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Part of the Politics series on Nazism

Nazi organizations Image File history File links Stop_hand. ... Politics, sometimes defined as the art and science of government[1], is a process by which collective decisions are made within groups. ... The term National Socialism has been used in self-description by a number of different political groups and ideologies, some of which have no connection with the Nazis; see National socialism (disambiguation). ... Image File history File links Nazi_Swastika. ... National Socialist German Workers' Party Sturmabteilung Schutzstaffel Hitler Youth Lebensborn The National Socialist German Workers Party (German: ), better known as the NSDAP or the Nazi Party was a political party that was led to power in Germany by Adolf Hitler in 1933. ... The seal of SA The (help· info) (SA, German for Storm Division, usually translated as stormtroops or stormtroopers) functioned as a paramilitary organization of the NSDAP – the German Nazi party. ... The infamous double-sig rune SS insignia. ... The Hitler Youth (German: Hitler-Jugend, abbreviated HJ) was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party that existed from 1922 to 1945. ... Lebensborn was one of several programs initiated by Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler to secure the racial heredity of the Third Reich. ... Nazism in history Early Nazi Timeline Hitler's rise to power Nazi Germany Night of the Long Knives Nuremberg Rallies T-4 Euthanasia Program Kristallnacht The Holocaust Nuremberg Trials To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Hitlers rise to power involved attracting support from a variety of social, political, and economic forces, while isolating others. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... The Night of the Long Knives (June 30 and Sunday July 1, 1934) (German, Nacht der langen Messer), also known as Reichsmordwoche or the Blood Purge, was a lethal purge of Adolf Hitlers potential political rivals in the Sturmabteilung (SA; also known as storm troopers or brownshirts). ... The Nazi partys 1936 Nuremberg Rally was its largest. ... This poster reads: 60,000 Reichsmark is what this person suffering from hereditary defects costs the community during his lifetime. ... Die Kristallnacht, also known as die Reichskristallnacht (literally Imperial Crystal Night), die Pogromnacht and in English as the Night of Broken Glass, was a massive nationwide pogrom in Germany and Austria on the night of November 9, 1938 (including the early hours of the following day). ... Selection at the Auschwitz ramp in 1944, where the German Nazis chose whom to kill immediately and whom to use as slave labor or for medical experimentation, such as those of the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele. ... The Nuremberg Trials were the sets of trials of officials involved in World War II and the Holocaust during the Nazi regime. ... Nazi concepts Glossary of the Third Reich Hitler's political beliefs Racial policy of Nazi Germany Führerprinzip Lebensraum Positive Christianity Volk This is a list of words, terms, concepts, and slogans that were specifically used in Nazi Germany. ... Historians and biographers note some difficulty in attributing political beliefs to Adolf Hitler. ... The racial policy of Nazi Germany refers to the policies and laws implemented by Nazi Germany, asserting the superiority of the Aryan race, and including measures aimed primarily against Jews. ... Adolf Hitler made believe he was the incarnation of the Führerprinzip The Führerprinzip, the German name for the leader principle, refers to a system with a hierarchy of leaders that resembles a military structure. ... Lebensraum (German for living space) is a German term that is used in English to refer to a motivation for Nazi Germanys expansionist policies, to provide extra space for the growth of the German population. ... A Sun cross, adopted as the sign of the German Faith Movement because it resembles both a cross and a swastika Positive Christianity is a term used in Nazi ideology to refer to a form of Christianity consistent with Nazism. ... Volk is a German (and Dutch) word meaning people or folk. It is commonly used as prefix in words such as Volksentscheid (plebiscite) or Völkerbund (League of Nations), or the car manufacturer Volkswagen (literally, peoples car). A number of völkisch movements were set up in Germany after... Nazi political parties and movements outside Germany Canadian National Socialist Unity Party German-American Bund Nasjonal Samling Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging National Socialist Bloc National Socialist League British Union of Fascists. The Parti national social chrétien was a Canadian political party formed by Adrien Arcand in February 1934. ... The German-American Bund, or German American Federation, was an American Nazi organization established in the 1930s. ... Nasjonal Samling (Norwegian for National Gathering or National Unification) was a fascist party in Norway before and during World War II, founded on May 17, 1933 by Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort. ... The Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging (NSB, National Socialist Movement) was a Nazi political party in the Netherlands during the 1930s and during the German occupation in World War II, when it was the only allowed political party. ... National Socialist Bloc (in Swedish: Nationalsocialistiska Blocket), a Swedish national socialist political party formed in the end of 1933 by the merger of Nationalsocialistiska Samlingspartiet, Nationalsocialistiska Förbundet and local nazi units connected to the advocate Sven Hallström in Umeå. Later Svensk Nationalsocialistisk Samling merged into NSB. The leader... The National Socialist League was a short lived political movement in the United Kingdom immediately before the Second World War. ... The flag of the British Union of Fascists showing the Flash and Circle symbolic of action within unity The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was a political party of the 1930s in the United Kingdom. ... Related subjects Nazism and religion Nazi mysticism Nazi architecture Hitler salute Mein Kampf Swastika Völkisch movement Racial purity Aryan race Nordic race Nazism and race Anti-Semitism Führer Neo-Nazism Fascism To meet Wikipedias quality standards and to make a clear distinction between fact and fiction, this article may require cleanup. ... Nazi architecture was an integral part of the Nazi partys plans to create a cultural and spiritual rebirth in Germany as part of the Third Reich. ... The Hitler salute (Hitlergruß), also known in German during World War II as the Deutscher Gruß (German Greeting), and in English as the Nazi salute, is a variant of the Roman salute adopted by the Nazi party as a sign of loyalty to its leader Adolf Hitler. ... Cover of Mein Kampf Mein Kampf (English: My Struggle or My Fight) is the fundamental political work of Adolf Hitler, combining elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitlers political ideology of Nazism. ... A right-facing Swastika in decorative Hindu form For the town in Ontario, see Swastika, Ontario. ... The hard-to-translate word völkisch has connotations of folksy, folkloric, and populist. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with miscegenation. ... The Aryan race is a concept in European culture that was influential in the period of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. ... Nordic theory (or Nordicism) was a theory of racial supremacy prevalent in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, which claimed that North European peoples constitute a “master race” because of their supposed innate racial capacity for leadership. ... Nazism and race Nazis claimed to scientifically measure a strict hierarchy among races; at the top was the Aryan race (minus the Slavs, who were seen as below Aryan), then lesser races. ... The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ... (help· info) (Fuehrer in English when umlauts are not used) is a proper noun meaning leader or guide in the German language. ... The terms Neo-Nazism and Neo-Fascism refer to any social or political movement to revive Nazism or Fascism, respectively, and postdates the Second World War. ... To Meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Relevant lists List of Nazi Party leaders and officials List of fascists List of Adolf Hitler books List of Adolf Hitler speeches Nazi Party (NSDAP) leaders and officials Contents: Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A Gunter dAlquen Ludolf von Alvensleben Max Amann Benno von Arent Heinz Auerswald... This is a list of persons who self-identify as fascists or adherents to a variant of fascism or related ideology (e. ... Adolf Hitler:A Chilling Tale of Propaganda List of Adolf Hitler Books is an annotated bibliography of the many books related to Adolf Hitler. ... List of Adolf Hitler speeches is an attempt to aggregate all of Adolf Hitlers speeches. ...

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The relationship between Nazism and religion is a controversial area of study.

Nazism and Christianity

Hitler and other Nazi leaders clearly made use of both Christian and Pagan symbolism and emotion in propagandizing the Germanic public, and it remains a matter of controversy whether Hitler believed himself a Christian, a heathen, or something else entirely. Some historians have typified Hitler as a Satanist or occultist, whereas other writers have referred to Nazism's occasional outward use of Christian doctrine, regardless of what its inner-party mythology may have been. The existence of a Ministry of Church Affairs, instituted in 1935 and headed by Hanns Kerrl, was hardly recognized by ideologists such as Alfred Rosenberg or by other political decision-makers. Paganism (from Latin paganus) and heathenry are blanket terms used primarily by Christians which have come to connote a broad set of spiritual or religious beliefs and practices of natural or polytheistic religions, as opposed to the Abrahamic monotheistic religions. ... Heathen is a term used both to describe a person who does not follow an organized religion, and also a modern practitioner of Heathenry. ... To Meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The word occult comes from Latin occultus (clandestine, hidden, secret), referring to the knowledge of the secret or knowledge of the hidden and often meaning knowledge of the supernatural, as opposed to knowledge of the visible or knowledge of the measurable, usually referred to as science. ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Hanns Kerrl (December 11, 1887 - December 12, 1941) was a German Nazi politician. ... Alfred Rosenberg Alfred Rosenberg (January 12, 1893, Reval (Tallinn) Estonia, then part of the Russian Empire–October 16, 1946) was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi party, who later held several important posts in the Nazi government. ...

Many Christians believed Nazism to be a Christian movement.^[1] Even in the later years of the Third Reich, both Protestant and Catholic clergy persisted in believing that Nazism was in its essence in accordance with Christian precepts.^[1]

Protestantism

The level of ties between Nazism and the Protestant churches has been a contentious issue for decades. One difficulty is that Protestantism includes a vast number of religious bodies many of whom had little relation to each other. Added to that, Protestantism tends to allow more variation among individual congregations than Catholicism or Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which makes statements about "official positions" of denominations problematic. Still, many Protestant organizations or denominations were solidly opposed to Nazism and many Protestants died fighting it. The forms or offshoots of Protestantism that advocated pacificism, anti-nationalism, or racial equality tended to oppose in the strongest terms. Prominent Protestant, or Protestant offshoot, groups known for their efforts against Nazism include the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Confessing Church. Many of their members died in the camps or struggled fiercely against the Nazis. The Confessing Church (Bekennende Kirche) was a Christian resistance movement in Nazi Germany. ...

Yet Lutherans voted for Hitler more than Catholics. Different German states possessed regional social variations as to class densities and religious denomination (see Jackson J. Spielvogel, Hitler and Nazi Germany ISBN 0131898779; books like Richard Steigmann-Gall The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity, 1919-1945 ISBN 0521823714 allege a linkage between several Protestant churches and Nazism, the main aspect Hitler's citing anti-Semitic pamphlets by Martin Luther and accusations that the Lutheran establisment supported Hitler). The small Methodist population at times was deemed foreign, this stemmed from the fact that Methodism began in the England while in Germany it largely began in the nineteenth century with Christoph Gottlob Müller and Louis Jacoby.[1][2][3] Because of this history they felt the urge to be "more German than the Germans" to avoid suspicion. Methodist Bishop John L. Nuelsen toured the U.S. on Hitler's behalf to protect his church, but in private letters indicated he feared or hated Nazism and so retired to Switzerland. Methodist Bishop F. H. Otto Melle took a far more collaborationist position that included apparently sincere support for Nazism. He felt that serving the Reich was both a patriotic duty and a means of advancement. To show his gratitude, Hitler made a gift of 10,000 marks in 1939 to a Methodist congregation to purchase an organ.[4] Outside of Germany, Melle's views were overwhelmingly rejected by most Methodists. The leader of pro-Nazi segment of Baptists was Paul Schmidt. Hitler also led to the unification of Pro-Nazi Protestants in the Protestant Reich Church which was led by Ludwig Müller. The idea of such a "national church" was possible in the history of mainstream German Protestantism, but National Churches devoted primarily to the state were generally forbidden among the Anabaptists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and in Catholicism. The Lutheran movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity by the original definition. ... Luther at age 46 (Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1529) The Luther seal Martin Luther (November 10, 1483 – February 18, 1546) was a German theologian, an Augustinian monk, and an ecclesiastical reformer whose teachings inspired the Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrines and culture of the Lutheran and Protestant traditions. ... The Methodist movement is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the United Kingdom (light green), with the Republic of Ireland (blue) to its west Languages None official English de facto Capital None official London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked... Christoph Gottlob Müller(1785–1858) is generally considered to be the founder of the Wesleyan Church in Germany. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Protestant Reich Church was formed by Adolf Hitler in 1933, by merging 29 regional churches into one church. ... Ludwig Müller(1883-1945) was a German who headed the Protestant Reich Church. ... Anabaptists (re-baptizers, from Greek ana and baptizo; in German: Wiedertäufer) are Christians of the so-called radical wing of the Protestant Reformation. ... This article considers Catholicism in the broadest ecclesiastical sense. ...

Catholicism

The nature of the Nazi Party's relations with the Catholic Church is also complicated. Before Hitler rose to power, many Catholic priests and leaders vociferously opposed Nazism on the grounds of its incompatibility with Christian morals. Nazi Party membership was forbidden until the takeover and a policy reversal. At his trial Franz von Papen said that until 1936 the Catholic Church hoped for a Christian alignment to the beneficial aspects he said they saw in national socialism. (This statement came after Pope Pius XII ended Von Papen's appointment as Papal chamberlain and ambassador to the Holy See, but before his restoration under Pope John XXIII.) In 1937 Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical Mit brennender Sorge condemning Nazi ideology. The Catholic opposition to the euthanasia programs led them to be quietly ended in August 28, 1941, (according to Spielvogel pp. 257-258,) but the German Catholics never protested Nazi Anti-Semitism in any comparable way. In Nazi Germany, all known political dissenters were imprisoned, and many priests were sent to the concentration camps for their opposition, including the parson of the Berlin Cathedral Bernhard Lichtenberg. (Among the punished priests were Poles persecuted for their nationality.) However, Hitler was never excommunicated by the Catholic Church and several Catholic bishops in Germany or Austria are recorded as encouraging prayers of support for "The Führer." This despite the fact the original accord with the Holy See proscribed any political character to the priesthood. Catholic Church redirects here. ... Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen (29 October 1879 – 2 May 1969) was a German politician and diplomat. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Pope Pius XII (Latin: ), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (March 2, 1876 – October 9, 1958), reigned as the 260th Pope, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, and sovereign of Vatican City State from March 2, 1939 until his death. ... Pope John XXIII (Latin: ), born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (November 25, 1881 – June 3, 1963), he was elected as the 261st Pope of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City on October 28, 1958. ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Pius XI (born Achille Ratti May 31, 1857 - Rome, February 10, 1939) was Pope from February 6, 1922 until February 10, 1939. ... In the ancient Church, an encyclical was a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area. ... Mit brennender Sorge (German for With deep anxiety, word by word: With burning worry) is an encyclical of Pope Pius XI, published on March 10, 1937 (but bearing a date of Passion Sunday, March 14). ... A euthanasia machine. ... August 28 is the 240th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (241st in leap years), with 125 days remaining. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1941 calendar). ... Bernhard Lichtenberg (December 3, 1875 – November 5, 1943) was a German Catholic priest and theologian. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Criticism also arises in that the Vatican pontificate headed by Pope Pius XI and Pope Pius XII remained circumspect about the national-scale race hatred before 1937. A statement by Pius XI on 8 Sept 1938 spoke of the "inadmissability" of anti-semitism, but Pius XII is criticised by people like John Cornwell for being unspecific. Pius XI may have underestimated the degree of Hitlerism's influence on the laity in light of hopes the Concordant would preserve Catholic influences amongst them. The evolution of the Vatican's understanding has faced criticism of weakness, slowness, or even culpability. On culpability this is perhaps clearest with regards to the German hierarchy as after the Concordant there was a radical reversal of the episcopal condemnation, according to Daniel Goldhagen and others. It is less certain in other cases. From the other extreme the hierarchy in the Netherlands officially condemned Nazism and so faced violence. Most nations hierarchy took a mixture of the two positions. Pius XI (Latin: ), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (May 31, 1857 – February 10, 1939), reigned as Pope from February 6, 1922 and sovereign of Vatican City from 1929 until his death on February 10, 1939. ... Pope Pius XII (Latin: ), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (March 2, 1876 – October 9, 1958), reigned as the 260th Pope, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, and sovereign of Vatican City State from March 2, 1939 until his death. ... John Cornwell is an English journalist and writer, known particularly for his science writing and books on the Papacy. ... Goldhagen Daniel Jonah Goldhagen (born 1959) is an American political scientist most famous for his controversial book, Hitlers Willing Executioners, which posits that ordinary Germans not only knew about but were actively in favour of the Holocaust because of a supposedly unique and virulent eliminationist antisemitism in the German...

Tangential to the more extreme of collaborationist accusations is the characterisation that Nazism actively based itself on a similar pontifical structure and corps of functionaries. For example the special clothing, ghettoization, and badges demanded of Jews were once common or even began in the Papal States. Also that the Nazis saw themselves as an effective replacement of Catholicism that would co-opt its unity and respect for hierarchy. Hence attempts were made to unite other religions, as in the earlier example of the Protestant Reich Church. The Papal States (Gli Stati della Chiesa or Stati Pontificii, States of the Church) was one of the major historical states of Italy before the boot-shaped peninsula was unified under the Piedmontese crown of Savoy (later a republic). ... The Protestant Reich Church was formed by Adolf Hitler in 1933, by merging 29 regional churches into one church. ...

Nazi mysticism

Thule Society emblem

Nazi mysticism is a term used to describe a philosophical undercurrent of Nazism which denotes the combination of Nazism with occultism, esotericism, cryptohistory, and/or the paranormal. The esoteric Thule Society and Germanenorden were secret societies which while only a small part of the Völkisch movement, led into the Nazi party.^[1] Thule-gesellschaft_emblem, I got it from [1], which states that it is public domain. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards and to make a clear distinction between fact and fiction, this article may require cleanup. ... Philosophy (from the Greek words philos and sophia meaning love of wisdom) is understood in different ways historically and by different philosophers. ... The term National Socialism has been used in self-description by a number of different political groups and ideologies, some of which have no connection with the Nazis; see National socialism (disambiguation). ... For other uses of this term, see occult (disambiguation). ... Esotericism refers to knowledge that is secret or not generally known. ... For a discussion of the political aspects of historical revisionism, see main article historical revisionism (political) In Parson Weems Fable (1939) Grant Wood takes a sly poke at a traditional hagiographical account of George Washington Historical revisionism is the reexamination of the accepted facts and interpretations of history, with an... Anomalous phenomena are phenomena which are observed and for which there are no suitable explanations in the context of a specific body of scientific knowledge, e. ... The Thule-Gesellschaft (Thule Society) was founded August 17, 1918, by Rudolf von Sebottendorff. ... The Germanenorden was a secret society in Germany early in the 20th century. ... A secret society is a social organization that requires its members to conceal certain activities—such as rites of initiation or club ceremonies—from outsiders. ... The hard-to-translate word völkisch has connotations of folksy, folkloric, and populist. ...

Dietrich Eckart, a member of Thule, actually coached Hitler on his public speaking skills, and while Hitler has not been shown to have been a member of Thule, he received support from the group. Hitler later dedicated Mein Kampf to Eckart. Dietrich Eckart Dietrich Eckart (March 23, 1868 - December 26, 1923) was one of the early key members of the National-Socialist German Workers Party and one of the participants in the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. ... Public speaking is speaking to a group of people in a structured, deliberate manner. ... Cover of Mein Kampf Mein Kampf (English: My Struggle or My Fight) is the fundamental political work of Adolf Hitler, combining elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitlers political ideology of Nazism. ...

Heinrich Himmler showed a strong interest in such matters, although as Steigmann–Gall points out, Hitler and many of his key associates attended Christian services. Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Himmler (October 7, 1900 - May 23, 1945) was the commander of the German Schutzstaffel and one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany. ...

Nazi mysticism, however, plays a major role in some forms of contemporary Nazism, with a mythology including such ideas as interdimensional vril-powered UFO's, hyperborean supermen, and a nazi moon base, along with the more widely known myth of Hitler having escaped to the Antarctic. Vril is a word from a science-fiction novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton titled Vril: The Power of the Coming Race and published in 1870. ... UFO can mean: Unidentified flying object United Future Organization, a Japanese-Brazilian electronic jazz band UFO, the rock band that previously featured Michael Schenker UFO, the Gerry Anderson TV series United Farmers of Ontario, a political party that formed the government in Ontario from 1919 to 1923 U.F.O... In Greek mythology, according to tradition, the Hyperboreans were a mythical people who lived to the far north of Greece. ... Esoteric Hitlerists and conspiracy theorists interested in Nazi mysticism and World War II have speculated that the Germans landed on the Moon as early as 1942. ... ...

See the main discussion at Nazi mysticism, and the related Neofascism and religion. To meet Wikipedias quality standards and to make a clear distinction between fact and fiction, this article may require cleanup. ... The study of Neofascism and religion is a controversial area that examines the parallels and intersections between what are purported to be various forms of neofascism and contemporary religions and religious movements. ...