THE NATURE OF NAZI IDEOLOGY

Question 1

list the ideologies

Answer 1

nationalism, racial purity, social darwinsim, anti-communism, fuhrerprinzip, lebensborn/raum, autarky

Question 2

what is nazi nationalism

Answer 2

Envisaged a Greater German Reich including Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans) in Austria, Sudetenland & others
Destruction of the diktat & restoration of G’s full status as a great power was an overriding goal

Question 3

what is racial purity

Answer 3

Race theory = core of Nazsm
The nation was to maintain the racial purity of the state
Absolute belief in the superiority of the Aryan race
Promoted idea of an Aryan race community (Volksgemeinschaft) from which all inferior races would be excluded
Anti-semitism focused on Jews as a race enemy & threat to the Volksgemeinschaft
Germans’ racial superiority entitled them to living space, ‘lebensraum’, at the expense of inferiors

Question 4

what is social darwinism

Answer 4

Struggle → Nazism adapted Social-Darwinist ideas about the “survival of the fittest”
Made war acceptable, bred contempt for liberal democracy & influenced Nazi health policies
Under this idea the Aryan race was destined to rule the earth’s inferior races

Question 5

what is fuhrerprinzip

Answer 5

Fuhrerprinzip: leadership philosophy; an ideal model of leadership that was the basis of political authority → all power and sovereignty were vested in the Fuhrer
The principle that a group is entirely subordinated to a leader who has ultimate control over it
National revival

Question 6

what did Rudolf Hess say that highlighted fuhrerprinzip (Feb 1934)

Answer 6

“Hitler is Germany & Germany is Hitler. He who takes an oath to Hitler takes an oath to Germany”

Question 7

what is lebensraum

Answer 7

Germany needed to expand into eastern Europe, subjugating inferior or a-social races & acquiring its ‘living space’

Question 8

what is autarky

Answer 8

An economic policy in the Third Reich where the German nation would not have to rely on others for raw materials & food → promoting Germany

Question 9

what is the basis of nazi FP (hint: 2 terms)

Answer 9

blut + volk

Question 10

what are the 3 stages of nazi FP influenced by ideology

Answer 10

1. Volksgemeinshaft (raical purity)
2. Lebensraum
3. Fuhrerprinzip