Nazism

Nazism (/ˈnɑːt siɪzəm, ˈnæt -/ NA(H)T-see-iz-əm),[1] officially National Socialism (German:

Nationalsozialismus, [nat si̯oˈnaːlzot si̯aˌlɪsmʊs]), is t he ideology and pract ices associat ed wit h
Adolf Hit ler and t he Nazi Part y (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, NSDAP;
or Nat ional Socialist German Workers' Part y in English) in Nazi Germany. During Hit ler's rise t o
power in 1930s Europe, it was frequent ly referred t o as Hitlerism. The lat er relat ed t erm "Neo-
Nazism" is applied t o ot her far-right groups wit h similar ideas which formed aft er t he collapse of
t he Nazi regime.

Nazism is a form of fascism,[2][3][4][5] wit h disdain for liberal democracy and t he parliament ary
syst em. It incorporat es fervent ant isemit ism, ant i-communism, scient ific racism, and t he use of
eugenics int o it s creed. It s ext reme nat ionalism originat ed in pan-Germanism and t he et hno-
nat ionalist neopagan Völkisch movement which had been a prominent aspect of German
nat ionalism since t he lat e 19t h cent ury, and it was st rongly influenced by t he Freikorps
paramilit ary groups t hat emerged aft er Germany's defeat in World War I, from which came t he
part y's underlying "cult of violence".[6] Nazism subscribed t o pseudo-scient ific t heories of a racial
hierarchy[7] and social Darwinism, ident ifying t he Germans as a part of what t he Nazis regarded as
an Aryan or Nordic mast er race.[8] It aimed t o overcome social divisions and creat e a
homogeneous German societ y based on racial purit y which represent ed a people's communit y
(Volksgemeinschaft). The Nazis aimed t o unit e all Germans living in hist orically German t errit ory,
as well as gain addit ional lands for German expansion under t he doct rine of Lebensraum and
exclude t hose who t hey deemed eit her Communit y Aliens or "inferior" races.

The t erm "Nat ional Socialism" arose out of at t empt s t o creat e a nat ionalist redefinit ion of
socialism, as an alt ernat ive t o bot h Marxist int ernat ional socialism and free-market capit alism.
Nazism reject ed t he Marxist concept s of class conflict and universal equalit y, opposed
cosmopolit an int ernat ionalism, and sought t o convince all part s of t he new German societ y t o
subordinat e t heir personal int erest s t o t he "common good", accept ing polit ical int erest s as t he
main priorit y of economic organisat ion,[9] which t ended t o mat ch t he general out look of
collect ivism or communit arianism rat her t han economic socialism. The Nazi Part y's precursor, t he
pan-German nat ionalist and ant isemit ic German Workers' Part y (DAP), was founded on 5 January
1919. By t he early 1920s, t he part y was renamed t he Nat ional Socialist German Workers' Part y t o
at t ract workers away from left -wing part ies such as t he Social Democrat s (SPD) and t he
Communist s (KPD), and Adolf Hit ler assumed cont rol of t he organisat ion. The Nat ional Socialist
Program, or "25 Point s", was adopt ed in 1920 and called for a unit ed Great er Germany t hat would
deny cit izenship t o Jews or t hose of Jewish descent , while also support ing land reform and t he
nat ionalisat ion of some indust ries. In Mein Kampf, lit erally "My St ruggle", published in 1925–1926,
Hit ler out lined t he ant isemit ism and ant i-communism at t he heart of his polit ical philosophy as
well as his disdain for represent at ive democracy and his belief in Germany's right t o t errit orial
expansion.[10]

The Nazi Part y won t he great est share of t he popular vot e in t he t wo Reichst ag general
elect ions of 1932, making t hem t he largest part y in t he legislat ure by far, albeit st ill short of an
out right majorit y. Because none of t he part ies were willing or able t o put t oget her a coalit ion
government , Hit ler was appoint ed Chancellor of Germany in 1933 by President Paul von
Hindenburg t hrough t he support and connivance of t radit ional conservat ive nat ionalist s who
believed t hat t hey could cont rol him and his part y. Wit h t he use of emergency president ial
decrees by Hindenburg and a change in t he Weimar Const it ut ion which allowed t he Cabinet t o
rule by direct decree, bypassing bot h Hindenburg and t he Reichst ag, t he Nazis soon est ablished
a one-part y st at e.

The Sturmabteilung (SA) and t he Schutzstaffel (SS) funct ioned as t he paramilit ary organisat ions
of t he Nazi Part y. Using t he SS for t he t ask, Hit ler purged t he part y's more socially and
economically radical fact ions in t he mid-1934 Night of t he Long Knives, including t he leadership
of t he SA. Aft er t he deat h of President Hindenburg, polit ical power was concent rat ed in Hit ler's
hands and he became Germany's head of st at e as well as t he head of t he government , wit h t he
t it le of Führer, meaning "leader". From t hat point , Hit ler was effect ively t he dict at or of Nazi
Germany – also known as t he Third Reich – under which Jews, polit ical opponent s and ot her
"undesirable" element s were marginalised, imprisoned or murdered. During World War II, many
millions of people—including around t wo-t hirds of t he Jewish populat ion of Europe—were
event ually ext erminat ed in a genocide which became known as t he Holocaust . Following
Germany's defeat in World War II and t he discovery of t he full ext ent of t he Holocaust , Nazi
ideology became universally disgraced. It is widely regarded as immoral and evil, wit h only a few
fringe racist groups, usually referred t o as neo-Nazis, describing t hemselves as followers of
Nat ional Socialism.

Etymology

Flag of the Nazi Party, similar but not identical to the national flag of Nazi Germany (1933–1945), in which the swastika is
slightly off-centred

The full name of t he part y was Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (English: Nat ional-
Socialist German Workers' Part y) and t hey officially used t he acronym NSDAP. The t erm "Nazi"
was in use before t he rise of t he NSDAP as a colloquial and derogat ory word for a backwards
farmer or peasant , charact erising an awkward and clumsy person. In t his sense, t he word Nazi
was a hypocorism of t he German male name Igna(t)z (it self a variat ion of t he name Ignat ius)—
Igna(t )z being a common name at t he t ime in Bavaria, t he area from which t he NSDAP
emerged.[11][12]

In t he 1920s, polit ical opponent s of t he NSDAP in t he German labour movement seized on t his.
Using t he earlier abbreviat ed t erm "Sozi" for Sozialist (English: Socialist ) as an example,[13] t hey
short ened NSDAP's name, Nationalsozialistische, t o t he dismissive "Nazi", in order t o associat e
t hem wit h t he derogat ory use of t he t erm ment ioned above.[14][12][15][16][17][18] The first use of
t he t erm "Nazi" by t he Nat ional Socialist s occurred in 1926 in a publicat ion by Joseph Goebbels
called Der Nazi-Sozi ["The Nazi-Sozi"]. In Goebbels' pamphlet , t he word "Nazi" only appears when
linked wit h t he word "Sozi" as an abbreviat ion of "Nat ional Socialism".[19]

Aft er t he NSDAP's rise t o power in t he 1930s, t he use of t he t erm "Nazi" by it self or in t erms
such as "Nazi Germany", "Nazi regime" and so on was popularised by German exiles out side t he
count ry, but not in Germany. From t hem, t he t erm spread int o ot her languages and it was
event ually brought back int o Germany aft er World War II.[15] The NSDAP briefly adopt ed t he
designat ion "Nazi" in an at t empt t o reappropriat e t he t erm, but it soon gave up t his effort and
generally avoided using t he t erm while it was in power.[15][16] In each case, t he aut hors refer t o
t hemselves as "Nat ional Socialist s" and t heir movement as "Nat ional Socialism" but never as
"Nazis." A compendium of conversat ions of Hit ler from 1941 t hrough 1944 ent it led Hitler's Table
Talk does not cont ain t he word "Nazi" eit her.[20] In speeches by Hermann Göring, he never uses
t he t erm "Nazi."[21] Hit ler Yout h leader Melit a Maschmann wrot e a book about her experience
ent it led Account Rendered.[22] She did not refer t o herself as a "Nazi", even t hough she was
writ ing well aft er World War II. In 1933, 581 members of t he Nat ional Socialist Part y answered
int erview quest ions put t o t hem by Professor Theodore Abel from Columbia Universit y. They
similarly did not refer t o t hemselves as "Nazis."[23]

Position within the political spectrum

Foreground, left to right: Führer Adolf Hitler; Hermann Göring; Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels; and Rudolf Hess

Nazis alongside members of the far-right reactionary and monarchist German National People's Party (DNVP) during the
brief NSDAP–DNVP alliance in the Harzburg Front from 1931 to 1932

The majorit y of scholars ident ify Nazism in bot h t heory and pract ice as a form of far-right
polit ics.[24] Far-right t hemes in Nazism include t he argument t hat superior people have a right t o
dominat e ot her people and purge societ y of supposed inferior element s.[25] Adolf Hit ler and
ot her proponent s denied t hat Nazism was eit her left -wing or right -wing: inst ead, t hey officially
port rayed Nazism as a syncret ic movement .[26][27] In Mein Kampf, Hit ler direct ly at t acked bot h
left -wing and right -wing polit ics in Germany, saying:

Today our left-wing politicians in particular are constantly insisting

that their craven-hearted and obsequious foreign policy necessarily
results from the disarmament of Germany, whereas the truth is that
this is the policy of traitors ... But the politicians of the Right deserve
exactly the same reproach. It was through their miserable cowardice
that those ruffians of Jews who came into power in 1918 were able to
rob the nation of its arms.[28]

In a speech given in Munich on 12 April 1922, Hit ler st at ed:

There are only two possibilities in Germany; do not imagine that the
people will forever go with the middle party, the party of compromises;
one day it will turn to those who have most consistently foretold the
coming ruin and have sought to dissociate themselves from it. And that
party is either the Left: and then God help us! for it will lead us to
complete destruction—to Bolshevism, or else it is a party of the Right
which at the last, when the people is in utter despair, when it has lost
all its spirit and has no longer any faith in anything, is determined for
its part ruthlessly to seize the reins of power—that is the beginning of
resistance of which I spoke a few minutes ago.[29]

When asked in a 27 January 1934 int erview whet her he support ed t he "bourgeois right -wing",
Hit ler claimed t hat Nazism was not exclusively for any class and he indicat ed t hat it favoured
neit her t he left nor t he right , but preserved "pure" element s from bot h "camps" by st at ing: "From
t he camp of bourgeois t radit ion, it t akes nat ional resolve, and from t he mat erialism of t he
Marxist dogma, living, creat ive Socialism".[30]

Hist orians regard t he equat ion of Nazism as "Hit lerism" as t oo simplist ic since t he t erm was used
prior t o t he rise of Hit ler and t he Nazis and t he different ideologies incorporat ed int o Nazism
were already well est ablished in cert ain part s of German societ y before World War I.[31] The
Nazis were st rongly influenced by t he post –World War I far-right in Germany, which held common
beliefs such as ant i-Marxism, ant i-liberalism and ant isemit ism, along wit h nat ionalism, cont empt
for t he Treat y of Versailles and condemnat ion of t he Weimar Republic for signing t he armist ice in
November 1918 which lat er led it t o sign t he Treat y of Versailles.[32] A major inspirat ion for t he
Nazis were t he far-right nat ionalist Freikorps, paramilit ary organisat ions t hat engaged in polit ical
violence aft er World War I.[32] Init ially, t he post –World War I German far-right was dominat ed by
monarchist s, but t he younger generat ion, which was associat ed wit h völkisch nat ionalism, was
more radical and it did not express any emphasis on t he rest orat ion of t he German monarchy.[33]
This younger generat ion desired t o dismant le t he Weimar Republic and creat e a new radical and
st rong st at e based upon a mart ial ruling et hic t hat could revive t he "Spirit of 1914" which was
associat ed wit h German nat ional unit y (Volksgemeinschaft).[33]

The Nazis, t he far-right monarchist s, t he react ionary German Nat ional People's Part y (DNVP) and
ot hers, such as monarchist officers in t he German Army and several prominent indust rialist s,
formed an alliance in opposit ion t o t he Weimar Republic on 11 Oct ober 1931 in Bad Harzburg,
officially known as t he "Nat ional Front ", but commonly referred t o as t he Harzburg Front .[34] The
Nazis st at ed t hat t he alliance was purely t act ical and t hey cont inued t o have differences wit h
t he DNVP. Aft er t he elect ions of July 1932, t he alliance broke down when t he DNVP lost many
of it s seat s in t he Reichst ag. The Nazis denounced t hem as "an insignificant heap of
react ionaries".[35] The DNVP responded by denouncing t he Nazis for t heir socialism, t heir st reet
violence and t he "economic experiment s" t hat would t ake place if t he Nazis ever rose t o
power.[36] But amidst an inconclusive polit ical sit uat ion in which conservat ive polit icians Franz von
Papen and Kurt von Schleicher were unable t o form st able government s wit hout t he Nazis,
Papen proposed t o President Hindenburg t o appoint Hit ler as Chancellor at t he head of a
government formed primarily of conservat ives, wit h only t hree Nazi minist ers.[37][38] Hindenburg
did so, and cont rary t o t he expect at ions of Papen and t he DNVP, Hit ler was soon able t o
est ablish a Nazi one-part y dict at orship.[39]

Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was pressured t o abdicat e t he t hrone and flee int o exile amidst an
at t empt ed communist revolut ion in Germany, init ially support ed t he Nazi Part y. His four sons,
including Prince Eit el Friedrich and Prince Oskar, became members of t he Nazi Part y in hopes
t hat in exchange for t heir support , t he Nazis would permit t he rest orat ion of t he monarchy.[40]

There were fact ions wit hin t he Nazi Part y, bot h conservat ive and radical.[41] The conservat ive
Nazi Hermann Göring urged Hit ler t o conciliat e wit h capit alist s and react ionaries.[41] Ot her
prominent conservat ive Nazis included Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich.[42] Meanwhile,
t he radical Nazi Joseph Goebbels opposed capit alism, viewing it as having Jews at it s core and
he st ressed t he need for t he part y t o emphasise bot h a prolet arian and a nat ional charact er.
Those views were shared by Ot t o St rasser, who lat er left t he Nazi Part y and formed t he Black
Front in t he belief t hat Hit ler had allegedly bet rayed t he part y's socialist goals by endorsing
capit alism.[41]

When t he Nazi Part y emerged from obscurit y t o become a major polit ical force aft er 1929, t he
conservat ive fact ion rapidly gained more influence, as wealt hy donors t ook an int erest in t he
Nazis as a pot ent ial bulwark against communism.[43] The Nazi Part y had previously been financed
almost ent irely from membership dues, but aft er 1929 it s leadership began act ively seeking
donat ions from German indust rialist s, and Hit ler began holding dozens of fundraising meet ings
wit h business leaders.[44] In t he midst of t he Great Depression, facing t he possibilit y of economic
ruin on t he one hand and a Communist or Social Democrat ic government on t he ot her hand,
German business increasingly t urned t o Nazism as offering a way out of t he sit uat ion, by
promising a st at e-driven economy t hat would support , rat her t han at t ack, exist ing business
int erest s.[45] By January 1933, t he Nazi Part y had secured t he support of import ant sect ors of
German indust ry, mainly among t he st eel and coal producers, t he insurance business and t he
chemical indust ry.[46]

Large segment s of t he Nazi Part y, part icularly among t he members of t he Sturmabteilung (SA),
were commit t ed t o t he part y's official socialist , revolut ionary and ant i-capit alist posit ions and
expect ed bot h a social and an economic revolut ion when t he part y gained power in 1933.[47] In
t he period immediat ely before t he Nazi seizure of power, t here were even Social Democrat s and
Communist s who swit ched sides and became known as "Beefst eak Nazis": brown on t he out side
and red inside.[48] The leader of t he SA, Ernst Röhm, pushed for a "second revolut ion" (t he "first
revolut ion" being t he Nazis' seizure of power) t hat would enact socialist policies. Furt hermore,
Röhm desired t hat t he SA absorb t he much smaller German Army int o it s ranks under his
leadership.[47] Once t he Nazis achieved power, Röhm's SA was direct ed by Hit ler t o violent ly
suppress t he part ies of t he left , but t hey also began at t acks against individuals deemed t o be
associat ed wit h conservat ive react ion.[49] Hit ler saw Röhm's independent act ions as violat ing and
possibly t hreat ening his leadership, as well as jeopardising t he regime by alienat ing t he
conservat ive President Paul von Hindenburg and t he conservat ive-orient ed German Army.[50] This
result ed in Hit ler purging Röhm and ot her radical members of t he SA in 1934, in what came t o be
known as t he Night of t he Long Knives.[50]

Before he joined t he Bavarian Army t o fight in World War I, Hit ler had lived a bohemian lifest yle as
a pet t y st reet wat ercolour art ist in Vienna and Munich and he maint ained element s of t his
lifest yle lat er on, going t o bed very lat e and rising in t he aft ernoon, even aft er he became
Chancellor and t hen Führer.[51] Aft er t he war, his bat t alion was absorbed by t he Bavarian Soviet
Republic from 1918 t o 1919, where he was elect ed Deput y Bat t alion Represent at ive. According
t o hist orian Thomas Weber, Hit ler at t ended t he funeral of communist Kurt Eisner (a German Jew),
wearing a black mourning armband on one arm and a red communist armband on t he ot her,[52]
which he t ook as evidence t hat Hit ler's polit ical beliefs had not yet solidified.[52] In Mein Kampf,
Hit ler never ment ioned any service wit h t he Bavarian Soviet Republic and he st at ed t hat he
became an ant isemit e in 1913 during his years in Vienna. This st at ement has been disput ed by
t he cont ent ion t hat he was not an ant isemit e at t hat t ime,[53] even t hough it is well est ablished
t hat he read many ant isemit ic t ract s and journals during t hat t ime and admired Karl Lueger, t he
ant isemit ic mayor of Vienna.[54] Hit ler alt ered his polit ical views in response t o t he signing of t he
Treat y of Versailles in June 1919 and it was t hen t hat he became an ant isemit ic, German
nat ionalist .[53]

Hit ler expressed opposit ion t o capit alism, regarding it as having Jewish origins and accusing
capit alism of holding nat ions ransom t o t he int erest s of a parasit ic cosmopolit an rent ier class.[55]
He also expressed opposit ion t o communism and egalit arian forms of socialism, arguing t hat
inequalit y and hierarchy are beneficial t o t he nat ion.[56] He believed t hat communism was
invent ed by t he Jews t o weaken nat ions by promot ing class st ruggle.[57] Aft er his rise t o power,
Hit ler t ook a pragmat ic posit ion on economics, accept ing privat e propert y and allowing capit alist
privat e ent erprises t o exist so long as t hey adhered t o t he goals of t he Nazi st at e, but not
t olerat ing ent erprises t hat he saw as being opposed t o t he nat ional int erest .[41]
Hitler greets British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Lord Halifax on the steps of the Berghof

German business leaders disliked Nazi ideology but came t o support Hit ler, because t hey saw t he
Nazis as a useful ally t o promot e t heir int erest s.[58] Business groups made significant financial
cont ribut ions t o t he Nazi Part y bot h before and aft er t he Nazi seizure of power, in t he hope t hat
a Nazi dict at orship would eliminat e t he organised labour movement and t he left -wing part ies.[59]
Hit ler act ively sought t o gain t he support of business leaders by arguing t hat privat e ent erprise
is incompat ible wit h democracy.[60]

Alt hough he opposed communist ideology, Hit ler publicly praised t he Soviet Union's leader
Joseph St alin and St alinism on numerous occasions.[61] Hit ler commended St alin for seeking t o
purify t he Communist Part y of t he Soviet Union of Jewish influences, not ing St alin's purging of
Jewish communist s such as Leon Trot sky, Grigory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev and Karl Radek.[62]
While Hit ler had always int ended t o bring Germany int o conflict wit h t he Soviet Union so he could
gain Lebensraum ("living space"), he support ed a t emporary st rat egic alliance bet ween Nazi
Germany and t he Soviet Union t o form a common ant i-liberal front so t hey could defeat liberal
democracies, part icularly France.[61]

Hit ler admired t he Brit ish Empire and it s colonial syst em as living proof of Germanic superiorit y
over "inferior" races and saw t he Unit ed Kingdom as Germany's nat ural ally.[63][64] He wrot e in Mein
Kampf: "For a long t ime t o come t here will be only t wo Powers in Europe wit h which it may be
possible for Germany t o conclude an alliance. These Powers are Great Brit ain and It aly."[64]

Origins

The hist orical root s of Nazism are t o be found in various element s of European polit ical cult ure
which were in circulat ion in t he int ellect ual capit als of t he cont inent , what Joachim Fest called
t he "scrapheap of ideas" prevalent at t he t ime.[65][66] In Hitler and the Collapse of the Weimar
Republic, hist orian Mart in Broszat point s out t hat

[A]lmost all essential elements of ... Nazi ideology were to be found in

the radical positions of ideological protest movements [in pre-1914
Germany]. These were: a virulent anti-Semitism, a blood-and-soil
ideology, the notion of a master race, [and] the idea of territorial
acquisition and settlement in the East. These ideas were embedded in a
popular nationalism which was vigorously anti-modernist, anti-
humanist and pseudo-religious.[66]

Brought t oget her, t he result was an ant i-int ellect ual and polit ically semi-illit erat e ideology
lacking cohesion, a product of mass cult ure which allowed it s followers emot ional at t achment
and offered a simplified and easily-digest ible world-view based on a polit ical myt hology for t he
masses.[66]

Völkisch nationalism

Johann Gottlieb Fichte, considered one of the fathers of German nationalism

One of t he most significant ideological influences on t he Nazis was t he German nat ionalist
Johann Got t lieb Ficht e, whose works had served as an inspirat ion t o Hit ler and ot her Nazi Part y
members, including Diet rich Eckart and Arnold Fanck.[67] In Speeches to the German Nation (1808),
writ t en amid Napoleonic France's occupat ion of Berlin, Ficht e called for a German nat ional
revolut ion against t he French occupiers, making passionat e public speeches, arming his st udent s
for bat t le against t he French and st ressing t he need for act ion by t he German nat ion so it could
free it self.[68] Ficht e's nat ionalism was populist and opposed t o t radit ional elit es, spoke of t he
need for a "People's War" (Volkskrieg) and put fort h concept s similar t o t hose which t he Nazis
adopt ed.[68] Ficht e promot ed German except ionalism and st ressed t he need for t he German
nat ion t o purify it self (including purging t he German language of French words, a policy t hat t he
Nazis undert ook upon t heir rise t o power).[68]

Anot her import ant figure in pre-Nazi völkisch t hinking was Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl, whose work—
Land und Leute (Land and People, writ t en bet ween 1857 and 1863)—collect ively t ied t he organic
German Volk t o it s nat ive landscape and nat ure, a pairing which st ood in st ark opposit ion t o t he
mechanical and mat erialist ic civilisat ion which was t hen developing as a result of
indust rialisat ion.[69] Geographers Friedrich Rat zel and Karl Haushofer borrowed from Riehl's work
as did Nazi ideologues Alfred Rosenberg and Paul Schult ze-Naumburg, bot h of whom employed
some of Riehl's philosophy in arguing t hat "each nat ion-st at e was an organism t hat required a
part icular living space in order t o survive".[70] Riehl's influence is overt ly discernible in t he Blut und
Boden (Blood and Soil) philosophy int roduced by Oswald Spengler, which t he Nazi agricult uralist
Walt her Darré and ot her prominent Nazis adopt ed.[71][72]

Völkisch nat ionalism denounced soulless mat erialism, individualism and secularised urban
indust rial societ y, while advocat ing a "superior" societ y based on et hnic German "folk" cult ure and
German "blood".[73] It denounced foreigners and foreign ideas and declared t hat Jews,
Freemasons and ot hers were "t rait ors t o t he nat ion" and unwort hy of inclusion.[74] Völkisch
nat ionalism saw t he world in t erms of nat ural law and romant icism and it viewed societ ies as
organic, ext olling t he virt ues of rural life, condemning t he neglect of t radit ion and t he decay of
morals, denounced t he dest ruct ion of t he nat ural environment and condemned "cosmopolit an"
cult ures such as Jews and Romani.[75]

The first part y t hat at t empt ed t o combine nat ionalism and socialism was t he (Aust ria-Hungary)
German Workers' Part y, which predominant ly aimed t o solve t he conflict bet ween t he Aust rian
Germans and t he Czechs in t he mult i-et hnic Aust rian Empire, t hen part of Aust ria-Hungary.[76] In
1896 t he German polit ician Friedrich Naumann formed t he Nat ional-Social Associat ion which
aimed t o combine German nat ionalism and a non-Marxist form of socialism t oget her; t he at t empt
t urned out t o be fut ile and t he idea of linking nat ionalism wit h socialism quickly became equat ed
wit h ant isemit es, ext reme German nat ionalist s and t he völkisch movement in general.[31]
Georg Ritter von Schönerer, a major exponent of Pan-Germanism

During t he era of t he German Empire, völkisch nat ionalism was overshadowed by bot h Prussian
pat riot ism and t he federalist t radit ion of it s various component st at es.[77] The event s of World
War I, including t he end of t he Prussian monarchy in Germany, result ed in a surge of revolut ionary
völkisch nat ionalism.[78] The Nazis support ed such revolut ionary völkisch nat ionalist policies[77]
and t hey claimed t hat t heir ideology was influenced by t he leadership and policies of German
Chancellor Ot t o von Bismarck, who was inst rument al in founding t he German Empire.[79] The Nazis
declared t hat t hey were dedicat ed t o cont inuing t he process of creat ing a unified German nat ion
st at e t hat Bismarck had begun and desired t o achieve.[80] While Hit ler was support ive of
Bismarck's creat ion of t he German Empire, he was crit ical of Bismarck's moderat e domest ic
policies.[81] On t he issue of Bismarck's support of a Kleindeutschland ("Lesser Germany",
excluding Aust ria) versus t he Pan-German Großdeutschland ("Great er Germany") which t he Nazis
advocat ed, Hit ler st at ed t hat Bismarck's at t ainment of Kleindeutschland was t he "highest
achievement " Bismarck could have achieved "wit hin t he limit s possible at t hat t ime".[81]131/> In
Mein Kampf (My Struggle), Hit ler present ed himself as a "second Bismarck".[82]

During his yout h in Aust ria, Hit ler was polit ically influenced by Aust rian Pan-Germanist proponent
Georg Rit t er von Schönerer, who advocat ed radical German nat ionalism, ant isemit ism, ant i-
Cat holicism, ant i-Slavic sent iment and ant i-Habsburg views.[83] From von Schönerer and his
followers, Hit ler adopt ed for t he Nazi movement t he Heil greet ing, t he Führer t it le and t he
model of absolut e part y leadership.[83] Hit ler was also impressed by t he populist ant isemit ism
and t he ant i-liberal bourgeois agit at ion of Karl Lueger, who as t he mayor of Vienna during Hit ler's
t ime in t he cit y used a rabble-rousing st yle of orat ory t hat appealed t o t he wider masses.[84]
Unlike von Schönerer, Lueger was not a German nat ionalist and inst ead was a pro-Cat holic
Habsburg support er and only used German nat ionalist not ions occasionally for his own agenda.[84]
Alt hough Hit ler praised bot h Lueger and Schönerer, he crit icised t he former for not applying a
racial doct rine against t he Jews and Slavs.[85]

Racial theories and antisemitism

Arthur de Gobineau, one of the key inventors of the theory of the "Aryan race"

The concept of t he Aryan race, which t he Nazis promot ed, st ems from racial t heories assert ing
t hat Europeans are t he descendant s of Indo-Iranian set t lers, people of ancient India and ancient
Persia.[86] Proponent s of t his t heory based t heir assert ion on t he fact t hat words in European
languages and words in Indo-Iranian languages have similar pronunciat ions and meanings.[86]
Johann Got t fried Herder argued t hat t he Germanic peoples held close racial connect ions t o t he
ancient Indians and t he ancient Persians, who he claimed were advanced peoples t hat
possessed a great capacit y for wisdom, nobilit y, rest raint and science.[86] Cont emporaries of
Herder used t he concept of t he Aryan race t o draw a dist inct ion bet ween what t hey deemed t o
be "high and noble" Aryan cult ure versus t hat of "parasit ic" Semit ic cult ure.[86]

Not ions of whit e supremacy and Aryan racial superiorit y were combined in t he 19t h cent ury, wit h
whit e supremacist s maint aining t he belief t hat cert ain groups of whit e people were members of
an Aryan "mast er race" t hat is superior t o ot her races and part icularly superior t o t he Semit ic
race, which t hey associat ed wit h "cult ural st erilit y".[86] Art hur de Gobineau, a French racial t heorist
and arist ocrat , blamed t he fall of t he ancien régime in France on racial degeneracy caused by
racial int ermixing, which he argued had dest royed t he purit y of t he Aryan race, a t erm which he
only reserved for Germanic people.[87][88] Gobineau's t heories, which at t ract ed a st rong following
in Germany,[87] emphasised t he exist ence of an irreconcilable polarit y bet ween Aryan (Germanic)
and Jewish cult ures.[86]

Houston Stewart Chamberlain, whose book The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century would prove to be a seminal work in
the history of German nationalism

Aryan myst icism claimed t hat Christ ianit y originat ed in Aryan religious t radit ions, and t hat Jews
had usurped t he legend from Aryans.[86] Houst on St ewart Chamberlain, an English-born German
proponent of racial t heory, support ed not ions of Germanic supremacy and ant isemit ism in
Germany.[87] Chamberlain's work, The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century (1899), praised
Germanic peoples for t heir creat ivit y and idealism while assert ing t hat t he Germanic spirit was
t hreat ened by a "Jewish" spirit of selfishness and mat erialism.[87] Chamberlain used his t hesis t o
promot e monarchical conservat ism while denouncing democracy, liberalism and socialism.[87] The
book became popular, especially in Germany.[87] Chamberlain st ressed a nat ion's need t o maint ain
it s racial purit y in order t o prevent it s degenerat ion and argued t hat racial int ermingling wit h Jews
should never be permit t ed.[87] In 1923, Chamberlain met Hit ler, whom he admired as a leader of
t he rebirt h of t he free spirit .[89] Madison Grant 's work The Passing of the Great Race (1916)
advocat ed Nordicism and proposed t hat a eugenics program should be implement ed in order t o
preserve t he purit y of t he Nordic race. Aft er reading t he book, Hit ler called it "my Bible".[90]
In Germany, t he belief t hat Jews were economically exploit ing Germans became prominent due
t o t he ascendancy of many wealt hy Jews int o prominent posit ions upon t he unificat ion of
Germany in 1871.[91] From 1871 t o t he early 20t h cent ury, German Jews were overrepresent ed in
Germany's upper and middle classes while t hey were underrepresent ed in Germany's lower
classes, part icularly in t he fields of agricult ural and indust rial labour.[92] German Jewish financiers
and bankers played a key role in fost ering Germany's economic growt h from 1871 t o 1913 and
t hey benefit ed enormously from t his boom. In 1908, amongst t he t went y-nine wealt hiest German
families wit h aggregat e fort unes of up t o 55 million marks at t he t ime, five were Jewish and t he
Rot hschilds were t he second wealt hiest German family.[93] The predominance of Jews in
Germany's banking, commerce and indust ry sect ors during t his t ime period was very high, even
t hough Jews were est imat ed t o account for only 1% of t he populat ion of Germany.[91] The
overrepresent at ion of Jews in t hese areas fuelled resent ment among non-Jewish Germans
during periods of economic crisis.[92] The 1873 st ock market crash and t he ensuing depression
result ed in a spat e of at t acks on alleged Jewish economic dominance in Germany and
ant isemit ism increased.[92] During t his t ime period, in t he 1870s, German völkisch nat ionalism
began t o adopt ant isemit ic and racist t hemes and it was also adopt ed by a number of radical
right polit ical movement s.[94]

Radical ant isemit ism was promot ed by prominent advocat es of völkisch nat ionalism, including
Eugen Diederichs, Paul de Lagarde and Julius Langbehn.[75] De Lagarde called t he Jews a
"bacillus, t he carriers of decay ... who pollut e every nat ional cult ure ... and dest roy all fait hs wit h
t heir mat erialist ic liberalism" and he called for t he ext erminat ion of t he Jews.[95] Langbehn called
for a war of annihilat ion against t he Jews, and his genocidal policies were lat er published by t he
Nazis and given t o soldiers on t he front during World War II.[95] One ant isemit ic ideologue of t he
period, Friedrich Lange, even used t he t erm "Nat ional Socialism" t o describe his own ant i-
capit alist t ake on t he völkisch nat ionalist t emplat e.[96]

Johann Got t lieb Ficht e accused Jews in Germany of having been and inevit ably of cont inuing t o
be a "st at e wit hin a st at e" t hat t hreat ened German nat ional unit y.[68] Ficht e promot ed t wo
opt ions in order t o address t his, his first one being t he creat ion of a Jewish st at e in Palest ine so
t he Jews could be impelled t o leave Europe.[97] His second opt ion was violence against Jews
and he said t hat t he goal of t he violence would be "t o cut off all t heir heads in one night , and set
new ones on t heir shoulders, which should not cont ain a single Jewish idea".[97]

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (1912) is an ant isemit ic forgery creat ed by t he secret service
of t he Russian Empire, t he Okhrana. Many ant isemit es believed it was real and t hus it became
widely popular aft er World War I.[98] The Protocols claimed t hat t here was a secret int ernat ional
Jewish conspiracy t o t ake over t he world.[99] Hit ler had been int roduced t o The Protocols by
Alfred Rosenberg and from 1920 onwards he focused his at t acks by claiming t hat Judaism and
Marxism were direct ly connect ed, t hat Jews and Bolsheviks were one and t he same and t hat
Marxism was a Jewish ideology-t his became known as "Jewish Bolshevism".[100] Hit ler believed
t hat The Protocols were aut hent ic.[101]

Prior t o t he Nazi ascension t o power, Hit ler oft en blamed moral degradat ion on Rassenschande
("racial defilement "), a way t o assure his followers of his cont inuing ant isemit ism, which had been
t oned down for popular consumpt ion.[102] Prior t o t he induct ion of t he Nuremberg Race Laws in
1935 by t he Nazis, many German nat ionalist s such as Roland Freisler st rongly support ed laws t o
ban Rassenschande bet ween Aryans and Jews as racial t reason.[102] Even before t he laws were
officially passed, t he Nazis banned sexual relat ions and marriages bet ween part y members and
Jews.[103] Part y members found guilt y of Rassenschande were severely punished; some part y
members were even sent enced t o deat h.[104]

The Nazis claimed t hat Bismarck was unable t o complet e German nat ional unificat ion because
Jews had infilt rat ed t he German parliament and t hey claimed t hat t heir abolit ion of parliament
had ended t his obst acle t o unificat ion.[79] Using t he st ab-in-t he-back myt h, t he Nazis accused
Jews—and ot her populat ions who it considered non-German—of possessing ext ra-nat ional
loyalt ies, t hereby exacerbat ing German ant isemit ism about t he Judenfrage (t he Jewish
Quest ion), t he far-right polit ical canard which was popular when t he et hnic völkisch movement
and it s polit ics of Romant ic nat ionalism for est ablishing a Großdeutschland was st rong.[105][106]

Nazism's racial policy posit ions may have developed from t he views of import ant biologist s of
t he 19t h cent ury, including French biologist Jean-Bapt ist e Lamarck, t hrough Ernst Haeckel's
idealist version of Lamarckism and t he fat her of genet ics, German bot anist Gregor Mendel.[107]
Haeckel's works were lat er condemned by t he Nazis as inappropriat e for "Nat ional-Socialist
format ion and educat ion in t he Third Reich". This may have been because of his "monist "
at heist ic, mat erialist philosophy, which t he Nazis disliked, along wit h his friendliness t o Jews,
opposit ion t o milit arism and support alt ruism, wit h one Nazi official calling for t hem t o be
banned.[108] Unlike Darwinian t heory, Lamarckian t heory officially ranked races in a hierarchy of
evolut ion from apes while Darwinian t heory did not grade races in a hierarchy of higher or lower
evolut ion from apes, but simply st at ed t hat all humans as a whole had progressed in t heir
evolut ion from apes.[107] Many Lamarckians viewed "lower" races as having been exposed t o
debilit at ing condit ions for t oo long for any significant "improvement " of t heir condit ion t o t ake
place in t he near fut ure.[109] Haeckel used Lamarckian t heory t o describe t he exist ence of
int erracial st ruggle and put races on a hierarchy of evolut ion, ranging from wholly human t o
subhuman.[107]

Mendelian inherit ance, or Mendelism, was support ed by t he Nazis, as well as by mainst ream
eugenicist s of t he t ime. The Mendelian t heory of inherit ance declared t hat genet ic t rait s and
at t ribut es were passed from one generat ion t o anot her.[110] Eugenicist s used Mendelian
inherit ance t heory t o demonst rat e t he t ransfer of biological illness and impairment s from
parent s t o children, including ment al disabilit y, whereas ot hers also used Mendelian t heory t o
demonst rat e t he inherit ance of social t rait s, wit h racialist s claiming a racial nat ure behind cert ain
general t rait s such as invent iveness or criminal behaviour.[111]

Use of the American racist model

Hit ler and ot her Nazi legal t heorist s were inspired by America's inst it ut ional racism and saw it as
t he model t o follow. In part icular, t hey saw it as a model for t he expansion of t errit ory and t he
eliminat ion of indigenous inhabit ant s t herefrom, for laws denying full cit izenship for blacks, which
t hey want ed t o implement also against Jews, and for racist immigrat ion laws banning some
races. In "Mein Kampf" Hit ler ext olled America as t he only cont emporary example of a count ry
wit h racist ("völkisch") cit izenship st at ut es in t he 1920s, and Nazi lawyers made use of t he
American models in craft ing laws for Nazi Germany.[112] U.S. cit izenship laws and ant i-
miscegenat ion laws direct ly inspired t he t wo principal Nuremberg Laws—t he Cit izenship Law and
t he Blood Law.[112]

Response to World War I and Italian Fascism

During World War I, German sociologist Johann Plenge spoke of t he rise of a "Nat ional Socialism"
in Germany wit hin what he t ermed t he "ideas of 1914" t hat were a declarat ion of war against t he
"ideas of 1789" (t he French Revolut ion).[113] According t o Plenge, t he "ideas of 1789" which
included t he right s of man, democracy, individualism and liberalism were being reject ed in favour
of "t he ideas of 1914" which included t he "German values" of dut y, discipline, law and order.[113]
Plenge believed t hat et hnic solidarit y (Volksgemeinschaft) would replace class division and t hat
"racial comrades" would unit e t o creat e a socialist societ y in t he st ruggle of "prolet arian"
Germany against "capit alist " Brit ain.[113] He believed t hat t he "Spirit of 1914" manifest ed it self in
t he concept of t he "People's League of Nat ional Socialism".[114] This Nat ional Socialism was a
form of st at e socialism t hat reject ed t he "idea of boundless freedom" and promot ed an
economy t hat would serve t he whole of Germany under t he leadership of t he st at e.[114] This
Nat ional Socialism was opposed t o capit alism due t o t he component s t hat were against "t he
nat ional int erest " of Germany, but insist ed t hat Nat ional Socialism would st rive for great er
efficiency in t he economy.[114] Plenge advocat ed an aut horit arian, rat ional ruling elit e t o develop
Nat ional Socialism t hrough a hierarchical t echnocrat ic st at e,[115] and his ideas were part of t he
basis of Nazism.[113]

Oswald Spengler, a philosopher of history

Oswald Spengler, a German cult ural philosopher, was a major influence on Nazism, alt hough aft er
1933 he became alienat ed from Nazism and was lat er condemned by t he Nazis for crit icising
Adolf Hit ler.[116] Spengler's concept ion of nat ional socialism and a number of his polit ical views
were shared by t he Nazis and t he Conservat ive Revolut ionary movement .[117] Spengler's views
were also popular amongst It alian Fascist s, including Benit o Mussolini.[118]

Spengler's book The Decline of the West (1918), writ t en during t he final mont hs of World War I,
addressed t he supposed decadence of modern European civilisat ion, which he claimed was
caused by at omising and irreligious individualisat ion and cosmopolit anism.[116] Spengler's major
t hesis was t hat a law of hist orical development of cult ures exist ed involving a cycle of birt h,
mat urit y, ageing and deat h when it reaches it s final form of civilisat ion.[116] Upon reaching t he
point of civilisat ion, a cult ure will lose it s creat ive capacit y and succumb t o decadence unt il t he
emergence of "barbarians" creat es a new epoch.[116] Spengler considered t he West ern world as
having succumbed t o decadence of int ellect , money, cosmopolit an urban life, irreligious life,
at omised individualisat ion and believed t hat it was at t he end of it s biological and "spirit ual"
fert ilit y.[116] He believed t hat t he "young" German nat ion as an imperial power would inherit t he
legacy of Ancient Rome, lead a rest orat ion of value in "blood" and inst inct , while t he ideals of
rat ionalism would be revealed as absurd.[116]

Spengler's not ions of "Prussian socialism" as described in his book Preussentum und Sozialismus
("Prussiandom and Socialism", 1919), influenced Nazism and t he Conservat ive Revolut ionary
movement .[117] Spengler wrot e: "The meaning of socialism is t hat life is cont rolled not by t he
opposit ion bet ween rich and poor, but by t he rank t hat achievement and t alent best ow. That is
our freedom, freedom from t he economic despot ism of t he individual".[117] Spengler adopt ed t he
ant i-English ideas addressed by Plenge and Sombart during World War I t hat condemned English
liberalism and English parliament arianism while advocat ing a nat ional socialism t hat was free from
Marxism and t hat would connect t he individual t o t he st at e t hrough corporat ist organisat ion.[116]
Spengler claimed t hat socialist ic Prussian charact erist ics exist ed across Germany, including
creat ivit y, discipline, concern for t he great er good, product ivit y and self-sacrifice.[119] He
prescribed war as a necessit y by saying: "War is t he et ernal form of higher human exist ence and
st at es exist for war: t hey are t he expression of t he will t o war".[120]

The Marinebrigade Erhardt during the Kapp Putsch in Berlin, 1920[121] (the Marinebrigade Erhardt used the swastika as its
symbol, as seen on their helmets and on the truck, which inspired the Nazi Party to adopt it as the movement's symbol)

Spengler's definit ion of socialism did not advocat e a change t o propert y relat ions.[117] He
denounced Marxism for seeking t o t rain t he prolet ariat t o "expropriat e t he expropriat or", t he
capit alist and t hen t o let t hem live a life of leisure on t his expropriat ion.[122] He claimed t hat
"Marxism is t he capit alism of t he working class" and not t rue socialism.[122] According t o
Spengler, t rue socialism would be in t he form of corporat ism, st at ing t hat "local corporat e bodies
organised according t o t he import ance of each occupat ion t o t he people as a whole; higher
represent at ion in st ages up t o a supreme council of t he st at e; mandat es revocable at any t ime;
no organised part ies, no professional polit icians, no periodic elect ions".[123]

The book Das Dritte Reich (1923), translated as "The Third Reich", by Arthur Moeller van den Bruck

Wilhelm St apel, an ant isemit ic German int ellect ual, used Spengler's t hesis on t he cult ural
confront at ion bet ween Jews as whom Spengler described as a Magian people versus Europeans
as a Faust ian people.[124] St apel described Jews as a landless nomadic people in pursuit of an
int ernat ional cult ure whereby t hey can int egrat e int o West ern civilisat ion.[124] As such, St apel
claims t hat Jews have been at t ract ed t o "int ernat ional" versions of socialism, pacifism or
capit alism because as a landless people t he Jews have t ransgressed various nat ional cult ural
boundaries.[124]

Art hur Moeller van den Bruck was init ially t he dominant figure of t he Conservat ive Revolut ionaries
influenced Nazism.[125] He reject ed react ionary conservat ism while proposing a new st at e t hat he
coined t he "Third Reich", which would unit e all classes under aut horit arian rule.[126] Van den Bruck
advocat ed a combinat ion of t he nat ionalism of t he right and t he socialism of t he left .[127]

Fascism was a major influence on Nazism. The seizure of power by It alian Fascist leader Benit o
Mussolini in t he March on Rome in 1922 drew admirat ion by Hit ler, who less t han a mont h lat er
had begun t o model himself and t he Nazi Part y upon Mussolini and t he Fascist s.[128] Hit ler
present ed t he Nazis as a form of German fascism.[129][130] In November 1923, t he Nazis
at t empt ed a "March on Berlin" modelled aft er t he March on Rome, which result ed in t he failed
Beer Hall Put sch in Munich.[131]

Hit ler spoke of Nazism being indebt ed t o t he success of Fascism's rise t o power in It aly.[132] In a
privat e conversat ion in 1941, Hit ler said t hat "t he brown shirt would probably not have exist ed
wit hout t he black shirt ", t he "brown shirt " referring t o t he Nazi milit ia and t he "black shirt "
referring t o t he Fascist milit ia.[132] He also said in regards t o t he 1920s: "If Mussolini had been
out dist anced by Marxism, I don't know whet her we could have succeeded in holding out . At t hat
period Nat ional Socialism was a very fragile growt h".[132]

Ot her Nazis—especially t hose at t he t ime associat ed wit h t he part y's more radical wing such as
Gregor St rasser, Joseph Goebbels and Heinrich Himmler—reject ed It alian Fascism, accusing it of
being t oo conservat ive or capit alist .[133] Alfred Rosenberg condemned It alian Fascism for being
racially confused and having influences from philosemit ism.[134] St rasser crit icised t he policy of
Führerprinzip as being creat ed by Mussolini and considered it s presence in Nazism as a foreign
import ed idea.[135] Throughout t he relat ionship bet ween Nazi Germany and Fascist It aly, a number
of lower-ranking Nazis scornfully viewed fascism as a conservat ive movement t hat lacked a full
revolut ionary pot ent ial.[135]

Ideology and programme

In his book The Hitler State (Der Staat Hitlers), hist orian Mart in Broszat writ es:

...National Socialism was not primarily an ideological and

programmatic, but a charismatic movement, whose ideology was
incorporated in the Führer, Hitler, and which would have lost all its
power to integrate without him. ... [T]he abstract, utopian and vague
National Socialistic ideology only achieved what reality and certainty it
had through the medium of Hitler.

Thus, any explicat ion of t he ideology of Nazism must be descript ive, as it was not generat ed
primarily from first principles, but was t he result of numerous fact ors, including Hit ler's st rongly-
held personal views, some part s of t he 25-point plan, t he general goals of t he völkische and
nat ionalist movement s, and t he conflict s bet ween Nazi Part y funct ionaries who bat t led "t o win
[Hit ler] over t o t heir respect ive int erpret at ions of [Nat ional Socialism]." Once t he Part y had been
purged of divergant influences such as St rasserism, Hit ler was accept ed by t he Part y's
leadership as t he "supreme aut horit y t o rule on ideological mat t ers".[136]

Nationalism and racialism

Nazism emphasised German nat ionalism, including bot h irredent ism and expansionism. Nazism
held racial t heories based upon a belief in t he exist ence of an Aryan mast er race t hat was
superior t o all ot her races. The Nazis emphasised t he exist ence of racial conflict bet ween t he
Aryan race and ot hers—part icularly Jews, whom t he Nazis viewed as a mixed race t hat had
infilt rat ed mult iple societ ies and was responsible for exploit at ion and repression of t he Aryan
race. The Nazis also cat egorised Slavs as Untermensch (sub-human).[137]

Wolfgang Bialas argues t hat t he Nazis' sense of moralit y could be described as a form of
procedural virt ue et hics, as it demanded uncondit ional obedience t o absolut e virt ues wit h t he
at t it ude of social engineering and replaced common sense int uit ions wit h an ideological
cat alogue of virt ues and commands. The ideal Nazi new man was t o be race-conscious and an
ideologically dedicat ed warrior who would commit act ions for t he sake of t he German race while
at t he same t ime convinced he was doing t he right t hing and act ing morally. The Nazis believed
an individual could only develop t heir capabilit ies and individual charact erist ics wit hin t he
framework of t he individual's racial membership; t he race one belonged t o det ermined whet her or
not one was wort hy of moral care. The Christ ian concept of self-denial was t o be replaced wit h
t he idea of self-assert ion t owards t hose deemed inferior. Nat ural select ion and t he st ruggle for
exist ence were declared by t he Nazis t o be t he most divine laws; peoples and individuals
deemed inferior were said t o be incapable of surviving wit hout t hose deemed superior, yet by
doing so t hey imposed a burden on t he superior. Nat ural select ion was deemed t o favour t he
st rong over t he weak and t he Nazis deemed t hat prot ect ing t hose declared inferior was
prevent ing nat ure from t aking it s course; t hose incapable of assert ing t hemselves were viewed
as doomed t o annihilat ion, wit h t he right t o life being grant ed only t o t hose who could survive on
t heir own.[138]
Beginning of Lebensraum, the Nazi German expulsion of Poles from central Poland, 1939

Irredentism and expansionism

The German Nazi Part y support ed German irredent ist claims t o Aust ria, Alsace-Lorraine, t he
region now known as t he Czech Republic and t he t errit ory known since 1919 as t he Polish
Corridor. A major policy of t he German Nazi Part y was Lebensraum ("living space") for t he German
nat ion based on claims t hat Germany aft er World War I was facing an overpopulat ion crisis and
t hat expansion was needed t o end t he count ry's overpopulat ion wit hin exist ing confined t errit ory,
and provide resources necessary t o it s people's well-being.[139] Since t he 1920s, t he Nazi Part y
publicly promot ed t he expansion of Germany int o t errit ories held by t he Soviet Union.[140]

In Mein Kampf, Hit ler st at ed t hat Lebensraum would be acquired in East ern Europe, especially
Russia.[141] In his early years as t he Nazi leader, Hit ler had claimed t hat he would be willing t o
accept friendly relat ions wit h Russia on t he t act ical condit ion t hat Russia agree t o ret urn t o t he
borders est ablished by t he German–Russian peace agreement of t he Treat y of Brest -Lit ovsk
signed by Grigori Sokolnikov of t he Russian Soviet Republic in 1918 which gave large t errit ories
held by Russia t o German cont rol in exchange for peace.[140] In 1921, Hit ler had commended t he
Treat y of Brest -Lit ovsk as opening t he possibilit y for rest orat ion of relat ions bet ween Germany
and Russia by saying:

Through the peace with Russia the sustenance of Germany as well

as the provision of work were to have been secured by the
acquisition of land and soil, by access to raw materials, and by
friendly relations between the two lands.

— Adolf Hitler [140]

Topographical map of Europe: the Nazi Party declared support for Drang nach Osten (expansion of Germany east to the
Ural Mountains), that is shown on the upper right side of the map as a brown diagonal line

From 1921 t o 1922, Hit ler evoked rhet oric of bot h t he achievement of Lebensraum involving t he
accept ance of a t errit orially reduced Russia as well as support ing Russian nat ionals in
overt hrowing t he Bolshevik government and est ablishing a new Russian government .[140] Hit ler's
at t it udes changed by t he end of 1922, in which he t hen support ed an alliance of Germany wit h
Brit ain t o dest roy Russia.[140] Hit ler lat er declared how far he int ended t o expand Germany int o
Russia:

Asia, what a disquieting reservoir of men! The safety of Europe will

not be assured until we have driven Asia back behind the Urals. No
organized Russian state must be allowed to exist west of that line.

— Adolf Hitler [142]

Policy for Lebensraum planned mass expansion of Germany's borders t o east wards of t he Ural
Mount ains.[142][143] Hit ler planned for t he "surplus" Russian populat ion living west of t he Urals t o
be deport ed t o t he east of t he Urals.[144]

Hist orian Adam Tooze explains t hat Hit ler believed t hat lebensraum was vit al t o securing
American-st yle consumer affluence for t he German people. In t his light , Tooze argues t hat t he
view t hat t he regime faced a "guns or but t er" cont rast is mist aken. While it is t rue t hat resources
were divert ed from civilian consumpt ion t o milit ary product ion, Tooze explains t hat at a st rat egic
level "guns were ult imat ely viewed as a means t o obt aining more but t er."[145]
While t he Nazi pre-occupat ion wit h agrarian living and food product ion are oft en seen as a sign of
t heir backwardness, Tooze explains t his was in fact a major driving issue in European societ y for
at least t he last t wo cent uries. The issue of how European societ ies should respond t o t he new
global economy in food was one of t he major issues facing Europe in t he early 20t h cent ury.
Agrarian life in Europe (except perhaps wit h t he except ion of Brit ain) was incredibly common—in
t he early 1930s, over 9 million Germans (almost a t hird of t he work force) were st ill working in
agricult ure and many people not working in agricult ure st ill had small allot ment s or ot herwise
grew t heir own food. Tooze est imat es t hat just over half t he German populat ion in t he 1930s
was living in t owns and villages wit h populat ions under 20,000 people. Many people in cit ies st ill
had memories of rural-urban migrat ion—Tooze t hus explains t hat t he Nazis obsessions wit h
agrarianism were not an at avist ic gloss on a modern indust rial nat ion but a consequence of t he
fact t hat Nazism (as bot h an ideology and as a movement ) was t he product of a societ y st ill in
economic t ransit ion.[146]

The Nazis obsession wit h food product ion was a consequence of t he First World War. While
Europe was able t o avert famine wit h int ernat ional import s, blockades brought t he issue of food
supply back int o European polit ics, t he Allied blockade of Germany in and aft er World War I did
not cause an out right famine but chronic malnut rit ion did kill an est imat ed 600,000 people in
Germany and Aust ria. The economic crises of t he int erwar period meant t hat most Germans had
memories of acut e hunger. Thus Tooze concludes t hat t he Nazis obsession wit h acquiring land
was not a case of "t urning back t he clock" but more a refusal t o accept t hat t he result of t he
dist ribut ion of land, resources and populat ion, which had result ed from t he imperialist wars of t he
18t h and 19t h cent uries, should be accept ed as final. While t he vict ors of t he First World War
had eit her suit able agricult ural land t o populat ion rat ios or large empires (or bot h), allowing t hem
t o declare t he issue of living space closed, t he Nazis, knowing Germany lacked eit her of t hese,
refused t o accept t hat Germany's place in t he world was t o be a medium-sized workshop
dependent upon import ed food.[147]

According t o Goebbels, t he conquest of Lebensraum was int ended as an init ial st ep[148] t owards
t he final goal of Nazi ideology, which was t he est ablishment of complet e German global
hegemony.[149] Rudolf Hess relayed t o Walt er Hewel Hit ler's belief t hat world peace could only
be acquired "when one power, t he racially best one, has at t ained uncont est ed supremacy". When
t his cont rol would be achieved, t his power could t hen set up for it self a world police and assure
it self "t he necessary living space. [...] The lower races will have t o rest rict t hemselves
accordingly".[149]

Racial theories
In it s racial cat egorisat ion, Nazism viewed what it called t he Aryan race as t he mast er race of
t he world—a race t hat was superior t o all ot her races.[150] It viewed Aryans as being in racial
conflict wit h a mixed race people, t he Jews, whom t he Nazis ident ified as a dangerous enemy of
t he Aryans. It also viewed a number of ot her peoples as dangerous t o t he well-being of t he
Aryan race. In order t o preserve t he perceived racial purit y of t he Aryan race, a set of race laws
was int roduced in 1935 which came t o be known as t he Nuremberg Laws. At first t hese laws only
prevent ed sexual relat ions and marriages bet ween Germans and Jews, but t hey were lat er
ext ended t o t he "Gypsies, Negroes, and t heir bast ard offspring", who were described by t he
Nazis as people of "alien blood".[151][152] Such relat ions bet ween Aryans (cf. Aryan cert ificat e) and
non-Aryans were now punishable under t he race laws as Rassenschande or "race defilement ".[151]
Aft er t he war began, t he race defilement law was ext ended t o include all foreigners (non-
Germans).[153] At t he bot t om of t he racial scale of non-Aryans were Jews, Romanis, Slavs[154] and
blacks.[155] To maint ain t he "purit y and st rengt h" of t he Aryan race, t he Nazis event ually sought
t o ext erminat e Jews, Romani, Slavs and t he physically and ment ally disabled.[154][156] Ot her
groups deemed "degenerat e" and "asocial" who were not t arget ed for ext erminat ion, but were
subject ed t o exclusionary t reat ment by t he Nazi st at e, included homosexuals, blacks, Jehovah's
Wit nesses and polit ical opponent s.[156] One of Hit ler's ambit ions at t he st art of t he war was t o
ext erminat e, expel or enslave most or all Slavs from Cent ral and East ern Europe in order t o
acquire living space for German set t lers.[157]

A "poster information" from the exhibition "Miracle of Life" in Berlin in 1935

A Nazi-era school t ext book for German st udent s ent it led Heredity and Racial Biology for
Students writ t en by Jakob Graf described t o st udent s t he Nazi concept ion of t he Aryan race in a
sect ion t it led "The Aryan: The Creat ive Force in Human Hist ory".[150] Graf claimed t hat t he original
Aryans developed from Nordic peoples who invaded ancient India and launched t he init ial
development of Aryan cult ure t here t hat lat er spread t o ancient Persia and he claimed t hat t he
Aryan presence in Persia was what was responsible for it s development int o an empire.[150] He
claimed t hat ancient Greek cult ure was developed by Nordic peoples due t o paint ings of t he
t ime which showed Greeks who were t all, light -skinned, light -eyed, blond-haired people.[150] He
said t hat t he Roman Empire was developed by t he It alics who were relat ed t o t he Celt s who
were also a Nordic people.[150] He believed t hat t he vanishing of t he Nordic component of t he
populat ions in Greece and Rome led t o t heir downfall.[150] The Renaissance was claimed t o have
developed in t he West ern Roman Empire because of t he Germanic invasions t hat brought new
Nordic blood t o t he Empire's lands, such as t he presence of Nordic blood in t he Lombards
(referred t o as Longobards in t he book); t hat remnant s of t he west ern Got hs were responsible
for t he creat ion of t he Spanish Empire; and t hat t he herit age of t he Franks, Got hs and Germanic
peoples in France was what was responsible for it s rise as a major power.[150] He claimed t hat t he
rise of t he Russian Empire was due t o it s leadership by people of Norman descent .[150] He
described t he rise of Anglo-Saxon societ ies in Nort h America, Sout h Africa and Aust ralia as being
t he result of t he Nordic herit age of Anglo-Saxons.[150] He concluded t hese point s by saying:
"Everywhere Nordic creat ive power has built might y empires wit h high-minded ideas, and t o t his
very day Aryan languages and cult ural values are spread over a large part of t he world, t hough t he
creat ive Nordic blood has long since vanished in many places".[150]

A wagon piled high with corpses outside the crematorium in Buchenwald concentration camp

In Nazi Germany, t he idea of creat ing a mast er race result ed in effort s t o "purify" t he Deutsche
Volk t hrough eugenics and it s culminat ion was t he compulsory st erilisat ion or t he involunt ary
eut hanasia of physically or ment ally disabled people. Aft er World War II, t he eut hanasia
programme was named Act ion T4.[158] The ideological just ificat ion for eut hanasia was Hit ler's
view of Spart a (11t h cent ury – 195 BC) as t he original völkisch st at e and he praised Spart a's
dispassionat e dest ruct ion of congenit ally deformed infant s in order t o maint ain racial
purit y.[159][160] Some non-Aryans enlist ed in Nazi organisat ions like t he Hit ler Yout h and t he
Wehrmacht, including Germans of African descent [161] and Jewish descent .[162] The Nazis began
t o implement "racial hygiene" policies as soon as t hey came t o power. The July 1933 "Law for
t he Prevent ion of Heredit arily Diseased Offspring" prescribed compulsory st erilisat ion for people
wit h a range of condit ions which were t hought t o be heredit ary, such as schizophrenia, epilepsy,
Hunt ingt on's chorea and "imbecilit y". St erilizat ion was also mandat ed for chronic alcoholism and
ot her forms of social deviance.[163] An est imat ed 360,000 people were st erilised under t his law
bet ween 1933 and 1939. Alt hough some Nazis suggest ed t hat t he programme should be
ext ended t o people wit h physical disabilit ies, such ideas had t o be expressed carefully, given t he
fact t hat some Nazis had physical disabilit ies, one example being one of t he most powerful
figures of t he regime, Joseph Goebbels, who had a deformed right leg.[164]

Nazi racial t heorist Hans F. K. Günt her argued t hat European peoples were divided int o five races:
Nordic, Medit erranean, Dinaric, Alpine and East Balt ic.[8] Günt her applied a Nordicist concept ion in
order t o just ify his belief t hat Nordics were t he highest in t he racial hierarchy.[8] In his book
Rassenkunde des deutschen Volkes (1922) ("Racial Science of t he German People"), Günt her
recognised Germans as being composed of all five races, but emphasised t he st rong Nordic
herit age among t hem.[165] Hit ler read Rassenkunde des deutschen Volkes, which influenced his
racial policy.[166] Gunt her believed t hat Slavs belonged t o an "East ern race" and he warned against
Germans mixing wit h t hem.[167] The Nazis described Jews as being a racially mixed group of
primarily Near East ern and Orient al racial t ypes.[168] Because such racial groups were
concent rat ed out side Europe, t he Nazis claimed t hat Jews were "racially alien" t o all European
peoples and t hat t hey did not have deep racial root s in Europe.[168]

Günt her emphasised Jews' Near East ern racial herit age.[169] Günt her ident ified t he mass
conversion of t he Khazars t o Judaism in t he 8t h cent ury as creat ing t he t wo major branches of
t he Jewish people: t hose of primarily Near East ern racial herit age became t he Ashkenazi Jews
(t hat he called East ern Jews) while t hose of primarily Orient al racial herit age became t he
Sephardi Jews (t hat he called Sout hern Jews).[170] Günt her claimed t hat t he Near East ern t ype
was composed of commercially spirit ed and art ful t raders, and t hat t he t ype held st rong
psychological manipulat ion skills which aided t hem in t rade.[169] He claimed t hat t he Near East ern
race had been "bred not so much for t he conquest and exploit at ion of nat ure as it had been for
t he conquest and exploit at ion of people".[169] Günt her believed t hat European peoples had a
racially mot ivat ed aversion t o peoples of Near East ern racial origin and t heir t rait s, and as
evidence of t his he showed mult iple examples of depict ions of sat anic figures wit h Near East ern
physiognomies in European art .[171]

Hit ler's concept ion of t he Aryan Herrenvolk ("Aryan mast er race") excluded t he vast majorit y of
Slavs from cent ral and east ern Europe (i.e. Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, et c.). They were regarded
as a race of men not inclined t o a higher form of civilisat ion, which was under an inst inct ive force
t hat revert ed t hem back t o nat ure. The Nazis also regarded t he Slavs as having dangerous
Jewish and Asiat ic, meaning Mongol, influences.[172] Because of t his, t he Nazis declared Slavs t o
be Untermenschen ("subhumans").[173] Nazi ant hropologist s at t empt ed t o scient ifically prove t he
hist orical admixt ure of t he Slavs who lived furt her East and leading Nazi racial t heorist Hans
Günt her regarded t he Slavs as being primarily Nordic cent uries ago but he believed t hat t hey had
mixed wit h non-Nordic t ypes over t ime.[174] Except ions were made for a small percent age of
Slavs who t he Nazis saw as descended from German set t lers and t herefore fit t o be Germanised
and considered part of t he Aryan mast er race.[175] Hit ler described Slavs as "a mass of born
slaves who feel t he need for a mast er".[176] The Nazi not ion of Slavs as inferior served as a
legit imisat ion of t heir desire t o creat e Lebensraum for Germans and ot her Germanic people in
east ern Europe, where millions of Germans and ot her Germanic set t lers would be moved int o
once t hose t errit ories were conquered, while t he original Slavic inhabit ant s were t o be
annihilat ed, removed or enslaved.[177] Nazi Germany's policy changed t owards Slavs in response
t o milit ary manpower short ages, forced it t o allow Slavs t o serve in it s armed forces wit hin t he
occupied t errit ories in spit e of t he fact t hat t hey were considered "subhuman".[178]

Hit ler declared t hat racial conflict against Jews was necessary in order t o save Germany from
suffering under t hem and he dismissed concerns t hat t he conflict wit h t hem was inhumane and
unjust :

We may be inhumane, but if we rescue Germany we have achieved the

greatest deed in the world. We may work injustice, but if we rescue
Germany then we have removed the greatest injustice in the world. We
may be immoral, but if our people is rescued we have opened the way
for morality.[179]

Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels frequent ly employed ant isemit ic rhet oric t o underline t his
view: "The Jew is t he enemy and t he dest royer of t he purit y of blood, t he conscious dest royer
of our race."[180]

Social class
Nat ional Socialist polit ics was based on compet it ion and st ruggle as it s organising principle, and
t he Nazis believed t hat "human life consist ed of et ernal st ruggle and compet it ion and derived it s
meaning from st ruggle and compet it ion."[181] The Nazis saw t his et ernal st ruggle in milit ary t erms,
and advocat ed a societ y organised like an army in order t o achieve success. They promot ed t he
idea of a nat ional-racial "people's communit y" (Volksgemeinschaft) in order t o accomplish "t he
efficient prosecut ion of t he st ruggle against ot her peoples and st at es."[182] Like an army, t he
Volksgemeinschaft was meant t o consist of a hierarchy of ranks or classes of people, some
commanding and ot hers obeying, all working t oget her for a common goal.[182] This concept was
root ed in t he writ ings of 19t h cent ury völkisch aut hors who glorified medieval German societ y,
viewing it as a "communit y root ed in t he land and bound t oget her by cust om and t radit ion," in
which t here was neit her class conflict nor selfish individualism.[183] The Nazis concept of t he
volksgemeinschaft appealed t o many, as it was seen as it seemed at once t o affirm a
commit ment t o a new t ype of societ y for t he modern age yet also offer prot ect ion from t he
t ensions and insecurit ies of modernisat ion. It would balance individual achievement wit h group
solidarit y and cooperat ion wit h compet it ion. St ripped of it s ideological overt ones, t he Nazi vision
of modernisat ion wit hout int ernal conflict and a polit ical communit y t hat offered bot h securit y
and opport unit y was so pot ent a vision of t he fut ure t hat many Germans were willing t o overlook
it s racist and ant i-Semit ic essence.[184]

Nazism reject ed t he Marxist concept of class conflict , and it praised bot h German capit alist s
and German workers as essent ial t o t he Volksgemeinschaft. In t he Volksgemeinschaft, social
classes would cont inue t o exist , but t here would be no class conflict bet ween t hem.[185] Hit ler
said t hat "t he capit alist s have worked t heir way t o t he t op t hrough t heir capacit y, and as t he
basis of t his select ion, which again only proves t heir higher race, t hey have a right t o lead."[186]
German business leaders co-operat ed wit h t he Nazis during t heir rise t o power and received
subst ant ial benefit s from t he Nazi st at e aft er it was est ablished, including high profit s and
st at e-sanct ioned monopolies and cart els.[187] Large celebrat ions and symbolism were used
ext ensively t o encourage t hose engaged in physical labour on behalf of Germany, wit h leading
Nat ional Socialist s oft en praising t he "honour of labour", which fost ered a sense of communit y
(Gemeinschaft) for t he German people and promot ed solidarit y t owards t he Nazi cause.[188] To
win workers away from Marxism, Nazi propaganda somet imes present ed it s expansionist foreign
policy goals as a "class st ruggle bet ween nat ions."[186] Bonfires were made of school children's
different ly coloured caps as symbolic of t he unit y of different social classes.[189]

In 1922, Hit ler disparaged ot her nat ionalist and racialist polit ical part ies as disconnect ed from
t he mass populace, especially lower and working-class young people:
 The racialists were not capable of drawing the practical conclusions
from correct theoretical judgements, especially in the Jewish
Question. In this way, the German racialist movement developed a
similar pattern to that of the 1880s and 1890s. As in those days, its
leadership gradually fell into the hands of highly honourable, but
fantastically naïve men of learning, professors, district counsellors,
schoolmasters, and lawyers—in short a bourgeois, idealistic, and
refined class. It lacked the warm breath of the nation's youthful
vigour.[190]

Nevert heless, t he Nazi Part y's vot er base consist ed mainly of farmers and t he middle class,
including groups such as Weimar government officials, school t eachers, doct ors, clerks, self-
employed businessmen, salesmen, ret ired officers, engineers, and st udent s.[191] Their demands
included lower t axes, higher prices for food, rest rict ions on depart ment st ores and consumer co-
operat ives, and reduct ions in social services and wages.[192] The need t o maint ain t he support of
t hese groups made it difficult for t he Nazis t o appeal t o t he working class, since t he working
class oft en had opposit e demands.[192]

From 1928 onward, t he Nazi Part y's growt h int o a large nat ional polit ical movement was
dependent on middle class support , and on t he public percept ion t hat it "promised t o side wit h
t he middle classes and t o confront t he economic and polit ical power of t he working class."[193]
The financial collapse of t he whit e collar middle-class of t he 1920s figures much in t heir st rong
support of Nazism.[194] Alt hough t he Nazis cont inued t o make appeals t o "t he German worker",
hist orian Timot hy Mason concludes t hat "Hit ler had not hing but slogans t o offer t he working
class."[195] Hist orians Conan Fischer and Det lef Mühlberger argue t hat while t he Nazis were
primarily root ed in t he lower middle class, t hey were able t o appeal t o all classes in societ y and
t hat while workers were generally underrepresent ed, t hey were st ill a subst ant ial source of
support for t he Nazis.[196][197] H.L. Ansbacher argues t hat t he working-class soldiers had t he
most fait h in Hit ler out of any occupat ional group in Germany.[198]

The Nazis also est ablished a norm t hat every worker should be semi-skilled, which was not
simply rhet orical; t he number of men leaving school t o ent er t he work force as unskilled
labourers fell from 200,000 in 1934 t o 30,000 in 1939. For many working-class families, t he 1930s
and 1940s were a t ime of social mobilit y; not in t he sense of moving int o t he middle class but
rat her moving wit hin t he blue-collar skill hierarchy.[199] Overall, t he experience of workers varied
considerably under Nazism. Workers wages did not increase much during Nazi rule, as t he
government feared wage-price inflat ion and t hus wage growt h was limit ed. Prices for food and
clot hing rose, t hough cost s for heat ing, rent and light decreased. Skilled workers were in
short age from 1936 onward, meaning t hat workers who engaged in vocat ional t raining could look
forward t o considerably higher wages. Benefit s provided by t he Labour Front were generally
posit ively received, even if workers did not always buy in t o propaganda about t he
volksgemeinschaft. Workers welcomed opport unit ies for employment aft er t he harsh years of
t he Great Depression, creat ing a common belief t hat t he Nazis had removed t he insecurit y of
unemployment . Workers who remained discont ent ed risked t he Gest apo's informant s. Ult imat ely,
t he Nazis faced a conflict bet ween t heir rearmament program, which by necessit y would require
mat erial sacrifices from workers (longer hours and a lower st andard of living), versus a need t o
maint ain t he confidence of t he working class in t he regime. Hit ler was sympat het ic t o t he view
t hat st ressed t aking furt her measures for rearmament but he did not fully implement t he
measures required for it in order t o avoid alienat ing t he working class.[200]

While t he Nazis had subst ant ial support amongst t he middle-class, t hey oft en at t acked
t radit ional middle-class values and Hit ler personally held great cont empt for t hem. This was
because t he t radit ional image of t he middle class was one t hat was obsessed wit h personal
st at us, mat erial at t ainment and quiet , comfort able living, which was in opposit ion t o t he Nazism's
ideal of a New Man. The Nazis' New Man was envisioned as a heroic figure who reject ed a
mat erialist ic and privat e life for a public life and a pervasive sense of dut y, willing t o sacrifice
everyt hing for t he nat ion. Despit e t he Nazis' cont empt for t hese values, t hey were st ill able t o
secure millions of middle-class vot es. Hermann Beck argues t hat while some members of t he
middle-class dismissed t his as mere rhet oric, many ot hers in some ways agreed wit h t he Nazis—
t he defeat of 1918 and t he failures of t he Weimar period caused many middle-class Germans t o
quest ion t heir own ident it y, t hinking t heir t radit ional values t o be anachronisms and agreeing wit h
t he Nazis t hat t hese values were no longer viable. While t his rhet oric would become less
frequent aft er 1933 due t o t he increased emphasis on t he volksgemeinschaft, it and it s ideas
would never t ruly disappear unt il t he overt hrow of t he regime. The Nazis inst ead emphasised
t hat t he middle-class must become staatsbürger, a publicly act ive and involved cit izen, rat her
t han a selfish, mat erialist ic spießbürger, who was only int erest ed in privat e life.[201][202]

Sex and gender

Obligations of Polish workers in Germany, warning them of the death penalty for any sexual relations between Germans
and Poles

Nazi ideology advocat ed excluding women from polit ical involvement and confining t hem t o t he
spheres of "Kinder, Küche, Kirche" (Children, Kit chen, Church).[203] Many women ent husiast ically
support ed t he regime, but formed t heir own int ernal hierarchies.[204] Hit ler's own opinion on t he
mat t er of women in Nazi Germany was t hat while ot her eras of German hist ory had experienced
t he development and liberat ion of t he female mind, t he Nat ional Socialist goal was essent ially
singular in t hat it wished for t hem t o produce a child.[205] Based on t his t heme, Hit ler once
remarked about women t hat "wit h every child t hat she brings int o t he world, she fight s her bat t le
for t he nat ion. The man st ands up for t he Volk, exact ly as t he woman st ands up for t he
family".[206] Prot o-nat alist programs in Nazi Germany offered favourable loans and grant s t o
newlyweds and encouraged t hem t o give birt h t o offspring by providing t hem wit h addit ional
incent ives.[207] Cont racept ion was discouraged for racially valuable women in Nazi Germany and
abort ion was forbidden by st rict legal mandat es, including prison sent ences for women who
sought t hem as well as prison sent ences for doct ors who performed t hem, whereas abort ion for
racially "undesirable" persons was encouraged.[208][209]

While unmarried unt il t he very end of t he regime, Hit ler oft en made excuses about his busy life
hindering any chance for marriage.[210] Among Nat ional Socialist ideologues, marriage was valued
not for moral considerat ions but because it provided an opt imal breeding environment .
Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler report edly t old a confidant t hat when he est ablished t he
Lebensborn program, an organisat ion t hat would dramat ically increase t he birt h rat e of "Aryan"
children t hrough ext ramarit al relat ions bet ween women classified as racially pure and t heir male
equals, he had only t he purest male "concept ion assist ant s" in mind.[211]

Since t he Nazis ext ended t he Rassenschande ("race defilement ") law t o all foreigners at t he
beginning of t he war,[153] pamphlet s were issued t o German women which ordered t hem t o avoid
sexual relat ions wit h foreign workers who were brought t o Germany and t he pamphlet s also
ordered German women t o view t hese same foreign workers as a danger t o t heir blood.[212]
Alt hough t he law was applicable t o bot h genders, German women were punished more severely
for having sexual relat ions wit h foreign forced labourers in Germany.[213] The Nazis issued t he
Polish decrees on 8 March 1940 which cont ained regulat ions concerning t he Polish forced
labourers (Zivilarbeit er) who were brought t o Germany during World War II. One of t he regulat ions
st at ed t hat any Pole "who has sexual relat ions wit h a German man or woman, or approaches t hem
in any ot her improper manner, will be punished by deat h".[214] Aft er t he decrees were enact ed,
Himmler st at ed:

Fellow Germans who engage in sexual relations with male or female

civil workers of the Polish nationality, commit other immoral acts or
engage in love affairs shall be arrested immediately.[215]

The Nazis lat er issued similar regulat ions against t he East ern Workers (Ost-Arbeiters), including
t he imposit ion of t he deat h penalt y if t hey engaged in sexual relat ions wit h German persons.[216]
Heydrich issued a decree on 20 February 1942 which declared t hat sexual int ercourse bet ween a
German woman and a Russian worker or prisoner of war would result in t he Russian man being
punished wit h t he deat h penalt y.[217] Anot her decree issued by Himmler on 7 December 1942
st at ed t hat any "unaut horised sexual int ercourse" would result in t he deat h penalt y.[218] Because
t he Law for t he Prot ect ion of German Blood and German Honour did not permit capit al
punishment for race defilement , special court s were convened in order t o allow t he deat h
penalt y t o be imposed in some cases.[219] German women accused of race defilement were
marched t hrough t he st reet s wit h t heir head shaven and placards det ailing t heir crimes were
placed around t heir necks[220] and t hose convict ed of race defilement were sent t o
concent rat ion camps.[212] When Himmler report edly asked Hit ler what t he punishment should be
for German girls and German women who were found guilt y of race defilement wit h prisoners of
war (POWs), he ordered t hat "every POW who has relat ions wit h a German girl or a German would
be shot " and t he German woman should be publicly humiliat ed by "having her hair shorn and being
sent t o a concent rat ion camp".[221]
The League of German Girls was part icularly regarded as inst ruct ing girls t o avoid race
defilement , which was t reat ed wit h part icular import ance for young females.[222]

Homophobia: Berlin memorial to homosexual victims of the Holocaust: Totgeschlagen – Totgeschwiegen (Struck Dead –
Hushed Up)

Opposition to homosexuality

Aft er t he Night of t he Long Knives, Hit ler promot ed Himmler and t he SS, who t hen zealously
suppressed homosexualit y by saying: "We must ext erminat e t hese people root and branch ... t he
homosexual must be eliminat ed".[223] In 1936, Himmler est ablished t he "Reichszent rale zur
Bekämpfung der Homosexualit ät und Abt reibung" ("Reich Cent ral Office for t he Combat ing of
Homosexualit y and Abort ion").[224] The Nazi regime incarcerat ed some 100,000 homosexuals
during t he 1930s.[225] As concent rat ion camp prisoners, homosexual men were forced t o wear
pink t riangle badges.[226][227] Nazi ideology st ill viewed German men who were gay as a part of
t he Aryan mast er race, but t he Nazi regime at t empt ed t o force t hem int o sexual and social
conformit y. Homosexuals were viewed as failing in t heir dut y t o procreat e and reproduce for t he
Aryan nat ion. Gay men who would not change or feign a change in t heir sexual orient at ion were
sent t o concent rat ion camps under t he "Ext erminat ion Through Work" campaign.[228]
Members of the German Christians organisation celebrating Luther Day in Berlin in 1933, speech by Bishop Hossenfelder

Hitler in 1935 with Cesare Orsenigo, the Catholic Church's nuncio to Germany

Religion

The Nazi Part y Programme of 1920 guarant eed freedom for all religious denominat ions which
were not host ile t o t he St at e and it also endorsed Posit ive Christ ianit y in order t o combat "t he
Jewish-mat erialist spirit ".[229] Posit ive Christ ianit y was a modified version of Christ ianit y which
emphasised racial purit y and nat ionalism.[230] The Nazis were aided by t heologians such as Ernst
Bergmann. In his work Die 25 Thesen der Deutschreligion (Twenty-five Points of the German
Religion), Bergmann held t he view t hat t he Old Test ament of t he Bible was inaccurat e along wit h
port ions of t he New Test ament , claimed t hat Jesus was not a Jew but was inst ead of Aryan
origin and he also claimed t hat Adolf Hit ler was t he new messiah.[230]

Hit ler denounced t he Old Test ament as "Sat an's Bible" and using component s of t he New
Test ament he at t empt ed t o prove t hat Jesus was bot h an Aryan and an ant isemit e by cit ing
passages such as John 8:44 (ht t ps://www.biblegat eway.com/passage/?search=John+8:44)
where he not ed t hat Jesus is yelling at "t he Jews", as well as saying t o t hem "your fat her is t he
devil" and t he Cleansing of t he Temple, which describes Jesus' whipping of t he "Children of t he
Devil".[231] Hit ler claimed t hat t he New Test ament included dist ort ions by Paul t he Apost le, who
Hit ler described as a "mass-murderer t urned saint ".[231] In t heir propaganda, t he Nazis used t he
writ ings of Mart in Lut her, t he Prot est ant Reformer. They publicly displayed an original edit ion of
Lut her's On the Jews and their Lies during t he annual Nuremberg rallies.[232][233] The Nazis
endorsed t he pro-Nazi Prot est ant German Christ ians organisat ion.

The Nazis were init ially very host ile t o Cat holics because most Cat holics support ed t he German
Cent re Part y. Cat holics opposed t he Nazis' promot ion of compulsory st erilisat ion of t hose whom
t hey deemed inferior and t he Cat holic Church forbade it s members t o vot e for t he Nazis. In
1933, ext ensive Nazi violence occurred against Cat holics due t o t heir associat ion wit h t he
Cent re Part y and t heir opposit ion t o t he Nazi regime's st erilisat ion laws.[234] The Nazis demanded
t hat Cat holics declare t heir loyalt y t o t he German st at e.[235] In t heir propaganda, t he Nazis used
element s of Germany's Cat holic hist ory, in part icular t he German Cat holic Teut onic Knight s and
t heir campaigns in East ern Europe. The Nazis ident ified t hem as "sent inels" in t he East against
"Slavic chaos", t hough beyond t hat symbolism, t he influence of t he Teut onic Knight s on Nazism
was limit ed.[236] Hit ler also admit t ed t hat t he Nazis' night rallies were inspired by t he Cat holic
rit uals which he had wit nessed during his Cat holic upbringing.[237] The Nazis did seek official
reconciliat ion wit h t he Cat holic Church and t hey endorsed t he creat ion of t he pro-Nazi Cat holic
Kreuz und Adler, an organisat ion which advocat ed a form of nat ional Cat holicism t hat would
reconcile t he Cat holic Church's beliefs wit h Nazism.[235] On 20 July 1933, a concordat
(Reichskonkordat) was signed bet ween Nazi Germany and t he Cat holic Church, which in exchange
for accept ance of t he Cat holic Church in Germany required German Cat holics t o be loyal t o t he
German st at e. The Cat holic Church t hen ended it s ban on members support ing t he Nazi
Part y.[235]

During t he Second World War and t he fanat icizat ion of Nat ional Socialism, priest s and nuns
increasingly came int o t he focus of t he Gest apo and t he SS. In t he concent rat ion camps,
separat e priest ly blocks were formed and any church resist ance was st rict ly persecut ed. The
monast ery sist er Maria Rest it ut a Kafka was sent enced t o deat h by t he People's Court and
execut ed only for a harmless song crit ical of t he regime.[238] Polish priest s came en masse t o
t he Auschwit z concent rat ion camp. Cat holic resist ance groups like t hose around Roman Karl
Scholz were persecut ed uncompromisingly.[239][240] While t he Cat holic resist ance was oft en ant i-
war and passive, t here are also examples of act ively combat ing Nat ional Socialism. The group
around t he priest Heinrich Maier approached t he American secret service and provided t hem wit h
plans and locat ion sket ches of for V-2 rocket s, Tiger t anks, Messerschmit t Bf 109 and
Messerschmit t Me 163 Komet and t heir product ion sit es so t hat t hey could successfully bomb
t he fact ories.[241][242][243][244][245] Aft er t he war, t heir hist ory was oft en forgot t en, also because
t hey act ed against t he express inst ruct ions of t heir church aut horit ies.[246][247][248]

Hist orian Michael Burleigh claims t hat Nazism used Christ ianit y for polit ical purposes, but such
use required t hat "fundament al t enet s were st ripped out , but t he remaining diffuse religious
emot ionalit y had it s uses".[237] Burleigh claims t hat Nazism's concept ion of spirit ualit y was "self-
consciously pagan and primit ive".[237] Hist orian Roger Griffin reject s t he claim t hat Nazism was
primarily pagan, not ing t hat alt hough t here were some influent ial neo-paganist s in t he Nazi Part y,
such as Heinrich Himmler and Alfred Rosenberg, t hey represent ed a minorit y and t heir views did
not influence Nazi ideology beyond it s use for symbolism. It is not ed t hat Hit ler denounced
Germanic paganism in Mein Kampf and condemned Rosenberg's and Himmler's paganism as
"nonsense".[249]

Economics

Deutsches Volk–Deutsche Arbeit: German People, German Work (1934) – an example of reactionary modernism
The Nazis came t o power in t he midst of Great Depression, when t he unemployment rat e at t hat
point in t ime was close t o 30%.[250] Generally speaking, Nazi t heorist s and polit icians blamed
Germany's previous economic failures on polit ical causes like t he influence of Marxism on t he
workforce, t he sinist er and exploit at ive machinat ions of what t hey called int ernat ional Jewry and
t he vindict iveness of t he west ern polit ical leaders' war reparat ion demands. Inst ead of
t radit ional economic incent ives, t he Nazis offered solut ions of a polit ical nat ure, such as t he
eliminat ion of organised t rade unions, rearmament (in cont ravent ion of t he Versailles Treat y) and
biological polit ics.[251] Various work programs designed t o est ablish full-employment for t he
German populat ion were inst it ut ed once t he Nazis seized full nat ional power. Hit ler encouraged
nat ionally support ed project s like t he const ruct ion of t he Autobahn highway syst em, t he
int roduct ion of an affordable people's car (Volkswagen) and lat er t he Nazis bolst ered t he
economy t hrough t he business and employment generat ed by milit ary rearmament .[252] The Nazis
benefit ed early in t he regime's exist ence from t he first post -Depression economic upswing, and
t his combined wit h t heir public works project s, job-procurement program and subsidised home
repair program reduced unemployment by as much as 40 per cent in one year. This development
t empered t he unfavourable psychological climat e caused by t he earlier economic crisis and
encouraged Germans t o march in st ep wit h t he regime.[253] The economic policies of t he Nazis
were in many respect s a cont inuat ion of t he policies of t he German Nat ional People's Part y, a
nat ional-conservat ive part y and t he Nazis' coalit ion part ner.[254] While ot her West ern capit alist
count ries st rove for increased st at e ownership of indust ry during t he same period, t he Nazis
t ransferred public ownership and public services int o t he privat e sect or. It was an int ent ional
policy wit h mult iple object ives rat her t han ideologically driven and was used as a
t ool t o enhance
support for t he Nazi government and t he part y.[255]

The Nazi government cont inued t he economic policies int roduced by t he government of Kurt
von Schleicher in 1932 t o combat t he effect s of t he Depression.[256] Upon being appoint ed
Chancellor in 1933, Hit ler appoint ed Hjalmar Schacht , a former member of t he German
Democrat ic Part y, as President of t he Reichsbank in 1933 and Minist er of Economics in
1934.[250] Hit ler promised measures t o increase employment , prot ect t he German currency, and
promot e recovery from t he Great Depression. These included an agrarian set t lement program,
labour service, and a guarant ee t o maint ain healt h care and pensions.[257] However, t hese policies
and programs, which included a large public works programs support ed by deficit spending such
as t he const ruct ion of t he Autobahn net work t o st imulat e t he economy and reduce
unemployment ,[258] were inherit ed and planned t o be undert aken by t he Weimar Republic during
conservat ive Paul von Hindenburg's presidency and which t he Nazis appropriat ed as t heir own
aft er coming t o power.[259] Above all, Hit ler's priorit y was rearmament and t he buildup of t he
German milit ary in preparat ion for an event ual war t o conquer Lebensraum in t he East .[260] The
policies of Schacht creat ed a scheme for deficit financing, in which capit al project s were paid for
wit h t he issuance of promissory not es called Mefo bills, which could be t raded by companies
wit h each ot her.[261] This was part icularly useful in allowing Germany t o rearm because t he Mefo
bills were not Reichsmarks and did not appear in t he federal budget , so t hey helped conceal
rearmament .[262] At t he beginning of his rule, Hit ler said t hat "t he fut ure of Germany depends
exclusively and only on t he reconst ruct ion of t he Wehrmacht . All ot her t asks must cede
precedence t o t he t ask of rearmament ."[260] This policy was implement ed immediat ely, wit h
milit ary expendit ures quickly growing far larger t han t he civilian work-creat ion programs. As early
as June 1933, milit ary spending for t he year was budget ed t o be t hree t imes larger t han t he
spending on all civilian work-creat ion measures in 1932 and 1933 combined.[263] Nazi Germany
increased it s milit ary spending fast er t han any ot her st at e in peacet ime, wit h t he share of
milit ary spending rising from 1 per cent t o 10 per cent of nat ional income in t he first t wo years of
t he regime alone.[264] Event ually, it reached as high as 75 per cent by 1944.[265]

In spit e of t heir rhet oric condemning big business prior t o t heir rise t o power, t he Nazis quickly
ent ered int o a part nership wit h German business from as early as February 1933. That mont h,
aft er being appoint ed Chancellor but before gaining dict at orial powers, Hit ler made a personal
appeal t o German business leaders t o help fund t he Nazi Part y for t he crucial mont hs t hat were
t o follow. He argued t hat t hey should support him in est ablishing a dict at orship because "privat e
ent erprise cannot be maint ained in t he age of democracy" and because democracy would
allegedly lead t o communism.[60] He promised t o dest roy t he German left and t he t rade unions,
wit hout any ment ion of ant i-Jewish policies or foreign conquest s.[266] In t he following weeks, t he
Nazi Part y received cont ribut ions from sevent een different business groups, wit h t he largest
coming from IG Farben and Deut sche Bank.[266] Hist orian Adam Tooze writ es t hat t he leaders of
German business were t herefore "willing part ners in t he dest ruct ion of polit ical pluralism in
Germany".[58] In exchange, owners and managers of German businesses were grant ed
unprecedent ed powers t o cont rol t heir workforce, collect ive bargaining was abolished and
wages were frozen at a relat ively low level.[267] Business profit s also rose very rapidly, as did
corporat e invest ment .[268] In addit ion, t he Nazis privat ised public propert ies and public services,
only increasing economic st at e cont rol t hrough regulat ions.[269] Hit ler believed t hat privat e
ownership was useful in t hat it encouraged creat ive compet it ion and t echnical innovat ion, but
insist ed t hat it had t o conform t o nat ional int erest s and be "product ive" rat her t han
"parasit ical".[270] Privat e propert y right s were condit ional upon following t he economic priorit ies
set by t he Nazi leadership, wit h high profit s as a reward for firms who followed t hem and t he
t hreat of nat ionalisat ion being used against t hose who did not .[271] Under Nazi economics, free
compet it ion and self-regulat ing market s diminished, but Hit ler's social Darwinist beliefs made
him ret ain business compet it ion and privat e propert y as economic engines.[272][273]
The Nazis were host ile t o t he idea of social welfare in principle, upholding inst ead t he social
Darwinist concept t hat t he weak and feeble should perish.[274] They condemned t he welfare
syst em of t he Weimar Republic as well as privat e charit y, accusing t hem of support ing people
regarded as racially inferior and weak, who should have been weeded out in t he process of
nat ural select ion.[275] Nevert heless, faced wit h t he mass unemployment and povert y of t he
Great Depression, t he Nazis found it necessary t o set up charit able inst it ut ions t o help racially-
pure Germans in order t o maint ain popular support , while arguing t hat t his represent ed "racial
self-help" and not indiscriminat e charit y or universal social welfare.[276] Nazi programs such as t he
Wint er Relief of t he German People and t he broader Nat ional Socialist People's Welfare (NSV)
were organised as quasi-privat e inst it ut ions, officially relying on privat e donat ions from Germans
t o help ot hers of t heir race, alt hough in pract ice t hose who refused t o donat e could face severe
consequences.[277] Unlike t he social welfare inst it ut ions of t he Weimar Republic and t he Christ ian
charit ies, t he NSV dist ribut ed assist ance on explicit ly racial grounds. It provided support only t o
t hose who were "racially sound, capable of and willing t o work, polit ically reliable, and willing and
able t o reproduce." Non-Aryans were excluded, as well as t he "work-shy", "asocials" and t he
"heredit arily ill."[278] Successful effort s were made t o get middle-class women involved in social
work assist ing large families,[189] and t he Wint er Relief campaigns act ed as a rit ual t o generat e
public sympat hy.[279]

Agrarian policies were also import ant t o t he Nazis since t hey corresponded not just t o t he
economy but t o t heir geopolit ical concept ion of Lebensraum as well. For Hit ler, t he acquisit ion
of land and soil was requisit e in moulding t he German economy.[280] To t ie farmers t o t heir land,
selling agricult ural land was prohibit ed.[281] Farm ownership remained privat e, but business
monopoly right s were grant ed t o market ing boards t o cont rol product ion and prices wit h a quot a
syst em.[282] The Heredit ary Farm Law of 1933 est ablished a cart el st ruct ure under a government
body known as t he Reichsnährst and (RNST) which det ermined "everyt hing from what seeds and
fert ilizers were used t o how land was inherit ed".[282] Hit ler primarily viewed t he German economy
as an inst rument of power and believed t he economy was not about creat ing wealt h and
t echnical progress so as t o improve t he qualit y of life for a nat ion's cit izenry, but rat her t hat
economic success was paramount for providing t he means and mat erial foundat ions necessary
for milit ary conquest .[283] While economic progress generat ed by Nat ional Socialist programs had
it s role in appeasing t he German people, t he Nazis and Hit ler in part icular did not believe t hat
economic solut ions alone were sufficient t o t hrust Germany ont o t he st age as a world power.
The Nazis t hus sought t o secure a general economic revival accompanied by massive milit ary
spending for rearmament , especially lat er t hrough t he implement at ion of t he Four Year Plan,
which consolidat ed t heir rule and firmly secured a command relat ionship bet ween t he German
arms indust ry and t he Nat ional Socialist government .[284] Bet ween 1933 and 1939, milit ary
expendit ures were upwards of 82 billion Reichsmarks and represent ed 23 per cent of Germany's
gross nat ional product as t he Nazis mobilised t heir people and economy for war.[285]

Anti-communism

Anti-communist, antisemitic propaganda poster in Nazi Germany

The Nazis claimed t hat communism was dangerous t o t he well-being of nat ions because of it s
int ent ion t o dissolve privat e propert y, it s support of class conflict , it s aggression against t he
middle class, it s host ilit y t owards small business and it s at heism.[286] Nazism reject ed class
conflict -based socialism and economic egalit arianism, favouring inst ead a st rat ified economy
wit h social classes based on merit and t alent , ret aining privat e propert y and t he creat ion of
nat ional solidarit y t hat t ranscends class dist inct ion.[287] Hist orians Ian Kershaw and Joachim Fest
argue t hat in post –World War I Germany, t he Nazis were one of many nat ionalist and fascist
polit ical part ies cont ending for t he leadership of Germany's ant i-communist movement .

In Mein Kampf, Hit ler st at ed his desire t o "make war upon t he Marxist principle t hat all men are
equal."[288] He believed t hat "t he not ion of equalit y was a sin against nat ure."[289] Nazism upheld
t he "nat ural inequalit y of men," including inequalit y bet ween races and also wit hin each race. The
Nat ional Socialist st at e aimed t o advance t hose individuals wit h special t alent s or int elligence,
so t hey could rule over t he masses.[56] Nazi ideology relied on elit ism and t he Führerprinzip
(leadership principle), arguing t hat elit e minorit ies should assume leadership roles over t he
majorit y, and t hat t he elit e minorit y should it self be organised according t o a "hierarchy of t alent ",
wit h a single leader—t he Führer—at t he t op.[290] The Führerprinzip held t hat each member of t he
hierarchy owed absolut e obedience t o t hose above him and should hold absolut e power over
t hose below him.[57]

During t he 1920s, Hit ler urged disparat e Nazi fact ions t o unit e in opposit ion t o Jewish
Bolshevism.[291] Hit ler assert ed t hat t he "t hree vices" of "Jewish Marxism" were democracy,
pacifism and int ernat ionalism.[292] The Communist movement , t he t rade unions, t he Social
Democrat ic Part y and t he left -wing press were all considered t o be Jewish-cont rolled and part
of t he "int ernat ional Jewish conspiracy" t o weaken t he German nat ion by promot ing int ernal
disunit y t hrough class st ruggle.[57] The Nazis also believed t hat t he Jews had inst igat ed t he
Bolshevik revolut ion in Russia and t hat Communist s had st abbed Germany in t he back and caused
it t o lose t he First World War.[293] They furt her argued t hat modern cult ural t rends of t he 1920s
(such as jazz music and cubist art ) represent ed "cult ural Bolshevism" and were part of a polit ical
assault aimed at t he spirit ual degenerat ion of t he German Volk.[293] Joseph Goebbels published a
pamphlet t it led The Nazi-Sozi which gave brief point s of how Nat ional Socialism differed from
Marxism.[294] In 1930, Hit ler said: "Our adopt ed t erm 'Socialist ' has not hing t o do wit h Marxist
Socialism. Marxism is ant i-propert y; t rue Socialism is not ".[295]

The Communist Part y of Germany (KPD) was t he largest Communist Part y in t he world out side
of t he Soviet Union, unt il it was dest royed by t he Nazis in 1933.[296] In t he 1920s and early 1930s,
Communist s and Nazis oft en fought each ot her direct ly in st reet violence, wit h t he Nazi
paramilit ary organisat ions being opposed by t he Communist Red Front and Ant i-Fascist Act ion.
Aft er t he beginning of t he Great Depression, bot h Communist s and Nazis saw t heir share of t he
vot e increase. While t he Nazis were willing t o form alliances wit h ot her part ies of t he right , t he
Communist s refused t o form an alliance wit h t he Social Democrat ic Part y of Germany, t he
largest part y of t he left .[297] Aft er t he Nazis came t o power, t hey quickly banned t he Communist
Part y under t he allegat ion t hat it was preparing for revolut ion and t hat it had caused t he
Reichst ag fire.[298] Four t housand KPD officials were arrest ed in February 1933, and by t he end of
t he year 130,000 communist s had been sent t o concent rat ion camps.[299]

During t he lat e 1930s and t he 1940s, ant i-communist regimes and groups t hat support ed Nazism
included t he Falange in Francoist Spain, t he Vichy regime and t he 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division
of t he SS Charlemagne (1st French) in France and t he Brit ish Union of Fascist s under Oswald
Mosley.[300]

Views of capitalism

The Nazis argued t hat free-market capit alism damages nat ions due t o int ernat ional finance and
t he worldwide economic dominance of disloyal big business, which t hey considered t o be t he
product of Jewish influences.[286] Nazi propaganda post ers in working class dist rict s emphasised
ant i-capit alism, such as one t hat said: "The maint enance of a rot t en indust rial syst em has not hing
t o do wit h nat ionalism. I can love Germany and hat e capit alism".[301]

Bot h in public and in privat e Hit ler opposed free-market capit alism because it "could not be
t rust ed t o put nat ional int erest s first ", arguing t hat it holds nat ions ransom in t he int erest s of a
parasit ic cosmopolit an rent ier class.[302] Hit ler desired an economy t hat would direct resources
"in ways t hat mat ched t he many nat ional goals of t he regime" such as t he buildup of t he milit ary,
building programs for cit ies and roads, and economic self-sufficiency.[270] Hit ler also dist rust ed
free-market capit alism for being unreliable due t o it s egot ism and preferred a st at e-direct ed
economy t hat maint ains privat e propert y and compet it ion but subordinat es t hem t o t he
int erest s of t he Volk and Nat ion.[302]

Hit ler t old a part y leader in 1934: "The economic syst em of our day is t he creat ion of t he
Jews".[302] Hit ler said t o Benit o Mussolini t hat capit alism had "run it s course".[302] Hit ler also said
t hat t he business bourgeoisie "know not hing except t heir profit . 'Fat herland' is only a word for
t hem."[303] Hit ler was personally disgust ed wit h t he ruling bourgeois elit es of Germany during t he
period of t he Weimar Republic, whom he referred t o as "cowardly shit s".[304]

In Mein Kampf, Hit ler effect ively support ed mercant ilism in t he belief t hat economic resources
from t heir respect ive t errit ories should be seized by force, as he believed t hat t he policy of
Lebensraum would provide Germany wit h such economically valuable t errit ories.[305] Hit ler argued
t hat t he only means t o maint ain economic securit y was t o have direct cont rol over resources
rat her t han being forced t o rely on world t rade.[305] Hit ler claimed t hat war t o gain such resources
was t he only means t o surpass t he failing capit alist economic syst em.[305]

In pract ice, however, t he Nazis merely opposed one t ype of capit alism, namely 19t h-cent ury
free-market capit alism and t he laissez-faire model, which t hey nonet heless applied t o t he social
sphere in t he form of social Darwinism.[274] Rat her, Nazi Germany has been described as an
example of aut horit arian or t ot alit arian capit alism.[306] While claiming t o st rive for aut arky in
propaganda, t he Nazis crushed exist ing movement s t owards self-sufficiency[307] and est ablished
ext ensive capit al connect ions in effort s t o ready for expansionist war and genocide [308] in
alliance wit h t radit ional business and commerce elit es.[309] In spit e of t heir ant i-capit alist rhet oric
in opposit ion t o big business, t he Nazis allied wit h German business as soon as t hey got in power
by appealing t o t he fear of communism and promising t o dest roy t he German left and t rade
unions,[310] event ually purging bot h more radical and react ionary element s from t he part y in
1934.[50]
Joseph Goebbels, who would lat er go on t o become t he Nazi Propaganda Minist er, was st rongly
opposed t o bot h capit alism and communism, viewing t hem as t he "t wo great pillars of
mat erialism" t hat were "part of t he int ernat ional Jewish conspiracy for world dominat ion."[311]
Nevert heless, he wrot e in his diary in 1925 t hat if he were forced t o choose bet ween t hem, "in
t he final analysis, it would be bet t er for us t o go down wit h Bolshevism t han live in et ernal slavery
under capit alism".[312] Goebbels also linked his ant isemit ism t o his ant i-capit alism, st at ing in a
1929 pamphlet t hat "we see, in t he Hebrews, t he incarnat ion of capit alism, t he misuse of t he
nat ion's goods."[180]

Wit hin t he Nazi Part y, t he fact ion associat ed wit h ant i-capit alist beliefs was t he SA, a
paramilit ary wing led by Ernst Röhm. The SA had a complicat ed relat ionship wit h t he rest of t he
part y, giving bot h Röhm himself and local SA leaders significant aut onomy.[313] Different local
leaders would even promot e different polit ical ideas in t heir unit s, including "nat ionalist ic,
socialist ic, ant i-Semit ic, racist , völkisch, or conservat ive ideas."[314] There was t ension bet ween
t he SA and Hit ler, especially from 1930 onward, as Hit ler's "increasingly close associat ion wit h big
indust rial int erest s and t radit ional right ist forces" caused many in t he SA t o dist rust him.[315] The
SA regarded Hit ler's seizure of power in 1933 as a "first revolut ion" against t he left , and some
voices wit hin t he ranks began arguing for a "second revolut ion" against t he right .[316] Aft er
engaging in violence against t he left in 1933, Röhm's SA also began at t acks against individuals
deemed t o be associat ed wit h conservat ive react ion.[49] Hit ler saw Röhm's independent act ions
as violat ing and possibly t hreat ening his leadership, as well as jeopardising t he regime by
alienat ing t he conservat ive President Paul von Hindenburg and t he conservat ive-orient ed German
Army.[50] This result ed in Hit ler purging Röhm and ot her radical members of t he SA in 1934, during
t he Night of t he Long Knives.[50]

Totalitarianism
Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, 1936

Under Nazism, wit h it s emphasis on t he nat ion, individualism was denounced and inst ead
import ance was placed upon Germans belonging t o t he German Volk and "people's communit y"
(Volksgemeinschaft).[317] Hit ler declared t hat "every act ivit y and every need of every individual
will be regulat ed by t he collect ivit y represent ed by t he part y" and t hat "t here are no longer any
free realms in which t he individual belongs t o himself".[318] Himmler just ified t he est ablishment of
a repressive police st at e, in which t he securit y forces could exercise power arbit rarily, by claiming
t hat nat ional securit y and order should t ake precedence over t he needs of t he individual.[319]

According t o t he famous philosopher and polit ical t heorist , Hannah Arendt , t he allure of Nazism
as a t ot alit arian ideology (wit h it s at t endant mobilisat ion of t he German populat ion) resided
wit hin t he const ruct of helping t hat societ y deal wit h t he cognit ive dissonance result ant from
t he t ragic int errupt ion of t he First World War and t he economic and mat erial suffering
consequent t o t he Depression and brought t o order t he revolut ionary unrest occurring all around
t hem. Inst ead of t he pluralit y t hat exist ed in democrat ic or parliament ary st at es, Nazism as a
t ot alit arian syst em promulgat ed "clear" solut ions t o t he hist orical problems faced by Germany,
levied support by de-legit imizing t he former government of Weimar and provided a polit ico-
biological pat hway t o a bet t er fut ure, one free from t he uncert aint y of t he past . It was t he
at omised and disaffect ed masses t hat Hit ler and t he part y elit e point ed in a part icular direct ion
and using clever propaganda t o make t hem int o ideological adherent s, exploit ed in bringing
Nazism t o life.[320]

While t he ideologues of Nazism, much like t hose of St alinism, abhorred democrat ic or

parliament ary governance as pract ised in t he Unit ed St at es or Brit ain, t heir differences are
subst ant ial. An epist emic crisis occurs when one t ries t o synt hesize and cont rast Nazism and
St alinism as t wo-sides of t he same coin wit h t heir similarly t yrannical leaders, st at e-cont rolled
economies and repressive police st ruct ures. Namely, while t hey share a common t hemat ic
polit ical const ruct ion, t hey are ent irely inimical t o one anot her in t heir worldviews and when more
carefully analysed against one anot her on a one-t o-one level, an "irreconcilable asymmet ry"
result s.[321]

Classification - Reactionary or Revolutionary

Alt hough Nazism is oft en seen as a react ionary movement , it did not seek a ret urn of Germany t o
t he pre-Weimar monarchy, but inst ead looked much furt her back t o a myt hic halcyon Germany
which never exist ed. It has also been seen—as it was by t he German-American scholar Franz
Leopold Neumann—as t he result of a crisis of capit alism which manifest ed as a "t ot alit arian
monopoly capit alism". In t his view Nazism is a mass movement of t he middle class which was in
opposit ion t o a mass movement of workers in socialism and it s ext reme form, Communism.[322]
Hist orian Karl Diet rich Bracher argues:

Such an interpretation runs the risk of misjudging the revolutionary

component of National Socialism, which cannot be dismissed as being
simply reactionary. Rather, from the very outset, and particularly as it
developed into the SS state, National Socialism aimed at a
transformation of state and society.[322]

About Hit ler's and t he Nazi Part y's polit ical posit ions, Bracher furt her claims:

[They] were of a revolutionary nature: destruction of existing political

and social structures and their supporting elites; profound disdain for
civic order, for human and moral values, for Habsburg and
Hohenzollern, for liberal and Marxist ideas. The middle class and
middle-class values, bourgeois nationalism and capitalism, the
professionals, the intelligentsia and the upper class were dealt the
sharpest rebuff. These were the groups which had to be uprooted
[...].[323]

Similarly, hist orian Modris Ekst eins argued:

Contrary to many interpretations of Nazism, which tend to view it as a

reactionary movement, as, in the words of Thomas Mann, an "explosion
of antiquarianism", intent on turning Germany into a pastoral folk
community of thatched cottages and happy peasants, the general
thrust of the movement, despite archaisms, was futuristic. Nazism was
a headlong plunge into the future, towards a "brave new world." Of
course it used to advantage residual conservative and utopian
longings, paid respect to these romantic visions, and picked its
 ideological trappings from the German past. but its goals were, by its
own lights, distinctly progressive. It was not a double-faced Janus
whose aspects were equally attentive to the past and the future, nor
was it a modern Proteus, the god of metamorphosis, who duplicates
pre-existing forms. The intention of the movement was to create a new
type of human being from whom would spring a new morality, a new
social system, and eventually a new international order. That was, in
fact, the intention of all the fascist movements. After a visit to Italy and
a meeting with Mussolini, Oswald Mosley wrote that fascism "has
produced not only a new system of government, but also a new type of
man, who differs from politicians of the old world as men from another
planet." Hitler talked in these terms endlessly. National Socialism was
more than a political movement, he said; it was more than a faith; it
was a desire to create mankind anew.[324]

Brit ish hist orian Ian Kershaw, in his hist ory of Europe in t he first half of t he 20t h cent ury, To Hell
and Back, says about Nazism, It alian Fascism and Bolshevism:

They were different forms of a completely new, modern type of

dictatorship – the complete antithesis to liberal democracy. They were
all revolutionary, if by that term we understand a major political
upheaval driven by the utopian aim of changing society fundamentally.
They were not content simply to use repression as a means of control,
but sought to mobilize behind an exclusive ideology to "educate"
people into becoming committed believers, to claim them soul as well
as body. Each of the regimes was, therefore, dynamic in ways that
"conventional" authoritarianism was not.[325]

Aft er t he failure of t he Beer Hall Put sch in 1923, and his subsequent t rial and imprisonment ,
Hit ler decided t hat t he way for t he Nazi Part y t o achieve power was not t hrough insurrect ion,
but t hrough legal and quasi-legal means. This did not sit well wit h t he brown-shirt ed
st ormt roopers of t he SA, especially t hose in Berlin, who chafed under t he rest rict ions t hat Hit ler
placed on t hem, and t heir subordinat ion t o t he part y. This result ed in t he St ennes Revolt of
1930–31, aft er which Hit ler made himself t he Supreme Commander of t he SA, and brought Ernst
Röhm back t o be t heir Chief of St aff and keep t hem in line. The quashing of t he SA's
revolut ionary fervor convinced many businessmen and milit ary leaders t hat t he Nazis had put
aside t heir insurrect ionist past , and t hat Hit ler could be a reliable part ner [326][327]

Aft er t he Nazis' "Seizure of Power" in 1933, Röhm and t he Brown Shirt s were not cont ent for t he
part y t o simply carry t he reins of power. Inst ead, t hey pressed for a cont inuat ion of t he "Nat ional
Socialist revolut ion" t o bring about sweeping social changes, which Hit ler, primarily for t act ical
reasons, was not willing t o do at t hat t ime. He was inst ead focused on rebuilding t he milit ary and
reorient ing t he economy t o provide t he rearmament necessary for invasion of t he count ries t o
t he east of Germany, especially Poland and Russia, t o get t he Lebensraum ("living space") he
believed was necessary t o t he survival of t he Aryan race. For t his, he needed t he co-operat ion of
not only t he milit ary, but also t he vit al organs of capit alism, t he banks and big businesses, which
he would be unlikely t o get if Germany's social and economic st ruct ure was being radically
overhauled. Röhm's public proclamat ion t hat t he SA would not allow t he "German Revolut ion" t o
be halt ed or undermined caused Hit ler t o announce t hat "The revolut ion is not a permanent
condit ion." The unwillingness of Röhm and t he SA t o cease t heir agit at ion for a "Second
Revolut ion", and t he unwarrant ed fear of a "Röhm put sch" t o accomplish it , were fact ors behind
Hit ler's purging of t he SA leadership in t he Night of t he Long Knives in t he summer of
1934.[328][329]

Despit e such t act ical breaks necessit at ed by pragmat ic concerns, which were t ypical for Hit ler
during his rise t o power and in t he early years of his regime, t hose who see Hit ler as a
revolut ionary argue t hat he never ceased being a revolut ionary dedicat ed t o t he radical
t ransformat ion of Germany, especially when it concerned racial mat t ers. In his monograph, Hitler:
Study of a Revolutionary?, Mart yn Housden concludes:î

[Hitler] compiled a most extensive set of revolutionary goals (calling for

radical social and political change); he mobilized a revolutionary
following so extensive and powerful that many of his aims were
achieved; he established and ran a dictatorial revolutionary state; and
he disseminated his ideas abroad through a revolutionary foreign
policy and war. In short, he defined and controlled the National
Socialist revolution in all its phases.[330]

There were aspect s of Nazism which were undoubt edly react ionary, such as t heir at t it ude
t oward t he role of women in societ y, which was complet ely t radit ionalist ,[331] calling for t he
ret urn of women t o t he home as wives, mot hers and homemakers, alt hough ironically t his
ideological policy was undermined in realit y by t he growing labour short ages and need for more
workers caused by men leaving t he workforce for milit ary service. The number of working women
act ually increased from 4.24 million in 1933 t o 4.52 million in 1936 and 5.2 million in 1938,[332]
despit e act ive discouragement and legal barriers put in place by t he Nazi regime.[333] Anot her
react ionary aspect of Nazism was in t heir art s policy, which st emmed from Hit ler's reject ion of
all forms of "degenerat e" modern art , music and archit ect ure.[334]

Hist orian Mart in Broszat describes Nazism as having:

...a peculiar hybrid, half-reactionary, half-revolutionary relationship to

established society, to the political system and tradition. ... [Its] ideology
was almost like a backwards-looking Utopia. It derived from romantic
pictures and clichés of the past, from warlike-heroic, patriarchal or
absolutist ages, social and political systems, which, however, were
translated into the popular and avante-garde, into the fighting slogans
of totalitarian nationalism. The élitist notion of aristocratic nobility
became the völkische 'nobility of blood' of the 'master race', the princely
'theory of divine right' gave way to the popular national Führer; the
obedient submission to the active national 'following'.[335]

Post-war Nazism

Following Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II and t he end of t he Holocaust , overt expressions
of support for Nazi ideas were prohibit ed in Germany and ot her European count ries. Nonet heless,
movement s which self-ident ify as Nat ional Socialist or which are described as adhering t o
Nazism cont inue t o exist on t he fringes of polit ics in many west ern societ ies. Usually espousing a
whit e supremacist ideology, many deliberat ely adopt t he symbols of Nazi Germany.[336]

See also
 Comparison of Nazism and St alinism

Consequences of Nazism

Falangism

Fascism in t he Unit ed St at es

Funct ionalism versus int ent ionalism

It alian Fascism

St at ism in Shōwa Japan

List of books about Nazi Germany

Nazi occult ism

Polit ical views of Adolf Hit ler

Theodore Abel papers

References

Notes

1. Jones, Daniel (2003) [1917]. Roach, Peter; Hartmann, James; Setter, Jane (eds.). English Pronouncing
Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-3-12-539683-8.

2. Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2010) [1996] Hitler and Nazi Germany: A History New York: Routledge. p. 1
ISBN 978-0131924697 Quote: "Nazism was only one, although the most important, of a number of
similar-looking fascist movements in Europe between World War I and World War II."

3. Orlow, Dietrick (2009) The Lure of Fascism in Western Europe: German Nazis, Dutch and French
Fascists, 1933–1939 London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 6–9. ISBN 978-0230608658. Excerpt (https://ww
w.amazon.com/dp/0230608655/)

4. Eley, Geoff (2013) Nazism as Fascism: Violence, Ideology, and the Ground of Consent in Germany
1930–1945 New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0415812634

5. Kailitz, Steffen and Umland, Andreas (2017). "Why Fascists Took Over the Reichstag but Have Not
captured the Kremlin: A Comparison of Weimar Germany and Post-Soviet Russia" (https://www.research
gate.net/profile/Andreas_Umland/publication/311784498_Why_fascists_took_over_the_Reichstag_but_h
ave_not_captured_the_Kremlin_a_comparison_of_Weimar_Germany_and_post-Soviet_Russia/links/5b5a
2f62aca272a2d66cc57b/Why-fascists-took-over-the-Reichstag-but-have-not-captured-the-Kremlin-a-co
mparison-of-Weimar-Germany-and-post-Soviet-Russia.pdf) . Nationalities Papers. 45 (2): 206–21.
 6. Evans 2003, p. 229.

7. Ramin Skibba (20 May 2019). "The Disturbing Resilience of Scientific Racism" (https://www.smithsonian
mag.com/science-nature/disturbing-resilience-scientific-racism-180972243/) . Smithsonian.com.
Retrieved 12 December 2019.

8. Baum, Bruce David (2006). The Rise and Fall of the Caucasian Race: A Political History of Racial
Identity (https://archive.org/details/risefallcaucasia00baum) . New York City/London: New York
University Press. p. 156 (https://archive.org/details/risefallcaucasia00baum/page/n166) .
ISBN 9781429415064.

9. Kobrak, Christopher; Hansen, Per H.; Kopper, Christopher (2004). "Business, Political Risk, and
Historians in the Twentieth Century" (https://books.google.com/books?id=1oXbDyeLYXoC&q=anti-capit
alist+enough&pg=PA16) . In Kobrak, Christopher; Hansen, Per H. (eds.). European Business,
Dictatorship, and Political Risk, 1920–1945. New York City/Oxford: Berghahn Books. pp. 16–7.
ISBN 978-1-57181-629-0.

10. Kershaw 1999, pp. 243–44, 248–49.

11. Gottlieb, Henrik; Morgensen, Jens Erik, eds. (2007). Dictionary Visions, Research and Practice: Selected
Papers from the 12th International Symposium on Lexicography, Copenhagen 2004 (https://books.goo
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12. Harper, Douglas. "Nazi" (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Nazi) . etymonline.com. Online

Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 22 October 2014.

13. "Nazi" (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Nazi) . Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved

18 August 2017.

14. Lepage, Jean-Denis (2009). Hitler Youth, 1922–1945: An Illustrated History (https://archive.org/details/
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15. Rabinbach, Anson; Gilman, Sander, eds. (2013). The Third Reich Sourcebook (https://books.google.co
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0520955141.

16. Copping, Jasper (23 October 2011). "Why Hitler hated being called a Nazi and what's really in humble
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phrases-revealed.html) . The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 October 2014.

17. Seebold, Elmar, ed. (2002). Kluge Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache (in German)
(24th ed.). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-017473-1.
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Nazi (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Nazi) ).

19. Goebbels, Joseph (1927) "The Nazi-Sozi" (https://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/nazi-

sozi.htm) , translated and annotated by Randall Bytwerk, Calvin College German Propaganda Archive

20. Bormann, Martin, compiler, et al., Hitler's Table Talk, republished 2016

21. See Selected Speeches of Field Marshal Hermann Goring

22. Maschmann, Melita, Account Rendered: A Dossier On My Former Self, originally published in 1963,
republished in 2016, Plunkett Lake Press

23. Theodore Fred Abel papers (https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/4087885) .

24. Fritzsche, Peter (1998). Germans into Nazis (https://archive.org/details/germansintonazis00frit) .

Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674350922.

Eatwell, Roger (1997). Fascism, A History. Viking-Penguin. pp. xvii–xxiv, 21, 26–31, 114–40, 352.
ISBN 978-0140257007.

Griffin, Roger (2000). "Revolution from the Right: Fascism". In Parker, David (ed.). Revolutions and the
Revolutionary Tradition in the West 1560–1991. London: Routledge. pp. 185–201. ISBN 978-
0415172950.

25. Oliver H. Woshinsky. Explaining Politics: Culture, Institutions, and Political Behavior. Oxon; New York:
Routledge, 2008, p. 156.

26. Hitler, Adolf in Domarus, Max and Patrick Romane, eds. The Essential Hitler: Speeches and
Commentary, Waulconda, Illinois: Bolchazi-Carducci Publishers, Inc., 2007, p. 170.

27. Koshar, Rudy. Social Life, Local Politics, and Nazism: Marburg, 1880–1935, University of North Carolina
Press, 1986, p. 190.

28. Hitler, Adolf, Mein Kampf, Bottom of the Hill Publishing, 2010, p. 287.

29. Dawidowicz, Lucy. A Holocaust Reader Behrman House, Inc, 1976, p. 31.

30. Adolf Hitler, Max Domarus. The Essential Hitler: Speeches and Commentary. pp. 171, 172–73.

31. Kershaw 1999, p. 135.

32. Peukert, Detlev, The Weimar Republic. Macmillan, 1993. ISBN 978-0809015566, pp. 73–74.

33. Peukert, Detlev, The Weimar Republic. 1st paperback ed. Macmillan, 1993. ISBN 978-0809015566, p.
74.

34. Beck, Hermann The Fateful Alliance: German Conservatives and Nazis in 1933: The Machtergreifung in
a New Light, Berghahn Books, 2008. ISBN 978-1845456801, p. 72.

35. Beck, Hermann The Fateful Alliance: German Conservatives and Nazis in 1933: The Machtergreifung in
a New Light, 2008. pp. 72–75.
36. Beck, Hermann The Fateful Alliance: German Conservatives and Nazis in 1933: The Machtergreifung in
a New Light, 2008, p. 84.

37. Bendersky 1985, pp. 104–06.

38. Stephen J. Lee. European Dictatorships, 1918–1945. Routledge, 1987, p. 169.

39. Bendersky 1985, pp. 106–07.

40. Miranda Carter. George, Nicholas and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I.
Borzoi Book, 2009. 420 pp.

41. Mann, Michael, Fascists, New York City: Cambridge University Press, 2004, p. 183.

42. Browder, George C., Foundations of the Nazi Police State: The Formation of Sipo and SD, Lexington:
Kentucky University Press, 2004, p. 202.

43. Hallgarten, George (1973). "The Collusion of Capitalism". In Snell, John L. (ed.). "The Nazi Revolution:
Hitler's Dictatorship and the German Nation". D. C. Heath and Company. pp. 132

44. Hallgarten, George (1973). "The Collusion of Capitalism". In Snell, John L. (ed.). "The Nazi Revolution:
Hitler's Dictatorship and the German Nation". D. C. Heath and Company. p. 133

45. Hallgarten, George (1973). "The Collusion of Capitalism". In Snell, John L. (ed.). "The Nazi Revolution:
Hitler's Dictatorship and the German Nation". D. C. Heath and Company. pp. 137, 142

46. Hallgarten, George (1973). "The Collusion of Capitalism". In Snell, John L. (ed.). "The Nazi Revolution:
Hitler's Dictatorship and the German Nation". D. C. Heath and Company. p. 141

47. Bendersky, Joseph W. (2007). A Concise History of Nazi Germany. Plymouth, England: Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers Inc. p. 96. ISBN 978-0742553637.

48. Heiden, Konrad (1938) Hitler: A Biography, London: Constable & Co. Ltd. p. 390

49. Nyomarkay 1967, pp. 123–124, 130.

50. Nyomarkay 1967, p. 133.

51. Glenn D. Walters. Lifestyle Theory: Past, Present, and Future. Nova Publishers, 2006, p. 40.

52. Weber, Thomas, Hitler's First War: Adolf Hitler, the Men of the List Regiment, and the First World War,
Oxford, England, UK: Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 251.

53. Gaab, Jeffrey S., Munich: Hofbräuhaus & History: Beer, Culture, & Politics, 2nd ed. New York: Peter Lang
Publishing, Inc, 2008, p. 61.

54. Kershaw 1999, pp. 34–35, 50–52, 60–67.

55. Overy, R.J., The Dictators: Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2004. pp.
399–403.

56. Bendersky 1985, p. 49.

57. Bendersky 1985, p. 50.

58. Tooze 2006, pp. 101.

59. Tooze 2006, pp. 100–101.

60. Tooze 2006, p. 99.

61. Furet, François, Passing of an Illusion: The Idea of Communism in the Twentieth Century, Chicago;
London: University of Chicago Press, 1999. ISBN 0-226-27340-7, pp. 191–92.

62. Furet, François, Passing of an Illusion: The Idea of Communism in the Twentieth Century, 1999, p. 191.

63. Nicosia, Francis R. (2000). The Third Reich and the Palestine Question (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=kYFrAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA82) . Transaction Publishers. p. 82. ISBN 076580624X.

64. Buchanan, Patrick J. (2008). Churchill, Hitler, and "The Unnecessary War": How Britain Lost Its Empire
and the West Lost the World (https://books.google.com/books?id=PYESsQRyIIMC&pg=PA325) .
Crown/Archetype. p. 325. ISBN 978-0307409560.

65. Fest, Joachim C. (1974) [1973]. Hitler. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 978-0-297-76755-8.

66. Broszat 1987, p. 38.

67. Ryback 2010, pp. 129–130.

68. Ryback 2010, p. 129.

69. George L. Mosse, The Crisis of German Ideology: Intellectual Origins of the Third Reich (New York:
Grosset & Dunlap, 1964), pp. 19–23.

70. Thomas Lekan and Thomas Zeller, "Introduction: The Landscape of German Environmental History," in
Germany's Nature: Cultural Landscapes and Environmental History, edited by Thomas Lekan and
Thomas Zeller (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2005), p. 3.

71. The Nazi concept of Lebensraum has connections with this idea, with German farmers being rooted to
their soil, needing more of it for the expansion of the German Volk—whereas the Jew is precisely the
opposite, nomadic and urban by nature. See: Roderick Stackelberg, The Routledge Companion to Nazi
Germany (New York: Routledge, 2007), p. 259.

72. Additional evidence of Riehl's legacy can be seen in the Riehl Prize, Die Volkskunde als Wissenschaft
(Folklore as Science) which was awarded in 1935 by the Nazis. See: George L. Mosse, The Crisis of
German Ideology: Intellectual Origins of the Third Reich (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1964), p. 23.
Applicants for the Riehl prize had stipulations that included only being of Aryan blood, and no evidence
of membership in any Marxist parties or any organisation that stood against National Socialism. See:
Hermann Stroback, "Folklore and Fascism before and around 1933," in The Nazification of an Academic
Discipline: Folklore in the Third Reich, edited by James R Dow and Hannjost Lixfeld (Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1994), pp. 62–63.
73. Cyprian Blamires. World Fascism: A Historical Encyclopedia, Volume 1. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO,
Inc., 2006, p. 542.

74. Keith H. Pickus. Constructing Modern Identities: Jewish University Students in Germany, 1815–1914.
Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 1999, p. 86.

75. Jonathan Olsen. Nature and Nationalism: Right-wing Ecology and the Politics of Identity in
Contemporary Germany. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1999, p. 62.

76. Andrew Gladding Whiteside, Austrian National Socialism before 1918, (1962), pp. 1–3

77. Nina Witoszek, Lars Trägårdh. Culture and Crisis: The Case of Germany and Sweden. Berghahn Books,
2002. pp. 89–90.

78. Witoszek, Nina and Lars Trägårdh, Culture and Crisis: The Case of Germany and Sweden, Berghahn
Books, 2002, p. 90.

79. Gerwarth 2007, p. 150.

80. Gerwarth 2007, p. 149.

81. Gerwarth 2007, p. 54.

82. Gerwarth 2007, p. 131.

83. David Nicholls. Adolf Hitler: A Biographical Companion. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
2000. pp. 236–37.

84. David Nicholls. Adolf Hitler: A Biographical Companion. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
2000. pp. 159–60.

85. Brigitte Hamann (2010). Hitler's Vienna: A Portrait of the Tyrant as a Young Man. Tauris Parke
Paperbacks. p. 302. ISBN 978-1848852778.

86. Blamires, Cyprian; Jackson, Paul. World Fascism: A Historical Encyclopedia: Volume 1. Santa Barbara,
CA: ABC-CLIO, Inc, 2006, p. 62.

87. Stackelberg, Roderick; Winkle, Sally Anne. The Nazi Germany Sourcebook: An Anthology of Texts,
London: Routledge, 2002, p. 11.

88. A. J. Woodman. The Cambridge Companion to Tacitus, 2009, p. 294: "The white race was defined as
beautiful, honourable and destined to rule; within it the Aryans are 'cette illustre famille humaine, la plus
noble'." Originally a linguistic term synonymous with Indo-European, 'Aryan' became, not least because
of the Essai, the designation of a race, which Gobineau specified was 'la race germanique'

89. Blamires, Cyprian and Paul Jackson, World Fascism: A Historical Encyclopedia: Volume 1, 2006, p. 126.

90. Stefan Kühl (2002). Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Socialism.
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 91. William Brustein. Roots of Hate: Anti-Semitism in Europe Before the Holocaust. Cambridge University
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92. Brustein, 2003, p. 210.

93. William Brustein. Roots of Hate: Anti-Semitism in Europe Before the Holocaust. Cambridge University
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94. Nina Witoszek, Lars Trägårdh. Culture and Crisis: The Case of Germany and Sweden. Berghahn Books,
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95. Jack Fischel. The Holocaust. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 1998, p. 5.

96. Philip Rees, Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890, Simon & Schuster, 1990, p. 220

97. Ryback 2010, p. 130.

98. Roderick Stackelberg, Sally Anne Winkle. The Nazi Germany Sourcebook: An Anthology of Texts, 2002,
p. 45.

99. Ian Kershaw. Hitler, 1936–45: Nemesis. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 2001, p. 588.

100. David Welch. Hitler: Profile of a Dictator. 2nd edition. New York: UCL Press, 2001. pp. 13–14.

101. David Welch. Hitler: Profile of a Dictator, 2001, p. 16.

102. Claudia Koonz (1 November 2005). The Nazi Conscience. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
ISBN 978-0-674-01842-6.

103. Richard Weikart (21 July 2009). Hitler's Ethic (https://archive.org/details/hitlersethicnazi00weik) .

Palgrave Macmillan. p. 142 (https://archive.org/details/hitlersethicnazi00weik/page/n156) . ISBN 978-
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104. Sarah Ann Gordon (1984). Hitler, Germans, and the "Jewish Question" (https://archive.org/details/hitler
germansjew0000gord/page/265) . Princeton University Press. p. 265 (https://archive.org/details/hitler
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105. "Florida Holocaust Museum: Antisemitism – Post World War 1" (history), flholocaustmuseum.org, 2003,
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164. This was the result of either a club foot or osteomyelitis. Goebbels is commonly said to have had club
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in the literature; since the Second World War it has understandably become the prevailing opinion." *
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316. Nyomarkay 1967, pp. 123–124.

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