Was it a normal political party like any other seeking to get seats in parliament? Or their version of government.
What did they start out like and how did they end up being renamed nazis and hated by every and how were they used/manipulated by hitler? Please ELI5
I previously answered this question in the way of addressing a user's question about ideological factions in the NSDAP. I encourage you to read this answer, as it gives a scholarly primer version of the rise of Nazism.
'Normalcy' in European politics in the early-mid 20th century as we would understand it from a 21st century point of view existed only tentatively. Political parties both major and minor fielded candidates in local, provincial, and national elections and campaigned for public support on timely issues; to achieve any degree of political success, as today, a logistical machine of manpower and finances were required. In this sense, political parties in this era resemble our modern day political parties throughout the world. However, some key differences: it was entirely common for political parties to field their own paramilitaries, engage in coordinated acts of violence against detractors, and actively participate in foreign conflicts even while seeking power in their host/home nations.
These features are found perhaps best in the turmoil that was post-World War I Germany. From 1918 to 1933, the official state entity governing Germany was the Weimar Republic. Here is an excellent map of the Weimar Republic at its fullest territorial extent. By no means was the existence and status of the Republic a sure thing; it was birthed in the blood of the German Revolution of 1918: on 9 November almost directly after the official abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the dissolution of the German Empire came the proclamation of two competing governments. While the Weimar Republic would establish parliamentary democracy and a Presidential executive office, it's competitor called itself the Bavarian Soviet Republic. The BSR hoped to be embraced by the Bolsheviks, but they were embroiled in their own complicated Russian Civil War. Pragmatically, the BSR never exerted it's influence beyond Bavaria, while Weimar authority spread through the rest of what German territory remained after the Treaty of Versailles. Lasting just about a year, the BSR was brought to a violent end on 14 August 1919 by Freikorps forces loyal to the Weimar government and Bavaria was reconstituted as a Weimar state.
From then onwards, a wide spread of political parties cropped up to compete for influence in the new Parliament. Parliamentary democracy functions differently than other systems (i.e. -- bicameral) of representation. Parliament is unitary legislative body wherein individual seats are competed for by representatives. Political parties sponsor and run candidates to capture voting blocs and the political party with the simple majority of seats becomes the core of the new government and the legislature. In some parliamentary elections (as we will very soon see), a single party is sufficient to wield this majority. If a single party is insufficient, the most powerful parties form a coalition to achieve this majority. Until the next election cycle, this government wields legislative power and also elects the Prime Minister.
Interestingly, the Weimar Republic had both a Parliament-elected Prime Minister and a directly-elected-by-popular-vote President in what seems like a legitimate exercise in division of power, a reaction to the unchecked power wielded by the former Empire. They also introduced a Constitution that you can read here which gave international legitimacy to the Republic. The University of Oregon has an excellent academic primer on the Weimar Constitution as well.
Fraught with the costly impact of the loss of the Great War, an unravelling economy, and a spirit of general unrest on the homefront, the fragile Weimar Republic tried to hold together the nation and preserve the peace. It was not always successful; as distance from the capital and stronghold of the government grew, so too did its pragmatic influence lessen. While it would be a textbook-length answer to examine each and every Weimar Party both major and minor, we can discover the general political trends behind them by looking at the major parties of the period as well as the series of elections that brought the NSDAP to power.
In this context, individual political parties formed strongholds and exerted tremendous local influence apart from the official government.
Between 1919 and 1933, there were eight federal elections to Parliament; three presidential elections all won by Great War hero Paul von Hindenberg; and five Prussian Free State elections. Under the Weimar Constitution, the Prussian Free State was the direct successor to the former Empire's Kingdom of Prussia. Even with the territorial losses inflicted by the war and Treaty of Versailles, Prussia remained the largest State and one of the most influential.
The Communist Worker's Party of Germany (KAPD) rejected participation in the Parliament entirely and instead chose to try to expand it's influence through participation in the Communist International (COMINTERN).
Konrad Heiden is, in my opinion, the preeminent authority on the scholarly study of National Socialism. He was born in Munich, raised in Frankfurt, and joined the Social Democratic Party in the steps of his father. Heiden is German through and through; no one could mistake that.
And he was a fierce anti-Nazi, even and especially during their climb to power. He became a critical journalist because he is a self-aware man and realized his place in history. Heiden describes them as a 'union of causes rather than aims'. I definitely could not have worded that bettter myself.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I added some easy-to-read but no less scholarly sources in the main body of the text as hyperlinks where relevant. They are an accompaniament to the critical sources and all are cited simply below.
https://www.moma.org/s/ge/curated_ge/maps/weimar_republic.html
"Bavarian Council Republic" in Encyclopædia Britannica (1969)
https://www.bundestag.de/en/parliament/history/parliamentarism/weimar/weimar-200326
https://www.britannica.com/topic/parliamentary-system
https://www.zum.de/psm/weimar/weimar_vve.php
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/europe/de-weimar-elections.htm
https://pages.uoregon.edu/dluebke/Holocaust444-544/WeimarConstitution.htm
https://ibs.colorado.edu/johno/pub/nazi_long.pdf
https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/fora13&div=63&id=&page=