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The History of the
swastica
"National Socialist German Workers Party"

Why the Nazis
called their party "Socialist"

Although I grew up in the shadow of World War II, it wasn't until I was over 70 that I learned why the "National Socialist German Workers Party", who were called "Nazis" for short had the word "Socialist" in their name. Contrary to what some conservative propagandists would have you believe, it wasn't because there was anything "leftist" about them! Here's the reason, spelled out in a great biography of Hitler at http://referaty-seminarky.sk/adolf-hitler-biography-3/ :
  "Hitler's reputation as an orator grew and it soon became clear that he was the main reason why people were joining the party (which had only 54 members when he had joined). This gave Hitler tremendous power within the organization as they knew they could not afford to lose him. One change suggested by Hitler concerned adding "Socialist" to the name of the party.

Hitler had always been hostile to socialist ideas, especially those that involved racial or sexual equality. However, socialism was a popular political philosophy in Germany after the First World War. This was reflected in the growth in the German Social Democrat Party (SDP), the largest political party in Germany. Hitler, therefore redefined socialism by placing the word 'National' before it. He claimed he was only in favour of equality for those who had "German blood". Jews and other "aliens" would lose their rights of citizenship, and immigration of non-Germans should be brought to an end. In February 1920, the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) published its first programme which became known as the "25 Points". . . To appeal to the working class and socialists, the programme included several measures that would redistribute income and war profits, profit-sharing in large industries, nationalization of trusts, increases in old-age pensions and free education."

The following is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Socialist_German_Workers_Party :
    "Unlike Drexler (the founder) and other party members, Hitler was less interested in the "socialist" aspect of "national socialism" beyond moving Social Welfare administration from the Church to the State... Himself of provincial lower-middle-class origins, he disliked the mass working class of the big cities, and had no sympathy with the notions of attacking private property or the business class (which some early Nazis espoused)."

"Not long after acquiring the reins of power, the Nazis banned the Social Democratic Party and sent its leaders and other leftists identified as threats to the National Socialist program to concentration camps. According to the Holocaust Encyclopedia:
        In the months after Hitler took power, SA and Gestapo agents went from door to door looking for Hitler’s enemies. They arrested Socialists, Communists, trade union leaders, and others who had spoken out against the Nazi party; some were murdered. By the summer of 1933, the Nazi party was the only legal political party in Germany. Nearly all organized opposition to the regime had been eliminated. Democracy was dead in Germany."

from https://www.snopes.com/news/2017/09/05/were-nazis-socialists/
The Philosophy of the
"National Socialist German Workers Party"

the 25 Points of Hitler's Nazi Party

Hitler, on the alliance of
fascism and Christianity, vs. communism and liberalism :

A few days after the signing of the Lateran Treaty (between the Pope & Mussolini, the precursor of the Reich Concordat between Hitler and Pope) , Hitler wrote an article for the Volkisher Beobachter, published on 2/22/1929, warmly welcoming the agreement.

"The fact that the Curia is now making its peace with Fascism, shows that the Vatican trusts the new political realities far more than (it) did the former liberal democracy with which it could not come to terms." { One huge problem the Catholic Church had with the liberal Wiemar Republic is that it had tried to divorce the state from the church and put a stop to the state subsidizing churches and their schools in Germany. In contrast, Hitler tripled those subsidies once he got what he wanted in the Vatican Concordat with Germany in 1933. } Turning to the German situation, he rebuked (the liberal Catholic leadership of the "Center Party") for its recalcitrant attachment to democratic politics. " By trying to preach that democracy is still in the best interests of German Catholics, the Center Party . . . is placing itself in stark contradiction to the spirit of the treaty signed today by the Holy See."
        The conclusion of his rant contained a gross distortion as well as a remarkable intuition of future opportunities: "The fact that the Catholic Church has come to an agreement with Fascist Italy. . .  proves beyond doubt that the Fascist world of ideas is closer to Christianity (i.e. Catholicism) than (to) those of Jewish liberalism or even atheistic Marxism, to which the so-called Catholic Center Party sees itself so closely bound, to the detriment of Christianity today and our German people." (p. 115, Hitler's Pope).

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