Nazism

"National Socialism" redirects here. For other ideologies and groups called National Socialism, see National Socialism

(disambiguation).

"Nazi" redirects here. For places in Iran, see Nazi, Iran. For the Sumerian deity, see Nanshe.

Nazism, or National Socialism in full (German: Nationalsozialismus), is the ideology and practice associated with the 20th-century

GermanNazi Party and state as well as other related far-right groups. Usually characterised as a form of fascism that

incorporates scientific racism andantisemitism, Nazism originally developed from the influences of pan-Germanism,

the Völkisch German nationalist movement and the anti-communist Freikorps paramilitary culture in post-First World War Germany,

which many Germans felt had been left humiliated by the Treaty of Versailles.

German Nazism subscribed to theories of racial hierarchy and social Darwinism, asserted the superiority of an Aryan master race, and

criticised both capitalism and communism for being associated with Jewish materialism. It aimed to overcome social divisions, with all

parts of a racially homogenous society cooperating for national unity and regeneration and to secure territorial enlargement at the

expense of supposedly inferior neighbouring nations. The use of the name “National Socialism” arose out of earlier attempts by German

right-wing figures to create a nationalist redefinition of “socialism”, as a reactionary alternative to both internationalist Marxist socialism

and free market capitalism. This involved the idea of uniting rich and poor Germans for a common national project without eliminating

class differences (a concept known as "Volksgemeinschaft", or "people's community"), and promoted the subordination of individuals

and groups to the needs of the nation, state and leader. National Socialism rejected the Marxist concept of class struggle, opposed

ideas of equality and international solidarity, and sought to defend private property.

The Nazi Party was founded as the pan-German nationalist and antisemitic German Workers' Party in January 1919. By the early

1920s, Adolf Hitler had become its leader and assumed control of the organisation, now renamed the National Socialist German

Workers’ Party in a bid to broaden its appeal. The National Socialist Program, adopted in 1920, called for a united Greater

Germany[1] that would deny citizenship to Jews or those of Jewish descent,[2] while also supporting land reform and the nationalisation

of some industries. In Mein Kampf, written in 1924, Hitler outlined the virulent antisemitism and anti-communism that lay at the heart

of his political philosophy, as well as his disdain for parliamentary democracy and his belief in Germany’s right to territorial expansion.

In 1933, with the support of more traditional right-wing conservatives, Hitler became Chancellor of Germany and the Nazis gradually

established a one-party totalitarian state, under which Jews, political opponents and other "undesirable" elements were marginalised,

harassed and eventually imprisoned and exterminated. Once in power, Hitler purged the remnants of the party’s more socially and

economically radical factions in the Night of the Long Knivesand, following the death of President Hindenburg, ultimate authority

became increasingly concentrated in his hands, as "Führer", or leader. Following the Holocaust and German defeat in the Second

World War, only a few fringe racist groups, usually referred to as neo-Nazis, still describe themselves as following National Socialism.