Hitler and the Nazis' Beliefs/Ideologies
The Fuehrer principle
Lebensraum (living space)
Race
Against "non-Germanic" forms of government
Anit-semitism
believed that Jewish people were the biggest threat to the purity of the Germans
believed that they were involved in a conspiracy to take control of the world
believed that they helped to bring about Germany's defeat in the Great War (WWI)
his beliefs meant that he wanted the race to be destroyed
believed that some races were better than others (Social Darwinist view of society)
believed that the Nordic Aryan race (which Germans belonged to) was superior and must be kept pure in order to become the "master race"
anti-communism
Treaty of Versailles
the peace treaty signed in 1919 was unfair
must be cancelled and the land should be returned to Germany
France had to be destroyed
Germany must be ruled by a single, strong leader with great power ("Fuehrer")
believed that the best races were "pure" and not mixed with others
anti-democracy
believed that the political system of Russia was too dangerous and had to be destroyed
believed that it was the destiny of the Aryan people to expand to the east of Germany
saw the leaders of the Weimar Republic and the parliamentary government system as responsible for weakening Germany
emphasis on the "folk": a community united by blood and ethnicity
Greater Germany: the inclusion of all Germans in an enlarged German state
totalitarianism
hierarchical, one-party state
rejection of egalitarianism
Palingenesis: rebirth of the nation, purged of non-Germanic elements
National Socialism was looking back to a glorious German past and forward to a greater future