the nature of Nazi ideology Flashcards
What did the Nazi’s argue that they aimed to create?
The Nazis argued that they aimed to create a new people’s community, or Volksgemeinschaft, based on what they saw as the traditional values of the German people
What did the Volksgemeinschaft imply?
The volksgemeinschaft implied a classless society, which would be at the heart of the community
What did Hitler aim to create? And what was the slogan?
Hitler aimed to create a national solidarity behind the regime, as in the slogan ‘One people, one country, one leader.’
According to Ian Kershaw, where was all the authority placed under the Fuhrer principle?
According to IAN KERSHAW, the so-called Fuhrer principle placed all authority in the hands of the leader
Whose image did Nazi propaganda build up? and what did it create?
Nazi propaganda deliberately built up Hitler’s image, creating the ‘Hitler myth’
According to the myth, who did Hitler represent?
According to this myth, Hitler represented the national will and worked tirelessly for his people
According to the myth, Hitler was above?
According to this myth, he was above party politics or selfish motives
According to the myth, what had Hitler brought?
According to the myth, he had brought prosperity and work to his people
According to the myth, Hitler was?
According to the myth, he was a statesman, a defender of Germany’s rights and a rebuilder of national pride
What did the idea of the ‘Hitler myth’ make possible?
This idea made it possible for the general public to separate their devotion to Hitler from their anxieties or complaints about the Nazi Party
What are ideas?
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, ideas are ‘thoughts or suggestions as to a course of action’.
In other words, ideas are not necessarily permanent or binding- they can be ignored.
What is ideology?
Ideology involves a commitment and is meant to be binding
How many binding and enduring aspects of Nazi thinking that could be called ideology?
3 main aspects
What was the first aspect?
The dominant leadership of Hitler (the Fuhrerprinzip) & the notion that the will of the Fuhrer was supreme in the Nazi Party, then in the Nazi State
What was the second aspect (the commitment to the Volksgemeinschaft) about?
Commitment to the Volksgemeinschaft (people’s community); that is the creation and protection of a harmonious national racial community → this had associations with racist thinking & the perceived greatness of traditional German culture
What was the third aspect (race thinking) about?
Race thinking → the notion that German greatness and the harmony of the Volksgemeinschaft were constantly under threat from jealous, evil, racially inferior groups, in particular the Jews and the Slavic peoples on German’s eastern borders (notably the Poles and Russians)
Who is the individual must often described as the chief thinker or philosopher of the Nazi movement?
Alfred Rosenberg
When was Rosenberg born?
1893
Where was Rosenberg born?
Born in Estonia, which was then part of the Russian empire
What was Rosenberg’s ethnicity?
Ethnic German
What did Rosenberg have a deep hatred for?
He developed a deep hatred for both communism and the Jews
What member of the Nazi Party was Rosenberg?
Rosenberg was one of the earliest members of the Nazi Party
What did Rosenberg’s main influence on Nazi thinking come with? and in what year was it published?
His main influence on Nazi thinking came with the publication in 1930 of his book ‘The Myth of the Twentieth Century’
How many copies of ‘The Myth of the Twentieth Century’ were sold by 1945?
More than a million copies had been sold by 1945
