Transcript Nazi Ideology in 1933 - Watford Grammar School for Boys Intranet

Nazi Ideology in 1933
What did Nazism stand for?
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson you should:
• Be able to explain the difference between
ideology, policy and propaganda
• Understand what Hitler’s ideas were and where
they came from
• Have decided if you think Hitler had a
coherent ideology or not
‘Ideology’
• What is an ‘ideology’?
• A doctrine. An
ambition. An optimum
goal. Idealistic.
• A unifying system of
beliefs belonging to an
individual group.
• An organised and
coherent collection of
ideas.
Policy and propaganda
• 1) How would you define ‘policy’ and
‘propaganda’?
• 2) How are ‘ideology’, ‘policy’ and ‘propaganda’
linked?
• Policy – implementation, realistic, road map.
• Propaganda – distortion of facts to suit a certain
purpose.
• Differences and links?
Nazi Ideology
• How as historians can we find out what Nazi ideology was?
• Mein Kampf (My Struggle) – Hitler’s autobiography, dictated to
Rudolf Hess while in Landsberg prison
• Published over two volumes and released in 1925 and 1926 (in
all good book shops and a few rubbish ones too)
• Considered a vital source for understanding Hitler’s mind and
beliefs (Nazi Ideology or ‘Weltanschauung’ world view)
• However, others feel the 750 pages of confused, inaccurate and
repetitive highlight that Nazi ideology was not a system of well
defined principles but rather a glorification of prejudice and
myth
Mein Kampf
P.13 -15 (McDonough)
• 1) Race
• 2) Volksgemeinschaft
• 3) Nazi state –
Authoritarianism and
Social Darwinism
• 4) Socialism
• 5) Anti-Semitism
• 6) Foreign Policy
In groups of 6, write notes on one of
these areas – you will feedback to each
other to complete a full set of notes
Where did these ideas
come from?
• Race
• Hitler’s racial ideas were not new and drew upon C19th
race theories.
• The existence of an Aryan race was a myth and only
existed in the writings of theorists who described the
Scandinavian and Northern people Nordic.
• The writings of Gobineau – French racial theorist saw
humankind in a process of decline. Racial mixture would
lead to the ruin of the Aryan race (finest branch).
• Houston Stewart Chamberlain – British born writer who
saw race at the centre of historical development and the
Jews as an alien people.
Where did these ideas
come from?
• Anti-Semitism
• Hitler certainly was not the first person to be openly hostile to the
Jewish community.
• Hatred, discrimination and violence can be dated back many
centuries and in a large number of countries (German Crusade
1069, Expulsion of Jews from England by Edward 1 in 1290).
• In 1879, German journalist Wilhelm Marr originated the term
antisemitism, denoting the hatred of Jews.
• The nineteenth century ‘voelkisch movement’ made up of German
philosophers, scholars, and artists who viewed the Jewish spirit as
alien to Germandom -- shaped a notion of the Jew as "nonGerman”.
• Karl Haushofer who was among a group of academics at Munich
University would be one such example.
Where did these ideas
come from?
• Authoritarian, aggressive and crude Social Darwinist
philosophy
• Formed from German philosophers such as Hegel,
Treitschke and Nietzsche who stressed the importance
of force, state supremacy and the necessity of war.
• Idea of Germany as militarist, anti-liberal and antidemocratic was a longing to the days of Prussian
dominance and the unification of Germany in 1871.
To descrIbe HITler’s THInkIng
as an ideology is to flatter it.
Discuss
• The schools of thought:
• William Shirer – ‘a grotesque hodgepodge concocted by a half
baked, uneducated neurotic’.
• Vague and mystical. It was not a system of well defined
principles rather a glorification of prejudice and myth.
• Or
• Alan Bullock – consistent in adhering to ideas and conceptions.
• Coherent and well defined framework of ambitions.