By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
The expression “nazismo ” derives from the acronym “nazi”, which was used as an abbreviation for the National Socialist German Workers' Party , organized by Adolf Hitler in the 1920s. To understand the main characteristics of Nazism it is necessary to know some important information about the context in which he developed.
Context of origin of Nazism
In 1919, at the end of World War I , Germany, having lost the war, was subjected to humiliation and demands on the part of the winning countries. The population was marked by these humiliations and by several other effects of the war, which were reflected in all sectors:economic, social, cultural, etc. This post-World War I atmosphere produced enormous resentment in Germans towards other countries, a fact that reinvigorated nationalist extremism in Germany, which originated in the second half of the 19th century.
Germany's political reorganization after World War I became known as the Weimar Republic, the city where the Constitution that gave the country new political guidelines was created. Nazism was articulated within the Weimar Republic with several other political and paramilitary parties and factions that lobbied against the newly established power. Among these other factions was the Spartacist movement, a communist faction influenced by the Russian Revolution of 1917 and led by Rosa Luxemburg.
From an economic point of view, the Weimar Republic achieved satisfactory results between 1924 and 1929, mainly due to foreign investments, especially from the United States. However, with the American Great Depression, the New York Stock Exchange Crash in 1929, the German economy foundered along with that of its main investor. This new situation of economic decline favored the radicalization of Nazi proposals.
Who was Adolf Hitler?
Adolf Hitler , born in Austria in 1889, had participated in the First World War as a combat soldier of the Triple Alliance . After the war, Hitler became part of a group of ex-combatants, workers and members of the German middle class that developed an ideology whose objective was to rescue Germany's political dignity, the glorious German past, that is, to give continuity to the two great empires that Germany had already played. This group founded the Nazi Party, which became the political support for the development of what Hitler called the “Third Empire” (Third Reich ).
Even before the economic crash of 1929, Hitler and his allies tried to seize power. In 1923, the Nazis staged a coup in the state of Bavaria and ended up being arrested and sentenced. In prison, Hitler perfected his ideology and left it recorded in the book “My Struggle” (“Mein Kampf”) . The entire program that the Nazi Party would run was in that book. Through the Nazi Party, Hitler managed, gradually, to elect representatives in the parliament of the Weimar Republic and also to reach the second most important post of the head of the country:that of chancellor, being only below President von Hindenburg.
In 1933, after the German parliament was criminally burned down (and the crime was reported to the communists), Hitler and the Nazis began to pressure President Hindenburg to give him greater powers. From that year the Nazi dictatorship began. With the death of Hindenburg in 1934, Hitler added to his person the titles of chancellor, president and “führer” , lord and leader, of all Germans. The Nazi regime took on a completely totalitarian character.
Characteristics of Nazism
The main characteristics of Nazism, as an ideology instituted in power, were derived from Hitler's ideas developed in the prison period. Controlling the population through propaganda was one of his main tools. The use of radio and cinema was decisive in this process for the propagation of Nazi ideas. anti-Semitism it was one of those ideas. Hatred of Jews, to whom Hitler blamed various problems facing Germany, especially economic problems, intensified during the Nazi period. This fact culminated in the Holocaust – the death of more than six million people in concentration camps (mostly Jews).
Associated with anti-Semitism was the racist and eugenicist notion of the superiority of the white Germanic male , or the Aryan race, and the construction of a “living space” for this race to build its world empire. This vital space comprised vast regions of the European continent, which according to Hitler's plans should be invaded and conquered by the Germans, since the race was responsible, due to its superiority, to become "mistress" over other peoples.
Hitler's ideas convinced a good part of the German population, who believed that his leader was the guarantee of a prosperous and triumphant Germany. These characteristics of Nazism led Germany to the Second World War, an even bloodier war than the previous one, and to the horror of the “death industry” verified in the death camps.
* Image credits:Shutterstock and Elzbieta Sekowska
Take the opportunity to check out our video lessons related to the subject: