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Nazi Germany refers to the government of Germany that lasted from 1933 until 1945. It was led by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) and was based on the ideology of National Socialism, a variant of fascism and totalitarianism. The term Nazi is a short form of the German Nationalsozialismus.

The Nazi regime was characterized by political control of every aspect of society (Gleichschaltung) in a quest for racial, social and cultural purity. The Nazi Party pursued its aims through persecution of those considered impure, especially against targeted minority groups such as Jews, Gypsies, and homosexuals, as well as political opponents. This persecution reached a peak in the last years of the regime, in which some 6 million Jews, 10 million Slavs, and sundry others, were systematically killed. This genocide is referred to as the Holocaust in English, "Shoah" in Hebrew. (The Nazis used the German term "Endlösung" -- the "final solution.")

In 1939 Germany's actions lead to the outbreak of World War II in Europe -- Poland, France, and the Netherlands were invaded, and Germany declared war on the United Kingdom. After invading Greece and North Africa, Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. It declared war on the United States in December of 1941. After losing the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of El Alamein in 1943 and the Battle of Normandy in 1944, the regime started to disintegrate quickly, losing ground to the Alied forces in the west and south and the Red Army and the Polish Army in the east. By spring of 1945 German territory was invaded. In April, 1945, Hitler committed suicide and Germany finally surrendered in the first week of May.

After the war, surviving Nazi leaders were put on trial by the Allied tribunal at Nuremberg for crimes against humanity.

Organizations in The Third Reich

The leaders of Nazi Germany created a large number of different organisations for the purpose of helping them in staying in power. The character of the most of them is typical for totalitarian regimes, although most countries do have armed forces of some sort.

• Military
  • Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) -- Armed Forces High Command
  • Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH) -- Army High Command
  • Oberkommando der Marine (OKM) -- Navy High Command
  • Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (OKL) -- Airforce High Command
  • Wehrmacht -- Armed Forces
  • Heer -- Army
  • Luftwaffe -- Airforce
  • Kriegsmarine -- Navy
  • Oberbefehlshaber West
  • Abwehr -- Military Intelligence

• Paramilitary organisations
  • SA -- Sturmabteilung
  • SS -- Schutzstaffel
    • Waffen-SS
  • Deutscher Volkssturm

• State police -- Reich Central Security Office (RSHA - Reichssicherheitshauptamt)
  • Regular Police (Ordnungspolizei (ORPO))
    • Schutzpolizei (Safety Police)
    • Gendarmerie (Rural Police)
    • Gemeindepolizei (Local Police)
  • Security Police (Sicherheitspolizei (SIPO))
    • Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo)
    • Reich Kriminalpolizei (Kripo)
    • Sicherheitsdienst (SD)

• Political organsations
  • Nazi Party -- National Socialist German Workers Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Abeiterpartei, abbreviated NSDAP)
  • Youth organisations
    • Hitler-Jugend -- Hitler-youth (for boys and young men)
    • BDM -- Bund Deutscher Maedel (for girls and young women)

Prominent persons in Nazi Germany

• Nazi Party Party leaders and officials:
  • Adolf Hitler
  • Martin Bormann
  • Adolf Eichmann
  • Joseph Goebbels
  • Hermann Goering
  • Rudolf Hess
  • Reinhard Heydrich
  • Heinrich Himmler
  • Albert Speer
  • Joachim von Ribbentrop
  • Ernst Röhm

• Military:
  • Karl Doenitz
  • Erwin Rommel
  • Wilhelm Keitel
  • Claus von Stauffenberg
  • Wilhelm Canaris
  • Alfred Jodl

• Other:
  • Karl Brandt
  • Eva Braun
  • Leni Riefenstahl

• Noted refugees:
  • Bertolt Brecht
  • Albert Einstein
  • Sigmund Freud
  • Friedrich Hayek
  • Thomas Mann
  • Ludwig von Mises

Terms closely related to Nazi Germany

The following is a list of terms, which are closely connected with the totalitarian regime in Nazi Germany (1933-1945). Many are German expressions, which are now used as words in English - a short english description is given here and the explanation can be found in the articles themselves.

• Anschluss -- annexation (literally: "inclusion"). In particular the annexation of Austria;
• Blitzkrieg -- lightning war - quick army invasions aided by tanks and airplanes;
• Concentration camps -- (German: Konzentrationslager, KZ) originally detention centres, later sometimes mass-murder factories;
• Coventrieren -- Bombing out cities completely (the term was coined by Goebbels after the bombing of Coventry);
• Death factory - concentration camps designed for the killing of their inmates;
• Euthanasia - The T-4 Euthanasia Program to maintain the purity of the German Master race;
• Final solution -- (German: Endlösung der Judenfrage) final solution (of the jewish question), euphemism to describe the total extinction of all Jews;
• Fuhrer -- (German: Führer) leader; often used as a label for Adolf Hitler;
• Gestapo -- The Geheime Staatspolizei, the Nazi Secret Police;
• Gleichschaltung -- literally "synchronisation": total control and obedience of all aspects of society;
• Holocaust -- the genocide committed by the Nazis;
• Hakenkreuz -- swastika;
• IG Farben -- The company that was closest to the Nazi government and the most prominent example of corporativism in Nazi Germany;
• Kraft durch Freude (KdF) -- Strength through joy - State-sponsored programme intended to organize people's free time, offering cheap holidays, concerts, other leisure activities, and (unsuccessfully) a car (Kdf-Schiff, KdF-Wagen);
• Lebensraum -- space to live: a pretext for launching war on Eastern Europe;
• Master race -- (German: Herrenvolk) a politically charged term used by the Nazis to describe the so-called Aryan race;
• Nazi -- National Socialist; from the National Socialist German Workers Party, or Nazi Party;
• Night of the Long Knives;
• Nuremberg trials -- the trials of Nazi officials after the war for war crimes and crimes against humanity;
• Reich -- empire;
• Kristallnacht -- Crystal night - a night in 1938 when the Nazi government organized widespread violence against Jewish businesses. So-called because the numerous broken windows made the streets look like they were covered with crystal;
• Third Reich -- Name used by Nazis to describe their regime.
• U-Boot -- (Unterseeboot) the infamous German submarines (Note that this word has been used since before World War I to the present day to refer to all submarines -- it has no unique connection to the Nazis. It is also unclear why German submarines are more "infamous" than the American submarines that were far more successful -- ie, deadly);
• Wannsee conference -- a conference at Wannsee which led to the Final solution.

see also History of Germany, Weimar Republic

Articles Concerning Nazi Germany

Nazi racial policy Nazi Germany/Racial Policy