Hi there! First time posting. So I’ve always heard and believed that the state of nazi Germany is what happens when a country goes too far to the right (order, efficiency, rigidity, sterility etc) to the point of devaluing humanity to a dangerous degree. All this along with Germany’s vigorous war economy, it was easy for me to see where the country fell on the spectrum so to speak.

Now recently I’ve been doing more research particularly on the time leading up to the Holocaust. I did not know that the nazi party’s official name was the National Socialist German worker’s party. Now maybe that was just the name but the more I am learning about it the more I am hearing the nazis referred to as socialists and a leftist group with leftist ideas and ideologies.

If someone could explain what is meant by this or elaborate on the ways the nazi party was a leftist party that would be great!

This is not meant to be a divisive question. I am just trying to better understand left/right philosophies and see if my interpretations of them are accurate.

Note: I should also say that my very brief and general idea of leftism would be: open, progressive, egalitarian. All of the qualities I use to describe both left and right are not inherently good or bad, but can result in negative outcomes if they are not balanced. Thanks!