Ideology of National Socialism

Nazism was not some terrible accident which fell upon the German people out of a blue sky. One historian has called it the reductio ad absurdum of the German tradition of nationalism, militarism, worship of success, and force, as well as the exaltation of state. Yet the conditions which Hitler exploited were not confined to one country, although they were stronger in Germany than anywhere else. Adolf Hitler's own thought was a mixture of racism, anti-Marxism, and the idea of struggle (which we also found in Italian fascism). As an ideology, Hitler's National Socialism is a systematic interpretation of the world of human behavior and of history which aims at a unified outlook and behavior-pattern. Resembling a religion, an ideology demands commitment and faith.
As a form of government, National Socialism is totalitarian in character aiming at the total control of all politics, economy, social relationships and thought, by a small group which claims to understand how to cope with all aspects of human existence.
Origins of the Nazi Ideology
The National Socialist ideology contained several basic points: Antisemitism, nationalism, militarism, and anti-communism. Jews were racially alien to Europe and were supposed to be the source of all European troubles, especially Communis. Second, Germany should become the strongest country in Europe because Germans were racially superior to other Europeans and should lead everyone else, even against their will. Third, force was seen as the bottom line in all of nature and in human life. As such, the military spirit was the truest expression of human creativity, courage, self-sacrifice, and survival. Finally, Russian bolshevism threatened European civilization and should be destroyed sooner or later.
National Socialism developed after 1918 as a counter-movement to the Bolshevik revolution and the democratic parliamentary system. Its intellectual roots were haphazard and to some extent even tangled: Nietzsche's "will to power," the racial theories of Gobineau and Houston Chamberlain, the "faith in destiny" of Richard Wagner, Mendel's theory of heredity, Haushofer's "geo-politics," or the social-Darwinist conceptions of Alfred Ploetz (1860-1940) were as much a part of the National Socialist ideology as the thought of Machiavelli, Fichte, Treitschke or Spengler.
Antisemitism in Theory
Antisemitism became the dominant element conceiving of Germanness as threatened by gradual disintegration through the Jewish race. Hitler called for the defense of "Blood and Soil" (Blut und Boden), the annihilation of the Jews and the strengthening of the Nordic race which was to rule over its "inferiors" as the "Master race". National Socialism emphasized the element of das Volk (the people as nation race), demanded unconditional surrender of the individual to the "community" (you are nothing, your people is everything), and preached a charismatic "faith in the leader" ("Führer, give the command, we shall follow"). It adopted impulse proceeding from the pre-First World War youth movement (romanticism of communal experience), glorified the comradeship of combat in war, and took on Communist and Fascist characteristics. The "movement" became a vortex for the discontented, who were disillusioned by parliamentary democracy and supported the demands of the NSDAP for autarchy in economic life, and expansionist foreign policy (Volk ohne Raum = a people without living space), liberation from the "bondage of the Versailles dictate", and the combating of Bolshevik tendencies.
Alfred Rosenberg's Myth of the Twentieth Century (1935)
Finally, the racial doctrine upon which this ideology rested in large part can be seen through the eyes of the party's "ideologist" - Alfred Rosenberg: Alfred Rosenberg discussed the relationship between the state and the "Volk" in his Myth of the Twentieth Century (1935):
The state is nowadays no longer an independent idol, before which everything must bow down; the state is not even an end but is only a means for the preservation of the "Volk".... Forms of the state change, and the laws of the state pass away; the folk remains. From this alone follows that the nation is the first and last, that to which everything else has to be subordinated.
The new thought puts folk and race higher than the state and its forms. It declares protection of the folk more important than protection of a religious denomination, a class, the monarchy, or the republic; it sees in treason against the folk a greater crime than high treason against the state.
No "Volk" of Europe is racially unified, including Germany. In accordance with the newest researches, we recognize five races, which exhibit noticeably different types. Now it is beyond question true that the Nordic race primarily has borne the genuine cultural fruits of Europe. The great heroes, artists, founders of states have come from this race.... Nordic blood created German life above all others. Even those sections, in which only a small part today is pure Nordic, have their basic stock from the Nordic race. Nordic is German and has functioned so as to shape the culture and human types of the westisch, dinarisch, and ostisch-Baltisch races. Also a type which is predominantly dinarisch has often been innerly formed in a Nordic mode. This emphasis on the Nordic race does not mean a sowing of "race-hatred" in Germany, but on the contrary, the conscious acknowledgment of a kind of racial cement within our nationality.
. . . On the day when Nordic blood should completely dry up, Germany would fall to ruin, would decline into a characterless chaos. That many forces are consciously working toward this, has been discussed in detail.
For this they rely primarily on the Alpine lower stratum, which, without any value of its own, has remained essentially superstitious and slavish despite all Germanization. Now that the external bond of the old idea of the Reich has fallen away, this blood is active, together with other bastard phenomena, in order to put itself in the service of a magic faith or in the service of the democratic chaos, which finds its herald in the parasitic but energetic Judaism.
The foundation for the arising of a new aristocracy lies in those men who have stood - in a spiritual, political, and military sense - in the foremost positions in the struggle for the coming Reich. It will appear thereby with inner necessity that up to 80 per cent of these men will also externally approach the Nordic type, since the fulfillment of the demanded values lies on a line with the highest values of this blood. With the others the inheritance, which exhibits itself in actions, outweighs personal appearance.
Europe's states have all been founded and preserved by the Nordic man. This Nordic man through alcohol, the World War, and Marxism has partially degenerated, partially been uprooted.... In order to preserve Europe, the Nordic energies of Europe must first be revitalized, strengthened. That means then Germany, Scandinavia with Finland, and England.
. . . Nordic Europe is the fated future, with a German central Europe. Germany as racial and national state, as central power of the continent, safe-guarding the south and southeast; the Scandinavian states with Finland as a second group, safe-guarding the northeast; and Great Britain, safe-guarding the west and overseas at those places where required in the interest of the Nordic Man. (7)
Nazi Party Organization Book (1940)The following extracts are taken from the Nazi Party Organization Book (1940) and illustrate the duties of party members, as well as the National Socialist concept of the State:
6. Duties of the Party Comrade The National Socialist commandments: The Führer is always right! Never go against discipline! Don't waste your time in idle chatter or in self-satisfying criticism, but take hold and do your work! Be proud but not arrogant! Let the program be your dogma. It demands of you the greatest devotion to the movement. You are a representative of the party; control your bearing and your manner accordingly! Let loyalty and unselfishness be your highest precepts! Practice true comradeship and you will be a true socialist! Treat your racial comrades as you wish to be treated by them! In battle be hard and silent! Spirit is not unruliness! That which promotes the movement, Germany, and your people, is right! If you act according to these commandments, you are a true soldier of your Führer.
7. Guiding Principles for Members of the Ortsgruppen [local groups] The following guiding principles are to be made known to all members, and all men and women of the party should impress them upon themselves: Lighten the work of the political leaders by the punctual performance of your duties. Women of the party should participate in the activities of the NS Association of Women there they will find work to do. Don't buy from Jews! Spare the health of the party comrades and speakers and refrain voluntarily from smoking at the meetings. Don't make yourself a mouthpiece for our political opponents by spreading false reports. To be a National Socialist is to set an example.
I. The StateThe state is born out of the necessity of ordering the community of the Volk in accordance with certain laws. Its characteristic attribute is power over every branch of the community. The state has the right to demand of every racial comrade [Volksgenosse] that he live according to the law. Whoever violates the laws of the state will be punished. The state has officials to execute its laws and regulations. The constitution of the state is the basis for its legislation. The state embodies power! In the state men of different opinions and different outlook can live beside each other. The state cannot demand that all men be of the same opinion. It can, however, demand that all men observe its laws.
II. The PartyIn contrast to the state, the party is the community of men of like opinion. It is born out of the struggle for an ideology. In order to survive this struggle, it gathered together all men who were prepared to fight for this ideology. The ideology is the basis of the order in accordance with which men live within the party. While in the state laws are considered as pressure, obstacles, and difficulties by many citizens, the laws of the party are no burden but rather signify the will of the community. In the state the characteristic is the must; in the party the I will.
III. The Functions of the Party and the State(a) It is conceivable that party and state are one and the same thing. This is the case when all racial comrades are converted to the ideology of the party and the laws of the state are the clear expression of the will of the ideology. Then the state becomes the great community of men of like opinion. This ideal situation will only seldom be attained in history. It is, in fact, only conceivable if this ideology is the only basis for the inner attitude and takes complete possession of the people....
(c) If the Volk in all its branches is not impregnated by the party and its ideology, party and state must remain separated. The party will then be an order in which a select group of leaders and fighters is found. The ideology will be carried to the Volk by these fighters. The party shall prepare public opinion and public desire so that the spiritual condition of the Volk shall be in accord with the actual legislation of the state.
Therefore it does not suffice for the party to be an elite, a minority which is bound together in unity. The party has rather the task of accomplishing the political education and the political unification of the German Volk. It accordingly is charged also with the leadership of its associated organizations. In the course of this leadership the party fulfills its primary task: the ideological conquest of the German Volk and the creation of the "Organization of the Volk." The state is a technical instrument to assist in the creation of this community of the people. It is the instrument for the realization of the ideology. The party is, therefore, the primary which constantly refills dead material with life and the will to life....
The state administrative apparatus functioned before the war and functioned also after the war. Notwithstanding, the German Volk experienced the Black Day of November 9, 1918; notwithstanding, it experienced the terrible collapse of the post war period in all fields of political, cultural, and economic life. Germany could only be saved from sinking into Communistic chaos through the spirit, will, and readiness to sacrifice of the German freedom movement. Its forces of will and spirit alone made reconstruction possible. The party now has the right and the task of again pumping streams of its spirit and will into the state apparatus. (8)

The Creation of the Nazi Dictatorship, 1933-1939
Phase One, 1933-1934Nazi domestic policy can be broken into three phases beginning with 1933-34. During these years, Hitler consolidated his authority through the destruction of all other political parties, "coordination" of all aspects of German life, and the liquidation of dissent among Nazis and conservatives. After taking office as chancellor, Hitler quickly out maneuvered Papen and the conservative nationalists.
The Reichstag Fire, February 1933
A new Reichstag election was scheduled for early March 1933. Only a few days before the election, on February 27, the Reichstag building was partially destroyed by fire. The Nazis may well have set the blaze, but they blamed the Communists, charging that the Communists were plotting to seize power. Hitler convinced Hindenburg to take strong action against the supposed Communist threat, and the president suspended freedom of speech and the press and other civil liberties.
March 1933 Election
The Nazis stepped up their harassment of their political opponents, and the March 5 election was held in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. Polling 44 percent of the votes, the Nazis won 288 seats in the Reichstag. With the support of their conservative nationalist allies, who held 52 seats, the Nazis controlled a majority of the 647 member Reichstag. The Nazi majority was even more substantial, since none of the 81 Communist deputies were allowed to take their seats.
The Enabling Act, March 1933
On March 23, 1933, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act, which gave dictatorial authority to Hitler's cabinet for four years. Armed with full powers, Hitler moved to eliminate all possible centers of opposition. His policy is known as Gleichschaltung, which translates literally as coordination. In this context, however, it meant more precisely subordination, that is, subordinating all independent institutions to the authority of Hitler and the Nazi Party.
It was the Enabling Act of March 23, 1933, which in a legal way conferred dictatorial powers on Adolf Hitler. Only 94 Social Democratic votes were cast against it. The date for its abrogation (see Article 5) was never kept. Indeed, the Enabling Act is the last measure which the Reichstag passed under the republican and democratic Constitution of the Republic. It spelled its end and the beginning of National Socialist dictatorship.
Article 1. Laws of the Reich can also be promulgated by the Reich government apart from the method prescribed by the Constitution.
Article 2. Laws decided upon by the government of the Reich can depart from the Constitution of the Reich, in so far as they do not touch the existence as such, of such institutions as the Reichstag and the Reichsrat. The rights of the Reichspresident remain untouched....
Article 4. Treaties of the Reich with foreign powers which have reference to matters concerning the laws of the Reich, do not need the consent of the bodies which had part in the making of such laws, as long as this present law is valid.
Article 5. This law is in force on the day of its promulgation. It is abrogated on April 1, 1937; it is further abrogated if the present government of the Reich is replaced by another. (9)
Consolidation of Nazi Power
In April 1933, the government abolished self-government in the German states by appointing governors responsible to the central government in Berlin. The states lost even more power in January 1934 when the Reichsrat, the upper house of the parliament, was abolished. The Reichsrat had represented the states.
In May 1933, the Nazis ordered the abolition of the independent labor unions. Both strikes and lockouts were prohibited, and a system of compulsory arbitration of labor-management disputes was established. All workers were compelled to join the German Labor Front, an agency of the Nazi Party, which was designed primarily to promote labor discipline rather than the interests of the workers.
During the spring of 1933, the Nazis moved to eliminate opposition political parties. In July, the Nazi Party became the only legal party.
Almost a year later, on June 30, 1934, Hitler carried out a purge that took the lives of a number of dissident Nazi leaders and other opponents. The exact number of victims has never been determined, although it probably exceeded one hundred. Ernst Röhm, the SA leader, was among these victims. The influence of the SA now declined, while that of Himmler's SS, which provided the executioners for the purge, increased. Himmler also controlled the Gestapo, the secret police created by the Nazis.
Following the death of President Hindenburg on August 2, 1934, Hitler abolished the office of president and assumed the president's powers. The members of the armed forces were now required to take an oath of allegiance to Hitler. This oath represented an important step in the establishment of Hitler's control over Germany's armed forces.
Nazi Anti-Semitism: Practice
Soon after taking power in 1933, the Nazis began a campaign directed against Germany's Jews, who numbered some 600,000, about 1 percent of the population. In April 1933, Jews were deprived of their positions in the civil service. Jews were also barred from the universities, and restrictions were imposed on Jewish physicians and lawyers. The Nazis organized a nationwide boycott of shops and other businesses owned by Jews.
Phase Two, 1935-1937Phase two (1935-1937) focused on the militarization and conversion of all Germans to enthusiastic support of National Socialism.
The Nuremberg Laws, 1935
The campaign against the Jews was intensified following the adoption of the Nuremberg Laws of 1935. These laws defined a Jew as any person with at least one Jewish grandparent. Some 2.5 million Germans, in addition to the 600,000 who regarded themselves as Jews, were affected by this definition. The Nuremberg Laws deprived Jews of their rights as citizens, and Jews were barred from marrying non-Jews.
Phase Three, 1937-1939Finally, phase three (1935-1939) was characterized by rapid, bloodless diplomatic and military strokes to win applause at home while liquidating opposition elements in the military and churches.
Crystal Night, 1938
In 1938, a Polish Jew assassinated a German diplomat in Paris. In response, the Nazis organized a campaign of mob violence known as the Crystal Night, which gained its name from the broken glass resulting from the destruction of synagogues and Jewish-owned businesses. Jews were now forced to wear a yellow star of David, and the German Jewish community was compelled to pay a large indemnity.
These measures against the Jews of Germany served as a prelude to the Holocaust of World War II, when the Nazis embarked on a campaign to exterminate the Jews of Europe.
The Nazis and the Christian ChurchesThe failure of German Christians, both Catholics and Protestants, to offer vigorous resistance to the crimes of the Nazis in general and to their persecution of the Jews, in particular, has been the subject of much historical controversy. Nevertheless, for German Christians the Nazi era was a time of pressure and persecution.
The Evangelical Church
The Nazis attempted to subordinate the Christian churches to their control. The major Protestant denomination, the German Evangelical Church, was forced to accept the direction of a handpicked national bishop. Dissenting Protestants established the Confessing Church under the leadership of Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892-1984). He and other dissident churchmen were imprisoned in concentration camps.
The Catholic Church
In July 1933, the Nazi regime signed a concordat with the Vatican, pledging to maintain the traditional rights of the Catholic Church in Germany. Increasing violations of the concordat led to protests from Catholic leaders. In 1937, Pope Pius XI (r. 1922-1939) joined these protests, issuing the encyclical letter Mit Brennender Sorge ("With Burning Concern"). For the most part, however, both Protestant and Catholic leaders sought to avoid direct confrontations with the Nazi regime.
Nazi Economic PolicyNazi regimentation extended to the economic sphere, although the property and profits of the capitalists were protected. In practical terms, the word "socialist" in the name of the Nazi Party did not refer to the nationalization of the means of production but rather to requiring the economy to serve the interests of the state. Hitler succeeded in reducing unemployment by initiating public works projects, including the construction of superhighways (autobahns), and establishing the Labor Service to provide jobs for young workers who could not find employment in the private sector. In 1936, the Four Year Plan was launched with the purpose of promoting economic self-sufficiency and of mobilizing the economy for war.
Nazi Foreign Policy, 1933-1935National Socialist foreign policy objective: revision of the Versailles Treaty as a preliminary to the conquest of additional living-space. Though Hitler pledged German will to preserve the peace, he rejected the policy of collective security and advocated bilateral agreements.
Summary of Hitler's Rise to PowerThe Great Depression of the early 1930's resulted in the economic and political collapse of the Weimar Republic, Germany's post-World War I experiment in democracy. Adolf Hitler demonstrated his political skill in taking advantage of the opportunity provided by the depression. He developed his Nazi Party into a mass movement and used a combination of his popular support and behind-the-scenes intrigue to propel himself into power. Once he gained office, Hitler moved with ruthless determination to crush his opponents and establish his totalitarian dictatorship. Furthermore, National Socialism showed how a modern "civilized" country could fall to fascism as well as Communism. It created virtual certainty of war in Europe owing to misjudgment of the situation by opponents. Third, it demonstrated that a modern dictatorship is hard to wipe out without war. Owing to his attack on the Soviet Union, Hitler's Germany pushed America and Britain into an alliance with Stalin. Finally, by Antisemitism culminating in Holocaust, National Socialism highlighted its own genocide policies while reinvigorating Zionism.
Hitler Launches the War, September 1939Hitler ordered the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland in 1938. Hitler's army invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, sparking France and England to declare war on Germany. A Blitzkrieg (lightning war) of German tanks and infantry swept through most of Western Europe as nation after nation fell to the German war machine.
In 1941, Hitler ignored a non-aggression pact he had signed with the Soviet Union in August 1939. Several early victories after the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, were reversed with crushing defeats at Moscow (December 1941) and Stalingrad (winter, 1942-43). The United States entered the war in December 1941. By 1944, the Allies invaded occupied Europe at Normandy Beach on the French coast, German cities were being destroyed by bombing, and Italy, Germany's major ally under the leadership of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, had fallen.
Internet Resourceshttp://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/index.htm http://www.hitler-speeches.com/ http://www.dhm.de/ausstellungen/bildzeug/panoramen/
Endnotes1. Nürnberg, September 1, 1933; Völkischer Beobachter, September 2, 1933. 2. Munich, May 1, 1923; Völkischer Beobachter, May 3, 1923. 3. Berlin, January 30, 1942; B.B.C. 4. Berlin, May 10, 1933; Völkischer Beobachter, May 11, 1933. 5. Kulmbach, February 5, 1928; Völkischer Beobachter, February 9, 1928. 6. Munich, May 23, 1926; Völkischer Beobachter, May 26, 1926. 7. National Socialism (Washington United States Government Printing Office, 1943), pp. 176-77. 8. National Socialism (Washington United States Government Printing Office, 1943), pp. 195-198. 9. Ernst Forsthoff, Deutsche geschichte seit 1918 in Dokumenten (Stuttgart, 1938), pp. 289-90. (Trans. George L. Mosse.)
© 2000 by David A. Meier