After the defeat in the First World War Germany had to sign a harsh and humiliating treaty with the Allies. The treaty multiplied the problems an already defeated Germany many times and also a political uncertainty in the country. As a result, Hitler rose to the power. He set up the Nazi party and succeeded in capturing the power and establishing the dictatorship of the Nazi party in Germany. The dictatorial rule of the Nazi party under the leadership of Hitler is termed as Nazism. Nazi ideology was synonymous with Hitler’s worldview. The chief features of Nazi thinking were as under:
1. The state is above all. All powers should be vested in the State. People exist for the State, not the State for the people.
2. It was in favour of ending all types of parliamentary institutions and glorified the rule of a great leader.
3. It was in favour of crushing all types of party formations and opposition.
4. It was in favour of rooting out liberalism, socialism and communism.
5. It preached hatred for the Jews whom they thought, were responsible for the economic misery of the Germans.
6. The Nazi party considered Germany superior to all other nations and wanted to have her influence all over the world.
7. It wanted to mobilize the private and State efforts for her development of agriculture and industries etc.
8. It wanted to denounce the disgracing Treaty of Versailles.
9. It extolled war and glorified the use of force. 10. It aimed at increasing the German Empire and acquiring all the colonies snatched away from her.
11. It dreamt of creating a Racial State of ‘Pure Germans’ or ‘Nordic Aryans’ by eliminating all others who were undesirable to them.
