The
National Socialist German Workers' Party
(
German
;
Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei
,
abbreviated
NSDAP
), also known as the
Nazi
Party
, was a
far-right
[5]
[6]
German
political party
. It was started in 1920 from the
German Workers' Party
(
German
:
Deutsche Arbeiterpartei
,
DAP
),
[7]
which would later be renamed the NSDAP. On the day it was created, the party published its
25-point manifesto
(book of ideas). The items in this list of ideas included getting rid of the
Treaty of Versailles
; gaining more land for the German people; taking away any
income
people had not earned by
working
; taking away
Jewish
people's
citizenship
; changing the
education
system; and setting up a strong central
government
.
[7]
It is most known for being Hitler's political party.
From 1920 until 1923,
Hitler
the
NSDAP
became to most popular in
Bavaria
since the
Beer Hall Putsch
of 1923 . In June 1934 the Nazi Party started
Night of the Long Knives
to kill
SA
leader
Ernst Rohm
and
German Chancellor
Kurt von Schleicher
.
In 1919,
Adolf Hitler
joined the German Workers Party. In 1920 the party changed its name, and Hitler took control in 1921.
In 1923, the Nazi Party tried to start a
coup d'etat
in
Munich
to take over Germany, but failed. This battle was called the
Beer Hall Putsch
. Hitler was
sentenced
to five years in
prison
for
treason
. However, he was let out of prison after nine months. Other people who participated in the Beer Hall Putsch were given the
death penalty
or 5-6 years imprisoned. The government also made the NSDAP
illegal
in Germany.
While he was in prison, Adolf Hitler wrote most of
Mein Kampf
('My Struggle'). In this book, he wrote down his
political
ideas and his future plans for Germany.
In 1924, Hitler was let out of prison early. He restarted the NSDAP. He wanted to gain power legally, through
elections
. At this time, the NSDAP was only one of a few
extreme
right-wing
,
nationalist
political parties in Germany. There were many other parties with similar ideas then. Important people like
Fritz Thyssen
and
Emil Kirdorf
, both leaders of big
industries
, supported the Nazi Party.
The next elections to the
Reichstag
were held in 1928. In these elections, the Nazi Party won 2.6% of the vote. The party decided to decrease its
anti-Semitic
slogans
in order to do better in the next election. Instead, the NSDAP focused more on
foreign policy
and on
terrorising
the German people. In local elections in 1929 and 1930, the NSDAP won about 10% of the vote.
In 1930,
President
Paul von Hindenburg
dissolved the Reichstag. The Nazi Party saw this as an opportunity. In the elections on
14 September
, 1930, the NSDAP won 18.3% of the vote, and had become the second biggest party in Germany.
At this time, most German people wanted to get rid of the
Weimar Republic
(the
Weimarer Republik
).
Weimar
was the German city where the German
constitution
was written after the
First World War
. People also wanted a stronger Germany, with more
soldiers
. The Treaty of Versailles had made it illegal for Germany to have some types of
weapons
and
ships
.
On
January 30
, 1933,
Franz von Papen
offered to make Adolf Hitler the
Chancellor of Germany
in a nationalist
cabinet
. He did this in secret. This was a
Machtubergabe
, or 'transfer of power'. However, later on, the NSDAP started to call it the
Machtergreifung
('seizing power'). It was better for Nazi
propaganda
to say that they took power from the Weimar Republic, instead of being made the Republic's legal government.
The last
free
election in Weimar Germany was in March 1933. The Nazi Party won 44% of the vote. This was not a
majority
. After the
Reichstag fire
, they managed to get the two-thirds majority they needed to pass the
Ermachtigungsgesetz
(Enabling Act). With this new law, they dissolved
parliament
; gave Hitler the power to do anything he wanted; and made all political parties (except the Nazi party ) illegal.
After this, the Nazi party became very important. People had to be party members to get some jobs, or to get promoted. The Nazi party ended when Germany
surrendered
to the
Allies
on 8 May 1945, who
banned
the party and all other Nazi organizations.
On March 23, 1933, the German Parliament passed the "
Law of Rectification of the Distress of Nation and Reich
" or commonly known as the "
Enabling Act
". Since this law required a two-thirds majority vote in parliament, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party used
intimidation
and
persecution
tactics to silence their opposition. They detained all 81
Communists
and 26 out of the 120 Social Democrats in Nazi-controlled camps, effectively preventing them from participating in the voting process or expressing their opinions. Later, the only party that voted against it were the remaining
Socialists
. The laws were not questioned and challenged by the German judges as they viewed Hitler's government legitimate.
The "
Enabling Act
" then allowed Hitler to propose and sign
legislation
into law without the need and permission of Germany's parliament. The following are examples of laws the Nazi Party created and kept during their time of control.
- "Reich Citizenship Law"
[8]
Often seen and regarded as one of the most significant and important law the Nazi Party issued, this law separated and defined who were pure German and who were Jews. According to the Reich Citizenship Laws and other related decrees, only people of that were pure German or had mixed blood could be
citizens
of Germany. Because of this, many Jews gave up traditional practices and
Judaism
. Some even started celebrating
Christmas
with Christians.
- "Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service"
[9]
This law removed
Jews
and political opponents of the Nazis from working in jobs. People were exempt only if they had a job before August
1914
, had fought in
World War I
, or lost a father or son in the war.
- “Law Against Overcrowding in Schools and Universities"
[10]
The law stated that the maximum amount of Jewish students in any public school or university should be no more than 5 percent of the student population. They also taught students racial ideas about the superiority of “
Aryans
” and the inferiority of
Jews
.
- “Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases"
[9]
This law allowed the Nazis to forcibly
sterilize
people with
disabilities
so they couldn't have children and wouldn't pass on their disabilities to future generations.
- "Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor"
[8]
This law banned pure Germans from having any sexual relations between Jews or mixed bloods. These relationships were labeled as "Rassenschande" and thousands of people were sent to
concentration camps
because of it. It also banned
marriage
between Jews and Non-Jews. The law also forbade Jews from employing German maids under the age of 45.
- “Law on the Alteration of Family and Personal Names"
[11]
This law forced Jews who didn't have "Jewish first names" to get a new identity card with their new middle names as "Israel" for males and "Sara" for females. Their documents were then labeled "J".
- “Decree on the Exclusion of Jews from Economic Life”
[12]
This law banned Jews from owning a
business
or being involved in a
trade
. The Jews then had to sell their business and company to a Non-Jew employee or a Nazi Supporter for little money.
The NSDAP was dissolved on 8 May 1945. After that, the NSDAP no longer existed.
They made some
reforms
which still exist today. For example:
But the Nazis did so many bad things that it is now illegal in Germany to display the
swastika
symbol
(shown on the
flag
above) or use slogans such as
Sieg Heil.
In November 2010, a
British
member of the
European Parliament
,
Godfrey Bloom
, was forced to leave Parliament. This happened after he shouted the Nazi slogan 'Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein
Fuhrer
' at a German member of Parliament.
[13]
- "
Sieg Heil
! Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil!
"
- "Hail Victory" (a common Nazi chant at rallies)
- "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuhrer!"
- "One people, one country, one leader!"
[13]
- "Deutschland, erwache!"
- "Germany, Awake!" (A popular Nazi song by Dietrich Eckart. The Nazis put this slogan on many propaganda
banners
.)
- "Die Juden sind unser Ungluck!"
- "Lang lebe unser ruhmvoller Fuhrer!"
- "Long live our glorious leader!"
- "Heute Deutschland, morgen die Welt!"
- "Today Germany, tomorrow the world!"
- "Die Deutschen immer vor dem Auslander und den Juden!"
- "The German always before the foreigner and the Jews!"
- "Sicher ist der Jude auch ein Mann, aber der Floh ist auch ein Tier"
- "Certainly the Jew is also a man, but the
flea
is also an animal"
- ↑
Rick Steves.
Rick Steves' Snapshot Munich, Bavaria & Salzburg
. Berkeley, California, USA; New York, New York, USA: Avalon Travel, 2010. p. 28. "Though the Nazis eventually gained power in Berlin, they remembered their roots, dubbing Munich "Capital of the Movement". The Nazi headquarters stood near today's obelisk on Brienner Strasse..."
- ↑
Davidson, Eugene (1997).
The Making of Adolf Hitler: The Birth and Rise of Nazism
. University of Missouri Press. p. 241.
ISBN
9780826211170
.
- ↑
Orlow, Dietrich (23 June 2010).
The Nazi Party 1919-1945: A Complete History
. Enigma Books. p. 29.
ISBN
9780982491195
.
- ↑
Eatwell, Roger (1997).
Fascism : a history
. New York: Penguin Books. pp. xvii?xxiv, 21, 26?31, 114?40, 352.
ISBN
0-14-025700-4
.
OCLC
37930848
.
- ↑
"The Nazi Party"
.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
. Retrieved
2022-10-20
.
- ↑
7.0
7.1
"The History Place - Rise of Hitler: Nazi Party is Formed"
.
historyplace.com
. Retrieved
29 December
2010
.
- ↑
8.0
8.1
"Nuremberg Laws"
.
encyclopedia.ushmm.org
. Retrieved
2023-08-29
.
- ↑
9.0
9.1
https://www.ushmm.org/m/pdfs/USHMM-Timeline-Activity-Laws-Decrees.pdf
- ↑
"Law Limits Jews in Public Schools"
.
encyclopedia.ushmm.org
. Retrieved
2023-08-29
.
- ↑
"Law on Alteration of Family and Personal Names"
.
encyclopedia.ushmm.org
. Retrieved
2023-08-29
.
- ↑
"Exclusion of Jews from German Economic Life"
.
encyclopedia.ushmm.org
. Retrieved
2023-08-29
.
- ↑
13.0
13.1
"Ukip MEP ejected for 'Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuhrer' jibe"
.
guardian.co.uk
. 24 November 2010
. Retrieved
29 December
2010
.
- ↑
"Global Politician - Soros, Europeans: Die Juden sind Unser Ungluck!"
.
globalpolitician.com
. Archived from
the original
on 17 December 2010
. Retrieved
29 December
2010
.