German National Socialist Party
The German National Socialist Workers' Party, known as the Nazi Party, was a German political party that operated between 1919 and 1945.
Elliot Fernández
He has a degree in History from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (2009) and a Master's in World History from Pompeu Fabra University (2011).
17/07/2020 | Last update: 17/07/2020
Political party founded in 1919 by Anton Drexler as the German Workers’ Party. In 1920 it changed its name to the National Socialist Party of German Workers (NSDAP).
The Nazi Party, as it was popularly known, became a mass movement. It ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945 under the leadership of Adolf Hitler (1889-1945).
Its ideological roots were in anti-Semitism and German nationalism. It grew up around unrest and discontent with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. This 1919 peace agreement had ended the First World War (1914-1918)
Adolf Hitler joined the party in which it was founded and became its leader in 1921. In 1933, he became Chancellor of Germany and his Nazi government soon assumed dictatorial powers.
The National Socialist Party during World War II
In early 1942, at the Wannsee Conference held near Berlin, the Nazi Party decided on the last phase of what it called the “Final Solution” to the “Jewish Question“. It was the planning to carry out the systematic murder of all European Jews in the Holocaust.
Between 1942 and 1943, thousands of Jews from occupied countries in the west, such as France and Belgium, were deported by the thousands to concentration and extermination camps throughout Europe. In Poland, huge extermination camps like Auschwitz began to operate with ruthless efficiency.
The killing of Jews in German-occupied lands stopped only in the last months of the war when the withdrawal of the German armies began. By the time Hitler committed suicide in April 1945, some 6 million Jews had died.
The Denazification of Germany
After Germany’s defeat in World War II (1939-45), the German National Socialist Party was outlawed. Many of its top officials were convicted of war crimes related to the murder of 6 million European Jews during the Holocaust.
The party’s swastika flag quickly became the symbol of evil in modern post-war culture. Although Hitler committed suicide, several Nazi officials were convicted of war crimes at the Nuremberg trials.
Organization data National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP)
Historical data:
Foundation year: 1919
End year: 1945
Main location: München
Ideology: Far Right
Organitzation type: Political
Country: Germany
Historical period: Late modern period
Historical subperiod: Interwar period
Persons linked to the organization:
Anton Drexler - Together with journalist Karl Harrer and others, he founded the German Workers' Party (DAP). Hitler joined this party and according to Hitler himself wrote in Mein Kamp. Drexler greatly influenced her political orientation.
Hermann Esser - Journalist, political propagandist, under-secretary of tourism and great speaker of the NSDAP belonging to Hitler's old guard. Esser was one of the few people who were properly recognized as friends of the dictator Adolf Hitler.
Hermann Göring - World War I aviation hero and a prominent leader of the NSDAP. He participated in the failed coup d'état of November 8, 1923. He became during the Third Reich the second most important man after Adolf Hitler, with the titles of Reich Minister Plenipotentiary for Prussia, Minister of Economics, coordinator of the four-year plan and Reich Marshal with command of the Luftwaffe, the Reich Air Force.
Rudolf Hess - A prominent figure in Nazi Germany, he was the sixteenth person to join the National Socialist Party and acted as Adolf Hitler's representative to the party. During the invasion of the Soviet Union he flew to Scotland with the intention of negotiating peace, but was arrested. At the end of the war, he was tried at the Nuremberg Trials and sentenced to life imprisonment, which he served in Spandau Prison in Berlin until he committed suicide in 1987.
Heinrich Himmler - Heinrich Himmle was Reichsführer of the Schutzstaffel (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of the Holocaust.
Adolf Hitler - Main ideologue of Nazism. He became chancellor of Germany in 1933, but progressively eliminated the mechanisms of separation of powers and became de facto one of the most powerful dictators of the 20th century.
Main historical events of the organization:
| Event | Date: | Period | Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| NSDAP'S foundation | 24/2/1920 | Interwar period | München (Germany) |
| Beer Hall Putsch | 8/11/1923 - 9/11/1923 | Interwar period | München (Germany) |
| Wannsee Conference | 20/1/1942 | World War II | Berlin (Germany) |
