The People's Dictatorship A History of Nazi Germany

Chapter 1 describes the main ideological tenets of National Socialism, usually called Nazism, and explains their deep roots in European thought, culture, and religious tradition. The chapter identifies the core elements of Nazi ideology as biological racism, Social Darwinism, eugenics, romantic nationalism, antisemitism, anti-Marxism, and anti-liberalism. While some of these elements were of recent vintage, antisemitism was a centuries-old phenomenon in Europe. The racial antisemitism propagated by Nazism modernized a sentiment that had historically been based in religious and economic animosities. Hitler and other leading Nazis were not original thinkers, but rather they channeled these disparate ideological strands into a loose synthesis. The diffuse and disparate nature of Nazi ideology proved to be a practical political advantage inasmuch as it offered a menu of ideas and grievances from which potential followers could choose. The “Socialism” contained in the phrase National Socialism had nothing to do with the Marxist tradition, but rather hearkened back to the antisemitic Christian Socialism of the nineteenth century and was intended to signal solidarity with Germans who were resentful of the exploitative aspects of capitalism, which were often associated with Jews.