Nazism: origin, characteristics and holocaust

O Nazism it was a nationalist, imperialist and bellicose ideological movement.

In the mold of fascism, which developed in Italy, Nazism was under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, from 1933 to 1945.

The symbol of Nazism was the red flag with a gauntleted cross, known as swastika.

Nazism Nazi Flag of World War II

This movement consisted of a mixture of dogmas and prejudices regarding the alleged superiority of the Aryan race. The Germans believed themselves to be superior to other groups mainly of Jews.

Nazism was not a completely new movement in German society. Other movements shared their extreme nationalism, their racism in an attempt to create a militaristic and reactionary society.

Anti-Semitic groups (aversion to Jews) had existed in Germany and Austria since the 19th century.

Furthermore, many totalitarian regimes developed in the period called “between wars”, that is, between the first (1914-1918) and the second world war (1939-1945).

Fascism and Nazism

Nazism Mussolini and Hitler in Munich, Germany (1940)

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Although they are totalitarian political regimes of similar inspiration and often used synonymously, the fascism and Nazism represent differences. These are movements that took place at different times.

Fascism was an ideological movement before Nazism. It emerged in Italy in the period called interwars (1919-1939) being implemented by Benito Mussolini, which ran from 1919 to 1943.

In turn, Nazism was a totalitarian ideological movement developed in the Germany by Adolf Hitler, during World War II (1939-1945).

Origin of Nazism

In 1919, in Munich, hitler he joined a small group called the "German Labor Party", founded by a railway mechanic.

His program spoke of the well-being of the population, equality with the State, the annulment of peace treaties and the exclusion of Jews from the community.

In 1920, Hitler, with his oratorical ability at the service of the group, is already the main figure of the party. This contributed to the change of name to "National Socialist German Workers' Party" - Nazi (short of the term in German National Socialist).

Captain Ernest Roehm incorporated a paramilitary organization, the SA (Assault Sections), into the party, charged with disrupting the meetings of opponents.

The party's program denounced Jews, Marxists and foreigners, promised work and an end to war reparations. In 1921, at the age of 33, Hitler becomes head of the party, which has only three thousand members.

In 1923, the Nazis, led by Hitler, failed in the attempted coup in Munich. Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison. He served eight months, which he used to write the first part of the book "Mein Kampf" (My fight).

Inspired by fascism and Bolshevism, Hitler reorganized his party. It endowed it with regional administrative and hierarchical structures, a newspaper and paramilitary groups: in addition to the SA, it created the SS (Security Brigades), the elite force.

In addition, it organized Hitler youth and supported unions and associations of jurists, doctors, teachers, civil servants and other professionals.

Characteristics of Nazism

The Labor Party program (1920) and Hitler's texts synthesized his ideological proposal of the Nazi regime:

totalitarianism – The individual would belong to the State and could not be liberal or parliamentary, as it should not be fragmented due to particular interests. Like fascism, Nazism was anti-parliamentary, anti-liberal and anti-democratic. It should have only one boss, the Führer. These principles could be summarized as: a people (Volk), an empire (Reich), a chief (Führer).
Racism – According to this ideology, the Germans belonged to a superior race, the Aryan race, which without mixing with other races, should command the world. Jews were considered their main enemies. The fight against other ideologies, such as Marxism, liberalism, Freemasonry and the Catholic Church, was fundamental.
Anti-Marxism and Anti-capitalism – For Hitler, Marxism was a product of Jewish thought, since Marx was a Jew and proposed the class struggle; capitalism would only aggravate inequalities, both were an attempt against the unity of the state.
Nationalism – For Nazism, the humiliations brought about by the Treaty of Versailles should be destroyed. Greater Germany, which constituted the grouping of the Germanic communities of Europe, such as Austria, the Sudetenland and Danzig, was to be built.

Nazism in Power

With the 1929 crisis, discontent gripped Germany. The unemployed middle class, and the bourgeoisie, fearful of the growth of the "German Communist Party", swelled the ranks of the "Nazi Party".

In 1932, capitalist companies started to give him financial support. That same year, several Nazi candidates won the elections.

In 1933, the support of the upper bourgeoisie led President Hindenburg to invite Hitler to take up the post of chancellor. The Nazis came to power, which gave them more strength to fight left-wing parties.

In 1934, President Hindenburg died, and Parliament empowered Hitler, who began to accumulate the posts of chancellor and president.

The bloody Nazi dictatorship was then installed in Germany, supported by the SS, the AS and the Gestapo (political police of the dictatorship).

With the beginning of the Third Reich, Hitler supplied the federalist state. The Nazi Party's flag, with the swastika, became that of Germany.

The Führer began to apply the Nazi program and party members occupied all positions in the administration. Thus began, the escalation of dictatorship and terror.

Second World War

The Nazi regime, which operated in Germany from 1933 to 1945, took place during the period of Second World War.

The Second World War represented a great conflict between several countries that were facing a great economic, political and social crisis. This crisis took on great proportions after the First World War (1914-1918).

The countries involved in World War II constituted two large groups:

the Allies, formed by England, France, the United States and the Soviet Union;
the Hub, consisting of Germany, Italy and Japan.

All the countries involved had imperialist pretensions and, therefore, were fighting for power and the conquest of territories.

With the rise of Hitler and the Nazi regime in Germany, the main objective was to unite the Germanic peoples. In this sense, exterminate Jews, Marxists, Socialists, Gypsies, etc.

Thus, in order to conquer territories and become the great world power, the second world war begins as Hitler's army invades Poland on September 1, 1939. This territory belonged to them before the first world war.

Nazism and World War II ended in 1945, the year Hitler died. That same year, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and three days after Nagasaki, respectively on August 6 and 9, 1945.

Holocaust

O Holocaust it represented the mass extermination that took place during the Nazi regime in Germany, which killed about six million Jews in concentration camps.

Concentration camps represented the places where people who, according to Hitler, were considered of “inferior race” were exterminated.

This horror committed against these minority groups, and especially Jews, only ended in 1945, with the end of World War II.

Know about the life of Anne Frank, one of the victims of the holocaust.

Neonazism

O Neonazism represents a contemporary movement inspired by the Nazi ideology of Adolf Hitler.

Neo-Nazi groups began to emerge in the 70s and are spread across different parts of the world, and it is possible to find them today through groups on the internet.

This movement is based on the radical doctrines of intolerance and violence under the ideal of superiority of the “pure Aryan race”.

Thus, neo-Nazis tend to be racist and xenophobic with minority groups, whether black, immigrants, homosexuals, Jews, among others.

It is important to highlight that apology for Nazism is not allowed in several countries around the world and is therefore considered a criminal practice.