Nazi Party (NSDAP/ Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) A
Fascist party founded by Anton Drexler (b. 1884, d. 1942) as the German Workers' Party on 5 January 1919, it was renamed the National Socialist German Workers' Party in 1920. The following year,
Hitler took over as party leader and subsequently led it according to the
Führerprinzip, whereby all authority came from the
führer (leader), so that the whole party was organized hierarchically, from top to bottom. In the same way, the party derived its ideology entirely from Hitler's speeches and his book
Mein Kampf. Banned after the abortive
Hitler Putsch in 1923, the party was refounded in 1925. It was unable to make substantial gains in the following years during the relative stability of the
Stresemann era, but in the severe economic crisis which resulted in a total of 3.2 million unemployed by January 1930, many desperate Germans chose to ignore the negative aspects of the party and were drawn by its positive message of renewal and strength.
The success of the Nazi Party, as opposed to other radical right-wing groups with similar ideas, was the result less of its ideology than of the outstanding quality of Hitler's mesmerizing oratory, and of
Goebbels's innovative
propaganda. Following the worsening of the crisis, which led to an increase in unemployment to six million by January 1932, the party more than doubled its vote to become the largest party in the elections of July and November 1932. When Hitler refused to take any other political office except the Chancellorship, many in the party rank and file who were looking for change became impatient. This tactic lost some votes in the elections on 6 November 1932, but thanks to President
Hindenburg's right-wing advisers it paid off when Hitler was finally appointed Chancellor on 30 January 1933.
By 5 July 1933 all other parties had been disbanded. Throughout the next twelve years increasing pressure was exercised to encourage Nazi membership, so that by 1945 more than eight million people had joined. Nevertheless, the party's true popularity has been a subject of intense historical controversy, as individual members' motives for joining were diverse and not always ideological. What is clear is that the Nazi party's support was always lower than, and often distinct from, the widespread adulation for Hitler himself. The party was dissolved and banned in 1945.
