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This article is about Nazism in relation to other concepts. Specifically, it discusses the relationships between Nazism and religion, fascism, socialism and race.
Nazism and religion
The relationship between Nazism and mysticism has provoked both curiosity and controversy over the years, as has the relationship between 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 utilized 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 Rosenberg and by other political decision-makers.
The existence of ties between Nazism and Protestantism has been hotly debated 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 then Catholicism or Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which makes statements about "official positions" of denominations problemattic. Still, many Protestant organizations or denominations were solidly opposed the Nazism and 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.
Yet Protestants voted for Hitler more then non-Protestants. 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, so felt the urge to be "more German than the Germans" to avoid suspicion, just as happened to assist the rightward drift of the Roman Catholic Centre Party. 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 stated that "The Lord blesses every step that Hitler takes" and as late as 1944 hoped to alienate Americans from Franklin Delano Roosevelt whom he called an ally of "Bolshevism.". 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. 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 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 from on the grounds of its incompatibility with Christian morals. Nazi Party membership was forbidden until the takeover and a policy reversal. Church hopes of a Christian alignment to the beneficial aspects they saw in national socialism continued (according to Franz von Papen, at his later trial) until 1936. Then Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical Mit brennender Sorge (1937) condemning Nazi ideology. There was strong protest among Catholics, and various other Christians, against the euthanasia programs (Spielvogel), but equally the Catholic Church facilitated the race registration program which fed the Holocaust with targets. 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", and the original accord with the Holy See proscribed, any political character to the priesthood , allowed thereto.
Difficult in retrospect is 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 for leaving the Jewish people unspecified ever by actual name. Pius XII continued this silence even when it is estimated he had intelligence about about the scale of the Holocaust. Pius XI 's quick approving comments praising Hitler on April 10 are held as the template of initial Church, at best, confusion. Contradiction between the 1938 statement and the approbation of 1933, as if Pius XI were not able to estimate the degree of Hitlerism's hostility to Christianity may show that he had been persuaded to attempt appeasement through the Reichskonkordat. The evolution of the Vatican's understanding is either weak and slow, or culpable. The former is not supportable, because there was a radical reversal of strong German episcopal condemnation prior to this date. The latter encompasses serious allegation of political collusion , made in prevention of German Communism. The defences are vocal, too, and rest on the premise that speaking the name would have made it worse for the Jews. The allegation at its worst, in contrary, even suggests a dual approbation of both anti-communism and anti-semitism. There is full record of priestly Christian conduct contradicting the higher quietude by brave devotion to humanity .
Tangential to the more extreme collaborationist accusations regarding Jesuitical and other church factions, is the characterisation that Nazism actively based itself on a similar pontifical structure and corps of functionaries, and fully considered itself as the church of the future in effective replacement of Catholicism, and in a unification of germanity since divided at the Protestand Reformation. The official re-entry of the Holy See into accord with the German State is same large motive for the pontifical delusion, seeking institutionalised recognition lost since the reformationary religious divide.
As Nazism continued to rule Germany, for many people it became a kind of religion in and of itself, sometimes called Esoteric Hitlerism, and sometimes associated with Germanic Neopaganism.
Nazism and fascism
The term Nazism is often used interchangeably with fascism, but this usage is controversial. Some use the word Fascism (spelled with a capital F), only to describe Italian Fascism, while generic fascism (spelled with a small f) may include many different movements, in many different countries.
Nazism and Italian Fascism both employed a similar style of propaganda, including military parades and uniforms, and the Roman salute. The ideologies of both ostensibly included an extreme nationalism and a rebirth of their own nation to some former, past state of national greatness. Both movements, when in power, also put in place totalitarian governments that pursued wars of expansion.
There were also many important differences between the two movements. For example, racism was central to Nazism but of less significance in Italian Fascism. Fascist Italy did not adopt anti-semitism until it followed Hitler's example.
Nazism and socialism
Nazism is an abbreviation for "National Socialist German Workers Party", and Nazi leaders described their ideology as socialist. Thus, a number of people believe that Nazism was a form of socialism, or that there are similarities between Nazism and socialism. This correlation has been rejected to by virtually all who consider themselves socialist in any sense other than "national socialism", then and now.
It has for example been argued that the Nazi war economy, large public works projects, demand for total employment, and state interventions such as the National Labour Law of January 20, 1934 are indicative of socialism.
Much depends on the definition that one chooses to give to the term "socialism". Definitions of socialism can range from the very restrictive to the very broad.
Under a philosophical definition of Socialism - for example one stating that only a system adhering to the principles of Marxism can qualify as socialist - there is a well-defined gap between Nazism and socialism. Nazi leaders were opposed to the Marxist idea of class conflict and opposed the idea that capitalism should be abolished and that workers should control the means of production. For those who consider class conflict and the abolition of capitalism as essential components of socialism, these factors alone are sufficient to categorize "National Socialism" as non-socialist.
For socialists who consider democracy a core tenet of socialism, Nazism is often seen as a polar opposite of their views. Primo Levi argued that there was an important distinction between the policies of Nazi Germany and those of the Soviet Union or the People's Republic of China: while they were all arguably totalitarian, and all had their idea of what kind of parasitic classes or races society ought to be rid of, Levi saw the Nazis assigning a place given by birth (since one is born into a certain race), while the Soviets and Chinese determined their enemies according to their social position (which people may change within their life). There are many other philosophical differences betwen Nazism and Marxism.
There were however ideological shades of opinion within the Nazi Party, particularly before their seizure of power in 1933, but a central tenet of the party was always the leader principle or Führerprinzip. The Nazi Party did not have party congresses in which policy was deliberated upon and concessions made to different factions. What mattered most was what the leader, Adolf Hitler, thought and decreed. Those who held opinions which were at variance with Hitler's either learned to keep quiet or were purged, particularly after 1933. This is comparable to the behavior of certain Communist states such as that of Stalin in the Soviet Union or Mao Zedong in China.
Under an economic definition - for example one stating that socialism is any economic system based on extensive central planning of the economy and public ownership over the means of production - the distinction becomes less clear. Advocates of the view that Nazism was a typical instance of socialism often hold a broad definition of socialism; for example, they may argue that many forms of economic interventionism by the government necessarily constitute socialist policy.
Industries and trusts were not nationalised in Nazi Germany, with the exception of private rail lines (nationalised in the late 1930s to meet military contingencies). The only private holdings that were expropriated were those belonging to Jews. These holdings were then sold or awarded to businessmen who supported the Nazis and satisifed their ethnic and racial policies. Military production and even film production remained in the hands of private industries whilst serving the Nazi government, and many private companies flourished during the Nazi period. The Nazis never interfered with the profits made by such large German firms as Krupp, Siemens AG, and IG Farben.
Nevertheless, efforts were made to coordinate business's actions with the needs of the state, particularly with regard to rearmament, and the Nazis established some state-owned concerns such as Volkswagen. The Nazis also engaged in an extensive public works program including the construction of the Autobahn system. Independent trade unions were outlawed, as were strikes, much like the labour practices of State Communism.
Since the fall of the Nazi regime, many theorists have argued that there are similarities between the government of Nazi Germany and that of Stalin's Soviet Union. In most cases this has taken the form of arguing that both Nazism and Stalinism are forms of totalitarianism. This view was advanced most famously by Hannah Arendt in The Origins of Totalitarianism.
For more information see the articles on Totalitarianism and Fascism and ideology.
The politics of the time
Marxist movements in Germany - the largest of whom were the Social Democrats (SPD) and Communists (KPD) - viewed the Nazis as enemies and argued that they were thinly disguised reactionaries.
Hitler despised Karl Marx and condemned Communism and Marxism as a Judeo-Bolshevist conspiracy. He pledged to block its rise in Germany and argued that the nation's downfall was due to Marxism and its Jewish influence. These political views prompted some prominent conservatives and capitalists to fund and support the Nazis because they saw them as a bulwark against Communism.
Nazism and conservatism
Some of the traditional center and right-wing political parties of the Weimar Republic accused the Nazis of being socialists citing planks in the Nazis' party program which called for nationalization of trusts and other social measures. However, the German National People's Party (DNVP), the most important party on the mainstream right, usually treated the Nazis as a respected potential ally.
Historians such as Ian Kershaw note the links between the Nazis and the German political and economic establishment, as well as the significance of the Night of the Long Knives in which Hitler purged much of the left elements (such as the Strasserites and homosexuals) in the Nazi Party. This was done at the insistence of the military and conservatives.
The Nazis came to power through an alliance with some traditional conservative factions, though also experienced opposition from others. Franz von Papen, a conservative former German Chancellor and former member of the Catholic Centre Party supported Hitler for the position of Chancellor. Events during the Hitler chancellorship led to the Enabling Act which gave the Nazis dictatorial powers, passed with the support of conservative and centrist deputies in the Reichstag, over the opposition of Social Democrats and Communists. Among the conservatives who opposed Hitler, the most notable was Kurt von Schleicher, who held the Chancellorship before Papen. He attempted to construct a center-right-led "cross front" that would unite anti-Hitler factions on the right and center-left in the Reichstag. His failure to do so led to Papen's rise to power, which in turn paved the way for Hitler's. Schleicher was later assassinated by the Nazis on the Night of the Long Knives.
Rhenish-Westphalian Industrial Magnates
Reported as bankrupt in December 1932, the NSDAP or Nazi Party was in fettle financial health by the middle of January because the Rhenish-Westphalian industrial magnates assumed responsibility for the debts. These financial and industrial leaders had put the Nazi party back into the political arena after a large tumble in the pro-Nazi vote in November 1932. In return, they had gotten promises to be paid back as, if and when Hitler came to power. It is reported that "without the formidable assistance of the industrialists the Nazi party would have foundered on the rocks of bankruptcy (Op Cit The Nemesis of Power by John Wheeler-Bennett, Macmillan 1953).
The magnates petitioned President Hindenberg after the November elections seeking the appointment of Hitler as Chancellor. Amongst the 38 signers of the petition were Hjalmar Schacht, Thyssen, Krupp, Siemens AG, Bosch and the heads of Hamburg-Amerika and the North German-Lloyd Shipping Lines. Hitler was assiduous in fulfilling his promises after achieving the chancellorship by eliminating the Communists, abolishing the trade unions, forcing no nationalization of industry and beginning rearmament on a huge scale.
Representing the industrial and financial force supporting Hitler, Hjalmar Schacht was accused at the Nuremburg trials but cleared of the charges (conspiracy to wage an aggressive war, war crimes and crimes against humanity) but sentenced in the de-nazification proceedings (Also see the Krupp Trial).
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. At the bottom of this hierarchy were "parasitic" races, or Untermenschen, which were perceived to be dangerous to society. Lowest of all in the Nazi racial policy were the Jews.
Nazi theory said that because the nation was the expression of the race, the greatness of a race could be evaluated according to a race's ability and desire to acquire a large homeland. German accomplishments in science, weaponry, philosophy and art were interpreted as scientific evidence to support Nazi racist claims.
Reference
- R.D'O.Butler The Roots of National Socialism 1783-1933 ,Faber&Faber , London 1941
- Edmond Vermeil Germany's Three Reichs first published London 1944