National Socialist German Workers' Party
Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei
1919–1945
Political ideology	National Socialism
Official Newspaper	Völkischer Beobachter
See also	Politics of Germany Political parties in Germany Elections in Germany

The National Socialist German Workers' Party, (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (help·info), or NSDAP, commonly known as the Nazi Party), was a political party in Germany between 1919 and 1945. Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German The Völkischer Beobachter (" Völkisch Observer" or less strictly "People's Observer" was the newspaper of the National Politics of Germany takes place in a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic Republic, whereby the Federal Chancellor This is a list of political parties in Germany. Germany has a Multi-party system with two large parties three substantial smaller parties and a number of minor The following information deals with elections in Germany, including elections to the Federal Diet (the lower house of the federal parliament the Landtags The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. A political party is a Political organization that seeks to attain and maintain political power within Government, usually by participating in electoral Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. It was known as the German Workers' Party (DAP) before the name was changed in 1920. The German Workers' Party ('Deutsche Arbeiterpartei', or DAP was the short-lived predecessor of the Nazi Party (German Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei

The party's leader, Adolf Hitler, was appointed Chancellor of Germany by president Paul von Hindenburg in 1933. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately The Head of government of Germany is called Chancellor (Kanzler Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg ( known universally as Paul von Hindenburg ( ( October 2, 1847 &ndash August 2 Hitler rapidly established a totalitarian regime known as the Third Reich. Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a concept used to describe Political systems where a State regulates nearly every aspect of public and private Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers

Nazi ideology stressed the racial purity of the German people and persecuted those it perceived either as race enemies or Lebensunwertes Leben, that is "life unworthy of life". "Life unworthy of life" (in German: "Lebens unwertes Leben") was a Nazi designation for the segments of populace that according to This included Jews, Slavs, Roma and homosexuals (See also Paragraph 175), along with Jehovah's Witnesses, the mentally or physically disabled, socialists, and communists. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ The Romani people (singular Rom, plural Roma as a Noun; also known as Romanies or Roma people) are an ethnic group with origins Homosexuality refers to sexual behavior with or attraction to people of the same sex or to a Homosexual orientation. Paragraph 175 (known formally as §175 StGB; also known as Section 175 in English) was a provision Jehovah's Witnesses is a restorationist, millenialist Christian denomination Nazi eugenics were Nazi Germany 's race-based social policies that placed the improvement of the race through Eugenics at the center of their Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based To carry out these beliefs, the party and the German state which it controlled organised the systematic murder of approximately six million Jews (in what has become known as the Holocaust), and about five million other people, mainly Russians, Poles and Roma. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland The Romani people (singular Rom, plural Roma as a Noun; also known as Romanies or Roma people) are an ethnic group with origins Many thousands of political enemies of the Nazi regime, along with homosexuals, people with disabilities, and religious minorities were also killed. Homosexuality refers to sexual behavior with or attraction to people of the same sex or to a Homosexual orientation. Hitler's desire to create a territorial empire at the expense of Germany's neighbors was the principal cause of World War II, in which more than 60 million people died. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including

Origins and early existence: 1918–1923

Nazism
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Nazi organizations Nazi Party Sturmabteilung Schutzstaffel Hitler Youth Nazism in history Early Nazi Timeline Hitler's rise to power Nazi Germany Religion in Nazi Germany Night of the Long Knives Nuremberg Rallies Kristallnacht The Holocaust Nuremberg Trials Ex-Nazis and Neo-Nazism Nazi ideology Nazism and race Gleichschaltung Hitler's political beliefs National Socialist Program Religious aspects of Nazism Nazi propaganda Nazi architecture Mein Kampf Nazism and race Nazism and race Racial policy of Nazi Germany Nazi eugenics Doctors' Trial Nazi physicians Nazi human experimentation Nuremberg Trials Outside Germany Canadian National Socialist Unity Party German American Bund Hungarian National Socialist Party Nasjonal Samling Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging National Socialist Bloc National Socialist League National Socialist Workers’ Party of Denmark Ossewabrandwag Arrow Cross Party of Hungary Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement Related subjects Glossary of the Third Reich Neo-Nazism Esoteric Nazism Völkisch movement Lists Nazi Party leaders and officials Adolf Hitler books Adolf Hitler speeches SS personnel Living Nazis Former Nazis influential after 1945 Politics Portal   v • d • e

The party grew out of smaller political groups with a nationalist orientation that formed in the last years of World War I. Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German The, abbreviated SA, ( German for "Assault detachment" or "Assault section" usually translated as " stormtroop(ers The ( German for "Protective Squadron" abbreviated SS - or ( Runic)- was a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the For the SS division with the nickname Hitlerjugend see 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend The Hitler Youth ( German:, The early timeline of Nazism begins with its origins in 1896 and continues until Hitler's rise to power. Hitler's rise to power began with Hitler's NSDAP as a fringe political party within the government of the Weimar Republic. Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers This article gives an overview about Religion in Nazi Germany and the Nazis ' complex and sometimes contradictory relationship with religion The Night of the Long Knives (German) or " Operation Hummingbird " was a Purge that took place in Nazi Germany between June 30 and July The Nuremberg Rally (officially Reichsparteitag, meaning national party convention was the annual rally of the NSDAP (Nazi Party in the years 1923 to 1938 in Kristallnacht ( literally "Crystal night" or the Night of Broken Glass was a Pogrom in Nazi Germany on November 9–10 1938 The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as The Nuremberg Trials were a series of trials most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political military and economic leadership of Nazi Germany after In the context of this article the term ex-Nazi, or more correctly ex-Nazi Party member refers either to those few who were once Nazis and resigned from the The term neo-Nazism refers to post- World War II Political movements Social movements and ideologies seeking to revive Nazism, Nazism developed several theories concerning races They claimed to scientifically measure a strict hierarchy among "human race " at the top was the " Nordic race Gleichschaltung, meaning "coordination" "making the same" "bringing into line" is a Nazi term for the process by which the Historians and biographers note some difficulty in attributing the political beliefs of Adolf Hitler. The National Socialist Program, also referred to as the 25-point program or 25-point plan was developed to formulate the party policies of first the Austrian German Historians political scientists and even philosophers have studied Nazism with a specific focus on its Religious or semi-religious aspects Nazi propaganda is the term that describes the psychologically powerful Propaganda within Nazi Germany, much of which was centered around Jews consistently Nazi architecture was an architectural plan and integral part of the Nazi party 's plans to create a Cultural and Mein Kampf ( English: My Struggle/My Battle) is a book by Adolf Hitler. Nazism developed several theories concerning races They claimed to scientifically measure a strict hierarchy among "human race " at the top was the " Nordic race The racial policy of Nazi Germany refers to the policies and laws implemented by Nazi Germany, asserting the superiority of the so-called " Aryan race " and Nazi eugenics were Nazi Germany 's race-based social policies that placed the improvement of the race through Eugenics at the center of their The Doctors' Trial (officially United States of America v Karl Brandt et al Nazi human experimentation was a series of controversial medical experiments on large numbers of prisoners by the German Nazi regime in its Concentration The Nuremberg Trials were a series of trials most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political military and economic leadership of Nazi Germany after The Parti national social chrétien was a Canadian Political party formed by Adrien Arcand in February 1934. The German American Bund or German American Federation (German Amerikadeutscher Bund) was an American Nazi organization established in the 1930s The Hungarian National Socialist Party was a political epithet adopted by a number of minor Nazi parties in Hungary before the Second World War. Nasjonal Samling (Norwegian for "National Gathering" or "National Unification" hereafter abbreviated as NS was a fascist party in Norway The National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging in Nederland NSB was a Dutch Fascist and later national socialist National Socialist Bloc (in Swedish: Nationalsocialistiska Blocket) was a Swedish national socialist Political party formed in the Disambiguation you may be looking for the National Socialist Party (UK, a left-wing organisation The National Socialist League was a short lived political movement Danmarks Nationalsocialistiske Arbejderparti (National Socialist Workers’ Party of Denmark or DNSAP, was the largest Danish Nazi party before and during The Ossewabrandwag ("Oxwagon Sentinel" (OB was a nationalist Afrikaner organisation in South Africa, founded in Bloemfontein on February The Arrow Cross Party ( Hungarian: Nyilaskeresztes Párt – Hungarista Mozgalom, literally "Arrow Cross Party-Hungarist Movement" was a Far-right For the militiamen of the Military Frontier, see Uskoci The Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement ( Croatian: This is a list of words terms concepts and Slogans that were specifically used in Nazi Germany. The term neo-Nazism refers to post- World War II Political movements Social movements and ideologies seeking to revive Nazism, This article describes semi-religious developments of Nazism after 1945 The völkisch movement is the German interpretation of the populist movement with a romantic focus on Folklore and the "organic" A list of Nazi Party (NSDAP leaders and officials. A Gunter d'Alquen - Chief Editor of the SS official Between 1925 and 1945 the German SS grew from a mere eight members to over a quarter of a million Waffen-SS and well over a million Allgemeine-SS members In the context of this article the term ex-Nazi, or more correctly ex-Nazi Party member refers either to those few who were once Nazis and resigned from the In the context of this article the term ex-Nazi, or more correctly ex-Nazi Party member refers either to those few who were once Nazis and resigned from the The term nationalism can refer to an Ideology, a sentiment, a form of Culture, or a Social movement that focuses on the Nation World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All In the early months of 1918, a party called the Freier Ausschuss für einen deutschen Arbeiterfrieden ("Free Committee for a German Workers' Peace") was created in Bremen, Germany. Bremen (ˈbʁeːmən is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany (official name Stadtgemeinde Bremen / City Municipality of Bremen Anton Drexler, an avid German nationalist, formed a branch of this league on 7 March 1918, in Munich. Anton Drexler ( 13 June 1884 - 24 February 1942) was a German Nazi political leader of the 1920s Events 161 - Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius dies and is succeeded by co-Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus Year 1918 ( MCMXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Munich (München; Minga is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. Drexler was a local locksmith in Munich who had been a member of the militarist Fatherland Party during World War I, and was bitterly opposed to the armistice of November 1918 and to the revolutionary upheavals that followed in its wake. German Fatherland Party ( German: Deutsche Vaterlandspartei) was a pro-war party in the German Empire. The armistice treaty between the Allies and Germany was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on November 11, 1918 Drexler followed the typical views of militant nationalists of time, such as opposing the Treaty of Versailles, having anti-Semitic and anti-Marxist views, believing in the superiority of Germans who nationalists claimed to be part of the Aryan "master race" (herrenvolk) but he also accused international capitalism as being a Jewish-dominated movement and denounced capitalists for war profiteering in World War I^[1]. The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. The " Aryan race " is a concept in European culture that was influential in the period of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries The master race ( German: die Herrenrasse) is a concept in Nazi Ideology, which holds that the Germanic and Nordic World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Drexler saw the situation of political violence and instability in Germany as the result of the new Weimar Republic being out being out-of-touch with the masses, especially the lower classes. The term Weimar Republic ( ˈvaɪmarɐ repuˈbliːk is used by historians to signify the democratic and Republican period of Germany from 1919 to 1933 ^[2] Drexler emphasized the need for a synthesis of völkisch nationalism, a right-wing movement, with economic socialism to create a popular nationalist-oriented workers movement that could challenge the rise of communism, as well as the internationalist left and right in general.

On January 5, 1919, Drexler, together with Gottfried Feder, Dietrich Eckart and Karl Harrer, and twenty workers from Munich's railway shops and some others met to discuss the creation of a new political party based on the political principles which Drexler endorsed. Gottfried Feder ( 27 January 1883 – 24 September 1941) was an economist and one of the early key members of the Nazi party. Dietrich Eckart ( 23 March 1868 - 26 December 1923) was a German politician one of the important early members of the National Socialist Karl Harrer ( 8 October 1890 - 5 September 1926) was a German Journalist and politician one of the founding members of the " ^[3]. Drexler proposed that the party be named the German-Socialist Workers Party, but Harrer objected to using the term "socialist" in the name, the issue was settled by removing the term from the name, and it was agreed that the party was named the German Workers' Party (Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, DAP). The German Workers' Party ('Deutsche Arbeiterpartei', or DAP was the short-lived predecessor of the Nazi Party (German Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei ^[4]. To ease concerns among potential right-wing nationalist supporters, Drexler made clear that unlike Marxists, the party supported middle-class citizens, and that the party's socialist policy was meant to give social welfare to German citizens deemed part of the Aryan race. "Social welfare" redirects here For other uses see Welfare A social welfare provision refers to any program which seeks to provide ^[5] The became one of many völkisch movements that existed in Germany at the time. The völkisch movement is the German interpretation of the populist movement with a romantic focus on Folklore and the "organic" Like other völkisch groups, the DAP advocated the belief that Germany should become a unified "national community" (Volksgemeinschaft) rather than a society divided along class and party lines. This ideology was explicitly anti-Semitic as it declared that the "national community" must be judenfrei ("free of Jews").

From the outset, the DAP was violently opposed to non-nationalist political movements, especially on the left, including the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and particularly to the newly-formed Communist Party of Germany (KPD). The Communist Party of Germany ( German Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands &ndash KPD) was a major political party in Germany between 1918 Members of the DAP saw themselves as fighting against "Bolshevism" and anyone considered to be part of or aiding so-called "international Jewry". The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists ( Большевик Большевист (singular, derived from bolshe, "more" were a faction An antisemitic canard is a deliberately false story inciting Antisemitism.

Although officially called a political party, the DAP was a tiny group with fewer than 60 members. Nevertheless, it attracted the attention of the German authorities, who were suspicious of any organisation that appeared to have subversive tendencies. A young corporal, Adolf Hitler, was sent by German army intelligence to investigate the DAP. While attending a party meeting, Hitler got involved in a heated political argument and made an impression on the other party members with his oratory skills. He was invited to join and, after some deliberation, chose to accept. Among the party's earlier members were Rudolf Hess, Hans Frank and Alfred Rosenberg, all later prominent in the Nazi regime. Rudolf Walter Richard Hess ( Heß in German) (26 April 1894 &ndash 17 August 1987 was a prominent figure in Nazi Germany, acting as Adolf Hitler Hans Michael Frank ( May 23 1900 &ndash October 16 1946) was a German Lawyer who worked for the Nazi party (12 January 1893 16 October 1946 was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi Party.

Hitler became the 55th member of the DAP,^[6] but he later claimed to be member number seven (he was in fact the seventh executive member of the party's central committee). Over the following months, the DAP continued to attract new members, while remaining too small to have any real significance in German politics. On 24 February 1920, the party added "National Socialist" to its official name, becoming the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), although Hitler earlier suggested the party to be renamed the "Social Revolutionary Party"; it was Rudolf Jung who persuaded Hitler to follow the NSDAP naming. Events 303 - Galerius, Roman Emperor, publishes his edict that begins the persecution of Christians in his portion of the Year 1920 ( MCMXX) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display 1920 of the Gregorian calendar Rudolf Jung ( April 16, 1882 - December 11, 1945) was an instrumental force and agitator of German-Czech National Socialism and later ^[7]

Hitler soon discovered that he had talent as an orator, and his ability to draw new members, combined with his characteristic ruthlessness, soon made him the dominant figure in a small party. This was recognised by Drexler, and Hitler became party chairman on 28 July 1921. Events 1540 - Thomas Cromwell is executed at the order of Henry VIII of England on charges of Treason. Year 1921 ( MCMXXI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1921 calendar of the Gregorian calendar When the party had been first established, it consisted of a Leadership Board elected by the members, which in turn elected a Board Chairman. Hitler soon scrapped this arrangement. He acquired the title Führer ("leader") and, after a series of sharp internal conflicts, it was accepted that the party would be governed by the Führerprinzip ("leader principle"): Hitler was the sole leader of the party and he alone decided its policies and strategy. The, German for "leader principle" prescribes a system with a hierarchy of leaders that resembles a military structure Hitler at this time saw the party as a revolutionary organization, whose aim was the violent overthrow of the Weimar Republic, which he saw as controlled by the socialists, Jews and the "November criminals" who had betrayed the German soldiers in 1918. The term Weimar Republic ( ˈvaɪmarɐ repuˈbliːk is used by historians to signify the democratic and Republican period of Germany from 1919 to 1933 The stab-in-the-back legend ( German:, literally "Dagger stab legend" refers to a social Myth theory popular in Germany in the period after The SA (also known as "Brownshirts" or "storm troopers") were founded as a party militia in 1921 and began violent attacks on other parties. The, abbreviated SA, ( German for "Assault detachment" or "Assault section" usually translated as " stormtroop(ers

Unlike Drexler and other party members, Hitler was less interested in the "socialist" aspect of "national socialism". Himself of provincial lower-middle-class origins, he disliked the mass working class of the big cities, and had no sympathy with the notions of attacking private property or the business class (which some early Nazis espoused). For Hitler the twin goals of the party were always German nationalist expansionism and anti-Semitism. 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 against the Jews. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 ^[8] Although the party's 1925 program made some rhetorical concessions to the socialist element, this was never central to the party's policies. For Hitler and his principal lieutenants, national and racial issues were always dominant. This was symbolised by the adoption as the party emblem of the swastika or Hakenkreuz, at the time widely used in the western world. The swastika (from Sanskrit: svástika sa स्वस्तिक Hindu IS CORRECT if 'ि' is positioned incorrectly see -->) is Swastika ( Gammadion, " Fylfot " Symbol became a popular symbol of luck in the Western world in the early 20th century In German nationalist circles, the swastika was considered a symbol of an "Aryan race". The " Aryan race " is a concept in European culture that was influential in the period of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

During 1921 and 1922 the Nazi Party grew significantly, 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, small businessmen and disaffected former members of rival parties. The Hitler Youth was formed for the children of party members, although it remained small until the late 1920s. For the SS division with the nickname Hitlerjugend see 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend The Hitler Youth ( German:, The party also formed groups in other parts of Germany. Julius Streicher in Nuremberg was an early recruit. Julius Streicher ( February 12, 1885 &ndash October 16, 1946) was a prominent Nazi prior to World War II. Others to join the party at this time were former army officer Ernst Röhm, who became head of the SA, World War I flying ace Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler. Ernst Julius Röhm, (Munich November 28, 1887 – July 2, 1934) was a German military officer and later the commander and co-founder Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Goering) (12 January 1893 15 October 1946 was a German Politician, Military leader and a leading member Heinrich Luitpold Himmler ( 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945 was a Nazi German politician and head of the Schutzstaffel (SS. In December 1920 the party acquired a newspaper, the Völkischer Beobachter. The Völkischer Beobachter (" Völkisch Observer" or less strictly "People's Observer" was the newspaper of the National

In 1922, a party with similar policies and objectives came into power in Italy, the National Fascist Party under the leadership of the charismatic Benito Mussolini. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest The National Fascist Party ( Partito Nazionale Fascista; PNF was an Italian party created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of The Italian Fascists used a straight-armed Roman salute and wore black-shirted uniforms. The Roman salute is a gesture in which the arm is held out forward straight with palm down Hitler was inspired by Mussolini and the Fascists and borrowed their use of the straight-armed salute as a Nazi salute. When the Fascists came to power in 1922 in Italy through their coup attempt called the "March on Rome", Hitler began planning his own coup which would materialize one year later. The March on Rome ( Marcia su Roma) was a Coup d'état by which Mussolini 's National Fascist Party ( Partito Nazionale Fascista

In January 1923 France occupied the Ruhr industrial region as a result of Germany's failure to meet its reparations payments. The Ruhr is a medium-size River in western Germany ( North Rhine-Westphalia) a right tributary (east-side of the Rhine. World War I reparations refers to the payments and transfers of property and equipment that the German country was forced to make under the Treaty of Versailles (1919 following This led to economic chaos, the resignation of Wilhelm Cuno's government and an attempt by the Communist Party (KPD) to stage a revolution. Wilhelm Cuno ( 2 July 1876 &ndash 3 January 1933) was a German Politician who was the Chancellor of Germany The reaction to these events was an upsurge of nationalist sentiment. Nazi Party membership grew sharply, to about 20,000. ^[9] By November, Hitler had decided that the time was right for an attempt to seize power in Munich, in the hope that the Reichswehr (the post-war German army) would mutiny against the Berlin government and join his revolt. The Reichswehr ( German for "National Defence" formed the military organisation of Germany from 1919 until 1935 when it was In this he was influenced by former General Erich Ludendorff, who had become a supporter though not a member of the Nazis. Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff (sometimes given incorrectly as von Ludendorff) (9 April 1865–20 December 1937 was a German Army officer, Generalquartiermeister

On the night of 8 November, the Nazis used a patriotic rally in a Munich beer hall to launch an attempted putsch (coup d'état). Events 1519 - Hernán Cortés enters Tenochtitlán and Aztec ruler Moctezuma welcomes him with great a Celebration The so-called Beer hall putsch attempt failed almost at once when the local Reichswehr commanders refused to support it. The Beer Hall Putsch (also known as the Munich Putsch) was a failed Coup d'état that occurred between the evening of Thursday November 8 On the morning of 9 November the Nazis staged a march of about 2,000 supporters through Munich in an attempt to rally support. Events 694 - Egica, a king of the Visigoths of Hispania, accuses Jews of aiding Muslims sentencing all Troops opened fire and 16 Nazis were killed. 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 manifesto Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"). Mein Kampf ( English: My Struggle/My Battle) is a book by Adolf Hitler. ^[10]

Meanwhile the Nazi Party ceased to officially exist as it was banned, though with support of the nationalist Volkish Social Bloc, the Nazi party continued to operate under the name of the "German Party" (Deutsche Partei or DP) from 1924 to 1925. ^[11] The Nazis failed to remain unified in the German Party, as in the north, the right-wing Volkish nationalist supporters of the Nazis moved to the new German Volkish Freedom Party, leaving the north's left-wing Nazi members, such as Joseph Goebbels retaining support for the party. The völkisch movement is the German interpretation of the populist movement with a romantic focus on Folklore and the "organic" Paul Joseph Goebbels (German pronunciation ˈɡœbəls English generally ˈɡɝbəlz (29 October 1897 1 May 1945 was a German politician and Reich Minister of Public ^[12]

Rise to power: 1925–1933

Adolf Hitler was released in December 1924. In the following year he effectively re-founded and reorganized the Nazi Party, with himself as its undisputed Leader. The new Nazi Party was no longer a paramilitary organization, 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. 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 emphasized. In a sign of this, the party began to admit women. The SA and the SS (founded in April 1925 as Hitler's bodyguard, commanded by Himmler) were described as "support groups", and all members of these groups had first to become regular party members. The ( German for "Protective Squadron" abbreviated SS - or ( Runic)- was a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the

The party's nominal Deputy Leader was Rudolf Hess, but he had no real power in the party. Rudolf Walter Richard Hess ( Heß in German) (26 April 1894 &ndash 17 August 1987 was a prominent figure in Nazi Germany, acting as Adolf Hitler By the early 1930s the senior leaders of the party after Hitler were Himmler, Goebbels and Göring. Beneath the Leadership Corps were the party's regional leaders, the Gauleiter, each of whom commanded the party in his Gau ("region"). A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP (more commonly known as the Nazi Party) or the head of a Gau or of a There were 98 Gaue for Germany and an additional seven for Austria, the Sudetenland (in Czechoslovakia), Danzig and the Saarland (then under French occupation). Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich Sudetenland ( Czech and Polish: Sudety) is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the western regions of Czechoslovakia may also refer to what is now the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Gdańsk ( Polish pronunciation; 'Danzig', Gduńsk Gedania Dantiscum is the City at the centre of the fourth-largest Metropolitan area in Poland Saarland (ˈzaːɐ̯lant in German; French: Sarre) is one of the 16 federal states (German Bundesländer) of Germany. Joseph Goebbels began his ascent through the party hierarchy as Gauleiter of Berlin-Brandenburg in 1926. Paul Joseph Goebbels (German pronunciation ˈɡœbəls English generally ˈɡɝbəlz (29 October 1897 1 May 1945 was a German politician and Reich Minister of Public Streicher was Gauleiter of Franconia, where he published his anti-Semitic newspaper Der Stürmer. Franconia (Franken is a historic region of Germany comprising the northern parts of the modern state of Bavaria and the area to its immediate west Der Stürmer (literally "The Stormer" more accurately "The Attacker" was a weekly Nazi Newspaper published by Julius Streicher Beneath the Gauleiter were lower-level officials, the Kreisleiter ("county leaders"), Zellenleiter ("cell leaders") and Blockleiter ("block leaders"). A Blockleiter ( block leader) was the lowest official of the NSDAP, responsible for the political supervision of a neighbourhood or City block 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. The SA was composed largely of unemployed workers, and many SA men took the Nazis' socialist rhetoric seriously. At this time the Nazi salute (borrowed from the Italian fascists) and the greeting "Heil Hitler!" were adopted throughout the party. The Hitler salute (Hitlergruß also known in Germany during World War II as the Deutscher Gruß (literally German Greeting) or in English as the The term Italian Fascism denotes the totalitarian Fascismo political movement that ruled Italy from 1922 until 1943 under leader Benito Mussolini

NSDAP election poster in Vienna in 1930. Vienna ( in Wien; see also other names) is the Capital of Austria, and is also one of the nine States of Austria. Translation: "We demand freedom and bread".

The Nazis contested elections to the national parliament, the Reichstag, and to the state legislatures, the Landtags, from 1924, although at first with little success. The Reichstag ( German for "Imperial Diet " was the Parliament of the Holy Roman Empire, the North German Confederation, A Landtag ( Diet) is a representative assembly or Parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority The "National-Socialist Freedom Movement" polled 3% of the vote in the December 1924 Reichstag elections, and this fell to 2. The 4th German federal parliament elections of December 1924 ( Weimar Republic) 6% in 1928. The 1928 or 5th federal election in Germany, which occurred on May 20 came one year after the ban on Adolf Hitler participating in political activities was 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 treasurer Franz Xaver Schwarz and business manager Max Amann. Philipp Bouhler ( 11 September 1899 - 19 May 1945) was a Nazi German government official SS-Obergruppenführer head of the Führer's Franz Xaver Schwarz ( 27 November, 1875 - 2 December, 1947) was a German politician who served as Reichsschatzmeister (National Treasurer Max Amann ( November 24 1891 - March 30 1957) was a Nazi official with the honorary rank of The party also had a very capable propaganda head in Gregor Strasser, who was promoted to national organisational leader in January 1928. Gregor Strasser (also Straßer, see ß) ( May 31, 1892 &ndash June 30, 1934) was a Politician of the German These men gave the party efficient recruitment and organisational structures. The party also owed its growth to the gradual fading away of competitor nationalist groups, such as the DNVP. The German National People's Party (Deutschnationale Volkspartei DNVP was a national-conservative party in Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic As Hitler became the recognised head of the German nationalists, other groups declined or were absorbed.

1932 election poster: "Wir Arbeiter sind erwacht -- Wir wählen Nationalsozialisten — Liste 2 "We labourers have awoken -- We vote National-Socialists -- List 2"

The party also expanded successfully in the 1920s beyond its Bavarian base. In fact Catholic Bavaria and Westphalia, along with working-class "Red Berlin", were always the Nazis' weakest areas electorally, and even during the Third Reich itself. Westphalia (Westfalen) is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Bielefeld, Bochum, Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen, Münster The areas of strongest Nazi support were in rural Protestant areas, such as Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pomerania and East Prussia. is the northernmost of the 16 ''Bundesländer'' in Germany. The former English name was Sleswick-Holsatia the Danish name is Mecklenburg ( Low German: Mekelnborg) is a region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern East Prussia (Ostpreußen; Rytų Prūsija or Rytprūsiai; Prusy Wschodnie Восточная Пруссия or Vostochnaya Prussiya) refers to the main part Depressed working-class areas such as Thuringia also gave a strong Nazi vote, while the workers of the Ruhr and Hamburg largely remained loyal to the SPD, the KPD or the Catholic Centre Party. The Free State of Thuringia (Freistaat Thüringen is located in central Germany. The Ruhr is a medium-size River in western Germany ( North Rhine-Westphalia) a right tributary (east-side of the Rhine. Hamburg (English, German: ˈhambʊɐk local pronunciation Low German / Low Saxon: Hamborg) is the second-largest city in Germany Nuremberg remained a party stronghold, and the first Nuremberg rally was held there in 1927. The Nuremberg Rally (officially Reichsparteitag, meaning national party convention was the annual rally of the NSDAP (Nazi Party in the years 1923 to 1938 in These rallies soon became massive displays of Nazi paramilitary power, and attracted many recruits. The Nazis' strongest appeal was to the lower middle-class – farmers, public servants, teachers, small businessmen – who had suffered most from the inflation of the 1920s and who feared Bolshevism more than anything else. The small business class were receptive to Hitler's anti-Semitism, since they blamed Jewish big business for their economic problems. University students, disappointed at being too young to have served in World War I and attracted by the Nazis' radical rhetoric, also became a strong Nazi constituency. By 1929 the party had 130,000 members. ^[13]

Despite these strengths, the Nazi Party might never have come to power had it not been for the Great Depression: By 1930 the German economy was beset with mass unemployment and widespread business failures. The SPD and the KPD parties 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 the Bolsheviks (also controlled by the Jews) resonated with wide sections of the electorate. At the September 1930 Reichstag elections the Nazis won 18. The 6th German federal election occurred on 14 September 1930 during the Weimar Republic. 3% of the vote and became the second-largest party in the Reichstag after the SPD. Hitler proved to be a highly effective campaigner, pioneering the use of radio and aircraft for this purpose. His dismissal of Strasser and appointment of Goebbels as the party’s propaganda chief was a major factor. While Strasser had used his position to promote his own version of national socialism, Goebbels was totally loyal to Hitler and worked only to burnish 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 SPD and the Zentrum, whose leader, Heinrich Brüning, headed a weak minority government. Dr Heinrich Brüning ( ( November 26, 1885 &ndash March 30, 1970) was a German Politician during the Weimar Republic The inability of the democratic parties to form a united front, the self-imposed isolation of the KPD and the continued decline of the economy all played into Hitler's hands. He now came to be seen as de facto leader of the opposition, and donations poured into the Nazi Party's coffers. Some major business figures such as Fritz Thyssen were Nazi supporters and gave generously,^[14] but many other businessmen were suspicious of the extreme nationalist tendencies of the Nazis and preferred to support the traditional conservative parties instead. Friedrich "Fritz" Thyssen ( November 9, 1873, Mülheim an der Ruhr &ndash February 8, 1951, Martínez, San ^[15]

During 1931 and into 1932 Germany's political crisis deepened. In March 1932 Hitler ran for President against the incumbent President Paul von Hindenburg, polling 30. Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg ( known universally as Paul von Hindenburg ( ( October 2, 1847 &ndash August 2 1% in the first round and 36. 8% in the second. By now the SA had 400,000 members and its running street battles with the SPD and KPD 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 anti-Semitism 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 the Treaty of Versailles, and to save Germany from communism. The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I.

At the July 1932 Reichstag election the Nazis made another leap forward, polling 37. The 7th German federal election of July 1932, under the Weimar Republic, saw the Nazis become the biggest party in the Reichstag, although 4% and becoming the largest party in the Reichstag by a wide margin. Furthermore, the Nazis and the KPD 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. Under Stalin's directives, the KPD maintained its policy of treating the SPD as the main enemy, calling them "social fascists", thereby splintering opposition to the Nazis. Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party Social fascism was a theory supported by the Communist International (Comintern during the late 1920s and early 1930s which stated that Social democracy was a variant Later, both the SPD and the KPD accused each other of having facilitated Hitler's rise to power by their unwillingness to compromise.

Chancellor Franz von Papen called another Reichstag election in November, hoping to find a way out of this impasse. (29 October 1879 2 May 1969 was a German nobleman Catholic monarchist Politician, General Staff officer and Diplomat The result was the same, with the Nazis and the KPD winning 50% of the vote between them and more than half the seats, rendering this Reichstag no more workable than its predecessor. But support for the Nazis fell 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 successor Kurt von Schleicher and the nationalist press magnate Alfred Hugenberg spent December and January in political intrigues which eventually persuaded President Hindenburg that it was safe to appoint Hitler Reich Chancellor at the head of a cabinet which included only a minority of Nazi ministers, which he did on 30 January 1933. Alfred Hugenberg (19 June 1865 - 12 March 1951 was an influential German Businessman and Politician. Events 1648 - Eighty Years' War: The Treaty of Münster is signed ending the conflict between the Netherlands and Spain Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

Upon becoming Chancellor, Hitler immediately public addressed rumours that were circulating that claimed that his government may restore the Hohenzollern monarchy. ^[16] Hitler responded with an aggressive rejection of the notion, even going as far to claim that monarchists were "more dangerous than Communists!"^[17] and warned monarchists "to keep their hands off" of Germany. "^[18] This demonstrated Hitler's determination to become the sole ruler of Germany.

In power: 1933–1945

The flag of the NSDAP, which became one of two official German national flags in 1933 (the other being the Imperial black-white-red tri-color). In 1935, the flag became Germany's sole national flag until 1945.

On 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building was set on fire. Events 1560 - The Treaty of Berwick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. This Reichstag fire was promptly blamed on a communist conspiracy, and used as an excuse by the Nazis to close the KPD's offices, ban its press and arrest its leaders. On 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building was subject to an arson attack and as a result seen as the pivotal event in the establishment of Nazi Germany Furthermore, Hitler convinced President von Hindenburg to sign the "Reichstag Fire Decree", suspending most of the human rights provided for by the 1919 constitution of the Weimar Republic. The Reichstag Fire Decree (Reichstagsbrandverordnung is the common name of the Order of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State issued by German president Human rights refers to the "basic Rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled For a detailed discussion of the English translation of Reich, see Reich. The term Weimar Republic ( ˈvaɪmarɐ repuˈbliːk is used by historians to signify the democratic and Republican period of Germany from 1919 to 1933 A further decree enabled preventive detention of all communist leaders, amongst many thousands of others.

Since the new government lacked a majority in parliament, Hitler held a new election in March of 1933. With the communists eliminated, the Nazis dominated the election with 43. 9%, and with their Nationalist (DNVP) allies, achieved a parliamentary majority (51. 8%).

A further decisive step in the Nazi seizure of power (Gleichschaltung) was the "Enabling Act", which granted the cabinet (and therefore Hitler) legislative powers. Gleichschaltung, meaning "coordination" "making the same" "bringing into line" is a Nazi term for the process by which the The Enabling Act ( in German) was passed by the Reichstag ( Germany 's parliament on March 23, 1933 and signed The Enabling Act effectively abolished the separation of powers, which was a basic principle enshrined in the German Constitution. Separation of powers, a term ascribed to French Enlightenment Political philosopher Baron de Montesquieu, is a model for the Governance As such, the Act represented an amendment to the Constitution and required a two-thirds majority in parliament in order to pass. Hitler needed the votes of the Centre Party, which he obtained after promising certain guarantees to the Centre's chairman (Ludwig Kaas). The German Centre Party ( Deutsche Zentrumspartei or merely Zentrum) was a Catholic political party in Germany during the Kaiserreich Prelate Ludwig Kaas ( 23 May 1881 &ndash 15 April 1952) was a Roman Catholic priest, and a prominent German The Centre Party's thirty-one votes, added to the votes of the fragmented middle-class parties, the Nationalists, and the NSDAP itself, gave Hitler the right to rule by decree and to further suspend many civil liberties. The communists were naturally opposed to the Enabling Act; but the KPD could not vote against it, since it had been banned. This left the SPD as the sole party in the Reichstag who stood against the Act, but their votes were not sufficient to block the Act's passing. As punishment for their dissent, the Social Democrats became the second party banned by the Nazis (on 22 June), following the move of their leadership to Prague. Events 217 BC - Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom. Prague (ˈprɑːg Praha (ˈpraɦa see also other names) is the Capital and Largest city of the Czech Republic.

The Enabling Act, termed for four years, gave the government the power to enact laws without parliamentary approval, to enact foreign treaties abroad and even to make changes to the Constitution. The Nazis did not keep their promises to their political allies, quickly banning all other parties just as they had banned the communists and socialists. Following this, the Nazi government banned the formation of new parties on 14 July 1933, turning Germany into a one-party state. Events 1223 - Louis VIII becomes King of France upon the death of his father Philip II of France. Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a type of Party system Government in which a single Political party Hitler kept the Reichstag as a rubber stamp parliament, while the Reichsrat, though never abolished, was stripped of any effective power. A rubber stamp, as a political metaphor, refers to a person or institution with De jure considerable formal power but little De facto power one that rarely The Reichsrat was one of the two legislative bodies in Germany under the Weimar constitution, the other one being the Reichstag. The legislative bodies of the German states soon followed in the same manner, with the German federal government taking over most state and local legislative powers.

Hitler also tried to incorporate the Churches into his new regime. On 23 March 1933 he had called them "most important factors" for the maintenance of German well-being. Events 1174 - Jocelin, Abbot of Melrose, is elected Bishop of Glasgow. Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. In regard to the Roman Catholic Church, he proposed a Reichskonkordat between Germany and the Holy See, that was signed in July. The Reichskonkordat is the Concordat between the Holy See and Nazi Germany. History See also History of the Papacy Catholics recognize the Pope as a successor to Saint Peter, who Jesus named as the "shepherd" and In regard to the Protestant Church, he used church elections to push the Nazi-inspired "German Christians" to power. This, however, provoked the internal opposition of the "Confessing Church". The Confessing Church (Bekennende Kirche was a Christian Resistance movement in Nazi Germany.

Membership of the Hitler Youth was made compulsory for German teenagers, and served as a conveyor belt to party membership. But the Nazi Party did not immediately purge the state administration of all opponents. The career civil service was left in place, and only gradually were its senior levels taken over by Nazis. In some places people who were opposed to the Nazi regime retained their positions for a long time. Examples included Johannes Popitz, finance minister of the largest German state, Prussia, until 1944 and an active oppositionist, and Ernst von Weizsäcker, under-secretary of state at the Foreign Ministry, who protected a resistance network in his ministry. Johannes Popitz ( 2 December 1884 &ndash 2 February 1945) was a Prussian Finance minister and a member of the German Prussia ( Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Prūsija Prūsija Prusy Old Prussian: Prūsa) was most recently a historic state Ernst Freiherr von Weizsäcker ( 25 May 1882 &ndash 4 August 1951) was a German Diplomat and convicted War criminal The armed forces banned party membership and retained their independence for some years.

Nevertheless the period 1933–39 saw the gradual fusion of the Nazi Party and the German state, as the party arrogated more and more power to itself at the expense of professional civil servants. This led to increasing inefficiency and confusion in administration, which was compounded by Hitler’s deliberate policy of preventing any of his underlings accumulating too much power, and of dividing responsibility among a plethora of state and party bureaucracies, many of which had overlapping functions. This administrative muddle later had severe consequences. Many party officials also lapsed rapidly into corruption, taking their lead from Göring, who looted and plundered both state property and wealth appropriated from the Jews. By the mid-1930s the party as an institution was increasingly unpopular with the German public, although this did not affect the personal standing of Hitler, who maintained a powerful hold over the great majority of the German people until at least 1943.

The SA under Röhm's leadership soon became a major problem for the party. Many of the 700,000 members of this well-armed working-class militia took the "socialist" element of "national socialism" seriously, and soon began to demand that the Nazi regime broaden its attack from SPD and KPD activists and Jews to also include the capitalist system. In addition, Röhm and his associates saw the SA as the army of the new revolutionary Nazi state, replacing the old aristocratic officer corps. The army was still outside party control, and Hitler feared that it might stage a putsch if its leaders felt threatened with an SA take-over. The business community was also alarmed by the SA’s socialist rhetoric, with which, as noted earlier, Hitler had no sympathy.

In June 1934, therefore, Hitler, using the SS and Gestapo under Himmler's command, staged a coup against the SA, having Röhm and about 700 others killed. The ( contraction of ge heime Sta ats' po' lizei: "Secret State Police" was the official Secret police of Nazi Germany This Night of the Long Knives broke the power of the SA, while greatly increasing the power of Himmler and the SS, who emerged as the real executive arm of the Nazi Party. The Night of the Long Knives (German) or " Operation Hummingbird " was a Purge that took place in Nazi Germany between June 30 and July The business community was reassured and largely reconciled to Nazi rule. The army leaders were so grateful that the Defence Minister, Werner von Blomberg, who was not a Nazi, on his own initiative had all army members swear a personal oath to Hitler as "führer" of the German state. Werner Eduard Fritz von Blomberg (2 September 1878 - 14 March 1946 was a leading member of the German Army until January 1938 These events marked a decisive turning point in the Nazi take-over of Germany. The borders between the party and the state became increasingly blurred, and Hitler's personal will increasingly had the force of law, although the independence of the state bureaucracy was never completely eclipsed.

The effect of the purge of the SA was to redirect the energies of the Nazi Party away from social issues and towards racial enemies, namely the Jews, whose civil, economic and political rights were steadily restricted, culminating in the passage of the Nuremberg Laws of September 1935, which stripped them of their citizenship and banned marriage and sexual relations between Jews and "Aryans". The Nuremberg Laws ( German: Nürnberger Gesetze) of 1935 were denaturalization laws passed in Nazi Germany. After a lull in anti-Semitic agitation during 1936 and 1937 (partly because of the 1936 Olympic Games), the Nazis returned to the attack in November 1938, launching the pogrom known as Kristallnacht ("Night of Broken Glass"), in which at least 100 Jews were killed and 30,000 arrested and sent to concentration camps, and thousands of Jewish homes, businesses, synagogues and community facilities were attacked and burned. The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, an International Multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin A pogrom is a form of Riot directed against a particular group whether ethnic religious or other and characterized by destruction of their Homes Businesses Kristallnacht ( literally "Crystal night" or the Night of Broken Glass was a Pogrom in Nazi Germany on November 9–10 1938 Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people commonly in large groups without trial A synagogue (from Greek: grc συναγωγή transliterated synagogē, "assembly" he בית כנסת beit knesset, "house of This satisfied the party radicals for a while, but the regional party bosses remained a persistent lobby for more radical action against the Jews, until they were finally deported to their deaths in 1942 and 1943.

Paradoxically, the more completely the Nazi regime dominated German society, the less relevant the Nazi Party became as an organization within the regime's power structure. Hitler's rule was highly personalised, and the power of his subordinates such as Himmler and Goebbels depended on Hitler's favour and their success in interpreting his desires rather than on their nominal positions within the party. The party had no governing body or formal decision-making process – no Politburo, no Central Committee, no Party Congresses. Politburo, short for Political Bureau, Russian Politicheskoye Buro, is the executive organization for a number of Political parties, most notably The "party chancellery" headed by Hess theoretically ran the party, but in reality it had no influence because Hess himself was a marginal figure within the regime. It was not until 1941, when Hess flew off on a quixotic "peace mission" to Britain, and was succeeded by Martin Bormann, that the party chancellery regained its power – but this was mainly because Hitler had a high opinion of Bormann and allowed him to act as his political secretary. Quixotism is the description of a person or an act that is caught up in the romance of noble deeds and the pursuit of unreachable goals Martin Ludwig Bormann (17 June 1900 – 2 May 1945 Real power in the regime was exercised by an axis of Hitler's office, Himmler's SS and Goebbels's Propaganda Ministry.

War and eclipse

With the outbreak of war in 1939, the party to some extent came back into its own, particularly after 1941 as the war dragged on and the military situation began to turn against Germany. As Hitler withdrew from domestic matters to concentrate on military matters, leaving no one in a position to make decisions, civil administration ground to a halt and the German state became steadily more disorganized and ineffective. In these circumstances the Gauleiters, who were nearly all old-guard Nazis and fanatical Hitler loyalists, increasingly took control of rationing, labour direction, the allocation of housing, air-raid protection and the issuing of the multiplicity of permits Germans needed to carry on their lives and businesses. They served to some extent as ombudsmen for the citizenry against a remote and ineffective state. An ombudsman ( English plural conventionally ombudsmen) is an official usually (but not always appointed by the government or by parliament who is charged with They also agitated for the removal of the remaining Jews from Germany, using the shortage of housing in German cities as a result of Allied bombing as a pretext. As the Allied armies closed in on Germany, the Gauleiters often took charge of last-ditch resistance: Karl Hanke's prolonged defence of Breslau was an outstanding example. Karl August Hanke ( 24 August 1903 - 8 June 1945) was an official of the National Socialist German Workers Party ( Nazi Party or Wrocław (Breslau Vratislav Vratislavia or Wratislavia Yiddish: ברעסלוי) is the chief City of the historical region of Lower Silesia In Berlin the teenagers of the Hitler Youth, under the direction of their fanatical leader Artur Axmann, fought and died in large numbers against the invading Soviet armies. Artur Axmann ( 18 February 1913 in Hagen &ndash 24 October 1996 in Berlin) was leader of the Hitler Youth from 1940 through

The army was the last area of the German state to succumb to the Nazi Party, and it never did so entirely. The pre-1933 Reichswehr had banned its members joining political parties, and this was maintained for some time after 1933. Nazis of military age joined the Waffen SS, the military wing of the SS. The Waffen-SS ( German for "Armed SS" literally "Weapons SS" was the Combat arm of the Schutzstaffel ("Protective Squadron" But in 1938 both Defence Minister Blomberg and the army chief of staff, General Werner von Fritsch, were removed from office after trumped-up scandals. Werner Freiherr (Baron von Fritsch ( 4 August 1880 &ndash 22 September 1939) was a prominent Wehrmacht officer member of the Hitler made himself Defence Minister, and the new army leaders, Generals Franz Halder and Walther von Brauchitsch, were in awe of Hitler and unable to openly oppose his will. Franz Ritter Halder ( June 30 1884 &ndash April 2 1972) was a German General and the head of the Army General Heinrich Alfred Hermann Walther von Brauchitsch ( 4 October 1881 &ndash 18 October 1948) was an aristocratic German field Nevertheless Halder actively supported unsuccessful plans to stage a coup and remove Hitler from power during the 1938 crisis over Czechoslovakia, and again in 1939. Czechoslovakia may also refer to what is now the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Brauchitsch knew of these plans but would not support them. Only after 1939 the ban on Nazis joining the German Army -- traditionally a stronghold of Protestant monarchist conservatism opposed to any mass political movements -- was lifted, and a number of generals, notably Walther von Reichenau and Walter Model, became fanatical Nazis. Walter von Reichenau ( October 8, 1884 &ndash January 17, 1942) was a German Generalfeldmarschall. Otto Moritz Walter Model ('modəl (24 January 1891 – 21 April 1945 was a German general and later field marshal during World War II. It was not until 1944 that a group of officers opposed to the Nazi regime staged a serious attempt to overthrow Hitler in the July 20 plot, but they never had the full support of the officer corps. The German Navy however was always firmly loyal to Hitler and its commander, Karl Dönitz, was Hitler's designated successor in 1945. Karl Dönitz (ˈdøːnɪts) (16 September 1891 &ndash 24 December 1980 was a German naval Commander who served

By 1945 the Nazi Party and the Nazi state were no longer capable of separation. When the German armies surrendered to the Allies in May 1945 and the German state ceased to exist, the Nazi Party, despite its 8. 5 million nominal members and its nation-wide organisational structure, also ceased to exist. Its most fanatical members either killed themselves, fled Germany or were arrested. The rank-and-file burned their party cards and sought to blend back into German society as quickly as possible. By the end of the war Nazism had been reduced to little more than loyalty to the person of Adolf Hitler, and his death released most Nazis from their oaths and any desire to keep the party alive. In his Political Testament, Hitler appointed Bormann "Party Minister", but nominated no successor as leader of the party -- a recognition that a Nazi Party without Hitler had no basis for existence. The Nazi Party was formally banned by the Allied occupation authorities and an extensive process of denazification was carried out to remove former Nazis from the administration, judiciary, universities, schools and press of occupied Germany. Denazification (Entnazifizierung was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society culture press economy judiciary and politics of any There was virtually no resistance or attempt to organize a Nazi underground. By the time normal political life resumed in western Germany in 1949, Nazism was effectively extinct. West Germany ( Inf German: Westdeutschland or West-Deutschland) was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany ( In eastern Germany, the new Communist authorities took their vengeance on any former high-ranking Nazis that they could find, and the survival of any kind of Nazi movement was out of the question. The German Democratic Republic ( GDR; Deutsche Demokratische Republik DDR; commonly known in English as East Germany) was a Socialist state

Since 1949 there have been several attempts to organise ultra-nationalist parties in Germany, but none of these parties were overtly Nazi or tried to use the symbols and slogans of the Nazi Party. The German Reich Party (Deutsche Reichspartei, DRP), containing many former Nazis, had five members in the first Bundestag elected in 1949, but they were defeated in 1953. The Deutsche Reichspartei ( German Reich Party, German Imperial Party or German Empire Party) was a Nationalist Political party The Bundestag ("Federal Diet " or "Lower House of German Parliament" is the Parliament of Germany. By the 1960s its chairman Adolf von Thadden realised it had no future and it was wound up in 1964. Adolf von Thadden (July 7 1921&ndashJuly 16 1996 in Bad Oeynhausen) was a leading Far right German politician Thadden (whose half-sister Elisabeth von Thadden was executed by the Nazis for her role in the German Resistance), then formed a new, broader party, the National Democratic Party of Germany (Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands, NPD), which still exists, led today by Udo Voigt. Elisabeth Adelheid Hildegard von Thadden ( 29 July 1890 in Mohrungen East Prussia, now Morąg, Poland – 9 September The German Resistance refers to those individuals and groups in Nazi Germany who opposed the regime of Adolf Hitler between 1933 and 1945 The National Democratic Party of Germany (Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands NPD is a German pan-German nationalist and White nationalist political Udo Voigt (born 1952 in Viersen) is a German politician and leader of the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany since 1996 The NPD has survived several attempts to have it banned by the Federal Constitutional Court as a neo-Nazi party. The Federal Constitutional Court (in German: Bundesverfassungsgericht BVerfG) is a special Court established by the Basic Law for the Federal Republic It has occasionally won seats in the Landtags of several German states, primarily in the territories of the former German Democratic Republic, but has never reached the 5% threshold needed to win seats in the Bundestag. The German Democratic Republic ( GDR; Deutsche Demokratische Republik DDR; commonly known in English as East Germany) was a Socialist state The NPD had 5,300 registered party members in 2004, and its main platform is opposition to immigration.

Party composition

General membership

The general membership of the Nazi Party, known as the Parteimitglieder, mainly consisted of the urban and rural lower middle classes. In developed nations across the earth the lower middle class, is a sub-division of the greater Middle class which constitutes by far the largest socio-economic class 7% belonged to the upper class, another 7% were peasants, 35% were industrial workers and 51% were what can be described as middle class. Is a concept in Sociology that refers to the group of people at the top of a Social hierarchy. A peasant is an agricultural worker who subsists by working a small plot of ground For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" The middle class, in colloquial usage consists of those who have some economic independence but not a great deal of social Influence or power. The largest occupational group were medical doctors.

When it came to power in 1933 the Nazi Party had over 2 million members. Once in power, it attracted many more members and by the time of its dissolution it had 8. 5 million members. Many of these were nominal members who joined for careerist reasons, but the party nevertheless had an active membership of at least a million, including virtually all the holders of senior positions in the national government.

Military membership

Nazi members with military ambitions were encouraged to join the Waffen SS, but a great number enlisted in the Wehrmacht and even more were drafted for service after World War II began. The Waffen-SS ( German for "Armed SS" literally "Weapons SS" was the Combat arm of the Schutzstaffel ("Protective Squadron" World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Early regulations required that all Wehrmacht members be non-political, and therefore any Nazi member joining in the 1930s was required to resign from the Nazi Party.

This regulation was soon waived, however, and there is ample evidence that full Nazi Party members served in the Wehrmacht in particular after the outbreak of World War II. The Wehrmacht Reserves also saw a high number of senior Nazis enlisting, with such figures as Reinhard Heydrich and Fritz Todt joining the Luftwaffe, and Major Ronald von Brysonstofen of the Waffen SS, as well as Karl Hanke who served in the Army. Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( 7 March 1904 &ndash 4 June 1942) was an SS - Obergruppenführer, chief Fritz Todt (4 September 1891 – 8 February 1942 was a German engineer and senior Nazi figure the founder of Organisation Todt. Karl August Hanke ( 24 August 1903 - 8 June 1945) was an official of the National Socialist German Workers Party ( Nazi Party or

Student membership

In 1926, the NSDAP formed a special division to engage the student population, known as the National Socialist German Students' League (NSDStB). The National Socialist German Students' League (in German Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund; abbreviated NSDStB) was founded in 1926 as a division of

Paramilitary groups

In addition to the NSDAP proper, several paramilitary groups existed which "supported" Nazi aims. All such members of these paramilitary organizations were required to become regular Nazi Party members first and could then enlist in the group of their choice. A vast system of Nazi party paramilitary ranks developed for each of the various paramilitary groups. Nazi party paramilitary ranks were pseudo-military titles which were used by the National Socialist German Workers Party between the years of 1920 and 1945

The major Nazi Party paramilitary groups were as follows:

• Schutzstaffel (SS): "Protection Service"
• Sturmabteilung (SA): "Storm Division"
• Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps (NSFK): "National Socialist Flyers Corps"
• Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrerkorps (NSKK): "National Socialist Motor Corps"

The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary group divided into an adult leadership corps and a general membership open to boys aged fourteen to eighteen. The ( German for "Protective Squadron" abbreviated SS - or ( Runic)- was a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the The, abbreviated SA, ( German for "Assault detachment" or "Assault section" usually translated as " stormtroop(ers The National Socialist Flyers Corps ( German: Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps; NSFK) was a paramilitary organization The National Socialist Motor Corps (Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrkorps NSKK) also known as the National Socialist Drivers Corps For the SS division with the nickname Hitlerjugend see 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend The Hitler Youth ( German:,

Party symbols

• Nazi Flags: The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden ("blood and soil"). The flag of Germany is a Tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the national colours of Germany: Black, The swastika (from Sanskrit: svástika sa स्वस्तिक Hindu IS CORRECT if 'ि' is positioned incorrectly see -->) is Blood and Soil (translating the German Blut und Boden) refers to the Ideology focussing on a concept of Ethnicity based on Descent ( Blood Black, white and red were in fact the colors of the old North German Confederation flag (invented by Otto von Bismarck, based on the Prussian colours black and white). The North German Confederation (Norddeutscher Bund came into existence in August 1866 as a military alliance of 22 states of northern Germany with the Kingdom of Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen Duke of Lauenburg Prince of Bismarck ( April 1, 1815 July 30, 1898) In 1871, with the foundation of the German Reich, the flag of the North German Confederation became the German Reichsflagge ("Reich's flag"). Black, white and red became the colours of the nationalists through the following history (for example World War I and the Weimar Republic). World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All The term Weimar Republic ( ˈvaɪmarɐ repuˈbliːk is used by historians to signify the democratic and Republican period of Germany from 1919 to 1933
• German Eagle: The Nazi party used the traditional German eagle, standing atop of a swastika inside a wreath of oak leaves. The coat of arms of Germany is a symbol of Germany; the Coat of arms feature an eagle. The coat of arms of Germany is a symbol of Germany; the Coat of arms feature an eagle. The swastika (from Sanskrit: svástika sa स्वस्तिक Hindu IS CORRECT if 'ि' is positioned incorrectly see -->) is When the eagle is looking to its left shoulder, it symbolises the Nazi party, and was therefore called the Parteiadler. In contrast, when the eagle is looking to its right shoulder, it symbolises the country (Reich), and was therefore called the Reichsadler. (ˈraɪk German ˈʁaɪç is a German Loanword cognate with the English Reign, Region, and Rich, but used most to designate The Reichsadler was an historic eagle national insignia during various times of Germany 's history including the German Empire, Weimar Republic After the Nazi party came to power in Germany, they forced the replacement of the traditional version of the German eagle with their modified party symbol throughout the country and all its institutions.

The Parteiadler representing the Nazi party

The Reichsadler during the time of Nazi rule, representing Nazi Germany as a national insignia (Hoheitszeichen)

5-Reichsmark coins before (1936) and after adding the Nazi swastika (1938)

Slogans and songs

• Nazi slogan: "Sieg Heil!"
• Nazi slogan: "Heil Hitler"
• Nazi anthem: Horst Wessel Lied

See also

• NSDAP/AO
• National Socialist Program
• Ex-Nazis
• Nazism
• Adolf Hitler
• Swastika
• List of Gauleiters
• Sino-German cooperation (1911–1941)
• Socialist Reich Party

Notes

References

• Evans, R. J. (2005), The Third Reich in power, 1933–1939, London: Penguin Books, ISBN 0-7139-9649-8 . London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Penguin Books is a British Publisher founded in 1935 by Allen Lane.
• Hitler, Adolf (1998-09-15), Mein Kampf, Mariner Books, ISBN 0395925037 . Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) Events 668 - Eastern Roman Emperor Constans II is assassinated in his bath at Syracuse Italy. Mariner Books, a division of Houghton Mifflin, was established in 1997 as a publisher of fiction non fiction and poetry in Paperback.
• Heiden, Konrad (1933-09-15), “Les débuts du national-socialisme”, Revue d'Allemagne 7 (71) . Konrad Heiden ( 7 August 1901 &ndash 18 June 1966) was an influential journalist and historian of the Weimar Republic and Nazi Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 668 - Eastern Roman Emperor Constans II is assassinated in his bath at Syracuse Italy.
• Kershaw, I. (2001), Hitler, New York: Longman, ISBN 0-582-47280-6 . New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous Longman was a publishing company founded in London, England in 1724

External links

• Hitler's Mein Kampf (full text)
• (German) Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) 1920–1933 at Lebendiges Museum Online.
• (German) Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) 1933–1945 at Lebendiges Museum Online.
• Organisationsbuch NSDAP An encyclopedic reference guide to the Nazi party, organisations, uniforms, flags etc. published by the party itself