Nazism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Nazism or National Socialism (German Nationalsozialismus) refers to the totalitarian ideology of the dictatorship which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945: the 'Third Reich'. In this ideology, the German nation and the purported "Aryan" race were considered superior to all other races. Nazism is often associated with Fascism.
The dictator Adolf Hitler rose to power as leader of a political party, the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP for short). Germany during this period is also referred to as Nazi Germany. Adherents of Nazism were called Nazis. Nazism has been outlawed in modern Germany, although tiny remnants, known as Neo-Nazis, continue to operate in Germany and abroad.
The Nazi party used the swastika as their symbol
Ideological theory
According to "Mein Kampf" (My Struggle), Hitler developed his political theories after "carefully observing" the policies of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was born as a citizen of the Empire, and believed that ethnic and linguistic diversity had "weakened" it. Further, he saw democracy as a destabilizing force, because it placed power in the hands of ethnic minorities, who he claimed had "incentives" to further "weaken and destabilize" the Empire.
The Nazi rationale was heavily invested in the militarist belief that "great nations" grow from military power, which in turn grows "naturally" from "rational, civilized cultures." Hitler's calls appealed to disgruntled German Nationalists, eager to save face for the failure of World War I, and to salvage the militaristic nationalist mindset of that previous era. After Austria and Germany's defeat of World War I—many Germans still had heartfelt ties to the goal of creating a "unified Germany," and thought that the goal, as well as the use of military force to achieve it, were both correct. For many, the utopian imaginary vision of a unified German nation became a kind of idolatry. Unable to blame their leaders, policies, and ideologies, many placed the blame instead on those who they perceived, in one way or another, to have "sabotaged" the goal of nationalist unification. "Jews and communists" were the ones perceived by many Germans to have been less than fully behind "the plan," and would become the ideal scapegoats for Germans deeply invested in a German Nationalist ideology.
Expanding upon the popular German blame of Jews and Communits, Hitler's Nazi "theory" also claimed that the Aryan race is a "master race" superior to other races. It rationalized this claim with another claim —that a nation 'is the highest creation of a race, and great nations (literally large nations) were the creation of great races. These nations developed cultures that "naturally" grew from races with "natural good health, and aggressive, intelligent, courageous traits." The weakest nations, Hitler said were those of impure or "mongrel" races, because they have divided, quarrelling, and therefore "weak cultures." According to the Hitlerian vision, it was an obvious mistake to permit or encourage multilingualism and multiculturalism within a nation. Thus fundamentel to the Nazi goal was the unification of German-speaking peoples, "unjustly" divided into different territories. He claimed that nations that cannot defend their borders must be said to have been the creation of weak or slave races —Slave races, he thought of as less-worthy to exist than "master races." In particular, if a "master race" should require room to live (Lebensraum), he thought such a "race" should have the right to displace the indigenous inferior races. Hitler draws parallels between Lebensraum and the American ethnic-cleansing and relocation policies of the Native Americans as key to the success of the US.
"Races without homelands," Hitler claimed, were "parasitic races," and the richer the members of a "parasitic race" are, the more "virulent" the parasitism was thought to be. A "master race" could therefore, according to the Nazi doctrine, easily strengthen itself by eliminating "parasitic races" from its homeland. This was the given rationalization for the Nazi's later oppression and elimination of Jews and Gypsies. Despite the popularity of Hitler and his Lebensraum appeal, most Nazi soldiers found the "duty" morally repugnant.
Hitler extended his rationalizations into religious doctrine, claiming that those who agreed with and taught his "truths," were "true" or "master" religions, because they would "create mastery" by avoiding comforting lies. Those that preach love and tolerance, "in contravention to the facts," were said to be "slave" or "false" religions. The man who recognizes these "truths," Hitler continued, was said to be a "natural leader," and those who deny it were said to be "natural slaves." "Slaves," especially intelligent ones, he claimed were always attempting to hinder masters by promoting false religious and political doctrines.
Though not quite complete, the general current understanding of Nazism is that it was centered in ethnic bigotry and racism, which eventually brought about a rationalization for engineering one of the greatest crimes of the 20th Century in the Holocaust. But aside from the scapegoating of non-Aryans, the ideological roots which became German Nationalist Socialism drew from numerous and deep sources in European history, especially Romantic 19th Century idealism, and Friedrich Nietzsche's thoughts on "breeding upwards" toward the goal of an UEbermensch.
Key elements of the Nazi ideology
- Racism
- Especially antisemitism, which eventually culminated in the Holocaust.
- The creation of a Herrenrasse by the Lebensborn (A department in the 3rd reich)
- Anti-Slavism
- Belief in the superiority of the German and Aryan race.
- Euthanasia and Eugenics with respect to "Racial Hygene"
- Anti-Marxism, Anti-Communism , Anti-bolshevism
- The denial of democracy, with as a consequence the ending the existence of political parties, labour unions, and free press.
- Fuehrerprinzip/belief in the leader (Responsibility up the ranks, and authority down the ranks.)
- Strong show of local culture.
- Social Darwinism
- Defence of Blood and Land (Blut und Boden)
- "Lebensraumpolitik", "Lebensraum im Osten" (The creation of more living space for germans)
- Related to Fascism
Nazism and romanticism
According to Bertrand Russell, Nazism comes from a different tradition than that of either liberal capitalism or communism. Thus, to understand values of Nazism, it is necessary to explore this connection, without trivializing the movement as it was in its peak years in the 1930s and dismissing it as a little more than racism.
Many historiographers say that the antisemitic element, which does not exist in the sister fascism movement in Italy and Spain, was adopted by Hitler to gain popularity for the movement. Antisemitic prejudice was very common among the masses in German Empire. It is claimed that mass acceptance required anti-Semitism, as well as flattery of the wounded pride of German people after the defeat of WWI.
Many see strong connections to the values of Nazism and the irrationalist tradition of the romantic movement of the early 19th century. Strength, passion, lack of hypocrisy, utilitarianism, traditional family values, and devotion to community were valued by the Nazis and first expressed by many Romantic artists, musicians, and writers. German romanticism in particular expressed these values. For instance, the Nazis identified closely with the music of Richard Wagner (a noted anti-Semite and the author of Das Judenthum in der Musik). Many of his operas express the ideals of the strong dominating the weak, and a celebration of traditional Norse aryan folklore and values. The style of his music is often very militaristic.
Ideological competition
Nazism and Communism emerged as two serious contenders for power in Germany after the First World War, particularly as the Weimar Republic became increasingly unstable.
What became the Nazi movement arose out of resistance to the Bolshevik-inspired insurgencies that occurred in Germany in the aftermath of the First World War. The Russian Revolution of 1917 caused a great deal of excitement and interest in the Leninist version of Marxism and caused many socialists to adopt revolutionary principles. The 1918-1919 Munich Soviet and the 1919 Spartacist uprising in Berlin were both manifestations of this. The Freikorps, a loosely organised paramilitary group (essentially a militia of former World War I soldiers) were used to crush both these uprising and many leaders of the Freikorps, including Ernst Roehm, later became leaders in the Nazi party.
Capitalists and conservatives in Germany feared that a takeover by the Communists was inevitable and did not trust the democratic parties of the Weimar Republic to be able to resist a communist revolution. Increasing numbers of capitalists began looking to the nationalist movements as a bulwark against Bolshevism. After Mussolini's fascists took power in Italy in 1922, fascism presented itself as a realistic option for opposing "Communism", particularly given Mussolini's success in crushing the Communist and anarchist movements which had destabilised Italy with a wave of strikes and factory occupations after the First World War. Fascist parties formed in numerous European countries.
Many historians such as Ian Kershaw and Joachim Fest argue that Hitler and the Nazis were one of numerous nationalist and increasingly fascistic groups that existed in Germany and contended for leadership of the anti-Communist movement and, eventually, of the German state. Further, they assert that fascism and its German variant National Socialism became the successful challengers to Communism because they were able to both appeal to the establishment as a bulwark against Bolshevism and appeal to the working class base, particularly the growing underclass of unemployed and unemployable and growingly impoverished middle class elements who were becoming declassed (the lumpenproletariat). The Nazi's use of socialist rhetoric appealed to disaffection with capitalism while presenting a political and economic model that divested "socialism" of any elements which were dangerous to capitalism, such as the concept of class struggle or worker control of the means of production.
Support of anti-Communists for Fascism and Nazism
Various right-wing politicians and political parties in Europe welcomed the rise of fascism and the Nazis out of an intense aversion towards Communism. According to them, Hitler was the savior of Western civilization and of capitalism against Bolshevism. Among these supporters in the 1920s and early 1930s was the Conservative Party in Britain. During the later 1930s and 1940s, the Nazis were supported by the Falange movement in Spain, and by political and military figures who would form the government of Vichy France. A Legion of French Volunteers against Bolshevism (LVF) was formed.
The British Conservative party and the right-wing parties in France appeased the Nazi regime in the mid- and late-1930s, even though they had begun to criticise its totalitarianism. Some contemporary commentators suggested that these parties did in fact still support the Nazis.
Nazism and Anglo-Saxons
Hitler admired the British Empire. Racist theories were developed by British intellectuals in the 19th century to control the Indian people and other "savages." These methods were often copied by the Nazis.
Similarly, in his early years Hitler also greatly admired the United States of America. In Mein Kampf, he praised the United States for its anti-immigration laws. According to Hitler, America was a successful nation because it kept itself "pure" of "lesser races." However as war approached, his view of the United States became more negative and he believed that Germany would have an easy victory over the United States precisely because the United States in his later estimation had become a mongrel nation.
Economic practice
Nazi economic practice concerned itself with immediate domestic issues and separately with ideological conceptions of international economics.
Domestic economic policy was narrowly concerned with three major goals:
- Elimination of unemployment
- Elimination of hyperinflation
- Expansion of production of consumer goods to improve middle- and lower-class living standards.
In addition, it has been pointed out that while it is often popularly believed that the Nazis ended hyperinflation, that the end of hyperinflation preceded the Nazis by several years.
This expansion propelled the German economy out of a deep depression and into full employment in less than four years. Public consumption during the same period increased by 18.7%, while private consumption increased by 3.6% annually. However, as this production was primarily consumptive rather than productive (make work projects, expansion of the war-fighting machine, initiation of the draft to remove working age males from the labor force), inflationary pressures began to rear their head again, although not to the highs of the Weimar Republic. These economic pressures, combined with the war-fighting machine created in the expansion (and concomitant pressures for its use), has led some commentators to the conclusion that a European war was inevitable for these reasons alone. Stated another way, without another general European war to support this consumptive and inflationary economic policy, the Nazi domestic economic program was unsupportable. This is not to say that other more important political considerations were not to blame. It is only meant to state that economics have been, and are a primary motivating factor for any society to go to war. Internationally, the Nazi party believed that an international banking cabal was behind the global depression of the 1930s. The control of this cabal was identified with the ethnic group known as Jews, providing another link in their ideological motivation for the destruction of that group in the holocaust. However, broadly speaking, the existence of large international banking or merchant banking organizations was well known at this time. Many of these banking organizations were able to exert influence upon nation states by extension or withholding of credit. This influence is not limited to the small states that preceded the creation of German Empire as a nation state in the 1870s, but is noted in most major histories of all European powers from the 1500s onward. In fact, some transnational corporations in the 1500 to 1800 period (the Dutch East India Company for one good example) were formed specifically to engage in warfare as a proxy for governmental involvement, as opposed to the other way around.
Using more modern nomenclature, it is possible to say that the Nazi Party was against transnational corporations power vis-a-vis that of the nation state. This basic anti-corporate stance is shared with many mainstream center-left political parties, as well as otherwise totally opposed anarchist political groups.
It is important to note that the Nazi Party's conception of international economics was very limited. As the National Socialist in the name NSDAP suggests, the party's primary motivation was to incorporate previously international resources into the Reich by force, rather than by trade (compare to the international socialism as practiced by the Soviet Union and the COMECON trade organization). This made international economic theory a supporting factor in the political ideology rather than a core plank of the platform as it is in most modern political parties.
In a economic sense, Nazism and Fascism are related. Nazism may be considered a subset of Fascism, with all Nazis being Fascists, but not all Fascists being Nazis. Nazism shares many economic features with Fascism, featuring complete government control of finance and investment (allocation of credit), industry, and agriculture. Yet in both of these systems, corporate power and market based systems for providing price information still existed. Quoting Benito Mussolini: "Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State and corporate power." Rather than the state requiring goods from industrial enterprises and allocating raw materials required for their production (as in socialist / communist systems), the state paid for these goods. This allows price to play an essential role in providing information as to relative scarcity of materials, or the capital requirements in technology or labor (including education, as in skilled labor) inputs to produce a manufactured good. Additionally, the unionist (strictly speaking, syndicalist) veneer placed on corporate labor relations was another major point of agreement. Both the German and Italian fascist political parties began as unionist labor movements, and grew into totalitarian dictatorships. This idea was maintained throughout their time in power, with state control used as a means to eliminate the assumed conflict between management labor relations.
Effects
These theories were used to justify a totalitarian political agenda of racial hatred and suppression using all the means of the state, and suppressing dissent.
Like other fascist regimes, the Nazi regime emphasized anti-communism and the leader principle (Fuehrerprinzip), a key element of fascist ideology in which the ruler is deemed to embody the political movement and the nation. Unlike other fascist ideologies, Nazism was virulently racist. Some of the manifestations of Nazi racism were:
- Anti-Semitism, culminating in the Holocaust
- Ethnic nationalism, including the notion of Germans' status as the Herrenvolk ("master race") and UEbermensch
- A belief in the need to purify the German race through eugenics - this culminated in the involuntary euthanasia of disabled people
Backlash Effects
Perhaps the primary intellectual effect has been that Nazi doctrines discredited the attempt to use biology to explain or influence social issues, for at least two generations after Nazi Germany's brief existence.
The Nazi descendants have been mute in the post-war democracies with some exceptions when interviewed by psychologists and historians. In Norway a group of descendants have taken the official stigmatizing appellation "Nazi children" in order to break the silence and to protest against the continuous demonization of their families. Some historical revisionists disseminate propaganda which denies or minimizes the Holocaust and other Nazi acts, and attempts to put a positive spin on the policies of the Nazi regime and the events which occurred under it.
People and history
The most prominent Nazi was Adolf Hitler, who ruled Nazi Germany from 30 January 1933 until his suicide on 30 April 1945, led the German Reich into World War II, and oversaw the murder of over 40 million people. Under Hitler, ethnic nationalism and racism were joined together through an ideology of militarism to serve his goals.
After the war, many prominent Nazis were convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg Trials.
The Nazi symbol is the clockwise swastika.
Nazism and religion
The relationship between Nazism and Christianity can only be described as complex and controversial.
Hitler and other Nazi leaders clearly made use of Christian symbolism and emotion in propagandizing the overwhelmingly Christian German public, but it remains a matter of controversy whether Hitler believed himself a Christian. Some Christian writers have sought to typify Hitler as an atheist or occultist -- even a Satanist -- whereas non-Christian writers have emphasized Nazism's outward use of Christian doctrine, regardless of what its inner-party mythology may have been. The existence of a Ministry of Church Affairs, instituted in 1935 and headed by Hanns Kerrl, was hardly recognized by ideologists such as Rosenberg and by other political decision-makers.
The Nazi Party's relations with the Catholic Church are yet more fraught. Many Catholic priests and leaders vociferously opposed Nazism on the grounds of its incompatibility with Christian morals. As with many political opponents, many of these priests were sentenced in the concentration camps for their opposition, however most of them were Poles persecuted due to their nationality. Nevertheless, the Church hierarchy represented by Pope Pius XII remained largely silent on the issue, and allegations of the Pope's complicity are today commonplace. There were also pro-Nazi Catholic leaders like Bishop Alois Hudal.
As well, the Vatican has been criticised for agreeing that the Catholic Centre Party would support the Enabling Act that gave the Nazis dictatorial powers in exchange for the provisions in the 1933 Concordat between the Vatican and the Third Reich guaranteeing that the church would maintain the right to govern its own internal affairs and maintain its parochial schools.
Criticisms of the Church's relationship with the Nazis in particular and fascism in general are developed extensively in John Cromwell's book Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII.
As Nazism continued to rule Germany, to many people it became a kind of religion in and of itself.
Nazism and fascism
The term Nazism is often used interchangeably with fascism, but this usage is controversial. Some insist that the word Fascism (spelt with a capital F) can only accurately be used to describe Italian Fascism, while others argue that there is another generic fascism (spelt with a small f) that may include many different movements, in many different countries.
Nazism and Italian Fascism both employed a similar style of propaganda, including military parades and uniforms. The ideologies of both ostensibly included an extreme nationalism and a rebirth of their own nation to some former, past state of national greatness. Both movements, when in power, also put in place totalitarian governments that pursued wars of expansion.
There were also many important differences between the two movements. For example, racism was central to Nazism but of less significance in Italian Fascism. Fascist Italy did not adopt anti-semitism until urged to do so by Hitler.
Nazism and socialism
Because Nazism is an abbreviation for "National Socialism", and Nazi leaders sometimes described their ideology as a form of socialism, some people believe that Nazism was a form of socialism, or that there are similarities between Nazism and socialism. It has also been argued that the Nazi use of economic intervention, including central planning and some limited public ownership, is indicative of socialism.
Nazi leaders were opposed to the Marxist idea of class conflict and opposed the idea that capitalism should be abolished and that workers should control the means of production. For those who consider class conflict and the abolition of capitalism as essential components of socialist progress, these factors alone are sufficient to categorize "National Socialism" as non-socialist.
Nazi leaders made statements describing their views as socialist, while at the same time opposing the idea of class conflict espoused by the Social Democrats (SPD) and Communists (KPD). Established socialist movements did not view the Nazis as socialists and argued that the Nazis were thinly disguised reactionaries. Historians such as Ian Kershaw also note the links between the Nazis and the German political and economic establishment and the significance of the Night of the Long Knives in which Hitler purged what were at the time seen as "leftist" elements in the Nazi Party and how this was done at the urging of the military and conservatives.
Many of the traditional center and right political parties of the Weimar Republic accused the Nazis of being socialists citing planks in the Nazis' party program which called for nationalization of trusts and other socialist measures. However, the German National People's Party (DNVP), the most important party on the mainstream right, usually treated the Nazis as a respected potential member of coalition cabinet.
The Nazis' came to power through an alliance with traditional conservative forces. Franz von Papen, a very conservative former German Chancellor and former member of the Catholic Centre Party supported Hitler for the position of Chancellor and later became an important Nazi official.The Enabling Act which gave the Nazis dictatorial powers passed only because of the support of conservative and centrist deputies in the Reichstag, over the opposition of Social Democrats and Communists.
When the Nazis were still an opposition party some leaders, particularly Gregor Strasser, espoused anti-big business stances and advocated the idea of the Nazis as a workers' party. In spite of this, most workers continued to vote for the SPD or the KPD as late as the March 1933 elections held shortly after Hitler's appointment as chancellor.
Central to Nazi ideology and propaganda was not the rights of workers or the need for socialism but opposition to Marxism and Bolshevism which the Nazis called Judeo-Bolshevism. According to the Nazi world view Marxism was part of a Jewish conspiracy. Rather than being afraid of the Nazis' "socialism" many prominent conservatives and capitalists supported and funded the Nazis because they saw them as a bulwark against Bolshevism.
There were ideological shades of opinion within the Nazi Party, particularly prior to their seizure of power in 1933, but a central tenet of the party was always the leadership principle or Fuehrerprinzip. The Nazi Party did not have party congresses in which policy was deliberated upon and concessions made to different factions. What mattered most was what the leader, Adolf Hitler, thought and decreed. Those who held opinions which were at variance with Hitler's either learned to keep quiet or were purged, particularly after 1933. Although this is in some respects comparable to the behavior of certain Communist dictatorships such as that of Stalin in the Soviet Union or Mao Zedong in China, it also presents a strong contrast to the collective leadership exercised in other Communist parties, more so to the more democratic organization of most European socialist parties.
In power, the Nazis jettisoned practically all of the more socialistic aspects of their program, and in general showed themselves quite prepared to work with big business, frequently at the expense of both small business and the working classes. Gregor Strasser was murdered, as was Ernst Roehm while Otto Strasser was purged from the party. Industries and trusts were not nationalised, indeed, military production and even film production remained in the hands of private industries and many private companies flourished during the Nazi period. Independent trade unions were outlawed as were strikes. With the exception of private rail lines which were nationalised in the late 1930s to meet military contingencies the only need private holdings that were expropriated were those belonging to Jews and these were not retained by the state but sold to private capitalists.
The Nazis never interfered with the profits made by such large German firms as Krupp, Siemens AG, and IG Farben. At the same time, however, efforts were made to coordinate business's actions with the needs of the state, particularly with regard to rearmament. This, however, can be seen not as the implementation of socialist measures but a mark of the move to a war economy and similar measures occurred in the western democracies once war began.
Conversely, the Nazis established some state owned concerns such as Volkswagen to produce a cheap automobile for public use. They also engaged in an extensive public works program including the construction of the Autobahn system. As with the expropriation of rail lines, however, it can be argued that the Autobahn system was created with the purpose of facilitating military transport.
The Nazis took symbolic steps to co-opt the working classes' former support for the old socialist parties by such moves as the introduction of May Day as a national holiday in 1933. This was generally seen by socialists as a superficial move designed to win the allegiance of workers rather than grant them any material concessions at the expense of capital.
All political movements that have formed governments have used economic intervention of some form or another. The suggestion that economic intervention is left-wing ignores the tradition of intervention practiced by monarchies and oligarchies in Europe before the eighteenth century, and the intervention, including protectionism, subsidies and anti-trade union laws, practiced by right-wing parties in government in Europe and North America during the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Since the fall of the Nazi regime, many theorists have argued that there are similarities between the government of Nazi Germany and that of Stalin's Soviet Union. In most cases, this has not taken the form of arguing that the Nazis were socialist, but arguing that both Nazism and Stalinism are forms of totalitarianism. This view was advanced most famously by Hannah Arendt in The Origins of Totalitarianism. However, most socialists argue that Stalin's system was not a truly socialist one, since it did not meet certain requirements that they see as essential for socialism - requirements such as a functional democracy, for example.
For more information see the article on Totalitarianism
Nazism and Race
All forms of socialism focus on economic relationships as central in shaping society. In contrast, as can be seen in Mein Kampf, the central doctrine of Nazism is racism. Nazis see the society divided not according to social classes, but according to races. A strict hierarchy is assumed between the races; at the top, there is the German or ("Aryan") race, then lesser races. At the bottom of this hierarchy are "parasitic" races, especially the Jews, which are perceived to be dangerous to society.
As pointed out by Primo Levi, there is a crucial difference between even the most extreme forms of socialism and nazism: while both had their idea of what kind of parasitic classes or races society ought to be rid of, the former determine them by a social position (which people may change within their life), while the latter assign a place given by birth. To revolutionary communists, one may be born the son of a wealthy capitalist, yet be acceptable as a productive member of society; according to Nazis, one born a Jew is a born parasite who must be disposed of.
The role of the nation
The Nazi state was founded upon a racially-defined "German nation". This is a central concept of Mein Kampf, symbolized by the motto Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuehrer (one people, one empire, one leader).
In comparison, many socialists refute the idea of nations, which they see as artificial divisions that support the status quo and oppression: according to them, dividing the world among nations leads to artificial oppositions between these nations, which themselves lead to wars, which are, according to them, waged for the interest of the ruling classes and arms manufacturers.
Modern 'Nazism'
Toward the end of the 20th century, Neo-Nazi movements have arisen in a number of countries, including the United States of America and several European nations. Neo-Nazism can include any group or organization that exhibits an ideological link to Nazism. It is frequently associated with the skinhead youth subculture. Some fringe political parties, such as the Libertarian National Socialist Green Party, have also adopted Nazi ideas.
Which factors promoted the success of National socialism?
An important question about national socialism is that of which factors promoted its success, not only in Germany, but also in other European countries (National socialistic movements could be found in Sweden, Great Britain, Italy, Spain and even in the US) in the twenties and thirties of the last century? These factors may have included:
- Economic devastation all over Europe after WWI
- Lack of orientation of many people after the breakdown of monarchy in many European countries.
- A disproportionate percentage of Jews in the Bourgeoisie or upperclass of Germany (which mostly was a result of hard work and education rather than an ethnic conspiracy).
- Perceived Jewish involvement in WWI of war profiteering
- Rejection of Communism, which was often seen as a Jewish movement. Many early communists in Russia were indeed Jews, owing mainly to a burning hatred of the anti-Semitic Russian Tsarist regime.
- Appeal of socialism or socialist rhetoric to the German working class
- Humiliation of Germany at the Treaty of Versailles
The term Nazi in popular culture
The multiple atrocities and extremist ideology that the Nazis followed have made them notorious in popular grammar as well as history. The term Nazi is used in various ways. It's often used to describe groups of people who try to force an unpopular or extreme agenda on the general population, and also commit crimes and other violations on others without remorse. Israel is a common and extremely controversial target of the term "nazi" in describing its treatment of Palestinians, and it's theoretically racialist policies.
In the context of the Western World, nazi or fascist is sometimes used to qualify political groups (such as the French National Front) advocating restrictive measures on immigration, or strong law enforcement powers.
The usages seen in popular culture are seen as offensive by some; these include the politically correct as well as those who consider the use to be a trivialization of the Nazis, who killed millions. Phrases like "Open Source Nazi," "Feminazi," or "Soup Nazi" are examples of those in common use. Perhaps as with other offensive words such as nigger and faggot, the word is being "reclaimed" by the community.
The term is used so frequently as to inspire "godwin's law" which states "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one".
See Also
- History of Germany
- Nazi Songs
- Consequences of German Nazism
- General Government
- Doublespeak (for a discussion of the semantic implications of words such as Nazi).
- Fuehrerprinzip
- Nazi concentration camp badges
External links
- Hitler was a Leftist - an extensive case providing evidence in favor of refering to Hitler as a Left-winger by Dr. John Joseph Ray
- "Myth: Hitler was a leftist" - an extensive case against portraying Hitler as a left-winger by Steve Kangas