What was the Nazi ideology regarding the Jews?
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Nazism, also spelled Naziism, in full National Socialism, German Nationalsozialismus, totalitarian movement led by Adolf Hitler as head of the Nazi Party in Germany. In its intense nationalism, mass appeal, and dictatorial rule, Nazism shared many elements with Italian fascism. However, Nazism was far more extreme both in its ideas and in its practice. In almost every respect it was an anti-intellectual and atheoretical movement, emphasizing the will of the charismatic dictator as the sole source of inspiration of a people and a nation, as well as a vision of annihilation of all enemies of the Aryan Volk as the one and only goal of Nazi policy.
The significance and character of Nazi ideology
Recent historical research shows the significance of ideology for the broad success of the Nazi movement, including the establishment of its political power and the continuing execution of its policies. New approaches to the history of Nazi ideas confirm the self-understanding and contemporary perception of National Socialism as an ideological movement on different levels: Detailed accounts of the basic convictions of party leaders like Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels or Rosenberg reveal rather comprehensive, more or less consistent and divergent doctrines which guided the political decision-making and were part of the well-known power struggles within the inner circle of the NSDAP.
New studies on the young leadership of the SS show the significance of ideological commitment to the core group of Nazi perpetrators who organized mass murder. The ideological indoctrination of mid- and low-level participants such as T-4 killers, camp guards or so-called ‘shooters’ has also come under examination. Although few were willing and committed ideologues from the beginning, their radicalization in the course of events included an increasing adoption of ideological convictions.
Broader orientated studies analyse the intellectual, cultural and scientific context in which Nazi ideology could spread and, moreover, was affirmed as a sensible response to actual societal, economic and political problems. Such nuanced examinations of the ideological dimension of National Socialism are not only important to explain long ignored phenomena like the ‘high degree of self-mobilization’ of German academia. These insights into the political, psychological and historical significance of Nazi ideology also suggest a new understanding of its structure.
Nazi ideology has to be seen as set of basic beliefs and convictions which offered much scope for interpretation.Although key concepts like race had to be accepted as guidelines of thinking and acting, different interpretations of such ideological core elements coexisted and competed even in the inner circle of Nazi leadership. Briefly speaking, since there was no unified and mandatory ideological system, the well-known policracy of Nazi government was accompanied by the polycentrism of Nazi ideology.