1. What was the symbol of the Nazi party? What is its origin?
The symbol of the Nazi party is a symbol that resembles a swastika. A 45 degree rotated black hooked cross on a white circle that is on a red background. The symbol has its origins in many cultures and was used for millennia before Hitler used it as a symbol for the Nazi party in Germany. It is still used in Asia and it was used in Europe too and can be found in many archeological dig sites around the world today.
2. Who was Hitler? What was his personality and character like?
Adolf Hitler was the chancellor of Germany and the founder of the National Socialist German Workers' Party. While they had socialist in their name they were nothing like socialism and even sent them to concentration camps. Hitler was a veteran of world war 1 and later became the chancellor of Germany. He wanted to expand and restore Germany to its former glory and so he started wars that led to world war 2. Hitler's personality depends on which psychologist you ask and which definitions of words you use. Some like Erich Fromm labeled him as Oedipal and necrophilic since he always projected to Germany like a mother and he glorified destruction and death instead of preservation of life. He even wanted to destroy Germany since it could not win and he sent even children to the war and did not want to surrender until the very end. He was an antisocial and paranoid person who wanted power an in the end when he lost his power he killed himself.
3. Why did Hitler and the Nazis initially gain the support of the German people?
The Germans at the time of Hitler's rise to power were devastated and many could not afford bread. Germany after world war 1 spiraled into chaos, they did not have a stable government, the economy was terrible and there was even hyperinflation since Germany could not pay war reparations after the Great War. Then Hitler showed up and created a lot of jobs and restoring German identity and unity. Unfortunately, he created a lot of jobs by removing Jews and others from their positions, expanded Germany with wars and integration of Austria and Czechoslovakia and used a lot of manipulation in his speeches that depended on the location he was giving the speech. He was liked but also disliked a lot. There was a movement against Hitler in Germany but the secret police disposed of the opposition efficiently.
4. What was the Beer Hall Putsch? Why was it so important?
The Beer Hall putsch or the Munich putsch was a failed attempt to seize power in Bavaria and Hitler was the leader of the putsch. 2000 Nazis were marching in the city center where police confronted them after a brief firefight some Nazis were killed and the rest dispersed, Hitler was wounded. Nazis later used the killed to fuel hate for the Weimar Republic. Hitler was later charged for treason. It was important to the Nazis because they learned that they needed a democratic way to rise to power. Hitler wrote his book while in captivity and the Nazis started to focus on propaganda.
5. What is Fascism?
Fascism is a far-right political ideology from which Nazism stems. Nazism is an extreme form of Fascism. The opposition to fascism would be communism, and fascists hate communists just as much as communists hate them. They are ultra-conservative and they wish to restore their people to some former glory, whatever that glory may depend on the people. They usually believe in old gender roles, they are very militaristic and usually focus on conquest and they have a dictator for life in charge of the country.
6. What were the Nazi party politics?
Strengthening the identity of the German people and prohibiting non-Germans to live in the Reich, they viewed some people as undesirable such as Jews, other races and cultures that were in the south of Europe since they were not Germanic. The Nazis wanted a pure race so they even had policies where pure German women would make children with the best Germany could offer as part of their eugenics program. They wanted to exterminate or enslave Slavs, Roma, Jews, and many others. There are a lot of Nazi party politics that depend on the time of their existence. In the beginning, they were a lot different than in the end, at least on paper. They first argued against big-business and were very anti-bourgeois but later dropped that in favor of gaining support from them.
