National Socialist German Workers Party
The National Socialist German Workers' Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), better known as the NSDAP or the Nazi Party was a political party that was led to power in Germany by Adolf Hitler in 1933. The term Nazi is a short form of the German word (NA)tionalso(ZI)alist (National Socialist); the ideology of the NSDAP (generally considered to be a variant of Fascism under a misleading name).
The party was the main political force in Nazi Germany from the fall of the Weimar Republic in 1933 until the end of World War II in 1945, when it was declared illegal and its leaders were arrested and convicted of crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg Trials.
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2 Nazi Party symbols 3 Other early members 4 Sayings, mottos and slogans 5 Election statistics 6 Related topics 7 References 8 External links |
Party history
In the beginning of 1918, a party called the Freier Ausschuss für einen deutschen Arbeiterfrieden (Free Committee for a German Workers' Peace) was created in Bremen, Germany. (6) Anton Drexler, locksmith and self-styled poet, formed a branch of this league on March 7, 1918, in Munich. In 1919, Drexler with Gottfried Feder, Dietrich Eckart and Karl Harrer, changed the name to the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (German Workers' Party, abbreviated DAP). This party then is the formal forerunner of the NSDAP and became one of many völkisch movements that existed in Germany after its defeat in World War I. In order to investigate this party, German army intelligence sent Hitler as a young corporal to monitor party activities. Impressed by what he saw, he joined as member 555, although Hitler later claimed to be "Party Member number 7" to make it look like he was a founder. He in fact was the 7th member of the DAP's central committee. Hitler wanted to name the party "Social Revolutionary Party" (4) but Rudolf Jung prevailed upon him to follow the pattern of Austria's Deutsche Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterpartei. The DAP was shortly renamed the NSDAP. When the NSDAP was refounded after being banned following the abortive Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, Hitler took Party membership number 1.
Gottfried Feder served as their economic theoritician and Rudolf Jung supplied the young party with a ready-made ideology that he carried with him from Czechoslovakia. It was a 25-point program. Hitler added his confused ideas about foreign policy and Julius Streicher added his more virulent anti-semitism views.
After the failure of its coup attempt in Bavaria, the Nazis competed poorly in elections for the remainder of the 1920s. In the election of 1930, however, the Nazis, propelled by Germany's economic problems in the incipient Great Depression increased their vote dramatically, becoming the second largest party in the Reichstag. It improved its position in the years thereafter, despite a brief ban in 1932 of the S.A (the party's private army) and in the elections of 1932 the party reached a total of 13.75 million votes and became the largest voting bloc in the Reichstag. Hitler was appointed Chancellor by President Paul von Hindenburg in January 1933, and in an election marred by S.A. strong arming, the Nazis and their Nationalist allies gained a majority, which they used to pass an Enabling Act to put absolute power into Hitler's hands. After the banning or cancellation of all other parties (July 5, 1933) and the ban on new parties (July 14, 1933), the National Socialists became the only remaining political party. This was part of the Gleichschaltung. The NSDAP anthem was called Horst Wessel Lied.
The makeup of the Nazi party consisted mainly of the lower middle classes both rural and urban. 7 percent belonged to the upper class, 7 percent were peasants, 35 percent workers and 51 percent were what can be described as middle class. The largest single occupational group was elementary school teachers. For any Nazi members that had military ambitions, they entered the Waffen-SS for they were forbidden in the Wehrmacht. In order to join the Wehrmacht, National Socialist members had to surrender their party card. (1)
Nazi Party symbols
Other early members
Hermann Esser, editor of the Völkischer Beobachter, Nazi party organ.
Sayings, mottos and slogans
Election statistics
| date | votes in millions | share |
| May 20, 1928 | 0.81 | 2.6% |
| September 14, 1930 | 6.41 | 18.3% |
| July 31, 1932 | 13.75 | 37.3% |
| November 6, 1932 | 11.74 | 33.1% |
| March 5, 1933 | 17.28 | 43.9% |
Related topics
References
External links