Origins of Nazi Racist Identity essays

Origins of Nazi Racist Identity essays Racism was always an integral part of German National Socialism. The Nazi racist identity had three distinct but related aspects. These aspects were the German volk and the need for racial purity, Aryan supremacy and anti-Semitism. The first aspect of the Nazi racist identity was of the German volk and racial purity. This ideal had several origins, some of which dated back to the 18th Century. The German word Volk can be translated as people. However this word meant more to the German people. To them Volk meant the culture, essence, heritage, and value of the race. This was a result of the Romantic movement of the 18th Century and stressed the importance of all things associated with the soil and ultimately the ordinary rural people. In the 19th Century Johan Fichte, a German philosopher created ideas of pan-Germanism. His main idea was that the natural boundaries of a country lay within the races and that those who speak the same language were joined to each other by the bonds of nature. Any other people of different descent and language would upset the progress of the culture. Adolf Hitler adopted this idea also. "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer!" - one people, one empire, one leader. These ideas had a widespread and influential public support base firstly because the Treaty of Versailles had reduced the German Army to 100, 000 so Junker generals valued the army expansion offered by pan-Germanism and therefore the recovery of lost territory. The widespread resentment in Germany at the loss of territory from the Treaty, which was a dictat or dictated peace also contributed to the support base of the Nazi Party, who advertised the desire the right the wrongs of the Treaty of Versailles and aim for ultimate racial purity in Germany. Lastly, Hitler took interest in and was much impressed by the Thule Society and had contact with the Thulists in Munich before 1924. The Thules were a volkish gr...