Nazism
National Socialism (German: Nationalsozialismus), commonly shortened to Nazism, was the ideology of the extreme right. of the regime that ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945 with the rise to power of Adolf Hitler's National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). Hitler instituted a dictatorship, the self-proclaimed Third Reich. The Reich annexed Austria from the Anschluss, as well as the Sudetenland, Memel and Dánzig. During World War II, the Nazis occupied land in Poland, France, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway. The Germany of this period is known as "Nazi Germany."
Nazism is a form of fascism that demonstrated an ideological rejection of Marxism, liberal democracy, and the parliamentary system. Also, he incorporated fervent anti-Semitism, scientific racism, and eugenics into his creed. His extreme nationalism stemmed from pan-Germanism and the Völkisch movement prominent in German nationalism at the time, and was heavily influenced by the anti-communist paramilitary groups Freikorps that emerged after the defeat of Germany in World War I, out of which arose "the cult of violence" that was "at the heart of the movement".
It is an ideology created in the 1920s, but it did not reach importance until the 1930s, when the harsh peace conditions imposed in the Treaty of Versailles (1919) combined with the serious world crisis of Black Thursday in 1929 (see Great Depression). In Germany, the situation is even more pressing, since the devastating economic effects were compounded by the obligation to pay the tribute for defeat in the First World War, and popular discontent at the unfair situation that caused the streets to fill with demonstrations. extremists of all kinds, both left and right.
This situation culminated in the strong discrediting of liberal democracies, as the dictatorships that emerged proved capable of controlling and resolving crises more effectively than democracies. Both the Italy of Benito Mussolini—who was praised for "making that the trains arrived on time", that is, for putting an end to the strikes and economic chaos that had dominated that country - like the Empire of Japan, countries in which "strong governments" were imposed, not only resolved the crisis through mid-1930s but were perceived as restoring social order even before that solution to economic problems.
To this political-economic crisis we must add an ideological crisis, even earlier, that lasted from 1890 to 1930 and that has been characterized as a "revolution against positivism". Both the values and the approaches to society and politics that formed the basis of Western civilization were perceived as outmoded relics of Enlightenment rationalism. Specifically, both fascism and the intellectual developments that preceded it sought to transcend what was perceived as the decline of the West (see, for example, The Decline of the West ).
Consequently, the Zeitgeist of that time can be described as an amalgamation or mixture of ideas characterized by a rejection of rationalism, a process that is generally perceived as beginning with Friedrich Nietzsche, along with attempts to incorporate "scientific explanations" to preconceptions or even explanatory prejudices of the world, for example, a latent racism, which gave rise to proposals such as those of eugenics, and politically, under the influence of thinkers such as Georges Sorel, Vilfredo Pareto, Martin Heidegger (supposedly), Gaetano Mosca, and, especially, Robert Michels; to elitist political perceptions based on a cult of the hero and the force that culminate in a version of social Darwinism. Perceptions that acquire more extreme connotations in their dissemination and vulgarization.
As an important influence in the development of this Zeitgeist we can mention the work of Arthur de Gobineau, who proposed that in each nation there is a racial difference between the commoners and the ruling classes. The latter would all be members of the Aryan race, who are not only the dominant race but also the creative one. Later, Houston Stewart Chamberlain identifies "the Aryans" with the Teutons; In addition to trying to prove that all the great figures in history—including Jesus Christ, Julius Caesar, and Voltaire , among others—were really Aryans, he adds:
Teutons are the soul of our civilization. The importance of any nation, to the extent that it is a current power, is in direct relation to the genuine teutonic blood present in its populationH. S. Chamberlain (1899). Foundations of the Nineteenth Century.
Multiple authors also highlight the role played by evolutionary theory and social Darwinism incorporated into Nazi ideology, as factors that led to the subsequent generation of racism, the creation of nationalism, the propagation of neo-imperialist politics and part of various pillars ideological principles of Nazism based on the political application of the idea of the "supremacy of the strongest".
Also of importance were insights that can be seen exemplified in the work of, for example, Benjamin Kidd, who proposed:
Our civilization has been given birth as a result of a process of force without parallels in the history of race. By countless times the European male fighter has overflowed through Europe in successive waves of progress and conquest, defeating, exterminating, crushing, dominating, taking possession. The most apt ones, who have survived these successive waves of conquest, are the most apt by the right of force and by virtue of a process of military selection, probably the longest in history, the toughest, probably the most elevating to which the race has been subjected.Benjamin Kidd (1919). The Science of Power, pp. 4-5.
For Kidd, the combative European man is a pagan who pays homage but does not understand or accept in his heart the validity of "a religion that is the total denial of force." This European man has introduced the "spirit of war" into "all the institutions he has created" and "the belief that force is the ultimate principle of the world." That "man of Western civilization has become by force of circumstances the supreme combat animal of creation. History and Natural Selection have made it what it is", "by force it has conquered the world and by force it controls it". Other visions of influence in that perception are those of Oswald Spengler, for whom Mussolini was the paragon of the new Caesar, who will rise from the ruined West to reign in the "age of advanced civilization," by analogy with the Caesars of antiquity.
In Germany, specifically that rebellion against rationalism gave rise, among other things, to a variety of associations promoting a return to romanticized visions of the German past (see Völkisch), in which Richard Wagner had some influence and a semi-secret occult society, the Thule Society—based on Ariosophy and first to use the swastika in the context of the time—which sponsored the German Workers' Party (DAP), later transformed by Hitler into the National Socialist German Workers' Party.
To this it has been suggested that specifically German factors should be added. Although Maurice Duverger finds such considerations unconvincing in order to explain the development of Nazism, it has been argued that Nazism cannot be explained without considering its origin and that among the factors explaining that origin one must mention a tradition (volkgeist) —dating back to characters such as Lorenz von Stein and Bismarck (see Social State)— in which the State acquired dictatorial powers, demanding order, discipline and strict social control in order to guarantee growth and the economic well-being of the population.
That tradition is transformed, under the influence of figures such as Ernst Forsthoff, a highly influential conservative jurist, who, beginning in the period of the Weimar Republic, postulates that individuals are subservient either to the "absolute State" or to the Volk, under the direction of a leader or Führer.
Nazism transforms, without much difficulty, that Aryan cult of might of the strongest into pure and simple anti-Semitism, using the pre-existing legend of a Jewish conspiracy to gain world control (see New World Order (Conspiracy) and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion) to explain the German defeat in World War I: the German army was betrayed and "stabbed in the back" (see Legend of the stab in the back) by the Bolsheviks and Jews. That "betrayal" extends to the Social Democratic government of the Weimar Republic which now allows those same Jews and other financiers to benefit from inflation, and other problems affecting Germans (see Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic ). Further arguing that many of the main communist leaders are also Jews, they assimilate both concepts in a great "Jewish-Marxist conspiracy".
Nazism materializes as a totalitarian ideology of a fascist nature to the extent that it is characterized by giving central and absolute importance to the State —from which all national activity must be organized (see Gleichschaltung)— represented or embodied and under the direction or leadership of a supreme leader, in this case Hitler, and for proposing a visceral racism, nationalism and imperialism that should lead to conquering peoples who are considered inferior (see Lebensraum ). Starting in 1926, Hitler increasingly centralized decision-making in the party. The local and regional leaders and other positions were not elected, but appointed, according to the Führerprinzip ('principle of authority') directly by Hitler, and to him they responded, demanding, in turn, absolute obedience from his subordinates. Power and authority emanated from the leader, not from the bottom.
Term
The twenty-second edition of the Dictionary of the Spanish Language defines Nazism as the "political and social movement of the German Third Reich, pan-German, fascist and anti-Semitic in nature". Etymologically, the term nazi comes from two syllables of the term Naalsozialismus, as an ideology implemented by the party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter Partei). Party members generally identified themselves as National Socialists and only rarely as Nazis. This term was popularized by the journalist Konrad Heiden, who used it mockingly in his writings.
The origin and use of nazi is similar to that of sozi, a word used in everyday language to designate members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands ), and other terms that in colloquial German are often shortened by ending with a final /i/. From 1933, when Hitler assumed power in the German government, the term's use was declining in Germany, although in Austria, at least until the Anschluss, its opponents continued to use it with a derogatory connotation. Since then, the term has acquired an increasingly pejorative connotation.
Some authors use the term National Socialist in the political context and the term Nazi in the ideological, and especially racist, context. Other sources, however, consider both terms as synonyms with no difference beyond the usual and more common use of the shortened term.
Nazism and Hitler
It has been suggested that Adolf Hitler "is one of those few individuals of whom it can be said with absolute certainty that: without him, the course of history would have been different", or, that without him, things would have been different. been very different.
There is little doubt that Hitler possessed charisma and oratory skills, but also exceptional ambition. Someone who -with an absolute lack of scruples- was willing to sacrifice whatever he considered necessary for the sake of his objectives. But there is also no doubt that both the goals and the means were endorsed by the Zeitgeist, and that Hitler encapsulated -willingly or accidentally- the worst of that spirit of his age. While it is possibly correct that without Hitler Nazism would not have been what it was, it is no less true that without that zeitgeist Hitler would not have been what it was.
Hitler met this zeitgeist when he lived in Vienna, between 1908 and 1913, trying to make a living as a painter. The Vienna that Hitler knew was not only the cultured and cosmopolitan city of general vision but also what has been described as a cesspool of anti-Semitism, racism and corrupt politics, with a parliament - which Hitler visited numerous times - crippled by racial dissent and intransigent sectors. It is there - it has been argued - that Hitler acquired his contempt for democracy, there where he first saw the greeting & # 34; Heil & # 34; —Among the followers of the pan-Germanist and radical anti-Semite Georg von Schönerer— and there where he learned about the eugenics proposal.
After the Great War Hitler remained in the army where he was assigned to a special unit, the Department of Education and Propaganda, of the Bavarian Army, under the command of Captain Karl Mayr. An important function of that department was to give soldiers an acceptable reason—from the army's point of view—for their defeat in war. That reason was easily found, given the "spirit of the age" and that of the army, in "the betrayal of the Jews and communists".
In July 1919, Hitler was assigned to an "Intelligence Commando" and ordered to spy on a small group — calling itself the German Workers' Party (DAP) — on suspicion of being Marxist or, at least, socialist. - Hitler was impressed with the nationalist vision and solidarity among all members of the society - but anti-communist and anti-Semitic - of Anton Drexler, founder of the group, who in turn was impressed by Hitler's oratory: when one of the members suggested separating Bavaria from Germany and uniting it with Austria, Hitler delivered a speech opposing it and calling instead to "make Germany great." Consequently Drexler offered the spy to become a member of the organization, which Hitler did on December 12, 1919, becoming the 55th individual to join. At the same time he joined the Executive Committee of the Party, as the seventh member. Years later Hitler claimed to have been the seventh to join the party, a claim that has been shown to be false.
Hitler became the protégé of Dietrich Eckart, another of the founders and member of the Thule Society, who—along with the rest of that society—believed in the imminent arrival of a "German Messiah". Eckart -with poetic ambitions- had written about the "The Nameless One", "The one that everyone feels but none has seen" and in Hitler he believed he found it, which was reinforced by his success as a speaker, but the rest of the "party" directors & # 34; they found him pushy and selfish. Hitler reacted - July 1921 - offering to resign or be appointed party leader (replacing Drexler) with unlimited powers. The matter was finally brought to a general meeting. Hitler's proposal was approved by 543 votes in favor and one against. At the following meeting (July 29, 1921) of the newly renamed National Socialist German Workers' Party, Hitler was introduced - for the first time - as Führer.
That position was convenient for Hitler and his personality or style, freeing him from the obligation of having to follow any program or commitment that was not convenient at the time, including those proposed by himself. But again, we do not see the action of a political genius, but the result of, on the one hand, the illusion of characters such as Eckart and, on the other, the proposal of conservative and nationalist sectors -such as that of Forsthoff - which were used to produce a situation that allows him to proclaim: "I am the party".
Thus, the main ideologues of the party when it came to power -Walter Darré, Dietrich Eckart, Hans Frank, Rudolf Hess, Heinrich Himmler, Robert Ley, Julius Streicher, Alfred Rosenberg, etc- show, among the elements that characterize them, a blind faith in a leader, Hitler, who is conceived as embodying all the qualities and Will to power or life of "the nation" and -as such- the only one who can determine what is him and what is not correct, acceptable or even ethical. In the words of a Nazi hierarch: "If the people have confidence, and if the true popular leadership is present, the Führer will be able to do whatever he wishes with the nation... the people will blindly and blindly obey him." they will follow. The Führer is always right. Each and every last citizen must say so (...) Yes, you who called us godless, we have found our faith in Adolf Hitler and through him we have found God once again. That is the greatness of our day. And that is our good fortune"
They also have a mortal enemy, responsible for all the problems that have affected the Aryans throughout history: the inferior races or Untermensch - (such as the Slavs, the Gypsies, and, especially, the Jews, responsible for the Judeo-Masonic-Communist-International Conspiracy). Enemies not only mortal but inescapable, not only because the biological laws themselves determine it that way, but because that is the way it is determined by the only one who can determine those things: Hitler, the Führer who is never wrong, in his Mein Kampf. The Aryans, as a Superior Race, is where the creative, virile and warrior man comes from. From that race come all the triumphs of the human species. However, they also believe, like Spengler, that the civilizations created by the Aryans declined and died once their representative elements mixed racially with members of those other races: "The result of all racial interbreeding is, briefly, always the following: (a) descent from the highest race. (b) physical and intellectual regression and consequently the onset of a slow but inevitable disease. Causing such a development is, then, nothing but a sin against the eternal creator. And as a sin it will be treated".-
One of Hitler's first steps as 'Führer' of the Nazis was to organize a select group, the Assault Groups or SA - under the control of one of their stalwarts, the former army officer Ernst Röhm - and order them to "confront" socialists in the streets This led to an increase in the popularity of the Nazi party among more extreme sectors in the bars and canteens in which the Nazis organized their meetings and from there, among the "extreme nationalists" of the general population. Figures who joined the Nazis include Heinrich Himmler; Hermann Goring and Joseph Goebbels. The SA grew rapidly, attracting thousands of recruits to the point that -in 1922- it became possible and necessary to create a division for "rookies" from 14 to 18 years old - the Jugendbund or Brotherhood of the young - which eventually became the Hitler Youth.
After leading a failed coup attempt in 1923 against the Weimar Republic, Hitler is sentenced to prison and confined to a castle. A 5-year sentence, of which he ultimately only served eleven months, allowed him to write the semi-autobiographical book Mein Kampf & # 39;(My Struggle) & # 39; which soon becomes the element that the collective was missing, an almost sacred book. In it he firmly declares his anti-Semitism and his anti-communism and makes it clear that the Aryans are a race superior to all others.
In February 1926 Hitler - in a speech in front of some sixty of his most select followers, including the Gauleiters - repudiated the "socialist" party statements, emphasizing that "the real enemy is the Jews", and that both socialism and the USSR - as Jewish creations - had to be destroyed and that private property had to be respected by the Nazis. This it horrified some of his closest supporters and led to the beginning of a break with Gregor Strasser's faction, but made possible a deal with right-wing sectors of the government. One of the immediate results of this shift to the right was that in 1927 Wilhelm Keppler - a businessman - joined the Nazi party. And through him some others - such as Hjalmar Schacht (later Nazi finance minister), Fritz Thyssen and the banker Kurt von Schroeder - agreed to finance the party. This was facilitated by the arrival of the 1929 crisis, which increased the Nazi electoral flow, reaching 37% of the popular vote (April 1932), with an increase in membership from 27,000 in 1925 to more than 800,000 in 1931.
Nazism's rise to power
The government of the Weimar Republic was a government in constant crisis, with frequent splits into factional alliances formed around prominent figures. Unfortunately, neither the majority of politicians -with the exception of the social democrats- nor the industrialists, nor the army, nor the small sector of the middle classes, nor the aristocracy nor many popular sectors had an interest in democracy. In the words of one statement by the German Conservative Party: "We hate with all our hearts the present form of the German state because it denies us the hope of rescuing our enslaved homeland, of purifying the lie of war from the German people and of winning the necessary Lebensraum in the This".
One of the main personalities of the time -Franz von Papen- lost position against the faction of Kurt von Schleicher, who, again, was unable to obtain majority support. Von Papen conceived to replace it with "a new face", that of Hitler, which would be -in Papen's opinion- easy to manipulate: the Nazi party began to show electoral wear, losing -July 1932- 34 seats, reducing to 196 "deputies" out of a total of 608. Additionally, the party was running out of funds. Apparently von Papen's plan was to promote a dictatorship through a coup that - in his opinion - would be inevitable following the chaos that Hitler's government would produce (since not only once again would the government be unable to function but the use of confrontation and violence by "the incapable" Hitler would produce a popular demand for the restoration of order).;. Von Papen arranged a meeting with Hitler through the good offices of the banker von Schroeder, which took place - on January 4, 1933 in the latter's house, reaching an agreement. Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933. (the date is known as Machtergreifung). However, the coalition that "supported" to the new chancellor was a minority, with only 247 seats.
After his appointment, Hitler asked the aging President Paul von Hindenburg to dissolve the Reichstag, which was accepted and elections were set for March 5, 1933. On February 27, the Reichstag Fire occurred -possibly under orders of Hitler. The next day Hitler declared a state of emergency and demanded that Hindenburg sign the Reichstag Fire Decree, abolishing most of the fundamental rights provisions of the 1919 constitution of the Weimar Republic.
Following the above, the March elections gave the Nazis and their allies 44% of the vote. Still not a majority. Hitler's response was to demand that the Reichstag grant him full powers, in the form of the Enabling Act of 1933 - a situation permitted by the Weimar Constitution to give the Chancellor the power to pass laws into decrees, without Reichstag intervention in cases exceptional- von Papen's calculations seemed to be coming true. However, while Hitler was in favor of a dictatorship, he was not willing to implement it in favor of someone else. On March 23, 1933, Parliament met to discuss the matter. In an atmosphere of increasing intimidation, parliamentarians had to enter through a ring of SA who shouted: "Total powers... or fire and death". Only the Social Democrats opposed it (the communists had been arrested or killed in their entirety). Otto Wels -president of the Social Democrats- proclaimed: "We Social Democrats commit ourselves in this historic hour to the principles of humanity and justice, of freedom and socialism. No enabling act enables you to destroy ideas that are eternal and indestructible". Looking directly at Hitler, he added: & # 34; You. they can take away our freedom and life, but they cannot deprive us of our honor. We are defenseless, but not wretched".- Hitler became enraged and responded by shouting:
"You are no longer needed... Germany's star will rise and yours will sink. The hour of his death has sounded".
That was the last session of an opposed Reichstag. Soon after, the Social Democratic Party was banned and the rest (apart from the Nazis) dissolved. Von Papen had to be content with the position of vice-chancellor, from which he had hoped to manipulate Hitler, but with such minor results that he was found innocent at the Nuremberg Trials.
From German Chancellor to Führer of the "Thousand Year Reich"
The process began to culminate in the night of the long knives (between June 30 and July 2, 1934) when the last elements that dared to doubt Hitler's infallibility -even implicitly- were politically eliminated or assassinated, including Kurt von Schleicher - whom Hitler had replaced as chancellor - and associates of von Papen - who was arrested. Hitler's former comrades such as Gregor Strasser were also assassinated; Gustav Ritter von Kahr and Ernst Röhm (the latter under suspicion of disloyalty and, in any case, no longer suitable for a Hitler in power).
Hours after the death of President Hindenburg (August 2, 1934), Hitler published a law (dated August 1) stating: `The position of President of the Reich will be combined with that of Chancellor. The authority of the president will therefore be transferred to the present chancellor and Führer, Adolf Hitler. He will select the deputy from him. This law is effective from the death of President von Hindenburg". Thus began the Third Reich, which propaganda claimed would last a thousand years.
It was then announced that a plebiscite would take place, to give the German people a chance to express their approval. This took place on August 19 of the same year, and Hitler obtained 90% approval -38 million votes-. Mandatory personal loyalty oaths not to the state or Germany but to Hitler were introduced through the Reich the next day, especially in schools, factories, public service and the military. Thus, the will of the Führer became the law. The application of this principle, which from 1938 included Austria, resulted in totalitarian forms of control and repression, since any opposition to the Führer's designs was, by definition, anti-national.
The original program of the Nazi party – which existed since its creation as the German Workers' Party – was maintained in principle, but in reality the perception was that "Hitler is the party", which created a rather confusing situation in practice (see especially Political Economy of the Nazis, below). That program included: Abolition of the Treaty of Versailles. Unification in a territory and under a common government to all Germans with enough land and territories (colonies) to support the citizens (Greater Germany). Only members of "la raza" They can be citizens. Expel from German territories all non-Germans who have arrived since 1914 and keep the rest only with government permission and as guests. Obligation of the State to provide the opportunity of a good life for all citizens. Obligation of citizens to work physically and spiritually. Abolition of income that is not from work. Establishment and defense of a "positive Christianity", government in benefit of the national interest on the individual, impose order, etc.
The regime that was installed exercised strong control over every aspect of society, showing special interest in the education of German youth. From childhood, children are taught to be tough and to suffer the struggle to be the strongest, little by little selecting a select few who will form a new elite of sacred warriors (the SS) as a new rising Sparta and victorious. Nor does science escape the influence of the party that uses it to justify its ideas or to find new weapons for the war that was being prepared.
In relation to "non-western" or region in which "the race" could be expanded, there are documents that suggest the intention was to establish forms of government subservient to the German and based on a caste system, according to which the function of the population (worker (slave/peasant/worker) -supervisor and master (priest -warrior) would be established according to their “race”, under the direction of the Schutzstaffel, or SS (see Generalplan Ost): the Slavs, Poles, Russians, etc, would be exterminated for the most part, and those who survived would be transferred & "east" where, treated as slaves (denied all education, medical treatment, etc.) they would eventually become extinct, since there were not enough "Aryans", members of "intermediate" races 34; (Latvians, Estonians, Czechs, Ukrainians, etc) would continue to exist as peasants and labor with some guarantees, under the control of German masters and overseers, especially members of the SS, who would receive land and slaves in connection with their &# 34;merits& #3. 4;.
In the case of Gypsies and Jews, those long-term plans with "inferior races" they were implemented even during the war itself, in the so-called Final Solution program.
Persecution and repression
Hitler immediately applied repression against a broad spectrum of citizens: Jews (defined as enemies of the nation), communists, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, and all who opposed the narrow Nazi definition of " nation".
The repression was carried out primarily by the SS, paramilitary forces created in 1925 and strengthened by the regime, and the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police that responded to the SS, and which had a dense network of spies and informers.
Terror was exercised directly: through censorship, physical attacks, arrests, and detention in labor camps.
National Socialist Program
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Political Economy of the Nazis
This is a complex area. The Nazis did not have a proper economic program, which created confusion in practice (see Gottfried Feder), especially when they came to power. Hitler summed up the position thus: "The basic feature of our economic theory is that we have no theory at all." or will of the nations: if they have spirit, decision and adequate direction, they will succeed, whatever the circumstances, which makes it possible or demands that "the leader" have the ability to take appropriate action in every situation. For Hitler in particular, proposals based on solidarity are a plot to destroy that strength among the superior races, which is why he specifically rejected the socialist conception. From that, the Nazi proposal on political economy was an imprecise mixture of social Darwinism with dirigisme, in which the state allows both private property and competition -which is positive "because it promotes the most capable to higher positions"- but reserves to the state the right to establish the national interest.
Cesare Santoro, a fascist who visited Germany at the time, puts it this way: "In the programmatic declaration, already quoted at the beginning of our work, Adolf Hitler announced that the new government proposed to “look after the interests of the German people not by the tortuous path of a large state-organized bureaucratic economy but by the stronger impulse given to private initiative on the basis of the recognition of private property. The recognition of the principle that, in contrast to what occurs in Soviet Russia, the State's mission is to direct the economy but not to manage it itself (a function that corresponds exclusively to the economy itself) cannot be more explicitly expressed. In this way, the principle of private property has also been solemnly established, thereby encouraging the employer to further expand his company in order to achieve the greatest possible results.
In response to Otto Strasser's "strangle the social revolution for the sake of legality and its new collaboration with the bourgeois right-wing parties," Hitler said: "I am a socialist, and a very different type of socialist [...] What you understand by socialism is nothing more than Marxism". According to Hitler in My Struggle: "The Jewish doctrine of Marxism rejects the principle aristocratic of Nature and places in place of the eternal privilege of strength and vigour, the numerical mass and its dead weight. He thus denies [...] individual merit and challenges the importance of nationalism and race [...]". He explained that the National Socialist State knows no classes, it only recognizes citizens and further argued that "unionism itself is not synonymous with social antagonism," something that Marxism used as a weapon of the "international Jew" for their class struggle, which is why National Socialism must prevail. Hitler also criticized the Western democratic system as being "the forerunner of Marxism, which would be inconceivable without it".
National Socialism was influenced by Moeller van den Bruck, from whom the term The Third Reich was used in his homonymous work. Nazism took the vision of "socialism" from the point of view of Moeller van den Bruck: “when we speak now of German socialism, of course we are not referring to the socialism of the social democrats... nor are we referring to the logical Marxist socialism that refuses to abandon the class struggle and the Internationals. We are referring rather to a corporate conception of the State and the economy that perhaps should have a revolutionary base, but which will later seek conservative stability".
These two principles determine the directive norms for the National Socialist reorganization of the industrial economy; those require an autonomous administration whose mission is to advise and protect the industrial associations or the partners that are part of it. This administration has the duty to transmit to the government the wishes of the employers who take part in the work of economic reconstruction".
Even so, after the Nazis took power, state-owned companies were privatized en masse. Several banks, shipyards, railway lines, shipping companies, social assistance organizations and more were privatized, however, this concept of privatization included strict control by the state through one or several members of the Nazi party directly attached to the directive of every private company, which in short was reflected in the constant intervention of the state in private company. The Nazi government took the position that companies should be in private hands whenever possible. State ownership was to be avoided through unless absolutely necessary for rearmament or the war effort, and even in those cases - the Reich often insisted on the inclusion in the contract of an option clause according to which the private company operating a plant had right to buy it.”
The companies privatized by the Nazis included the four main commercial banks in Germany, which had been publicly owned for the previous years: Commerz– und Privatbank, Deutsche Bank und Disconto-Gesellschaft, Golddiskontbank and Dresdner Bank. They were also privatized. the Deutsche Reichsbahn (German Railways), at the time the largest public company in the world, Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG (United Steelworks), the second largest joint stock company in Germany (the largest being IG Farben, which financially supported the rise of Hitler to power) and Vereinigte Oberschlesische Hüttenwerke AG, a company that controlled all metal production in the Upper Silesian coal and steel industry. The government also sold several shipbuilding companies and improved public-private services at the expense of municipally owned utilities. Thus the German economy during Nazism functioned as a form of monopoly capitalism. In addition, the Nazis privatized some public services that had previously been provided by the government, especially social and labor services, and these were taken over mainly by organizations affiliated with the Nazi Party that could be trusted to enforce Nazi racial policies.
Among the policies that characterized the economy of the Nazi era, we can mention, in addition to privatization, the development of the compulsory organization of industrialists (compulsory cartels), the dominant place occupied by monopolies, the considerable aid provided by the State to the economy (in the form of massive orders, credit guarantees to companies), the importance acquired by the professional organization, the development of price legislation and the offensive organization of relations with the world market (dumping, clearing).
Hitler seemed to understand the role of the state as directing but also supporting national industry through providing economic stability and various specific programs, such as providing "cheap labor," as illustrated in the famous movie Schindler's List.
However, the above does not produce a specific proposal about how to solve the economic problems of Germany when Hitler came to power. This was resolved through the appointment of some "professionals" in positions of responsibility. This gave Hitler the opportunity to choose between different and competitive proposals, selecting the one he considered most appropriate.
Starting in 1933, the so-called "Reinhardt Program" was implemented, which was an ambitious project of economic promotion through the development of infrastructure -with the direct construction by the state of works projects public - such as highways (see Motorways in Germany), railway networks, canals - both irrigation and transportation (for example, restarting the construction of the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, stadiums, etc. (see Architecture of Nazi Germany) - combined with incentives (such as reduction or elimination of investment taxes) and expansion of military spending, etc. In 1936, state spending on military affairs exceeded spending on civil affairs and reached 10% of the Gross National Product, more than any other European nation at the time. At the worker level, the 'programme' meant the elimination of independent unions (replaced by a single union/management body, under Nazi control - see Frent e German Labor), an approximation that was maintained throughout the Nazi government.
In 1934 Hjalmar Schacht was appointed finance minister, with the intention (and under secret instructions) of achieving rearmament and developing a policy that would achieve autarky or economic independence from Germany. To achieve this, Schacht needed both to re-industrialize Germany and to be able to buy raw materials abroad, while avoiding a return to inflation, which in turn required stabilizing the German currency (making it internationally acceptable) and reducing the deficit. state budget. Schacht proposes a new "Four-year Plan" based on the use of "Mefo Banknotes", a kind of pseudo-monetary currency in the style of "bills of exchange or titles of credit, theoretically from an independent company (MEFO) but that allowed the state to grant credits to industries without breaking the accepted monetary rules, given that these "bills of exchange" they were related not to a period of time but to an economic result (for example, the value of a railway, power plant, etc, to be built). - and in achieving that foreign countries -especially in Latin America and southeast Europe- sold their products to Germany paid for either through a direct exchange with products manufactured in Germany or in "bank deposits in Germany", which could only be spent in that country, specifically, which could not be withdrawn in foreign currencies. Regarding the autarchic project, Schacht implemented the development of substitute products or ersatz.
Schacht also created a financial system that allowed the German state to use "foreigners' money" deposited in German banks. This system constituted the bases of the one used for the administration, first, of the Jewish funds and, later, of the flows in conquered countries.
In 1935 all of the above was combined into the so-called "war economy," which -at a practical level- meant the introduction of "militarized" of unemployment reduction - the so-called Reichsarbeitsdienst (or RAD: Reich Labor Service, introduced in July 1934). This in turn justified the expansion of military spending under the excuse that they were measures to reduce unemployment.
From 1935-36, a debate developed among those in charge of general economic policy. Schacht -together with Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, in charge of price controls- headed a "pro free market" which urged Hitler to reduce military spending, abandon the protectionism implicit in the autarky project and reduce state intervention in the economy. That faction was opposed by the one headed by Hermann Göring, who proposed to maintain those positions. Göring's position eventually prevailed (which led to Schacht's resignation). Göring took office and, in addition to generally maintaining the policies described, introduced (July 1937) a body (the Reichswerke) dedicated to the promotion and construction of factories and plants, which eventually became one of the industrial complexes largest in the world, employing half a million workers and with a capital of 2.4 billion marks.
Several economists - beginning with Michal Kalecki - have described such economic policies as military Keynesianism. Although it is correct that Nazi Germany was one of the first countries that -after the abandonment of the gold standard- used the fiscal deficit in order to promote economic growth, it is worth remembering not only that Keynes published his General Theory of Employment, Interest and money only in 1936 (after the implementation of many of the policies outlined above) but also Hitler's own words about having no economic policy. Thus, it seems more correct to suggest that Nazi economic policies were eclectic, showing not only "Keynesian" but also those of other schools, for example, the economic proposals of the Italian Fascists, which, in turn, were theoretically based on Pareto's proposals. Contrast, for example, the description of Nazi policies offered by Santoro with the following of Mussolini's policies -from Franz Borkenau: "In the first years of his rule Mussolini literally carried out Pareto's political prescriptions, destroying liberalism but at the same time generally replacing state management of private companies, lowering property taxes, favoring industrial development, imposing an education (based on the blind acceptance of dogmas...".
The above has been explained as follows: "The main reason for this was the general perception among the Nazis that the economy was not very important, and that, in any case, it was subservient to the interests of the Party or Party policy. In relation to individuals and their views, as long as the regime was not openly criticized, there was considerable scope for discussion of political economy and economic theory, there being no party line on economic issues. Second, in the field of practical (economic) politics there was a deep level of pragmatism: if "market forces" could achieve political goals, so much the better.
After World War II, the policies of the "war economy" influenced development attempts of third world countries. Schacht -found innocent at the Nuremberg trials- created a bank -Deutsche Außenhandelsbank Schacht & Co.- and specialized in giving economic notice to leaders of those countries, especially those in which the army became the instrument of "progress" (for example: Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, etc.).
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The Nazis were one of the first political movements to implement what can be called the modern practice of propaganda as social engineering. In the words of Joseph Goebbels, who came to be in charge of the "Reich Ministry for the Education of the People and Propaganda" -created in 1933-: «Today we can say without exaggeration that Germany is a propaganda model for the whole world. We have compensated for the failures of the past and developed the art of mass influence to the point that it puts the efforts of other nations to shame. The importance that the National Socialist leadership places on propaganda was made clear when it established a "Ministry for the education of the people and propaganda" after he seized power. This ministry is completely within the National Socialist spirit and originates from it. It unites everything we have learned as an opposition movement confronting the enemy and under the persecution of an inimical system, sometimes more out of necessity than desire. Recently some have tried to imitate this Ministry and its concentration of all means of influencing opinion, but here too the saying applies: "often imitated, but never equaled"".
In practice, the party used the term socialism to try to attract the working class away from communism (KPD) and social democracy (SPD), while using the term nationalism to attract nationalist and conservative sectors.
The red colour of our proclamations was enough to attract them to the place of our assemblies. The ordinary bourgeoisie was extremely outraged to think that we too had taken over the red of the Bolshevists, and believed to see in this something of double meaning. We had chosen the red color for our proclamations, after thorough and deep reflection, seeking to provoke those of the left, to make them ride in anger and thus induce them to come to our assemblies, even if it was only with the intention of disturbing us; more so they gave us the opportunity to make them listen to our word.Hitler, Adolf. My fight (Mein Kampf). Franz Karlz.
At first, the party's discourse focused on the fight against big business, with markedly anti-bourgeois and anti-capitalist rhetoric; however, they later softened these postulates and obtained the support and financing of large industrial companies and wealthy personalities. Since the 1930s, the party oriented its postulates to anti-Semitism and anti-Marxism.
Nazi theory held that a mystical harmony existed between the Führer and his people, an absolute communion -to the extent that the Führer embodies and directs all the aspirations and will of the people- But in reality, that people -as individuals - may fail to understand that “general will”, thus, that understanding and adherence of those individuals had to be achieved: "It is not just a matter of doing the right thing, people must understand that the right thing is the right thing. Propaganda includes everything that helps people to realize this..."Propaganda is a means to an end. Its purpose is to bring people to an understanding that will enable them, voluntarily and without internal resistance, to dedicate themselves to the tasks and objectives of a higher direction. and "The people must share the concerns and achievements of their government. Those concerns and achievements, therefore, must be constantly presented and forced upon the people in such a way that the people consider those concerns and achievements to be their concerns and achievements. Only an authoritarian government, strongly linked to the people, can do that in the long term. Political propaganda, the art of basing the affairs of the state on the broad masses in such a way that the entire nation feels part of it, cannot therefore remain only a means of gaining power. It must be a means of building and maintaining power".
From this point of view, 'political propaganda' “is aimed at the masses, it speaks the language of the people because it wants to be understood by the people. Their task is the most creative art of putting sometimes complex facts and events into a simple form that can be understood by the man in the street.” and “Propaganda is therefore a necessary function of the modern state. Without it it is simply impossible, in this century of the masses, to aspire to great goals. (Propaganda) It stands at the beginning of practical political activity in every aspect of public life. It is an important and necessary requirement”.
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Contrary to what some believe, the basic technique of propaganda was not, for Goebbels, lying, which does not mean that he did not use it. - "Only credibility should determine whether what the propaganda proposes must be true or false" and "If the propaganda is going to be successful, it must know what it is looking for. You must keep your goal clearly and constantly in mind and seek the appropriate means and methods to achieve that goal. Propaganda, as such, is neither good nor bad. Its moral value is determined by the goal it seeks'. The above sets up a rather confusing situation, which has led some to suggest that four principles can be derived from 'Goebbelian propaganda': 1. There is no truth.- 2. All (real) information is irrelevant.- 3. The story and media messages are just a narrative.- 4. Truth is what you choose to believe. Alternatively, they are purported to the following principles: Principle of renewal: New information and arguments must be constantly issued at such a rate that, when the adversary responds, the public is already interested in something else. -Principle of plausibility: Build arguments from various sources. -Principle of silencing: Silence the issues on which there are no arguments and hide the news that favors the adversary. -Principle of transfusion: As a general rule, propaganda always operates from a pre-existing substratum, be it a national mythology or a complex of traditional hatreds and prejudices. -Principle of unanimity: Getting to convince many people that they think "like everyone else", creating a false impression of unanimity.
Goebbels establishes a difference between white propaganda — attributable and dedicated to promoting — and black propaganda, dedicated to discrediting and not attributable. Most of the commonly used Goebbels quotes — for example: “lie, lie, that something remains” — refer to that type of propaganda. Once a rumor—correct or not—is generally accepted, it can be used as "truth" in white propaganda. An example from his time is the existence of a putative "Jewish problem." Once the perception became general that German citizens of the Jewish religion were not Germans, white propaganda can present the "solution to the problem":
They allow some recent examples. I just need to sketch the details. They are very fresh in our memory to require elaboration.... Marxism could not have been eliminated by a government decision. Their elimination was the result of a process that began with the people. But that was only possible because our propaganda had shown people that Marxism was a danger to both the State and the Society. The positive national discipline of the German press would never have been possible without the complete elimination of the influence of the Jewish-liberal press. That only happened because of our propaganda for years... the fact that was eliminated... is not an accident, but rather depended on the psychological foundations that were established by our propaganda... We could eliminate the Jewish danger in our culture because people recognized it as a result of our propaganda... the prerequisite was and is the propaganda, which here also creates and maintains the connection with the people.
A contemporary example is the use by some sectors of the lie that Barack Obama was not born in the US and is a Muslim. As the lie spreads, characters such as Rand Paul, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, etc., suggest a lack of patriotism on their part and the need to defend the Christian values of the "founding fathers". We find a concrete example of Goebbels in his response to the international reaction to the introduction of legislation anti-Semitic - for example, the Nuremberg Laws - Goebbels does not seek to hide or minimize such a reaction from the German people, but presents it as an "international propaganda campaign by the Jews." And that reaction “to the solution” of the “Jewish problem” by “legal means” does not affect the “right and determination of the German people” to solve their problems with “their customary responsibility and seriousness” — “which “democracies” would prefer”... that the solution be left in the hands of the people?” Goebbels asks — And concludes: This campaign of international Jewry will only have one result: to make things even more difficult for its "racial relatives" in Germany.-.
According to Goebbels, the planning of any and every act must consider its propaganda implications. And everything must contribute to the political goals that the propaganda determines, not in a mechanical repetition, but to build a general vision. Consequently, the propaganda developed in various directions throughout the whole of German society and public life. Not only the mass media were used — books, newspapers and posters exalting Hitler as savior and leader of the Aryan race covered the cities, prohibiting any expression of doubt, even going as far as burning books considered " pernicious", not so much as an act of censorship but of "public expungement". Additionally, large public events, demonstrations and parades were organized, which glorified a mythical, mystical and heroic German past, together with the greatness of Hitler and the impeccable discipline of his army; welfare policies (vacations, pensions, etc.) were disseminated, all suggesting a nation of warriors unleashed by a selected hero inspired by fate, locked in a fight to the death not only for their survival, but for all that is right., beautiful and valuable, against the miserable inferior races that, motivated by envy and malevolence, only know how to destroy.
Cinema suffered not only from censorship, but also from manipulation. All films had to contain some pro-Nazi message. The state itself took care of producing documentary propaganda films, using all the advances of technique and art. Radio became a very important medium for the regime, as it allowed the Führer's voice to enter German homes, just like Nazi propaganda.
The propaganda sought not only to strengthen fidelity to the regime or hatred towards the Jews, but also -in an attitude derived from the Bismarckian Kulturkampf- to spread cultural forms considered proper or healthy for the nation, identified with the Aryan race. In this way, healthy young people were urged to marry, previously informed of their partner's racial background, and to create large families. Women were encouraged to stay at home and dedicate themselves to raising children.
Young people were a major target for Nazi propaganda. Institutions for the socialization of children and young people were created, such as the Hitler Youth. In them the young people received a careful physical education and political indoctrination. The League of German Girls trained girls for their future tasks at home, while boys learned military skills. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a large number of women were also part of the Hitlerjugend.
Using the economy as political propaganda
For Hitler, his regime had reestablished the "primacy of politics," to which the economy of the Third Reich had to submit. However, the regime's legitimacy depended on its ability to provide an acceptable standard of living for the general population.
Thus, the demands (for lower costs) of the industrialists faced the need to legitimize the regime, endowing the workers with a certain well-being. These conflicting objectives lead to the adoption of measures to increase productivity, provision of popular (low-cost) products and some public welfare measures. Examples of these policies are found in the national skills-in-the-trade competitions, the launch of Volkswagen - the people's car - and the establishment of "popular holiday resorts" ('See Prora).
Such “welfare” measures have been referred to by some as a “Nazi welfare state,” financed through the “spoils of war.” The Nazi regime considered the property of the treasury and the citizens of the conquered countries as property of the German state, which made it possible to maintain - for the "members of the superior race" - low levels of taxes and high levels of consumption even during the war itself.. For example, despite the fact that at the beginning of the war Hitler established a war tax -50% of all salaries- only 4% of Germans paid it. To maintain this situation, the regime resorted to plunder and organized robbery from the state at an industrial level, first from the communists, Gypsies and German Jews, later from the occupied countries. 70% of the income of the German state during the war came from plunder, confiscations and robberies in the occupied countries, some of whose companies came to have to pay a tax of 112% of their profits for a "fund to fight against the Bolshevism”.
Racial Hygiene Policy
Nazi Eugenics
The Nazis also instituted reproductive control in German society. There is an urgent need to create new arias and remove from circulation those that present defects in the name of racial hygiene, promoting eugenics and resorting to euthanasia if necessary. Likewise, the fertilization of all Germans of good blood was sought by the Aryan elite so that little by little the lost race recovers its splendor. The result of this was the establishment of the Lebensborn camps in which women of Aryan origin were inseminated with selected fathers for the creation of racially pure children.
Nazism is imbued with a racial paranoia that leads it to weave a whole scientific-mystical fabric.[citation needed] On the one hand, it intends to demonstrate through modern science of biology, Darwin's natural selection and the laws of inheritance of Gregorio Mendel, in a pseudoscientific way the reality of the pure race and, on the other hand, presents the mystical belief that it must recover powers that are supposed to lost by crossbreeding with supposedly degenerate races, such as the Jews or, to a lesser extent, the Slavs. The evil of evils focuses on the Jews and towards the middle of the Second World War they will begin to be exterminated in the concentration camps.
On September 1, 1939, Hitler signed a decree authorizing the extermination of the physically and mentally disabled, an act that was carried out by German doctors and nurses. Estimates[who?] to be around about &&&&&&&&&&070000.&&&&&070,000 German and Austrian patients were murdered under this decree.
More than 5,000 German children under the age of 10 and over &&&&&&&&&&010000.&&&&&010,000 teenagers were executed or starved to death. Doctors advised parents to get rid of any child under the age of three who had any difficulty or did not appear Aryan.
During Nazism, mentally ill, psychotic, schizophrenic, mentally ill, disabled, physically handicapped, weak in spirit, invalids and all kinds of incurable patients were murdered. Anyone who was not perfect for the parameters of Nazism and who was considered a threat to the genetic purity of the German people.
About 5,000 German war veterans, who were hospitalized for post-traumatic stress, were killed due to cleansing and eugenics, especially those who were considered weak. This contradicted[<citation needed] the ideas of Hitler who criticized the Republic for failing to protect veterans.
Hitler argued that nature concentrates on the selection of the species. Thus, human life "cannot be a matter of artificially improving the subsisting bad [...] but on the contrary must seek to ensure healthier bases for a cycle of development to come". He compared the " racial conception of the National Socialist State" with the eugenic principles that the United States of America used during the early XX century, such as prohibiting the entry of immigrants affected by contagious diseases and "exclude from naturalization, without any qualms, elements of certain races".
Nazi Antisemitism
For Hitler, the communists were enemies of the German nation. But there was an even greater enemy that merged with that and with the other possible ones: the Jews. Starting from a racist conception, since the beginning of the twenties Hitler was reconstructing a racial stereotype of the Jew, based on the theories of Walter Darré, Alfred Rosenberg, Spengler (XX), Houston Stewart Chamberlain and the Comte de Gobineau (19th century).
The Jews embodied, for Hitler, all the evils that afflicted the German (non-Jewish) nation: they were the agitating proletariats, the greedy financiers and the big industrialists who squeezed the German people; they were the press that slandered the nation, and also the weak and corrupt parliamentarians complicit in the humiliating peace treaties and the weakness of the nation. They were, in short, the racial enemy, who corrupted and contaminated the nation from within, weakening it.
The Jew was the absolute enemy that the totalitarian system so needed for political and social mobilization, as well as to distract public opinion from its own problems.
In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws deprived Jews of German citizenship and all rights. Contact with the Aryans was prohibited and they were forced to carry identification. The laws affected all those whom the State racially defined as Jews. The violence and the harassment of the SS and the police to the Jews continued, producing massive emigrations.
Then followed a second phase of expropriation, characterized by "Aryanization" of goods, dismissals and excise taxes.
In 1938 Jewish lawyers and doctors were banned from practicing their professions and those with non-Jewish first names were forced to put "Sara" or "Israel" to their own, for identification in the work camps and in the ghettos themselves). The result, distinguish them.
In November, using as an excuse the murder of a German diplomat in Paris at the hands of a young Jew, they were attacked by members of the SS, in what was called the "night of broken glass". The result was of such magnitude that the State itself had to restore the order that it had itself disturbed.
The Jews were held globally responsible for the attack and forced to make amends, compensate the German state for the damage, and hand over the money received to insurance companies. They were excluded from economic life, they were forbidden access to universities, the use of public transport and frequenting public places such as theaters or gardens. Additionally, that moment marked the beginning of an organized program of internment of Jews in concentration camps: in a telegram of instructions signed by Reinhard Heydrich — marked "Urgent and secret" — in preparation for Kristalnacht it is established (point 5): & #34;As soon as the course of events during this night allows for the use of the police officers assigned for this purpose, as many Jews as can be accommodated in the places of detention in each district will be arrested. —especially wealthy Jews. At the moment, only male Jews in good health, not very old, will be arrested. Immediately after the arrest takes place, the appropriate concentration camp will be contacted to place the Jews as quickly as possible in those camps....". — those camps were actually “forced labor camps” in which internees were exploited to death.
Eventually, the Jews were concentrated in ghettos (special neighborhoods where they lived overcrowded) or in camps. This would be followed by enslavement and extermination during the war. The concentration camps, initially intended for the preventive detention of "enemies of the state" (for example: communists and social democrats), they became places of forced labor, for medical experiments and for the physical elimination of Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals and the disabled.
On this last point, there are those who maintain the non-existence of the Jewish Holocaust, either in its entirety or in the proportions that are commonly accepted, which has given rise to some judgments. The main exponents of this vision are Robert Faurisson, Paul Rassinier and David Irving, The best-known cases are A) that of the Commonwealth of Canada against Ernst Zündel, a German citizen who lived in Canada between 1958 and 2000 and who published several pamphlets questioning the Holocaust, for which he was prosecuted for & #34;publish literature capable of inciting hatred against an identifiable group" and "builder" of gas chambers for prisons in the United States evacuated the Leuchter Report, in which it concluded that "there were no gas chambers for execution in any of those places" and B) Irving v. Lipstadt et al., in which Irving was found to be "an active Holocaust denier... an anti-Semite and a racist."
The Holocaust
The Holocaust was the genocide carried out by the National Socialist regime of the Third Reich against Jews and other peoples between 1933 and 1945. This genocide was the culmination of a long process that developed parallel to the establishment of the Nazi regime and that it had as its objective the creation of a national community –Volksgemeinschaft– that was racially pure. What Hitler proposed - and so he had announced on January 30, 1939 - was the extermination of the Jewish race in Europe.
Finally, at the Wannsee conference, January 20, 1942, the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" - Endlösung der Judenfrage or endgültige Lösung der Judefrage, shortened simply to "the Final Solution - Endlösung. This solution consisted of the physical elimination, through forced labor, starvation and gas chambers, of the Jews (and other "undesirables") interned in extermination camps (Auschwitz-Birkenau, Chelmno, Belzec, Majdanek, Mauthausen, Sobibor and Treblinka). The historical estimate of the number of Jewish victims is around six million, although contemporary historians believe the exact number to be somewhere between 5 and 7 million.
Other groups the Nazi regime defined as "undesirables" They were homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, the handicapped and dissidents, and political opponents of various nationalities and religions (Poles, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Russians, other Slavs, Gypsies, and Catholics).
Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany
The persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany was based primarily on the premise that homosexuality was incompatible with National Socialist ideology because homosexuals did not reproduce and therefore did not perpetuate the Aryan race. Homosexuality was one of the proofs of racial degeneration that, moreover, was transmitted by vice from some individuals to others; For this reason, the authorities had to use all the means at their disposal to prevent its spread.
The Angel of Frankfurt was the first monument in Germany in memory of homosexuals persecuted by Nazism, and later, under article 175 of the German penal code. As its name indicates, the monument is the statue of an angel holding a band. The work was the first memorial for homosexual victims of the Holocaust in Germany. The next to be erected in Germany were the Pink Triangle in Cologne (1995) and Monument to Homosexuals Persecuted by Nazism in Berlin (2008).
At the base of the statue is an inscription in German that reads: "Gay men and women were persecuted and killed during the National Socialist regime. The massacre was concealed and denied, despising and condemning the survivors. That is why we remember them and the men who love other men and the women who love other women who often continue to be persecuted. Frankfurt am Main. December 1994." The inscription alludes to the fact that homosexuals were not only persecuted during the Nazi regime, but that article 175 remained in force and the prohibition regarding homosexual practices between adults was not reformed until 1973, serving to condemn even the survivors of the concentration camps. Until it was completely repealed in 1994. This meant that homosexuals could not make any claim for years and were the last group of victims to be officially recognized.
Foreign Policy
The ultimate goal of Nazi foreign policy was the conquest of Lebensraum, or German living space. His imperialism was both economic and racial. Hitler argued that the chosen people (the superior race) should have enough space, defined as a relationship between resources (land, food) and population. His immediate objective was the lands of Eastern Europe, populated by races considered inferior.
The totalitarian domestic policy of the Third Reich was at the service of its expansionist foreign policy. Totalitarianism created the material and psychic bases for foreign conquest and, at the same time, the great successes and the awareness of the "mission" of the race would distract the population from internal repression.
Hitler expressed from the beginning his desire to rearm Germany. First carried out in secret, it became public after 1935 and was tolerated by European nations that were more concerned with the advance of communism than Nazism. The English and French policy was that of "appeasement", which consisted of granting Hitler what he demanded and signing new pacts, betting on this to keep the Nazis under control.
Larger and better trained armies, production of warships, planes, tanks and ammunition, and research into new types of weapons, absorbed increasing state resources. On the other hand, rearmament made it possible to reach full employment and leave behind the crisis of 1929. This reactivated the German economy and brought new prestige to the Reich.
In 1936, German military forces surprisingly reoccupied the Rhineland. From then until 1939, the tactic consisted of attacks justified by German law on Lebensraum, followed by further promises of peace.
The Rhineland episode was followed by intervention in the Spanish Civil War and the annexation of Austria in 1938. The Austrian semi-dictatorship tried in vain to prevent the annexation campaign of Austrian nationalists, finally handing over power to the Germans in 1938. A plebiscite in favor of "Greater Germany" then confirmed the Union.
The next target was Czechoslovakia, where a conflict with the Sudeten German minority served as an excuse for annexing the region in 1938. England and France acceded to these German claims through the Munich Agreements and Chescolovaki had to give. But Hitler invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia in 1939. This exposed his true intent and the failure of the "appeasement" policy; of England and France. When, after signing a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union (USSR), Hitler launched himself in September 1939 to invade Poland, France and England declared war on him. Thus began World War II.
See: World War II Timeline
Keys to early National Socialist ideology
- German nationalism.
- Pangermanism
- Corporativism, the creation of a collective body between the state, entrepreneurs and workers.
- State-led economy and military keynesianism.
- Romanticism and third position. Rejection of the ideologies heirs of the Enlightenment favoring nationalist myths instead.
- Anticapitalism, and in general opposition to all forms of liberal ideology, to capitalism and the market economy.
- Anticommunism and, in general, opposition to all forms of Marxist and materialist ideology and class struggle.
- Protection of private property (under State intervention).
- Populism, the representation of the poor and middle sectors of society.
- Nazi occultism, relation to mythology of different religions, even pagans.
- Racism.
- Especially anti-Semitism.
- Creation of the Herrenrasse for the Lebensborn (a department of the Third Reich)
- Antieslavism (at least until World War II).
- Belief of some ideologists in the superiority of the Aryan, German and Nordic race, but also of the European white race.
- Eutanasia and eugenics seeking the so-called "racial hygiene".
- Negation of democracy (especially liberal democracy), with the consequent prohibition of the existence of political parties, trade unions.
- Führerprinzip/belief in the leader (In ascending responsibility and descending authority).
- Strong display of local culture.
- Regeneration of art.
- Love of Nature and creation of natural reserves and laws for the protection of Nature (ecofascism).
- Social Darwinism
- Defence Blood and Earth (in German): "Blut und Boden" - idea represented by the red and black colors of the Nazi flag)
- "Lebensraumpolitik", "Lebensraum im Osten" (Creation of more vital space for Germans in Eastern Europe).
- Relation to the Italian Fascism of Benito Mussolini and the Spanish of Francisco Franco.
- Creation of the Working Front, which brought together the workers of Germany for a better understanding of their problems.
- "Beauty at work" project to improve the working conditions of the workers.
- Creation of the "Winter Aid" to end the hunger and plight of many Germans before the Reich.
- Great mass acts to foster the collective spirit.
- Being a member of the Hitler Youths was voluntary (obligatory since 1936), from 10 to 17 years.
National Socialism Today
After World War II, Nazism has continued to inspire neo-Nazi movements.
In Peru in 2010, an anti-Chilean Nazi party led by Ricardo de Spirito Balbuena was approved by the National Electoral Board (JNE) for registration on electoral forms. The ethnocacerista movement, originally from Peru, has been described as a form of Nazism.
In many countries, including present-day Germany, it is forbidden to advocate Nazism and there are strict laws against Nazism, which is considered a crime; It is also forbidden to advocate for the Holocaust or deny its existence, a practice known as Holocaust denial.
In November 2017, an audio was made public of the president of the Sociedad de Fomento de Ingeniero Maschwitz (Buenos Aires, Argentina, Escobar's party) claiming to be a "sympathizer of national socialism" and discriminating against a girl because of her sexual orientation.
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Treaty of Frankfurt
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