TheNazi Party,[b] officially theNational Socialist German Workers' Party (German:Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei[c] orNSDAP), was afar-right[10][11][12] political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology ofNazism. Its precursor, theGerman Workers' Party (Deutsche Arbeiterpartei; DAP), existed from 1919 to 1920. The Nazi Party emerged from theextremistGerman nationalist ("Völkisch nationalist"),racist, andpopulistFreikorps paramilitary culture, which fought againstcommunist uprisings in post–World War I Germany.[13] The party was created to draw workers away from communism and intovölkisch nationalism.[14] Initially, Nazi political strategy focused on anti-big business, anti-bourgeoisie, andanti-capitalism, disingenuously using socialist rhetoric to gain the support of thelower middle class;[15] that was later downplayed to gain the support of business leaders. By the 1930s, the party's main focus shifted toantisemitic andanti-Marxist themes.[16] The party had little popular support until theGreat Depression, when worsening living standards and widespread unemployment drove Germans into political extremism.[12]
Central to Nazism werethemes of racial segregation expressed in the idea of a "people's community" (Volksgemeinschaft).[17] The party aimed to unite "racially desirable" Germans as national comrades while excluding those deemed to be either political dissidents, physically or intellectually inferior, or of aforeign race (Fremdvölkische).[18] The Nazis sought to strengthen the Germanic people, the "Aryanmaster race", through racial purity andeugenics, broad social welfare programs, and a collective subordination of individual rights, which could be sacrificed for the good of the state on behalf of the people. To protect the supposed purity and strength of the Aryan race, the Nazis sought to disenfranchise, segregate, and eventuallyexterminateJews,Romani,Slavs, thephysically andmentally disabled,homosexuals,Jehovah's Witnesses, and political opponents.[19] The persecution reached its climax when the party-controlled German state set in motion theFinal Solution – an industrial system of genocide that carried out mass murders ofaround 6 million Jews and millions of other targeted victims in what has become known asthe Holocaust.[20]
Following the military defeat of Germany inWorld War II, the party was declared illegal.[25] The Allies attempted to purge German society of Nazi elements in a process known asdenazification.Several top leaders were tried and found guilty of crimes against humanity in theNuremberg trials, and executed. The use of symbols associated with the party is still outlawed in many European countries, including Germany and Austria.
Name
The renaming of theGerman Workers' Party (DAP) to the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) was partially driven by a desire to draw upon both left-wing and right-wing ideals, with "Socialist" and "Workers'" appealing to the left, and "National" and "German" appealing to the right.[26]Nazi, the informal and originally derogatory term for a party member, abbreviates the party's name (Nationalsozialist[natsi̯oˈnaːlzotsi̯aˌlɪst]), and was coined in analogy withSozi (pronounced[ˈzoːtsiː]), an abbreviation ofSozialdemokrat (member of the rivalSocial Democratic Party of Germany).[d][27] Members of the party referred to themselves asNationalsozialisten (National Socialists), but some did occasionally embrace the colloquialNazi (soLeopold von Mildenstein in his article seriesEin Nazi fährt nach Palästina published inDer Angriff in 1934). The termParteigenosse (party member) was commonly used among Nazis, with its corresponding feminine formParteigenossin.[28]
Before the rise of the party, these terms had been used as colloquial and derogatory words for a backwardpeasant, or an awkward and clumsy person. It derived from Ignaz, a shortened version ofIgnatius,[29][30] which was a common name in the Nazis' home region ofBavaria. Opponents seized on this, and the long-existingSozi, to attach a dismissive nickname to the National Socialists.[30][31]
In 1933, whenAdolf Hitler assumed power in the German government, the usage of "Nazi" diminished in Germany, although Austrian anti-Nazis continued to use the term.[27] The use of "Nazi Germany" and "Nazi regime" was popularised by anti-Nazis and German exiles abroad. Thereafter, the term spread into other languages and eventually was brought back to Germany after World War II.[31] In English, the term is not considered slang and has such derivatives asNazism anddenazification.
History
Origins and early years: 1918–1923
The Nazi Party grew out of smaller political groups with a nationalist orientation that formed in the last years ofWorld War I. In 1918, a league called theFreier Arbeiterausschuss für einen guten Frieden (Free Workers' Committee for a good Peace)[32] was created inBremen, Germany. On 7 March 1918,Anton Drexler, an avid German nationalist, formed a branch of this league inMunich.[32] Drexler was a local locksmith who had been a member of the militaristFatherland Party[33] during World War I and was bitterly opposed to thearmistice of November 1918 and the revolutionary upheavals that followed. Drexler followed the views of militant nationalists of the day, such as opposing theTreaty of Versailles, havingantisemitic, anti-monarchist and anti-Marxist views, as well as believing in the superiority of Germans whom they claimed to be part of theAryan "master race" (Herrenvolk). However, he also accused international capitalism of being a Jewish-dominated movement and denounced capitalists for war profiteering in World War I.[34] Drexler saw the political violence and instability in Germany as the result of theWeimar Republic being out-of-touch with the masses, especially the lower classes.[34] Drexler emphasised the need for a synthesis ofvölkisch nationalism with a form of economicsocialism, in order to create a popular nationalist-oriented workers' movement that could challenge the rise of communism andinternationalist politics.[35] These were all well-known themes popular with variousWeimar paramilitary groups such as theFreikorps.
Nazi Party badge emblem
Drexler's movement received attention and support from some influential figures. SupporterDietrich Eckart, a well-to-do journalist, brought military figureFelix Graf von Bothmer, a prominent supporter of the concept of "national socialism", to address the movement.[36] Later in 1918,Karl Harrer (a journalist and member of theThule Society) convinced Drexler and several others to form thePolitischer Arbeiter-Zirkel (Political Workers' Circle).[32] The members met periodically for discussions with themes of nationalism and racism directed against Jewish people.[32] In December 1918, Drexler decided that a new political party should be formed, based on the political principles that he endorsed, by combining his branch of the Workers' Committee for a good Peace with the Political Workers' Circle.[32][37]
On 5 January 1919, Drexler created a new political party and proposed it should be named the "German Socialist Workers' Party", but Harrer objected to the term "socialist"; so the term was removed and the party was named theGerman Workers' Party (Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, DAP).[37] To ease concerns among potential middle-class supporters, Drexler made clear that unlike Marxists the party supported the middle-class and that its socialist policy was meant to givesocial welfare to German citizens deemed part of the Aryan race.[34] They became one of manyvölkisch movements that existed in Germany. Like othervölkisch groups, the DAP advocated the belief that throughprofit-sharing instead ofsocialisation Germany should become a unified "people's community" (Volksgemeinschaft) rather than a society divided along class and party lines.[38] This ideology was explicitly antisemitic. As early as 1920, the party was raising money by selling a tobacco calledAnti-Semit.[39]
From the outset, the DAP was opposed to non-nationalist political movements, especially on the left, including theSocial Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and theCommunist Party of Germany (KPD). Members of the DAP saw themselves as fighting against "Bolshevism" and anyone considered a part of or aiding so-called "international Jewry". The DAP was also deeply opposed to theTreaty of Versailles.[40] The DAP did not attempt to make itself public and meetings were kept in relative secrecy, with public speakers discussing what they thought of Germany's presentstate of affairs, or writing to like-minded societies inNorthern Germany.[38]
NSDAP membership book
The DAP was a comparatively small group with fewer than 60 members.[38] Nevertheless, it attracted the attention of the German authorities, who were suspicious of any organisation that appeared to have subversive tendencies. In July 1919, while stationed inMunich, armyGefreiterAdolf Hitler was appointed aVerbindungsmann (intelligence agent) of anAufklärungskommando (reconnaissance unit) of theReichswehr (army) byCaptain Mayr, the head of theEducation and Propaganda Department (Dept Ib/P) inBavaria. Hitler was assigned to influence other soldiers and to infiltrate the DAP.[41] While Hitler was initially unimpressed by the meetings and found them disorganised, he enjoyed the discussion that took place.[42] While attending a party meeting on 12 September 1919 at Munich'sSterneckerbräu, Hitler became involved in a heated argument with a visitor, Professor Baumann, who questioned the soundness ofGottfried Feder's arguments against capitalism; Baumann proposed that Bavaria should break away fromPrussia and found a new South German nation withAustria. In vehemently attacking the man's arguments, Hitler made an impression on the other party members with his oratorical skills; according to Hitler, the "professor" left the hall acknowledging unequivocal defeat.[43] Drexler encouraged him to join the DAP.[43] On the orders of his army superiors, Hitler applied to join the party[44] and within a week was accepted as party member 555 (the party began counting membership at 500 to give the impression they were a much larger party).[45][46] Among the party's earlier members wereErnst Röhm of the Army's District Command VII; Dietrich Eckart, who has been called the spiritual father of National Socialism;[47] then-University of Munich studentRudolf Hess;[48]Freikorps soldierHans Frank; andAlfred Rosenberg, often credited as the philosopher of the movement. All were later prominent in the Nazi regime.[49]
Hitler later claimed to be the seventh party member. He was, in fact, the seventh executive member of the party's central committee[50] and he would later wear theGolden Party Badge number one. Anton Drexler drafted a letter to Hitler in 1940—which was never sent—that contradicts Hitler's later claim:
No one knows better than you yourself, my Führer, that you were never the seventh member of the party, but at best the seventh member of the committee... And a few years ago I had to complain to a party office that your first proper membership card of the DAP, bearing the signatures of Schüssler and myself, was falsified, with the number 555 being erased and number 7 entered.[51]
Although Hitler initially wanted to form his own party, he claimed to have been convinced to join the DAP because it was small and he could eventually become its leader.[52] He consequently encouraged the organisation to become less of a debating society, which it had been previously, and more of an active political party.[53] Normally, enlisted army personnel were not allowed to join political parties. In this case, Hitler had CaptainKarl Mayr's permission to join the DAP. Further, Hitler was allowed to stay in the army and receive his weekly pay of 20 gold marks a week.[54] Unlike many other members of the organisation, this continued employment provided him with enough money to dedicate himself more fully to the DAP.[55]
Hitler's first DAP speech was held in theHofbräukeller on 16 October 1919. He was the second speaker of the evening, and spoke to 111 people.[56] Hitler later declared that this was when he realised he could really "make a good speech".[38] At first, Hitler spoke only to relatively small groups, but his considerable oratory and propaganda skills were appreciated by the party leadership. With the support of Anton Drexler, Hitler became chief of propaganda for the party in early 1920.[57] Hitler began to make the party more public, and organised its biggest meeting yet of 2,000 people on 24 February 1920 in theStaatliches Hofbräuhaus in München. Such was the significance of this particular move in publicity thatKarl Harrer resigned from the party in disagreement.[58] It was in this speech that Hitler enunciated thetwenty-five points of the German Workers' Party manifesto that had been drawn up by Drexler, Feder and himself.[59] Through these points he gave the organisation a much bolder stratagem[57] with a clear foreign policy (abrogation of the Treaty of Versailles, aGreater Germany, Eastern expansion and exclusion of Jews from citizenship) and among his specific points were: confiscation ofwar profits, abolition of unearned incomes, the State to share profits of land and land for national needs to be taken away without compensation.[60] In general, the manifesto wasantisemitic,anti-capitalist,anti-democratic,anti-Marxist andanti-liberal.[61] To increase its appeal to larger segments of the population, on the same day as Hitler'sHofbräuhaus speech on 24 February 1920, the DAP changed its name to theNationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei ("National Socialist German Workers' Party", or Nazi Party).[62][63][e] The name was intended to draw upon both left-wing and right-wing ideals, with "Socialist" and "Workers'" appealing to the left, and "National" and "German" appealing to the right.[66] The word "Socialist" was added by the party's executive committee (at the suggestion ofRudolf Jung), over Hitler's initial objections,[f] in order to help appeal to left-wing workers.[68]
In 1920, the Nazi Party officially announced that only persons of "pure Aryan descent [rein arischer Abkunft]" could become party members and if the person had a spouse, the spouse also had to be a "racially pure" Aryan. Party members could not be related either directly or indirectly to a so-called "non-Aryan".[69] Even before it had become legally forbidden by theNuremberg Laws in 1935, the Nazis banned sexual relations and marriages between party members and Jews.[70] Party members found guilty ofRassenschande ("racial defilement") were persecuted heavily. Some members were even sentenced to death.[71]
Hitler quickly became the party's most active orator, appearing in public as a speaker 31 times within the first year after his self-discovery.[72] Crowds began to flock to hear his speeches.[73] Hitler always spoke about the same subjects: the Treaty of Versailles andthe Jewish question.[61] This deliberate technique and effective publicising of the party contributed significantly to his early success,[61] about which a contemporary poster wrote: "Since Herr Hitler is a brilliant speaker, we can hold out the prospect of an extremely exciting evening".[74][page needed] Over the following months, the party continued to attract new members,[50] while remaining too small to have any real significance in German politics.[75] By the end of the year, party membership was recorded at 2,000,[73] many of whom Hitler and Röhm had brought into the party personally, or for whom Hitler's oratory had been their reason for joining.[76]
Hitler's membership card in the DAP (later NSDAP). The membership number (7) was altered from the original.
Hitler's talent as an orator and his ability to draw new members, combined with his characteristic ruthlessness, soon made him the dominant figure. However, while Hitler and Eckart were on a fundraising trip to Berlin in June 1921, a mutiny broke out within the party in Munich. Members of its executive committee wanted to merge with the rivalGerman Socialist Party (DSP).[77] Upon returning to Munich on 11 July, Hitler angrily tendered his resignation. The committee members realised that his resignation would mean the end of the party.[78] Hitler announced he would rejoin on condition that he would replace Drexler as party chairman, and that the party headquarters would remain in Munich.[79] The committee agreed, and he rejoined the party on 26 July as member 3,680. Hitler continued to face some opposition within the NSDAP, as his opponents hadHermann Esser expelled from the party and they printed 3,000 copies of a pamphlet attacking Hitler as a traitor to the party.[79] In the following days, Hitler spoke to several packed houses and defended himself and Esser to thunderous applause.[80]
Hitler's strategy proved successful; at a special party congress on 29 July 1921, he replaced Drexler as party chairman by a vote of 533to1.[80] The committee was dissolved, and Hitler was granted nearly absolute powers in the party as its sole leader.[80] He would hold the post for the remainder of his life. Hitler soon acquired the titleFührer ("leader") and after a series of sharp internal conflicts it was accepted that the party would be governed by theFührerprinzip ("leader principle"). Under this principle, the party was a highly centralised entity that functioned strictly from the top down, with Hitler at the apex. Hitler saw the party as a revolutionary organisation, whose aim was the overthrow of theWeimar Republic, which he saw as controlled by the socialists, Jews and the "November criminals", a term invented to describe alleged elements of society who had 'betrayed the German soldiers' in 1918. TheSA ("storm troopers", also known as "Brownshirts") were founded as a party militia in 1921 and began violent attacks on other parties.
For Hitler, the twin goals of the party were always German nationalist expansionism andantisemitism. These two goals were fused in his mind by his belief that Germany's external enemies—Britain, France and the Soviet Union—were controlled by the Jews and that Germany's future wars of national expansion would necessarily entail a war of annihilation against them.[81][page needed] For Hitler and his principal lieutenants, national and racial issues were always dominant. This was symbolised by the adoption as the party emblem of theswastika. In German nationalist circles, the swastika was considered a symbol of an "Aryan race" and it symbolised the replacement of the Christian Cross with allegiance to a National Socialist State.
The Nazi Party grew significantly during 1921 and 1922, partly through Hitler's oratorical skills, partly through the SA's appeal to unemployed young men, and partly because there was a backlash against socialist and liberal politics in Bavaria as Germany's economic problems deepened and the weakness of the Weimar regime became apparent. The party recruited former World War I soldiers, to whom Hitler as a decorated frontline veteran could particularly appeal, as well as small businessmen and disaffected former members of rival parties. Nazi rallies were often held in beer halls, where downtrodden men could get free beer. TheHitler Youth was formed for the children of party members. The party also formed groups in other parts of Germany.Julius Streicher inNuremberg was an early recruit and became editor of the racist magazineDer Stürmer. In December 1920, the Nazi Party had acquired a newspaper, theVölkischer Beobachter, of which its leading ideologist Alfred Rosenberg became editor. Others to join the party around this time wereHeinrich Himmler and World War I flying aceHermann Göring.
Adoption of Italian fascism: The Beer Hall Putsch
On 31 October 1922, afascist party with similar policies and objectives came into power in Italy, theNational Fascist Party, under the leadership of the charismaticBenito Mussolini. The Fascists, like the Nazis, promoted a national rebirth of their country, as they opposed communism and liberalism; appealed to the working-class; opposed theTreaty of Versailles; and advocated the territorial expansion of their country. Hitler was inspired by Mussolini and the Fascists, beginning to adopt elements of their program for the Nazi Party and himself.[82] The Italian Fascists also used a straight-armedRoman salute and wore black-shirted uniforms; Hitler would later borrow their use of the straight-armed salute as aNazi salute.
When the Fascists took control of Italy through theircoup d'état called the "March on Rome", Hitler began planning his own coup less than a month later.[82] In January 1923, France occupied theRuhr industrial region as a result of Germany's failure to meet itsreparations payments. This led to economic chaos, the resignation ofWilhelm Cuno's government and an attempt by the German Communist Party (KPD) to stage a revolution. The reaction to these events was an upsurge of nationalist sentiment. Nazi Party membership grew sharply to about 20,000,[83] compared to the approximate 6,000 at the beginning of 1923.[84] By November 1923, Hitler had decided that the time was right for an attempt to seize power in Munich, in the hope that theReichswehr (the post-war German military) would mutiny against the Berlin government and join his revolt. In this, he was influenced by former GeneralErich Ludendorff, who had become a supporter—though not a member—of the Nazis.[85]
On the night of 8 November, the Nazis used a patriotic rally in a Munich beer hall to launch an attemptedputsch ("coup d'état"). This so-calledBeer Hall Putsch attempt failed almost at once when the localReichswehr commanders refused to support it. On the morning of 9 November, the Nazis staged a march of about 2,000 supporters through Munich in an attempt to rally support. The two groups exchanged fire, after which 15 putschists, four police officers, and a bystander lay dead.[86][87][88] Hitler, Ludendorff and a number of others were arrested and were tried for treason in March 1924. Hitler and his associates were given very lenient prison sentences. While Hitler was in prison, he wrote his semi-autobiographical political manifestoMein Kampf ("My Struggle").
The Nazi Party was banned on 9 November 1923; however, with the support of the nationalistVölkisch-Social Bloc (Völkisch-Sozialer Block), it continued to operate under the name "German Party" (Deutsche Partei or DP) from 1924 to 1925.[89] The Nazis failed to remain unified in the DP, as in the north, the right-wingVolkish nationalist supporters of the Nazis moved to the newGerman Völkisch Freedom Party, leaving the north's left-wing Nazi members, such asJoseph Goebbels retaining support for the party.[89]
Adolf Hitler (standing) delivers a speech on the occasion of the refoundation of the NSDAP in February of 1925. Next to him from the perspective of the onlooker: On the right: Gregor Strasser and Heinrich Himmler. On the left: Franz Xaver Schwarz, Walter Buch and Alfred Rosenberg. Behind Hitler the Blutfahne (blood-flag), a central relique within the propaganda of the National-Socialists, can be seen attached to the wall.Hitler with Nazi Party members in 1930
Pardoned by the Bavarian Supreme Court, Hitler was released from prison on 20 December 1924, against the state prosecutor's objections.[90] On 16 February 1925, Hitler convinced the Bavarian authorities to lift the ban on the NSDAP and the party was formally refounded on 26 February 1925, with Hitler as its undisputed leader. It was at this time Hitler began referring to himself as "derFührer".[91] The new Nazi Party was no longer a paramilitary organisation and disavowed any intention of taking power by force. In any case, the economic and political situation had stabilised and the extremist upsurge of 1923 had faded, so there was no prospect of further revolutionary adventures. Instead, Hitler intended to alter the party's strategy to achieving power through what he called the "path of legality".[92] The Nazi Party of 1925 was divided into the "Leadership Corps" (Korps der politischen Leiter) appointed by Hitler and the general membership (Parteimitglieder). The party and the SA were kept separate and the legal aspect of the party's work was emphasised. In a sign of this, the party began to admit women. The SA and theSS members (the latter founded in 1925 as Hitler's bodyguard, and known originally as theSchutzkommando) had to all be regular party members.[93][94]
In the 1920s the Nazi Party expanded beyond its Bavarian base. At this time, it began surveying voters in order to determine what they were dissatisfied with in Germany, allowing Nazi propaganda to be altered accordingly.[95] Catholic Bavaria maintained its right-wing nostalgia for a Catholic monarch;[citation needed] andWestphalia, along with working-class "Red Berlin", were always the Nazis' weakest areas electorally, even during the Third Reich itself. The areas of strongest Nazi support were in rural Protestant areas such asSchleswig-Holstein,Mecklenburg,Pomerania andEast Prussia. Depressed working-class areas such asThuringia also produced a strong Nazi vote, while the workers of theRuhr andHamburg largely remained loyal to theSocial Democrats, theCommunist Party of Germany or the CatholicCentre Party. Nuremberg remained a Nazi Party stronghold, and the firstNuremberg Rally was held there in 1927. These rallies soon became massive displays of Nazi paramilitary power and attracted many recruits. The Nazis' strongest appeal was to the lower middle-classes—farmers, public servants, teachers and small businessmen—who had suffered most from the inflation of the 1920s, so who feared Bolshevism more than anything else. The small business class was receptive to Hitler's antisemitism, since it blamed Jewish big business for its economic problems. University students, disappointed at being too young to have served in the War of 1914–1918 and attracted by the Nazis' radical rhetoric, also became a strong Nazi constituency. By 1929, the party had 130,000 members.[96]
The party's nominal Deputy Leader wasRudolf Hess, but he had no real power in the party. By the early 1930s, the senior leaders of the party after Hitler wereHeinrich Himmler,Joseph Goebbels andHermann Göring. Beneath the Leadership Corps were the party's regional leaders, theGauleiters, each of whom commanded the party in hisGau ("region"). Goebbels began his ascent through the party hierarchy asGauleiter of Berlin-Brandenburg in 1926. Streicher wasGauleiter ofFranconia, where he published his antisemitic newspaperDer Stürmer. Beneath theGauleiter were lower-level officials, theKreisleiter ("county leaders"),Zellenleiter ("cell leaders") andBlockleiter ("block leaders"). This was a strictly hierarchical structure in which orders flowed from the top and unquestioning loyalty was given to superiors. Only the SA retained some autonomy. Being composed largely of unemployed workers, many SA men took the Nazis' socialist rhetoric seriously. At this time, theHitler salute (borrowed from theItalian fascists) and the greeting "Heil Hitler!" were adopted throughout the party.
Nazi Party election poster used inVienna in 1930 (translation: "We demand freedom and bread")
The Nazis contested elections to the national parliament (theReichstag) and to the state legislature (theLandtage) from 1924, although at first with little success. The "National Socialist Freedom Movement" polled 3% of the vote in theDecember 1924Reichstag elections and this fell to 2.6% in1928. State elections produced similar results. Despite these poor results and despite Germany's relative political stability and prosperity during the later 1920s, the Nazi Party continued to grow. This was partly because Hitler, who had no administrative ability, left the party organisation to the head of the secretariat,Philipp Bouhler, the party treasurerFranz Xaver Schwarz and business managerMax Amann. The party had a capable propaganda head inGregor Strasser, who was promoted to national organizational leader in January 1928. These men gave the party efficient recruitment and organizational structures. The party also owed its growth to the gradual fading away of competitor nationalist groups, such as theGerman National People's Party (DNVP). As Hitler became the recognised head of the German nationalists, other groups declined or were absorbed. In the late 1920s, seeing the party's lack of breakthrough into the mainstream, Goebbels proposed that instead of focusing all of their propaganda in major cities where there was competition from other political movements, they should instead begin holding rallies in rural areas where they would be more effective.[97]
Despite these strengths, the Nazi Party might never have come to power had it not been for theGreat Depression and its effects on Germany. By 1930, the German economy was beset with mass unemployment and widespread business failures. The Social Democrats and Communists were bitterly divided and unable to formulate an effective solution: this gave the Nazis their opportunity and Hitler's message, blaming the crisis on the Jewish financiers and theBolsheviks, resonated with wide sections of the electorate. At theSeptember 1930Reichstag elections, the Nazis won 18% of the votes and became the second-largest party in theReichstag after the Social Democrats. Hitler proved to be a highly effective campaigner, pioneering the use of radio and aircraft for this purpose. His dismissal of Strasser and his appointment of Goebbels as the party's propaganda chief were major factors. While Strasser had used his position to promote his own leftish version of national socialism, Goebbels was completely loyal to Hitler, and worked only to improve Hitler's image.
The 1930 elections changed the German political landscape by weakening the traditional nationalist parties, the DNVP and the DVP, leaving the Nazis as the chief alternative to the discredited Social Democrats and the Zentrum, whose leader,Heinrich Brüning, headed a weak minority government. The inability of the democratic parties to form a united front, the self-imposed isolation of the Communists and the continued decline of the economy, all played into Hitler's hands. He now came to be seen asde facto leader of the opposition and donations poured into the Nazi Party's coffers. Some major business figures, such asFritz Thyssen, were Nazi supporters and gave generously[98] and some Wall Street figures were allegedly involved,[citation needed] but many other businessmen were suspicious of the extreme nationalist tendencies of the Nazis and preferred to support the traditional conservative parties instead.[99]
In 1930, as the price for joining acoalition government of theLand (state) ofThuringia, the Nazi Party received the state ministries of theInterior and Education. On 23 January 1930,Wilhelm Frick was appointed to these ministries, becoming the first Nazi to hold a ministerial-level post at any level in Germany.
German NSDAP Donation Token 1932, Free State of Prussia elections
In 1931 the Nazi Party altered its strategy to engage in perpetual campaigning across the country, even outside of election time.[100] During 1931 and into 1932, Germany's political crisis deepened. Hitler ran for president against the incumbentPaul von Hindenburg in March 1932, polling 30% in the first round and 37% in the second against Hindenburg's 49% and 53%. By now the SA had 400,000 members and its running street battles with the SPD and Communist paramilitaries (who also fought each other) reduced some German cities to combat zones. Paradoxically, although the Nazis were among the main instigators of this disorder, part of Hitler's appeal to a frightened and demoralised middle class was his promise to restore law and order. Overt antisemitism was played down in official Nazi rhetoric, but was never far from the surface. Germans voted for Hitler primarily because of his promises to revive the economy (by unspecified means), to restore German greatness and overturn theTreaty of Versailles and to save Germany from communism. On 24 April 1932, theFree State of Prussia elections to theLandtag resulted in 36% of the votes and 162 seats for the NSDAP.
On 20 July 1932, the Prussian government was ousted by a coup, thePreussenschlag; a few days later at theJuly 1932Reichstag election the Nazis made another leap forward, polling 37% and becoming the largest party in parliament by a wide margin. Furthermore, the Nazis and the Communists between them won 52% of the vote and a majority of seats. Since both parties opposed the established political system and neither would join or support any ministry, this made the formation of a majority government impossible. The result was weak ministries governing by decree. UnderComintern directives, the Communists maintained their policy of treating the Social Democrats as the main enemy, calling them "social fascists", thereby splintering opposition to the Nazis.[g] Later, both the Social Democrats and the Communists accused each other of having facilitatedHitler's rise to power by their unwillingness to compromise.
ChancellorFranz von Papen called anotherReichstag election in November, hoping to find a way out of this impasse. The electoral result was the same, with the Nazis and the Communists winning 50% of the vote between them and more than half the seats, rendering thisReichstag no more workable than its predecessor. However, support for the Nazis had fallen to 33.1%, suggesting that the Nazi surge had passed its peak—possibly because the worst of the Depression had passed, possibly because some middle-class voters had supported Hitler in July as a protest, but had now drawn back from the prospect of actually putting him into power. The Nazis interpreted the result as a warning that they must seize power before their moment passed. Had the other parties united, this could have been prevented, but their shortsightedness made a united front impossible. Papen, his successorKurt von Schleicher and the nationalist press magnateAlfred Hugenberg spent December and January in political intrigues that eventually persuaded President Hindenburg that it was safe to appoint Hitler as Reich Chancellor, at the head of a cabinet including only a minority of Nazi ministers—which he did on 30 January 1933.
Ascension and consolidation
Reichsparteitag (Nuremberg Rally): Nazi Party leaderAdolf Hitler and SA-leaderErnst Röhm, August 1933
InMein Kampf, Hitler directly attacked both left-wing and right-wing politics in Germany.[h] However, a majority of scholars identifyNazism in practice as being afar-right form of politics.[102][page needed] When asked in an interview in 1934 whether the Nazis were "bourgeois right-wing" as alleged by their opponents, Hitler responded that Nazism was not exclusively for any class and indicated that it favoured neither the left nor the right, but preserved "pure" elements from both "camps" by stating: "From the camp of bourgeois tradition, it takes national resolve, and from the materialism of the Marxist dogma, living, creative Socialism".[103]
The votes that the Nazis received in the 1932 elections established the Nazi Party as the largest parliamentary faction of the Weimar Republic government. Hitler was appointed asChancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933.
TheReichstag fire on 27 February 1933 gave Hitler a pretext for suppressing his political opponents. The following day he persuaded the Reich's PresidentPaul von Hindenburg to issue theReichstag Fire Decree, which suspended mostcivil liberties. The NSDAP won theparliamentary election on 5 March 1933 with 44% of votes, but failed to win an absolute majority. After the election, hundreds of thousands of new members joined the party for opportunistic reasons, most of them civil servants and white-collar workers. They were nicknamed the "casualties of March" (German:Märzgefallenen) or "March violets" (German:Märzveilchen).[104] To protect the party from too many non-ideological turncoats who were viewed by the so-called "old fighters"(alte Kämpfer) with some mistrust,[104] the party issued a freeze on admissions that remained in force from May 1933 to 1937.[105]
On 23 March, the parliament passed theEnabling Act of 1933, which gave the cabinet the right to enact laws without the consent of parliament. In effect, this gave Hitler dictatorial powers. Now possessing virtually absolute power, the Nazis establishedtotalitarian control as they abolished labour unions and other political parties and imprisoned their political opponents, first atwilde Lager, improvised camps, then inconcentration camps.Nazi Germany had been established, yet theReichswehr remained impartial. Nazi power over Germany remained virtual, not absolute.
After taking power: intertwining of party and state
The Nazis embarked on a campaign ofGleichschaltung (coordination) to exert their control over all aspects of German government and society. During June and July 1933, all competing parties were either outlawed or dissolved themselves and subsequently theLaw Against the Formation of Parties of 14 July 1933 legally established the Nazi Party's monopoly. On 1 December 1933, theLaw to Secure the Unity of Party and State entered into force, which was the base for a progressive intertwining of party structures and state apparatus.[107] By this law, the SA—actually a party division—was given quasi-governmental authority and theirStabschef became a cabinetminister without portfolio. By virtue of the 30 January 1934Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich, theLänder (states) lost their sovereignty and were demoted to administrative divisions of theReich government. Effectively, they lost most of their power to theGaue that were originally just regional divisions of the party, but took over most competencies of the state administration in their respective sectors.[108]
During theRöhm Purge of 30 June to 2 July 1934 (also known as the "Night of the Long Knives"), Hitler disempowered the SA's leadership—most of whom belonged to theStrasserist (national revolutionary) faction within the NSDAP—and ordered them killed. He accused them of having conspired to stage acoup d'état, but it is believed that this was only a pretense to justify the suppression of any intraparty opposition. The purge was executed by the SS, assisted by the Gestapo and Reichswehr units. Aside from Strasserist Nazis, they also murdered anti-Nazi conservative figures like former chancellor von Schleicher.[109] After this, the SA continued to exist but lost much of its importance, while the role of the SS grew significantly. Formerly only a sub-organisation of the SA, it was made into a separate organisation of the NSDAP in July 1934.[110]
Upon the death of President Hindenburg on 2 August 1934, Hitler merged the offices of party leader, head of state and chief of government in one, taking the title ofFührer und Reichskanzler by passage of theLaw Concerning the Head of State of the German Reich. TheChancellery of the Führer, officially an organisation of the Nazi Party, took over the functions of the Office of the President (a government agency), blurring the distinction between structures of party and state even further. The SS increasingly exerted police functions, a development which was formally documented by the merger of the offices ofReichsführer-SS and Chief of the German Police on 17 June 1936, as the position was held byHeinrich Himmler who derived his authority directly from Hitler.[111] TheSicherheitsdienst (SD, formally the "Security Service of the Reichsführer-SS") that had been created in 1931 as an intraparty intelligence became thede facto intelligence agency of Nazi Germany. It was put under theReich Security Main Office (RSHA) in 1939, which then coordinated SD, Gestapo andcriminal police, therefore functioning as a hybrid organisation of state and party structures.[112]
Officially, Nazi Germany lasted only 12 years. TheInstrument of Surrender was signed by representatives of the German High Command atBerlin, on 8 May 1945, when the war ended in Europe.[113] The party was formally abolished on 10 October 1945 by theAllied Control Council, followed by the process ofdenazification along withtrials of major war criminals before the International Military Tribunal (IMT) in Nuremberg.[114] Part of thePotsdam Agreement called for the destruction of the Nazi Party alongside the requirement for the reconstruction of the German political life.[115] In addition, the Control Council Law no. 2 Providing for the Termination and Liquidation of the Nazi Organization specified the abolition of 52 other Nazi affiliated and supervised organisations and outlawed their activities.[116] The denazification was carried out in Germany and continued until the onset of the Cold War.[117][page needed][118]
Between 1939 and 1945, the Nazi Party led regime, assisted bycollaborationist governments and recruits from occupied countries, was responsible for the deaths of at least twenty million people,[119] including 5.5 to 6 million Jews (representing two-thirds of the Jewish population of Europe),[20][120][121] and between 200,000 and 1,500,000Romani people.[122][123] The estimated total number includes the killing of nearly two million non-JewishPoles,[123] over three millionSoviet prisoners of war,[124]communists, and other political opponents, homosexuals, the physically and mentally disabled.[125][126]
The National Socialist Programme was a formulation of the policies of the party. It contained 25 points and is therefore also known as the "25-point plan" or "25-point programme". It was the official party programme, with minor changes, from its proclamation as such by Hitler in 1920, when the party was still the German Workers' Party, until its dissolution.
At the top of the Nazi Party was the party chairman ("Der Führer"), who held absolute power and full command over the party. All other party offices were subordinate to his position and had to depend on his instructions. In 1934, Hitler founded a separate body for the chairman,Chancellery of the Führer, with its own sub-units.
Following Hitler's suicide on 30 April 1945, Bormann would be named as Party Minister, which gave him the top position in the Nazi Party itself;[127] unlike Hitler, however, Bormann would not have a leadership role over the government of Nazi Germany.[127] Bormann, whose fate would remain unknown for several decades, would soon afterwards commit suicide as well on 2 May 1945 while trying to flee Berlin around the time Soviet Union forcescaptured the city.[128][129] His remains were first identified in 1972, then again in 1998 through DNA testing.[130][131]
Reichsleiter
Directly subjected to the Führer were theReichsleiter ("Reich Leader(s)"—the singular and plural forms are identical in German), whose number was gradually increased to eighteen. They held power and influence comparable to the Reich Ministers' inHitler's Cabinet. The eighteenReichsleiter formed the "Reich Leadership of the Nazi Party" (Reichsleitung der NSDAP), which was established at the so-calledBrown House in Munich. Unlike aGauleiter, aReichsleiter did not have individual geographic areas under their command, but were responsible for specific spheres of interest.
Nazi Party offices
The Nazi Party had a number of party offices dealing with various political and other matters. These included:
TheSA in Berlin in 1932. The group had nearly two million members at the end of 1932.
In addition to the Nazi Party proper, several paramilitary groups existed which "supported" Nazi aims. All members of these paramilitary organisations were required to become regular Nazi Party members first and could then enlist in the group of their choice. An exception was theWaffen-SS, considered the military arm of the SS and Nazi Party, which during the Second World War allowed members to enlist without joining the Nazi Party. Foreign volunteers of the Waffen-SS were also not required to be members of the Nazi Party, although many joined local nationalist groups from their own countries with the same aims. Police officers, including members of theGestapo, frequently held SS rank for administrative reasons (known as "rank parity") and were likewise not required to be members of the Nazi Party.
A vast system ofNazi Party paramilitary ranks developed for each of the various paramilitary groups. This was part of the process ofGleichschaltung with the paramilitary and auxiliary groups swallowing existing associations and federations after the Party was flooded by millions of membership applications.[132]
The major Nazi Party paramilitary groups were as follows:
TheHitler Youth was a paramilitary group divided into an adult leadership corps and a general membership open to boys aged fourteen to eighteen. TheLeague of German Girls was the equivalent group for girls.
Affiliated organisations
Certain nominally independent organisations had their own legal representation and own property, but were supported by the Nazi Party. Many of these associated organisations were labour unions of various professions. Some were older organisations that were nazified according to theGleichschaltung policy after the 1933 takeover.
The employees of large businesses with international operations such asDeutsche Bank,Dresdner Bank, andCommerzbank were mostly party members.[133] All German businesses abroad were also required to have their own Nazi PartyAusland-Organization liaison men, which enabled the party leadership to obtain updated and excellent intelligence on the actions of the global corporate elites.[134][page needed]
For the purpose of centralisation in theGleichschaltung process, a rigidly hierarchal structure was established in the Nazi Party, which it later carried through in the whole of Germany in order to consolidate total power under the person ofHitler (Führerstaat). It was regionally sub-divided into a number ofGaue (singular:Gau) headed by aGauleiter, who received their orders directly from Hitler. The name (originally a term for sub-regions of theHoly Roman Empire headed by aGaugraf) for these new provincial structures was deliberately chosen because of itsmediaeval connotations. The term is approximately equivalent to the Englishshire.
While the Nazis maintained the nominal existence of state and regional governments in Germany itself, this policy was not extended to territories acquired after 1937. Even in German-speaking areas such as Austria, state and regional governments were formally disbanded as opposed to just being dis-empowered.
After theAnschluss a new type of administrative unit was introduced called aReichsgau. In these territories theGauleiters also held the position ofReichsstatthalter (Reich Governor) thereby formally combining the spheres of both party and state offices. The establishment of this type of district was subsequently carried out for any further territorial annexations of Germany both before and duringWorld War II. Even the former territories ofPrussia were never formally re-integrated into what was then Germany's largest state after being re-taken in the 1939 Polish campaign.
TheGaue andReichsgaue (state or province) were further sub-divided intoKreise (counties) headed by aKreisleiter, which were in turn sub-divided intoZellen (cells) andBlöcke (blocks), headed by aZellenleiter andBlockleiter respectively.
A reorganisation of theGaue was enacted on 1 October 1928. The given numbers were the official ordering numbers. The statistics are from 1941, for which theGau organisation of that moment in time forms the basis. Their size and populations are not exact; for instance, according to the official party statistics theGau Kurmark/Mark Brandenburg was the largest in the German Reich.[135][page needed] By 1941, there were 42 territorialGaue for Greater Germany.[i] Of these, 10 were designated as Reichsgaue: 7 of them for Austria, one for theSudetenland (annexed fromCzechoslovakia) and two for the areas annexed fromPoland and theFree City of Danzig after the jointinvasion of Poland byNazi Germany and theSoviet Union in 1939 at the onset of World War II.[136] Getting the leadership of the individualGaue to co-operate with one another proved difficult at times since there was constant administrative and financial jockeying for control going on between them.[137]
The first table below describes the organizational structure for theGaue that existed before their dissolution in 1945.[138] Information on formerGaue (that were either renamed, or dissolved by being divided or merged with otherGaue) is provided in the second table.[139]
The numbering is not based on any official former ranking, but merely listed alphabetically.Gaue that were simply renamed without territorial changes bear the designationRN in the column "later became."Gaue that were divided into more than oneGau bear the designationD in the column "later became."Gaue that were merged with otherGaue (or occupied territory) bear the designationM in the column "together with."
from 1 April 1925 to 22 September 1926Anton Haselmayer, then from 1 October 1926 to 1 April 1927Karl Linder, then from 1 April 1927 to 1 January 1933Jakob Sprenger with a short replacement by Karl Linder (August 1932 – December 1932)
from 1 October 1928 to 1 November 1929Adolf Wagner, then from 1 November 1929 to June 1930Franz Maierhofer, then from June 1930 to November 1930Edmund Heines, then from 15 November 1930 to 17 August 1932 Franz Maierhofer
from 30 May 1926 to 8 December 1926Walter Jung, then from 8 December 1926 to 21 April 1929Jakob Jung, then from 21 April 1929 to 30 July 1929Gustav Staebe (acting), then from 30 July 1929 to 1 September 1931Adolf Ehrecke, then from 15 September 1931 to 6 May 1933Karl Brück, then from 6 May 1933 to 1 March 1935Josef Bürckel
The irregular Swiss branch of the Nazi Party also established a number of PartyGaue in that country, most of them named after their regional capitals. These includedGauBasel-Solothurn,GauSchaffhausen,GauLuzern,GauBern andGauZürich.[140][141][142] TheGau Ostschweiz (East Switzerland) combined the territories of three cantons:St. Gallen,Thurgau andAppenzell.[143]
The general membership of the Nazi Party mainly consisted of the urban and rurallower middle classes. 7% belonged to the upper class, another 7% werepeasants, 35% were industrial workers and 51% were what can be described as middle class. In early 1933, just before Hitler's appointment to the chancellorship, the party showed an under-representation of "workers", who made up 30% of the membership but 46% of German society. Conversely, white-collar employees (19% of members and 12% of Germans), the self-employed (20% of members and 10% of Germans) and civil servants (15% of members and 5% of the German population) had joined in proportions greater than their share of the general population.[144] These members were affiliated with local branches of the party, of which there were 1,378 throughout the country in 1928. In 1932, the number had risen to 11,845, reflecting the party's growth in this period.[144]
When it came to power in 1933, the Nazi Party had over2 million members. In 1939, the membership total rose to 5.3 million with 81% being male and 19% being female. It continued to attract many more and by 1945 the party reached its peak of 8 million with 63% being male and 37% being female (about 10% of the German population of 80 million).[4][145]
Nazi members with military ambitions were encouraged to join the Waffen-SS, but a great number enlisted in theWehrmacht and even more were drafted for service after World War II began. Early regulations required that allWehrmacht members be non-political and any Nazi member joining in the 1930s was required to resign from the Nazi Party.
However, this regulation was soon waived and full Nazi Party members served in theWehrmacht in particular after the outbreak of World War II. TheWehrmacht Reserves also saw a high number of senior Nazis enlisting, withReinhard Heydrich andFritz Todt joining theLuftwaffe, as well asKarl Hanke who served in the army.
The British historianRichard J. Evans wrote that junior officers in the army were inclined to be especially zealous National Socialists with a third of them having joined the Nazi Party by 1941. Reinforcing the work of the junior leaders were the National Socialist Leadership Guidance Officers, which were created with the purpose of indoctrinating the troops for the "war of extermination" against Soviet Russia.[146] Among higher-ranking officers, 29% were NSDAP members by 1941.[147]
Party members who lived outside Germany were pooled into theAuslands-Organisation (NSDAP/AO, "Foreign Organization"). The organisation was limited only to so-called "Imperial Germans" (citizens of the German Empire); and "Ethnic Germans" (Volksdeutsche), who did not hold German citizenship were not permitted to join.
UnderBeneš decreeNo. 16/1945 Coll., in case of citizens of Czechoslovakia membership of the Nazi Party was punishable by between five and twenty years of imprisonment.
Deutsche Gemeinschaft
Deutsche Gemeinschaft was a branch of the Nazi Party founded in 1919, created for Germans withVolksdeutsche status.[148] It is not to be confused with the post-war right-wingDeutsche Gemeinschaft [de], which was founded in 1949.
Nazi flags: The Nazi Party used a right-facingswastika as their symbol and the red and black colours were said to representBlut und Boden ("blood and soil"). Another definition of the flag describes the colours as representing the ideology of National Socialism, the swastika representing the Aryan race and the Aryan nationalist agenda of the movement; white representing Aryan racial purity; and red representing the socialist agenda of the movement. Black, white and red were in fact the colours of the oldNorth German Confederation flag (invented byOtto von Bismarck, based on the Prussian colours black and white and the red used by northern German states). In 1871, with the foundation of the German Reich the flag of the North German Confederation became the GermanReichsflagge ("Reich flag"). Black, white and red became the colours of the nationalists through the following history (for exampleWorld War I and theWeimar Republic).
TheParteiflagge design, with the centred swastika disc, served as the party flag from 1920. Between 1933 (when the Nazi Party came to power) and 1935, it was used as the National flag (Nationalflagge) and Merchant flag (Handelsflagge), but interchangeably with theblack-white-red horizontal tricolour. In 1935, the black-white-red horizontal tricolour was scrapped (again) and theflag with the off-centre swastika and disc was instituted as the national flag, and remained as such until 1945. The flag with the centred disk continued to be used after 1935, but exclusively as theParteiflagge, the flag of the party.
German eagle: The Nazi Party used the traditional German eagle, standing atop a swastika inside a wreath of oak leaves. It is also known as the "Iron Eagle". When the eagle is looking to its left shoulder, it symbolises the Nazi Party and was called theParteiadler. In contrast, when the eagle is looking to its right shoulder, it symbolises the country (Reich) and was therefore called theReichsadler. After the Nazi Party came to national power in Germany, they replaced the traditional version of the German eagle with the modified party symbol throughout the country and all its institutions.
^Some sources say the name change happened on 1 April 1920.[64][65]
^Hitler's original name suggested was the Social Revolutionary Party (German:Sozialrevolutionäre Partei).[67]
^"Social democracy is objectively the moderate wing of fascism. ... These organisations (ie Fascism and social democracy) are not antipodes, they are twins." (J.V. Stalin:Concerning the International Situation (September 1924), inWorks, Volume 6, 1953; p. 294.) This later ledOtto Wille Kuusinen to conclude that "The aims of the fascists and the social-fascists are the same." (Report To the 10th Plenum of ECCI, inInternational Press Correspondence, Volume 9, no. 40, (20 August 1929), p. 848.)
^Hitler stated: "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."[101]
^Hanns Hubert Hofmann:Der Hitlerputsch. Krisenjahre deutschen Geschichte 1920–1924. Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung, München 1961, S. 211, 272; alsKarl Kulm beiHans Günter Hockerts:„Hauptstadt der Bewegung“. In: Richard Bauer et al. (Hrsg.):München – „Hauptstadt der Bewegung“. Bayerns Metropole und der Nationalsozialismus. 2. Auflage. Edition Minerva, München 2002, S. 355 f.
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