Tag: Nsdap

Short for 'Nationalsozialist Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, German political party that represented a German version of fascism. The NSDAP was born out of the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, which was founded in 1919 by nationalists in Munich. Hitler became a member of this party; he soon gained control and renamed her NSDAP in 1921. In 1922 the SA was founded, the 'Sturmabteilung', in fact slug squads of party members in brown shirt and uniform. In the putsch of November 1923, Hitler and his people tried to overthrow the Bavarian government, which failed: Hitler was given a prison sentence and the NSDAP was banned. Serving his sentence, Hitler worked on his 'Mein Kampf', which would become the Nazi writing par excellence. In 1925 Hitler re-established the NSDAP and in the same year a bodyguard of Hitler was formed from the SA, the 'Schutzstaffel' (SS), which would later gain a large grip on party and state. In 1926 the NSDAP was given a youth movement, the 'Hitler Jugend' for boys and the 'Bund Deutscher Madel' for girls. Until 1929, the NSDAP usually won a dozen seats in the Elections for the Reichstag, but the economic crisis that began in 1929 led many, especially from the bankrupt middle classes, to vote for the Nazi party. In September 1930, the NSDAP received 18.3% of the vote and 107 seats, in July 1932 37.4% (230 seats) and slightly less in the November 1932 elections: 33.1% and 196 seats. In any case, the NSDAP had become the largest German party, although it did not have the majority. It was therefore entirely according to the rules of the political game that Hitler came to power. On 30 January 1933 he was appointed Chancellor by President Hindenburg. The Reichstag was dissolved on 1 February and new elections were held on 5 March 1933, with the SA intimidating the eligible voters and the NSDAP getting 43.9% of the vote (288 seats). Together with the far-right 'Kampffront Schwarz-Weiss-Rot', she had the majority in the Rijskdag. A law was passed on 24 March that eliminated the representation of the people and paved the way for Hitler's dictatorship. The Communist and Social Democratic party were banned, the NSDAP was called the 'only bearer of the polished will of the German people'. In the so-called Rohm-putsch (30 June 1934), the SS murdered 85 prominent figures, many of whom were Nazis who wanted to take a different course than Hitler advocated. By means of equalization, the party, which remained in Munich, gradually penetrated all social life. It was considered to be a member of one or more 'member associations and national socialist professional and state organisations', such as the 'Deutsche Arbeitsfront', the 'NS-Lehrerbund' and the 'NS-Deutscher Arztebund'. Special honours were paid to those who had a low party membership number (below 100,000) and were therefore long-standing members; the party had 400,000 members in 1930 and 1,000,000 in 1932 The annual government party days held in Nuremberg in September were massive demonstrations, where important announcements were made. The last national party day took place in 1938. In the war, especially when the chances of war had been turned to the detriment of Germany, the influence of the party and its organs, in particular the SS, on the population increased even further. The 'Reichstag Decree' of 26 April 1942 lifted the last restrictions on Hitler's powers. After the German capitulation in 1945, the NSDAP and all related organizations were dissolved by the Allied occupiers.