preview

Nazism, A Specific Form Of Fascism

Good Essays

Nazism, a specific form of fascism led by Adolf Hitler, is one of the most famous representatives of nationalism and racism. In fact, Nazis propagandised nationalism at first while nationalism soon turned radically into racism. Although there were still elements of nationalism later, racism was definitely the core ideology. This essay will determine the evidences of nationalism and racism in Nazism and how nationalism grew into racism. The ideas of unity and xenophobiawere raised as the symbol of nationalism. On the purpose of expansion, racism was emphasised by Hitler instead of nationalism. Actions against other inferior races, especially Jews were taken. Policies to ensure race purity were also released.

In the early stage of Nazism, Nazis …show more content…

The profit for the foreigners might be abandoned in some cases (NSDAP program ex. 1). However, in the same extract, Nazis claimed that German people and people from all other nations are equal (NSDAP program ex. 1). It is clear that Nazis valued Germans more than others, which was completely contradictory to what they claimed. Moreover, nationalism is not only reflected in the priority of Germans, but also in the exclusion of foreign cultures. Any influence other races had on German culture and politics were banned (Hitler 1937 speech ex. 1). The elimination of foreign culture, including literature, art and music, throughout the period Nazi was in power (Mason 2014, p.p 151-154).Germans were protected from foreign cultures and opinions.Nazis were so conservative that they only accepted traditional German …show more content…

Nazi emphasised the thought that German was the greatest race in the world and other races mean to be eliminated or dominated by German. In 1900s, Natural Selection, produced by Charles Darwin, was transferred to society, known as Social Darwinism (Evans 2008, p. 38). It made the point that only the fittest could survive. Hitler seized it and expanded it to races. He propagandised that only the strongest race could survive and that should be the Aryan (Evans 2008, p. 38). As the Aryans were believed to be the ancestors of the Germans, German was considered a superior race. However, even if the Aryan was the superior race, Nazis claimed that not every Aryan was superior. The inferior German people, including criminals, the disabled and orphans, only deserved to be died (Salomon, Barren trees ex. 1). Most of them died as a result of lack of care (Evans 2008, p. 36). Nevertheless, their death was regarded as the failure of the struggle. The reducing of inferior Germans was purposed to brought a fitter and healthier race that was able to master other races. Moreover, these people were classified as the bottom class, which is opposite to Hitler's claim that there was no class in the early period (Hitler Nationalism ex. 1). It can be seen that the equality of the Germans no longer existed and racism has partly taken place of nationalism.The most remarkable behaviour of racism was the ethnic cleansing. Nazis

Get Access