And the rise of the National Socialist Party to power in Germany

Nazism A deviation of fascism which turned extreme

nationalism into racism Nazism believed in the pseudoscientific Social

Darwinism “Survival of the fittest race” The Nazis believed that the Germans were

part of a mythical blonde, blue eyed “Aryan” race of super humans spawned from central AsiaSaw “other” races such as Jews, Slavs, Blacks,

Aboriginals and Asians as inferior Very focused on racial purity Hitler wanted to establish a 1000 Reich

The Holy Roman Empire had lasted 1000 years

The center of their ideology was the scapegoat. The Nazis blamed the Jews for all of Germany’s problems

Nazism was anti-religiousMany leading Nazis practiced Germanic pagan

religions They were anti-Capitalist. Hitler called

capitalism “Jewish”However, Hitler got lots of support from big German

firms The Nazis did not nationalize businesses, but set

targets for private industry to achieve Anti-Communist: Hitler also labeled

Communism as “Jewish” Anti-Homosexual

Despite this, leading Nazis such as Ernst Rohm were gay

Adolf Hitler Born in Austria Began adult life as a failed

art student Fought for Germany in

WW1 as a messenger Was injured Promoted to Corporal by a

Jewish officer After the war, he was used

by the army to spy on German radical groups – Including the German National Socialist Workers Party- which he then joined

Origins of the Nazi party Created in the midst of the Chaos following WW1 Composed of many ex-soldiers and anti-semites who were

fighting communists in Germany Hitler quickly rose through their ranks due to his good

oratory skills and became leader in 1921 In 1923, the S.A. “Brownshirts” attempted a coup d’etat in

Munich, but it failed and Hitler was arrested for 9 months

In jail, Hitler wrote his book Mein Kampf, expressing his political views

The Nazis were not popular in Germany from 1923-1929 because Germany’s economy recovered

The Great Depression starting in 1929 caused a spike in support for the Nazi’s, which along with communists, became the most popular parties in Germany

Rise to power The Nazis and communists

fought each other in street battles

The Nazis won the most seats in the 1932 election

Hitler was eventually appointed Chancellor

After President Hindenburg dies in 1934, Hitler declares himself President

He creates the Enabling Acts, allowing him to become dictator after the Reichstag is burned by “Communists”

The Third Reich Once in power, Hitler

revolutionizes German society Communists are seized and

killed He purges the S.A. in favor of

his personal body guard S.S. led by Heinrich Himmler

His close counterpart Joseph Goebbels begins to spread Nazi propaganda

He changes the education system to begin brainwashing a generation of youth

Many books are deemed illegal and burned

Remilitarization

With his second in command Hermann Goering, Hitler has an air force created

Hitler expands the army beyond the T.O.V. limit of 100,000 and introduced conscription

Hitler remilitarizes the Rhineland Germany army theoreticians begin

working on new strategies and tactics

Hitler and the Jews Immediately after taking

power, Hitler purges German Jews from the civil service such as teaching

By 1935, Jewish professionals are no longer allowed to have non-Jewish customers

Intermarriage is banned between “Aryans” and Jews

Jewish children may no longer attend school

Hitler originally encouraged German Jews to emigrate. The main problem was that there were few places to goThe British tried to stop more than a handful of

Jews from emigrating to their destination of choice – Palestine

Canada and the USA did not want Jewish immigrants

Most European countries had racist policies in place against Jewish people already

Kristallnacht in November 1938 was the beginning of the end of German JewsJewish property was vandalized all over GermanyJewish rights were completely taken awayMany Jews were beaten or killed