Nazism, an abbreviation of the German term “Nationalsozialismus,” is an anti-democratic, nationalist, and pan-Germanist movement whose core principle is anti-Semitism. Hitler, the founder and central figure of Nazism (1933–1945), provided its ideological framework with *Mein Kampf*. Serving as both an ideology and a worldview, this Nazi manifesto asserts a racial hierarchy with no scientific basis, at the top of which stand the Germans.
The goal of Nazism is to create a national community based on the “pure” German race (the Aryan race). It must also be “improved”: for example, political opponents and individuals who exhibit “antisocial behavior,” such as homosexuals, must be re-educated in concentration camps.
Those who are biologically undesirable (people with disabilities, the mentally ill
x) must be expelled from the community. “Subhumans,” such as Slavs, Asians, Arabs, and Blacks, may be subjugated. Gypsies—Arian people presumed to have been corrupted by racial mixing that caused them to lose their Aryan identity—are deported and exterminated. It is estimated that 200,000 Roma were victims of this genocidal policy.
According to Nazi doctrine, Jews are considered to be outside the realm of “sub-humanity” and constitute a permanent threat to Aryan purity; As a factor in the destruction of the community, the “Jewish taint” must be combated, in the view of Hitler and his followers, by any means necessary until all Jews have been eliminated.
Anti-Jewish measures are always presented as a response to the “danger” posed by “aggressive” Jews. To destroy this “race,” the Nazis implemented the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question.”
This criminal policy of exterminating the Jews—which was systematic, planned, and carried out on a large scale across the entire European continent—resulted in the deaths of nearly 6 million people.
In the aftermath of the fall of the Nazi regime, its top leaders were tried at the Nuremberg Trials (November 1945–October 1946) and convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Reference:
Benbassa, Esther (ed.), 2010, Dictionary of Racism, Exclusion, and Discrimination. Larousse À présent.
