to
   precipitate another world war, and second, when the rebirth of the
   German military could no longer be ignored, a well-founded concern that
   neither Britain nor France was yet ready to fight an all-out war
   against Germany. In addition, some have argued that Nazi Germany was
   assisted in its development to create a front to counter early
   Bolshevik ambitions.

   In 1936, Nazi Germany and Japan entered into the Anti-Comintern Pact,
   aimed directly at countering Soviet foreign policy. This later became
   the basis for the Tripartite Pact with Italy, the foundation of the
   Axis Powers. The three nations were united in their rabid opposition to
   Communism, as well as their militaristic, racist regimes, but they
   failed to coordinate their military efforts effectively.

   In his early years Hitler also greatly admired the United States of
   America. In Mein Kampf, he praised the United States for its race-based
   anti-immigration laws and for the subordination of the "inferior" black
   population. According to Hitler, America was a successful nation
   because it kept itself "pure" of "lesser races". However, his view of
   the United States became more negative as time passed. In his later
   estimations, the United States was becoming a mongrel nation, calling
   it "half Judaised, half Negrified".

Economic practice

   See also: Economics of fascism
   The Nazi Party utilized a right-facing swastika as their symbol, using
   the colors red and black to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil).
   Black, white, and red were in fact the colors of the old North German
   Confederation flag, based on the Prussian colors black and white,
   combined with the red and white of the medieval Hanse cities. In 1871,
   with the foundation of the German Reich, the flag of the North German
   Confederation became the German Reichsflagge (Reich's flag). Black,
   white, and red subsequently became the colors of German nationalism
   (e.g. during World War I and the Weimar Republic). It is now rejected
   as a far-right symbol because the contemporary Bundesflagge is a sign
   of democracy while the old Reichsflagge was a symbol for unity.
   The Nazi Party utilized a right-facing swastika as their symbol, using
   the colors red and black to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil).
   Black, white, and red were in fact the colors of the old North German
   Confederation flag, based on the Prussian colors black and white,
   combined with the red and white of the medieval Hanse cities. In 1871,
   with the foundation of the German Reich, the flag of the North German
   Confederation became the German Reichsflagge (Reich's flag). Black,
   white, and red subsequently became the colors of German nationalism
   (e.g. during World War I and the Weimar Republic). It is now rejected
   as a far-right symbol because the contemporary Bundesflagge is a sign
   of democracy while the old Reichsflagge was a symbol for unity.

   Nazi economic practice concerned itself with immediate domestic issues
   and separately with ideological conceptions of international economics.

   Domestic economic policy was narrowly concerned with three major goals
   to eliminate Germany's issues:
     * Elimination of unemployment.
     * Rapid and substantial rearmament.
     * Expansion of production of consumer goods to improve middle and
       lower-class living standards.

   All of these policy goals were intended to address the perceived
   shortcomings of the Weimar Republic and to solidify domestic support
   for the party. In this, the party was very successful. Between 1933 and
   1936 the German GNP increased by an average annual rate of 9.5 percent,
   and the rate for industry alone rose by 17.2 percent.

   This expansion propelled the German economy out of a deep depression
   and into full employment in less than four years. Public consumption
   during the same period increased by 18.7%, while private consumption
   increased by 3.6% annually. However, as this production was primarily
   consumptive rather than productive (make-work projects, expansion of
   the war-fighting machine, initiation of conscription to remove working
   age males from the labor force and thus lower unemployment),
   inflationary pressures began to rear their head again, although not to
   the highs of the Weimar Republic. These economic pressures, combined
   with the war-fighting machine created in the expansion (and concomitant
   pressures for its use), has led some to conclude that a European war
   was inevitable. (See Causes of Second World War).

   Some economists argue that the expansion of the German economy between
   1933 and 1936 was not the result of measures adopted by the Nazi Party,
   but rather the consequence of economic policies of the prior Weimar
   Republic, which had begun to have an effect on factors such as
   unemployment. However, it was the policies of Nazi Germany that
   restored national confidence, arguably the key ingredient to any
   successful economic policy.

   Internationally, the Nazi Party believed that an international banking
   cabal was behind the global depression of the 1930s. Control of this
   cabal, which had grown to a position where it controlled both Europe
   and the United States, was identified with an elite and powerful group
   of Jews. However, a number of people believed that this was part of an
   ongoing plot by the Jewish people, as a whole, to achieve global
   domination. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which began its
   circulation in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, were said
   to have confirmed this, already showing "evidence" that the Bolshevik
   takeover in Russia was in accordance with one of the protocols. Broadly
   speaking, the existence of large international banking or merchant
   banking organizations was well known at this time. Many of these
   banking organizations were able to exert influence upon nation states
   by extension or withholding of credit. This influence is not limited to
   the small states that preceded the creation of the German Empire as a
   nation state in the 1870s, but is noted in most major histories of all
   European powers from the 16th century onward. Nevertheless, after the
   Great Depression, this libelous and unverified manuscript took on an
   important role in Nazi Germany, thus providing another link in the
   Nazis ideological motivation for the destruction of that group in the
   Holocaust.

   Additionally, many companies blindly dealt with the Third Reich. Many
   know that the Volkswagen was a Nazi project. Opel employed Jewish slave
   labour to run their industrial plants. Additionally, Daimler-Benz used
   POWs as slaves to run their industrial plants. Other companies that
   dealt with the Third Reich -- many of which claim not to have known the
   truth of what the Nazis were doing (some had in fact lost control of
   their German branches when Hitler was in power) -- were: BMW, Krupp
   (made gas chambers), Bayer (as a small part of the enormous IG Farben
   chemistry monopoly), and Hugo Boss (designed the SS uniforms, admitted
   to this in 1997). There has also been some controversy whether IBM had
   dealt with the Nazis to create a cataloguing system, which the Nazis
   were to use to file information on those who they killed.

Backlash and Societal Effects

   Perhaps the primary intellectual effect has been that Nazi doctrines
   discredited the attempt to use biology to explain or influence social
   issues, for at least two generations after Nazi Germany's brief
   existence. However, in the 21st century there has been a renewed
   interest in the debate of nature versus nurture as well as ethnic and
   racial genetics.

   The Nazi descendants have been mute in the post-war democracies, with
   some exceptions, when interviewed by psychologists and historians. In
   Norway, a group of descendants have taken the official stigmatizing
   appellation " War children" in order to break the silence and to
   protest against the continuous demonization of their families. Some
   historical revisionists disseminate propaganda that minimizes the
   Holocaust and other Nazi acts in order to remove the stigma attached to
   National Socialism. Often, attempts are also made to put a positive
   spin on the policies of the Nazi regime. Under these circumstances,
   research on the topic can raise high emotions when it fails to be
   precise in the analysis and to present proof of emotionalized themes.

People

   Adolf Hitler: Hitler was more than just the leader of Nazi Germany: in
   1919, Adolf Hitler joined the workers' party before it was the "Nazi
   Party": On January 5, 1919, the party had been founded in Munich as the
   German Workers' Party (German Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) by Anton
   Drexler, a Munich locksmith. Working undercover for the German army,
   Corporal Hitler joined the Party in mid September 1919, became
   propaganda boss (Propagandachef), renaming the party on April 1, 1920,
   and became party leader on July 29, 1921. Adolf Hitler ruled Nazi
   Germany from January 30, 1933 until his suicide on April 30, 1945,
   leading the German Reich throughout World War II.

   German Nazis: Though Nazi Party membership was carefully regulated (and
   even closed off at a certain point), many non-affiliated citizens of
   the Nazi State described themselves as dedicated Nazis. After the war,
   the most prominent Nazis were convicted of war crimes and crimes
   against humanity at the Nuremberg Trials, where 21 were executed. Party
   members - even those who were ordinary citizens - experienced a
   post-war "purge" where they were stripped of property, assets and often
   forced to abandon their positions. As part of Nazi Germany, Austria
   also experienced denazification, though this process occurred to a
   smaller degree only much later.

   Foreign-Born: During and prior to World War II, there were a number of
   people outside of the German Reich who became adherents to the Nazi
   ideology. Some foreign born ethnic Germans had ventured from their
   homelands to become citizens of the Nazi State in the pre-war years.
   This was particularly the case around Sao Paulo, where people had left
   in the thousands despite the fact that, at the same time, efforts were
   being made to draw the Germany-born population into the region.

   Nazi Supporters: Other Nazi supporters, such as William Joyce and the "
   Lord Haw Haw" cast, took flight from Britain, especially after the
   downfall of the British Union of Fascists. Similarly, parties
   supportive of the Nazis had failed to influence their own countries.
   Some people in the German-American Bund were incarcerated during the
   war, as were potential Nazi supporters in the U.S.

   Post-war Nazis: George Lincoln Rockwell, a former U.S. Navy lieutenant
   commander, became a prominent Nazi in the 1950s and formed the American
   Nazi Party. Some became admirers or sympathized with the plight of Nazi
   Germany because they saw it as the defender of Oswald Spengler's "
   West". From this point of view, the Nazi State was brought to its knees
   trying to solidify a self-sufficient Europe and ward of the influence
   of the Soviet Union and the United States, political and otherwise.
   Spenglerians such as Francis Parker Yockey supported this view, and his
   magnum opus, Imperium, has sold over twenty thousand copies since 1948.
   Essentially, Yockey was convinced that Nazi Germany was a step towards
   Spengler's Imperium, and during the Cold War, Yockey dedicated his life
   to promoting a general European rebellion against the overlordship of
   both the Soviet Union and the United States.

   Esoteric Nazis: Others were fascinated by National Socialist philosophy
   in a spiritual or esoteric direction, including: Savitri Devi of
   France, Julius Evola of Italy, and Miguel Serrano of Chile.

Factors that promoted the success of Nazism

   An important question about Nazism is the factors that promoted its
   success in Germany. These factors may have included:
     * A widespread acceptance of violence in politics (not only, but most
       significantly " Rot Front" ( Communist Party of Germany) versus
       SA).
     * Economic devastation all over Europe after World War I.
     * Humiliation of Germany at the Treaty of Versailles, and the
       widespread belief that the German military were not defeated on the
       battlefield but " stabbed in the back" by politicians and Jews.
     * A perception that there were a disproportionate number of rich
       Jewish bankers controlling Germany's finances.
     * Perceived Jewish involvement in war profiteering during WWI.
     * Appeal of nationalist rhetoric.
     * Rejection of Communism and the perception that Communism was a
       Jewish-inspired and Jewish-led movement; hence the Nazi use of the
       term Judeo-Bolshevik.
     * Fear by the middle and upper classes of the loss of possesions and
       wealth to Communism.
     * The split in the working class between Social Democrats (SPD) and
       Communists, exacerbated by the Communists' policy of treating the
       SPD as "Social Fascists"
     * The Great Depression.
     * Hitler's choice of taking power through legal political means
       rather than a violent coup after the failure of the Beer Hall
       Putsch.

Nazi/Third Reich terminology in popular culture

   The multiple atrocities and racist ideology that the Nazis followed
   have made them notorious in popular discourse as well as history. The
   term "Nazi" has become a genericised term of abuse. So have other Third
   Reich terms like "Führer" (often spelled "fuhrer" or less often, but
   more correctly, "fuehrer" in English-speaking countries), "Fascist", "
   Gestapo" (short for Geheime Staatspolizei, or Secret State Police in
   English) or "Hitler". The terms are used to describe any people or
   behaviours that are viewed as thuggish, overly authoritarian, or
   extremist.

   The terms are also used to describe anyone or anything seen as strict
   or doctrinaire. Phrases like " grammar nazi", " Feminazi", " Open
   Source Nazi", and "parking [enforcement] nazis", are examples of those
   in use in the USA. These uses are offensive to some, as the controversy
   in the popular press over the Seinfeld " Soup Nazi" episode indicates,
   but still the terms are used so frequently as to inspire " Godwin's
   Law".

   More innocent terms, like "fashion police", also bear some resemblance
   to Nazi terminology (Gestapo, Secret State Police) as well as
   references to Police states in general.

   Another similar effect can be observed in the usage of typefaces. Some
   people strongly associate the blackletter typefaces (e.g. fraktur or
   schwabacher) with Nazi propaganda (although the typeface is much older,
   and its usage, ironically, was banned by government order in 1941). A
   less strong association can be observed with the Futura typeface, which
   today is sometimes described as "germanic" and "muscular".

   In popular culture such as films like the Indiana Jones series, Nazis
   are often considered to be ideal villains whom the heroes can battle
   without mercy.

   Dr. Cube from Kaiju Big Battel is depicted as a Nazi plastic surgeon
   gone mad.

   Video game website IGN declared Nazis to be the most memorable video
   game villains ever .

Nazi locations

   Nazism, both before and after World War II, was a quasi-religion to its
   followers, and like many world religions, Nazism had its own venerated
   locations or sites, as opposed to Holocaust sites. National socialist
   Savitri Devi visited many of the Nazi sites during a tour of the sites
   circa 1953:
     * Berchtesgaden, home of the Berghof;
     * Braunau am Inn, birthplace of Adolf Hitler (in Austria);
     * Feldherrnhalle, site of the failed Munich Putsch;
     * Leonding, where the parents of Adolf Hitler were buried;
     * Linz, where Hitler went to school;
     * Landsberg am Lech, where Hitler was imprisoned;
     * Nuremberg, site of the enormous Nazi rallies;
     * Wewelsburg, headquarters of the Schutzstaffel ( SS); and
     * Wunsiedel, burial site of Rudolf Hess.

   Devi also visited some sites, not directly connected to Nazism, but
   perceived to be of spiritual or German-national significance:
     * Externsteine, pre-Christian mountain-pillar formation; and,
     * Hermannsdenkmal, statue of Germany's national hero Arminius the
       Cheruscan.

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