I'm reading Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and I can't wrap my head around how Hitler was able to get so many Nazi members elected to congress. What were they promising the people of Germany other than making Germany strong and the arian race pure?
Well here is the 25-point party platform published in 1920. And I believe as late of as 1933 it was unchanged. I'm not sure if Hitler had it changed after that time. But by and large this was representative of the party stances.
Edit: I've been asked by the mods to add a lot more commentary to bring this up to the standards of this sub.
The platform generally focuses on two major themes: German Nationality and Socialism. But in practice the Nazis were not socialists as we tend to think of them. The goal, as George Orwell might say, was never to make all animals equal. It was explicitly to make some animals more equal than others. The goal was to set up a German state where all Germans shared in the benefits, but non-Germans did not. It was National Socialism.
And there are many points that Hitler either compromised on, or never really believed in. So implementation was less than perfect.
In the first three points we see several issues that led directly to the war. The Nazis wanted to bring all Germans into a Greater German State. This would include those living in Austria and the Sudetenland. They wanted the treaty of Versailles reversed. And they wanted lebensraum (living space) for all these Germans. Eventually Hitler decided he wanted this space to come from Russia.
After that we see the seed of the racial laws. Many (most) of these were implemented to some degree or another. And they always fell especially against Jews. But it does make it clear why Hitler formed "protectorates" of some areas, rather than outright annexing everything during the war. He wanted a Germany, for Germans, composed of Germans. Bohemians, Moravians, Slovaks, and the like had to have their own little countries to live in... because they weren't welcome in Hitler's Germany.
Then it moves to the socialism in the National Socialist agenda. This was followed poorly at best. There was some nationalization of corporations, most notably in banking and transportation... but it is hard to say that any of these were implemented in any real sense. Although some were. department stores were abolished, so as to protect small business owners.
But I think the line between points 24 and 25 contains the core of the whole platform: Public Interest before Private Interest. That is the core of Nazism, the German state before the individual Germans.
The Program of the German Workers’ Party is a program for our time.
The leadership rejects the establishment of new aims after those set out in the Program have been achieved, for the sole purpose of making it possible for the Party to continue to exist as the result of the artificially stimulated dissatisfaction of the masses.
We demand the uniting of all Germans within one Greater Germany, on the basis of the right to self-determination of nations.
We demand equal rights for the German people (Volk) with respect to other nations, and the annulment of the peace treaty of Versailles and St. Germain.
We demand land and soil (Colonies) to feed our People and settle our excess population.
Only Nationals (Volksgenossen) can be Citizens of the State. Only persons of German blood can be Nationals, regardless of religious affiliation. No Jew can therefore be a German National.
Any person who is not a Citizen will be able to live in Germany only as a guest and must be subject to legislation for Aliens.
Only a Citizen is entitled to decide the leadership and laws of the State. We therefore demand that only Citizens may hold public office, regardless of whether it is a national, state or local office.
We oppose the corrupting parliamentary custom of making party considerations, and not character and ability, the criterion for appointments to official positions.
We demand that the State make it its duty to provide opportunities of employment first of all for its own Citizens. If it is not possible to maintain the entire population of the State, then foreign nationals (non-Citizens) are to be expelled from the Reich.
Any further immigration of non-Germans is to be prevented. We demand that all non-Germans who entered Germany after August 2, 1914, be forced to leave the Reich without delay.
All German Citizens must have equal rights and duties.
It must be the first duty of every Citizen to carry out intellectual or physical work. Individual activity must not be harmful to the public interest and must be pursued within the framework of the community and for the general good.
We therefore demand:
Breaking the Servitude of Interest.
In view of the tremendous sacrifices in property and blood demanded of the nation by every war, personal gain from the war must be termed a crime against the nation. We therefore demand the total confiscation of all war profits.
We demand the nationalization of all enterprises (already) converted into corporations (trusts).
We demand profit-sharing in large enterprises
We demand the large-scale development of old-age pension schemes.
We demand the creation and maintenance of a sound middle class; the immediate communalization of the large department stores, which are to be leased at low rates to small tradesmen. We demand the most careful consideration for the owners of small businesses in orders placed by national, state, or community authorities.
We demand land reform in accordance with our national needs and a law for expropriation without compensation of land for public purposes. Abolition of ground rent and prevention of all speculation in land.
We demand ruthless battle against those who harm the common good by their activities. Persons committing base crimes against the People, usurers, profiteers, etc., are to be punished by death without regard to religion or race.
We demand the replacement of Roman Law, which serves a materialistic World Order, by German Law
In order to make higher education – and thereby entry into leading positions – available to every able and industrious German, the State must provide a thorough restructuring of our entire public educational system. The courses of study at all educational institutions are to be adjusted to meet the requirements of practical life. Understanding of the concept of the State must be achieved through the schools (teaching of civics) at the earliest age at which it can be grasped. We demand the education at the public expense of specially gifted children of poor parents, without regard to the latters’ position or occupation.
The State must raise the level of national health by means of mother-and-child care, the banning of juvenile labor, achievements of physical fitness through legislation for compulsory gymnastics and sports, and maximum support for all organizations providing physical training for young people.
We demand the abolition of hireling troops and the creation of a national army.23. We demand laws to fight against deliberate political lies and their dissemination by the press. In order to make it possible to create a German press, we demand:
a) all editors and editorial employees of newspapers appearing in the German language must be German by race;
b) non-German newspapers require express permission from the State for their publication. They may not be printed in the German language;
c) any financial participation in a German newspaper or influence on such a paper is to be forbidden by law to non-Germans and the penalty for any breach of this law will be the closing of the newspaper in question, as well as the immediate expulsion from the Reich of the non-Germans involved.
Newspapers which violate the public interest are to be banned. We demand laws against trends in art and literature which have a destructive effect on our national life, and the suppression of performances that offend against the above requirements.
The Party as such stands for positive Christianity, without associating itself with any particular denomination. It fights against the Jewish-materialistic spirit within and around us, and is convinced that a permanent revival of our nation can be achieved only from within, on the basis of: Public Interest before Private Interest.
The Party leadership promises to take an uncompromising stand, at the cost of their own lives if need be, on the enforcement of the above points.
Munich, Germany
February 24, 1920.
I'm reading Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and I can't wrap my head around how Hitler was able to get so many Nazi members elected to congress.
/u/depanneur explains quite well in [this thread] (http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/22ox1w/what_is_fascism/) the appeal of Nazi's fascism ideology to its fan.
The First World War gave fascism its mass base. Veterans across Europe felt alienated in civilian society after the war, which could not understand their experiences on the frontline. A lot of them wanted to return to an idealized comradeship and hierarchy of the front line, which fascist organizations like the SA and the Blackshirts offered. A lot of them didn’t actually care about the nuances of fascist ideology, they just felt like they didn’t belong in civilian society and needed order and comrades. Instead of a real enemy opposing army, fascism offered them a frontline against post-war society which was especially attractive in revisionist countries like Germany and Italy, where many wanted to destroy the existing Liberal order which they blamed for their countries’ humiliations.
The National Socialist German Workers' Party arguably stood for everything and nothing and constantly changed. Apart from the whole hating on Jew thing, they did stand for many things officially and unofficially.
After World War 1, Germany had massive economic issues including rampant unemployment and hyper-inflation. Inflation during the early-mid 1920s in Germany was perhaps one of the worst cases in history with the currency denominations maxing out in the trillions. Money was essentially not worth the paper it was printed on, and this caused massive economic issues. This was rectified however economic growth was sluggish and unemployment horrendously bad, which lasted right into the early 1930s which is when Hitler gained most of his momentum. This was exploited by Hitler in various ways to gain popularity.
They stood for a highly centralised and organised labour force, which promised to reinvigorate the economy and reduce unemployment. This was largely achieved as well through large government projects. They also stood for the Lebensraum. This basically was a policy of expanding the available land for exploitation by the Germans, even through aggressive means. This was justified under economic policy and the idea of social Darwinism in that the strong shall prevail over the weak. The grey area is where they stand economically, as they incorporate capitalist and communist ideologies while maintaining, at least officially, an anti-capitalist and anti-communist stance. Many services were privatised and in other areas, government control was absolute. In my opinion, the contrast is that labour was governed publicly by the central government while commerce was independent as long as it supported the parties goals. For some Corporations taxation was non-existent, while for others, it was gargantuan. The best way to sum it up is the economic policy was rarely uniform as it was administered depending on how it might benefit the party. The economic policy never really was consistent throughout the parties existence, and really evolved through time. In a broader sense, they described themselves as a Fascist Party which was used quite liberally as a legitimate political ideal before the term was stigmatised. Of course, propaganda and a cult of personality made Hitler into a godlike messiah type figure. The Fuehrer means the Guide in German, so people largely believed that irrelevant of the official policy, Hitler would guide them to salvation (at least into the late 1930s this was the case). They were relatively anti-religion although they allowed Christianity a bit to distract the masses. They stood for infrastructure projects and a large nuclear German family. They were for militarisation and anti-ww1 reparations. They were trying to aggressively ensure the rights of the working class over the needs of big business. In doing so they were also violently opposed to Communisms and Slavic people in General. I tried to sum this up but I barely scratched the surface. As I mentioned, they stood for different things at different times, and often what was official policy was not necessary what was actually practiced. In general, it can be briefly summed up as pro-working class, anti-communism, anti-jew, pro-military and pro- big government.
Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - William L. Shirer