The National Socialist (NAZI) party originated as the German Workers' party, which was formed in 1919. It wasnÆt until 1932-33 that the Nazis came into total power. The party was formed when the economy was suffering and 7 million Germans were unemployed. The German people were trying to regain their pride as a nation. When Hitler joined the party in 1919, it had 25 members, but only 6 were active in its discussions and lectures. Shortly after joining, Hitler became a leader of the party. Once in power Hitler established himself as a dictator. At the first big meeting of the German Workers' party, held in Munich, Germany on February 24, 1920, Hitler read the party program, which he had partly written. It consisted of 25 points that included nationalistic demands, corruptions of socialist ideas, and racist and anti-Semitic doctrines.
Once the Nazi party came to power, the German citizens lost most of their rights. They had no right to privacy or freedom of choice. The Nazis decided where people would work, how much they could have to eat, and how they could spend their free time. German children were made to join HitlerÆs Youth Movement which was the NaziÆs way of brainwashing the children with their beliefs. These children were expected to become future Nazi soldiers.
An Enabling Act was passed by the legislature and allowed Hitler to replace all labor unions with one Nazi-controlled Labor Front, and ban all political parties except for his own. Hitler relied on his secret police, the Gestapo, and on jails and concentration camps to intimidate his opponents, but most Germans supported him. "All village clubs, irrespective of political affiliation, excluded women from positions of responsibility, and all shared a concern for representing the honor of the village..."
Loyal Nazis soon held most high government offices. National, provincial, and local Party members of "pure" German blood 18 years or older swore allegiance to the "Fⁿhrer." According to Reich law they were accountable for their actions only in special party courts. Membership in the party was voluntary, and millions willingly joined, but a great many others were forced to become members against their will. Many civil-service employees were required to join. At its peak, the party had an estimated membership of about 7 million.
The principal organization of the Nazi party was the SA (Storm Troopers). They took large sums of money from German workers and farmers through their annual "winter help" collections for the poor. Also they conducted the Youth Movement and organized a violent hate program against the Jews in 1938. Another important Nazi party branch was the SS (Protection Squads), which during World War II organized special combat divisions to support the regular army at critical moments. Together with the Sicherheitsdienst (Security Service), or SD espionage agency of the Reich, the SS controlled the Nazi party during the last years of the war. The SD operated the concentration camps and during the war played a major role in allowing Hitler to take control of the armed forces from the general staff. Still another important Nazi group was the Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth organization). It prepared boys of 14 to 17 years of age for membership in the SA, the SS, and Nazi politics.
"Within the Nazi Party, the beginnings of a personality cult around Hitler go back to
1922-23, when some party members were already comparing him with Napoleon or describing him as GermanyÆs Mussolini."
It may not seem like it but the Nazis did make some positive improvements. With the military strength being so tight, street crime almost vanished in Germany. Pornography and prostitution were also cleaned up by the Nazi government. Many Germans still believe that the Nazis helped bring a "law and order government" to their country. The Nazis were responsible for constructing major roadways such as the Autobahn. They started the "Strength through Joy" organization, which allowed certain work days that would be holidays. In Germany if you worked you had a guaranteed paycheck. This encouraged more families in Germany. "Thus æNational SocialismÆ makes them [Germans] think merely of work, adequate nourishment, KdF [Nazi leisure organization] and the absence of ædisarrayÆ in political life."
To stop the spread of hereditary diseases, the Nazis started a "sterilization program". They hoped by doing this they could build their "master race". During the 1930s and 1940s, Nazi leaders established 22 concentration camps where 7 to 8 million Jews, along with gypsies, homosexuals, Communists, Slavs, and others judged undesirable, were imprisoned. Many prisoners were worked to death, shot, gassed, or given lethal injections. By 1945 they had murdered about 6 million of the inmates. Some were killed by firing squads, others died of starvation or as a result of experiments performed on them by German doctors and scientists. Most of the prisoners in the camps died in poison gas chambers. When Allied forces liberated the camps in 1945, they found them littered with thousands of unburied dead, and the majority of the survivors were suffering from disease or starvation.
Setting out on an empire-building mission, Germany sent troops into the demilitarized Rhineland in 1936. They annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland in 1938. In March 1939 the remainder of Czechoslovakia came under German control. The Nazi army also came to the aid of Francisco Franco's rebels in Spain's civil war. Outmaneuvered and fearful of war, no national leader offered resistance to these moves.
The Nazis then realized that any further moves might lead to a European conflict, so they prepared for the struggle. They believed that war would strengthen Germany's morale. After neutralizing the Soviet Union with the promise of dividing Poland, Germany attacked Poland in September 1939. Poland was quickly overpowered, and their allies, the British and French, who had declared war on Germany, did nothing to help. Hitler's forces moved into Denmark and Norway in the spring of 1940. A few weeks later they defeated the Netherlands, Belgium, and France.
Next Germany decided to capture the Soviet Union. To protect the German fleet, they first attacked the Balkan Peninsula. The invasion of the USSR in June 1941 quickly carried the German armies to the gates of Moscow. In December they were pushed back by the Russians, just as the United States entered the war. Hitler then realized that his military was weak, but he tried to play for time in the hope that some new miracle weapon or a diplomatic maneuver might still save the situation.
As time passed, Hitler and his Nazi followers still refused to give up, feeling that Germany did not deserve to survive because it had not lived up to its mission. Throughout this period, the "mission" was to destroy the Jews. Constantly trains took millions of Jews to concentration camps, seriously interfering with the war effort. An officers' plot to assassinate Hitler and end the war failed in 1944. Finally, on April 30, 1945, with all of Germany overrun by Allied invaders, Hitler committed suicide in his Berlin bunker. After HitlerÆs death, the Nazi party slowly diminished.
There are people that still today doubt that the Nazis really committed the terrible crimes they are accused of committing. With stories of the survivors of the Holocaust being made public, itÆs difficult to believe the Nazis were innocent. I believe if the same circumstances occurred today that an organization like the Nazis could form again. The US because of the recent court trials has been split along racial lines more than ever. If there was a depression in the US a leader could come along and get support from a lot of people by blaming it on other races. This is true in other countries as well. We can only learn from our mistakes and hope that this kind of catastrophe never occurs again.
Bibliography
1. Bessel, Richard. Life In The Third Reich. Oxford: University of Oxford Press, 1987
2. Microsoft Encarta, ╙1994, by Funk & WagnallÆs Corporation
3. Shirer, William. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. 1961
4. Snyder, Louis, Encyclopedia Of The Third Reich. McGraw, 1976
