Nazism

Nazism (/ˈnɑːtsiɪzəm, ˈnæt-/ ^ⓘNA(H)T-see-iz-əm), formally named National Socialism (NS; German: Nationalsozialismus, German: [natsi̯oˈnaːlzotsi̯aˌlɪsmʊs] ^ⓘ), is the far-right totalitarian ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequently called Hitler Fascism and Hitlerism. The term "neo-Nazism" is applied to far-right groups formed after World War II with similar ideology.

Nazism is a form of fascism, with disdain for liberal democracy and the parliamentary system. Its beliefs include support for dictatorships, fervent antisemitism, anti-communism, anti-Slavism, anti-Romani sentiment, scientific racism, anti-Chinese sentiment, white supremacy, Nordicism, social Darwinism, homophobia, ableism, and eugenics. The Nazis' ultranationalism originated in pan-Germanism and the ethno-nationalist Völkisch movement, which had been prominent within German ultranationalism since the late 19th century. Nazism was influenced by the Freikorps paramilitary groups that emerged after Germany's defeat in World War I, from which the party's "cult of violence" came. It subscribed to pseudo-scientific theories of a racial hierarchy, identifying ethnic Germans as part of what the Nazis regarded as a Nordic Aryan master race. Nazism sought to overcome social divisions and create a homogeneous German society based on racial purity. The Nazis aimed to unite all Germans living in historically German territory, gain lands for expansion under the doctrine of Lebensraum, and exclude those deemed either Community Aliens or "inferior" races (Untermenschen).

The term "National Socialism" arose from attempts to create a nationalist redefinition of socialism, as an alternative to Marxist international socialism and free-market capitalism. Nazism rejected Marxist concepts of class conflict and universal equality, opposed cosmopolitan internationalism, and sought to convince the social classes in German society to subordinate their interests to the "common good". The Nazi Party's precursor, the pan-German nationalist and antisemitic German Workers' Party, was founded in 1919. In the 1920s, the party was renamed the National Socialist German Workers' Party to appeal to left-wing workers, a renaming Hitler initially opposed. The National Socialist Program was adopted in 1920 and called for a united Greater Germany that denied citizenship to Jews and supported land reform and the nationalisation of some industries. In Mein Kampf (My Struggle), Hitler outlined the antisemitism and anti-communism at the heart of his philosophy, and his disdain for representative democracy, over which he proposed the Führerprinzip (leader principle). Hitler's objectives involved eastward expansion of German territories, colonization of Eastern Europe, and an alliance with Britain and Italy against the Soviet Union.

The Nazi Party won the greatest share of the vote in both Reichstag elections of 1932, making it the legislature's largest party, albeit short of a majority. Because other parties were unable or unwilling to form a coalition government, Hitler was appointed Chancellor in January 1933 by President Paul von Hindenburg, with the support of conservative nationalists who believed they could control Hitler. With the use of emergency presidential decrees and a change in the Weimar Constitution that allowed the Cabinet to rule by direct decree, the Nazis established a one-party state and began the Gleichschaltung (Nazification). The Sturmabteilung (SA) and the Schutzstaffel (SS) functioned as the party's paramilitary organisations. Hitler purged the party's more radical factions in the 1934 Night of the Long Knives. When Hindenburg died in August 1934, Hitler became head of both state and government, as Führer und Reichskanzler. He was now the dictator of Nazi Germany, under which Jews, political opponents and other "undesirable" elements were marginalised, imprisoned or murdered. During World War II, millions – including two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population – were exterminated in a genocide known as the Holocaust. After Germany's defeat and the discovery of the full extent of the Holocaust, Nazi ideology became universally disgraced. It is widely regarded as evil, with only a few fringe racist groups, usually called neo-Nazis, describing themselves as followers of National Socialism. Use of Nazi symbols is illegal in many European countries, including Germany and Austria.

The full name of the Nazi Party was Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (German for 'National Socialist German Workers' Party') and they officially used the acronym NSDAP. The renaming of the German Workers' Party (DAP) to the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) was partially driven by a desire to use both left- and right-wing terminology, with "Socialist" and "Workers'" appealing to the left, and "National" and "German" appealing to the right.

The term "nazi" had been in use before the rise of the NSDAP as a colloquial and derogatory word for a backwards farmer or peasant. It characterised an awkward, clumsy person, a yokel. It was a hypocorism (pet name) of the German male name Igna(t)z (a variation of Ignatius), which was common in Bavaria, where the NSDAP originated.

In the 1920s, labour movement opponents of the NSDAP seized on this, and shortened the party's name, Nationalsozialistische, to the dismissive "Nazi", to associate the NSDAP with the derogatory use of this term. This was inspired by the earlier use of the abbreviation Sozi for Sozialist (German for 'Socialist'). The first use of the term "Nazi" by the National Socialists themselves occurred in 1926 in a publication by Joseph Goebbels called Der Nazi-Sozi ["The Nazi-Sozi"]. There, the term "Nazi-Sozi" (but not "Nazi" alone) is used as an abbreviation of "National Socialism".

After the NSDAP's rise to power in the 1930s, the term "Nazi" by itself, or "Nazi Germany", "Nazi regime", etc, were popularised by German exiles, but not used in Germany. The terms spread into other languages and were brought back to Germany after World War II. The NSDAP briefly adopted "Nazi" in an attempt to reappropriate it, for example in articles published in the Nazi newspaper Völkischer Beobachter under the title Ein Nazi fährt nach Palästina in 1934. But the Nazis soon gave up and avoided using the term while in power. They typically referred to themselves as "National Socialists" and their movement as "National Socialism". A compendium of Hitler's conversations in 1941-44 entitled Hitler's Table Talk does not contain the word "Nazi". In speeches by Hermann Göring, he never used "Nazi". Hitler Youth leader Melita Maschmann wrote a book about her experience entitled Account Rendered, where she did not refer to herself as a "Nazi", even though writing well after World War II. In 1933, 581 members of the NSDAP answered interview questions by Professor Theodore Abel, and did not refer to themselves as "Nazis".