What is Nazism?
The Overview section hopes to provide students studying the IBDP a complete, concise overview of the Nazi Weltanschauung (“World View”). (For further details, one should take a look at other sections on the website.) In this section, we attempt to outline and summarize the core points of Hitler's ideology, which goes hand in hand with Nazism.
In contemporary society, the word “Nazis” often connotes feelings of antipathy for the party’s heinous, erroneous acts during the Second World War. The Nazis are a notorious anathema and blame for the party’s wrongdoing is often registered with its proponent, Adolf Hitler. This way of thinking has been subscribed to by laymen and historians across borders and it is certainly correct.
“It was indeed Hitler’s Weltanschauung and nothing else that mattered in the end”
- German historian of the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany Karl Dietrich Bracher
Hitler’s ideology from post-Putsch years to the late 1930s could be summarized into five fundamental categories:
If one would like more details about Hitler’s Weltanschauung, he/she can redirect to http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/haken32.htm - Those Damned Nazis was widely distributed Nazi propaganda pamphlet, in which Goebbels compiled and condensed Nazi ideology into a 9-page document.
“It was indeed Hitler’s Weltanschauung and nothing else that mattered in the end”
- German historian of the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany Karl Dietrich Bracher
Hitler’s ideology from post-Putsch years to the late 1930s could be summarized into five fundamental categories:
- Racial purity and the obliteration of enemies ergo the removal of Jews and “racial imbeciles” - The Nazis exploited this ingeniously and manipulated its meaning at different times to their advantage. This point is generally acquainted with the notions of virulent antisemitism and Social Darwinism - Germany’s Nordic Race, was very much considered the “Master Race,” which hence had the prerogative to act for themselves at the expense of inferiors (mainly Jews).
- Attaining lebensraum (“living space”) to secure Germany’s future - This was often a justification for imperialistic and expansionist motives and played a significant role in foreign policy
- Establishing Volksgemeinschaft and “the community before the individual” - This was a major propaganda tactic by the party, which not only provided an incentive for labor in a socialist state but also helped mobilize the masses based on Nationalist Socialist ideals for war in 1939
- “National Salvation” and vengeance against Versailles - This notion created a “united goal for the eternal grandeur of the nation” (The Nazi Capture of Power). At the same time, the memory of war and the ignominy coupled with it rendered political parties who sought to overthrow the Weimar (namely the NSDAP) with a basis to capitalize on. Nazi propaganda effectively portrayed Hitler as the heroic savior who would expunge shame brought about by Germany’s defeat in 1918, as this concept quickly assimilated into the German population through the 1930s.
- “We call ourselves a worker’s party because we want to rescue the word work from its current definition and give it back its original meaning” (Those Damned Nazis). Nazism is not only socialism but also anti-Marxism, anti-communism and anti-Bolshevism. Hitler endorsed the notion of Leistungsgemeinschaft (“Community Based Upon Achievement”), advocating for merit-based social mobility.
If one would like more details about Hitler’s Weltanschauung, he/she can redirect to http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/haken32.htm - Those Damned Nazis was widely distributed Nazi propaganda pamphlet, in which Goebbels compiled and condensed Nazi ideology into a 9-page document.
Written by Claudia Quek, edited by Emily Li and Jian He Tao
Works Consulted
"ADOLF HITLER BEST PICTURES." ADOLF HITLER BEST PICTURES. Blogspot, Dec. 2009. Web. 08 Jan. 2015.
"Enduring Allure of Hitlerism." Enduring Allure of Hitlerism. Web. 6 Jan. 2015.
Fairweather, Nicolas. "Hitler and Hitlerism: A Man of Destiny." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 20 Mar. 1932. Web. 6 Jan. 2015.
Joseph Goebbels and Mjölnir, Die verfluchten Hakenkreuzler. Etwas zum Nachdenken
(Munich:Verlag Frz. Eher, 1932).
Kershaw, Ian. Hitler, 1889-1936: Hubris. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999. Print.
"Nazi Ideology." Nazi Ideology. About Nazism. Web. 6 Jan. 2015.
Roberts, Stephen H. The House That Hitler Built. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1938. Print.
"Search the History Learning Site." History Learning Site. Web. 6 Jan. 2015.
Works Consulted
"ADOLF HITLER BEST PICTURES." ADOLF HITLER BEST PICTURES. Blogspot, Dec. 2009. Web. 08 Jan. 2015.
"Enduring Allure of Hitlerism." Enduring Allure of Hitlerism. Web. 6 Jan. 2015.
Fairweather, Nicolas. "Hitler and Hitlerism: A Man of Destiny." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 20 Mar. 1932. Web. 6 Jan. 2015.
Joseph Goebbels and Mjölnir, Die verfluchten Hakenkreuzler. Etwas zum Nachdenken
(Munich:Verlag Frz. Eher, 1932).
Kershaw, Ian. Hitler, 1889-1936: Hubris. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999. Print.
"Nazi Ideology." Nazi Ideology. About Nazism. Web. 6 Jan. 2015.
Roberts, Stephen H. The House That Hitler Built. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1938. Print.
"Search the History Learning Site." History Learning Site. Web. 6 Jan. 2015.