Nazism

A swastika, the understood Nazi symbol

Nazism is the common short form name of National Socialism (German: Nationalsozialismus). Nazism was the belief of the Nazi party in Nazi Germany. It started in the 1920s. Nazism is a form of fascism and uses biological racism and antisemitism. Much of the philosophy of this movement was based on an idea that the Aryan race was better than all others and had the greatest ability to survive. According to the racist ideas of Nazism, the Jews, Slavs (although some Slavic people were considered to be Aryans) and Roma (also known as "Gypsies") people were called "inferior races". The Nazis sent millions of Jews, Roma and other people to concentration camps where they were killed. These killings are now called the Holocaust.

The word Nazi is a short for Nationalsozialist (supporter of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) in the German language. This means "National Socialist German Workers' Party".

Nazi rise to power

Adolf Hitler, who wrote Mein Kampf, said that all the problems of Germany were the result of Jews making plans to hurt the country. He also said that it was Jewish politicians who planned the Armistice of 1918 that ended World War I, and who allowed Germany to agree to pay huge amounts of money and goods (reparations). On the night of the 27 February 1933 and 28 February 1933, someone set the Reichstag building on fire, which was where the German Parliament held their meetings. The Nazis blamed the communists. Others said the Nazis themselves had done it to come to power. On the very same day, an emergency law called Reichstagsbrandverordnung was passed. The government claimed it was to protect the state. With this law, most of the civil rights of the Weimar Republic did not count any longer. This was used by the Nazis against the other political parties. Members of the communist and social-democratic parties were put into prison or killed. People were threatened and there was a lot of violence. The Nazis became the biggest party in the parliament. Until 1934 they managed to make all other parties illegal. Democracy was replaced with a dictatorship. Adolf Hitler became leader (Führer) of Germany.

Nazi was Hitler's standard during his run as President of Germany

Attacking other countries

As the German leader (Führer) of Nazi Germany, Hitler began moving Nazi armies into neighboring countries. When Germany attacked Poland, World War II started. Western countries like France, Belgium and the Netherlands were to be treated by Germany as colonies, while in Eastern countries, such as Poland and the Soviet Union, the Nazis planned to wipe out the Slavic peoples so that German settlers could take their land.

The Holocaust

In the Holocaust, millions of Jews, as well as Roma people (also called "Gypsies"), the disabled, homosexuals, and political opponents from Germany (including Communists) and other countries that the Nazis controlled were sent to concentration camps in Poland and Germany. The Nazis killed millions of these people at the concentration camps with poison gas. The Nazis also killed millions of people in these groups by forcing them to do slave labor without giving them much food or clothing.

The Nazis lose the war

In 1945, the Soviet Union took over Berlin after beating the German army in Russia, and met the American and British armies who had fought right across Germany after invading Nazi Europe from the west in 1944. The Nazis had lost. During the invasion of Berlin, Hitler may have shot himself in a bunker with his new wife, Eva Braun. Other Nazis also killed themselves, including Joseph Goebbels just one day after Hitler named him as his successor. The Nazis surrendered.

Trial for the Nazis

After the war, the Allied governments, such as the United States, Britain and Soviet Union held trials for the Nazi leaders. These trials were held in Nuremberg, in Germany. For this reason, these trials were called "the Nuremberg Trials." The Allied leaders accused the Nazi leaders of murdering millions of people (in the Holocaust), of starting wars, of conspiracy, and belonging to illegal organisations. Most Nazi leaders were found guilty by the court, and they were sent to jail or executed by hanging.

Nazis after the war

While there has not been a Nazi state since 1945, there are still people who believe in Nazi ideas. These people, called neo-Nazis, (which means new-Nazis) claim that white people and Asian People are superior to all other races of people, tell the truth about the Jews and the Holocaust, and tell other people to hate Jewish people and other groups of people. Many neo-Nazis say that the Holocaust killings never really happened (or that the numbers of those killed were less than is known to have happened) – these people are called Holocaust deniers. After the war, laws were made in Germany and other countries, especially countries in Europe. These laws say it is forbidden to say that the Holocaust never really happened. Sometimes they also ban questioning the number of people affected by it, which is saying that not so many people were killed as most people think. Some countries such as Germany, Austria, France and other countries also ban the use of Nazi symbols to stop neo-Nazis from using them.

Other websites

• "Nazi - Encyc". Encyc. http://encyc.org/Nazi. Retrieved 21-10-2009.