View source for Nazi Party

{{Short description|Far-right political party in Germany (1920–1945)}}
{{about|the political party that existed in Germany from 1920 to 1945|other uses}}
{{pp-vandalism|small=yes}}
{{pp-move-indef|small=yes}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2019}}
{{use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox political party
| name             = National Socialist German Workers' Party
| native_name      = Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei
| native_name_lang = de
| logo             = Parteiadler der Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (1933–1945).svg{{!}}class=skin-invert
| logo_size        = 
| colorcode        = {{party color|Nazi Party}}
| abbreviation     = NSDAP
| foundation       = {{start date and age|df=yes|1920|02|24}}
| ideology         = [[Nazism]]
| headquarters     = [[Brown House, Munich|Brown House]], Munich, Germany{{sfn|Steves|2010|p=28}}
| country          = Germany
| leader1_title    = Chairman
| leader1_name     = [[Anton Drexler]]<br />(24 February 1920 – 29 July 1921){{sfn|Kershaw|1998|pp=164–65}}
| leader2_title    = [[Führer]]
| leader2_name     = [[Adolf Hitler]]<br />(29 July 1921 – 30 April 1945)
| leader3_title    = Party Minister
| leader3_name     = [[Martin Bormann]]<br />(30 April 1945 – 2 May 1945)
| banned           = {{end date and age|df=yes|1945|10|10}}
| predecessor      = [[German Workers' Party]]
| slogan           = {{lang|de|Deutschland erwache!}}<br />('Germany, awake!') (unofficial)
| newspaper        = {{lang|de|[[Völkischer Beobachter]]}}
| student_wing     = [[National Socialist German Students' League|National Socialist German Students' Union]]
| youth_wing       = [[Hitler Youth]]
| womens_wing      = [[National Socialist Women's League]]
| wing1_title      = Paramilitary wings
| wing1            = [[Sturmabteilung|SA]], [[SS]], [[National Socialist Motor Corps|Motor Corps]], [[National Socialist Flyers Corps|Flyers Corps]]
| wing2_title      = Sports body
| wing2            = [[National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise]]
| wing3_title      = Overseas wing
| wing3            = [[NSDAP/AO]]
| wing4_title      = Labour wing
| wing4            = [[NSBO]] (1928–35), [[German Labour Front|DAF]] (1933–45)<ref>T. W. Mason, ''Social Policy in the Third Reich: The Working Class and the "National Community", 1918–1939,'' Oxford: UK, Berg Publishers, 1993, p. 77.</ref>
| membership       = {{plainlist|
* Fewer than 60 (1920)
* 8.5&nbsp;million (1945){{sfn|McNab|2011|pp=22, 23}}}}
| position         = [[Far-right]]{{sfn|Davidson|1997|p=241}}{{sfn|Orlow|2010|p=29}}
| anthem           = "[[Horst-Wessel-Lied]]"<br />[[File:Horst Wessel-Lied Instrumental.mp3|150px|Horst-Wessel-Lied]]
| colours          = {{plainlist|
* {{color box|#000000|border=darkgray}} [[Black]] {{color box|#FFFFFF|border=darkgray}} [[White]] {{color box|#DE0000|border=darkgray}} [[Red]]<br />(official, [[Flag of Germany#North German Confederation and the German Empire (1867–1918)|German Imperial colours]])
* {{colorbox|{{party color|Nazi Party}}|border=darkgray}} [[Brown]] (customary)}}
| affiliation1_title = [[Political alliance]]
| affiliation1     = [[National Socialist Freedom Movement]] ([[December 1924 German federal election|1924]]) {{ubl|Anti-[[Young Plan]] campaign ([[1929 German referendum|1929]]){{Efn|Officially called the "Reich Committee for the German People's Initiative against the Young Plan and the War Guilt Lie" (''[https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/innenpolitik/volksentscheid-gegen-den-young-plan-1929.html Reichsausschuß für die Deutsche Volksinitiative gegen den Young-Plan und die Kriegsschuldlüge]'')<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pfleiderer |first=Doris |date=2007 |title=Volksbegehren und Volksentscheid gegen den Youngplan, in: Archivnachrichten 35 / 2007 |trans-title=Initiative and Referendum against the Young Plan, in: Archived News 35 / 2007 |url=https://www.landesarchiv-bw.de/sixcms/media.php/120/Archivnachrichten_35_Quellen_34_kl.pdf |access-date=26 November 2022 |website=Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg |page=43 |language=de |archive-date=4 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221204123216/https://www.landesarchiv-bw.de/sixcms/media.php/120/Archivnachrichten_35_Quellen_34_kl.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>}}|[[Harzburg Front]] ([[July 1932 German federal election|1931]])<ref>Jones, Larry E. (Oct., 2006). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27668122 "Nationalists, Nazis, and the Assault against Weimar: Revisiting the Harzburg Rally of October 1931"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230426042839/https://www.jstor.org/stable/27668122 |date=26 April 2023 }}. ''German Studies Review.'' Vol. 29, No. 3. pp. 483–94. [[Johns Hopkins University Press]].</ref>}}
| flag             = Flag of the NSDAP (1920–1945).svg
}}
{{Nazism sidebar|expanded=Organizations}}
The '''Nazi Party''',{{Efn|{{IPAc-en|lang|ˈ|n|ɑː|t|s|i|,_|ˈ|n|æ|t|s|i}} {{respell|NA(H)T|see}}{{sfn|Jones|2003}}}} officially the '''National Socialist German Workers' Party''' ({{langx|de|Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei}}{{hsp}}{{Efn|Pronounced {{IPA|de|natsi̯oˈnaːlzotsi̯aˌlɪstɪʃə ˈdɔʏtʃə ˈʔaʁbaɪtɐpaʁˌtaɪ||De-Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei.ogg}}}} or '''NSDAP'''), was a [[far-right]]{{sfn|Fritzsche|1998|pp=143, 185, 193, 204–05, 210}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Eatwell|first=Roger|title=Fascism : a history|date=1997|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=0-14-025700-4|location=New York|pages=xvii–xxiv, 21, 26–31, 114–40, 352|oclc=37930848}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=The Nazi Party |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-nazi-party-1 |access-date=2022-10-20 |website=[[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]] |language=en |archive-date=31 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230131012931/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-nazi-party-1 |url-status=live }}</ref> political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of [[Nazism]]. Its precursor, the [[German Workers' Party]] ({{lang|de|Deutsche Arbeiterpartei}}; DAP), existed from 1919 to 1920. The Nazi Party emerged from the [[extremist]] [[German nationalist]] ("[[Völkisch nationalism|''Völkisch'' nationalist]]"), [[racist]], and [[populist]] {{lang|de|[[Freikorps]]}} paramilitary culture, which fought against [[communist]] uprisings in post–[[World War I]] Germany.{{sfn|Grant|2004|pp=30–34, 44}} The party was created to draw workers away from communism and into {{lang|de|[[völkisch]]}} nationalism.{{sfn|Mitchell|2008|p=47}} Initially, Nazi political strategy focused on anti-[[big business]], anti-[[bourgeoisie]], and [[anti-capitalism]], disingenuously using socialist rhetoric to gain the support of the [[lower middle class]];<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ray |first=Michael |title=Were the Nazis Socialists? |url=https://www.britannica.com/story/were-the-nazis-socialists |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]}}</ref> that was later downplayed to gain the support of business leaders. By the 1930s, the party's main focus shifted to [[antisemitic]] and [[anti-Marxist]] themes.{{sfn|McDonough|2003|p=64}} The party had little popular support until the [[Great Depression]], when worsening living standards and widespread unemployment drove Germans into political extremism.<ref name=":0" />

Central to Nazism were [[Nazi racial theories|themes of racial segregation]] expressed in the idea of a "people's community" ({{lang|de|[[Volksgemeinschaft]]}}).{{sfn|Majer|2013|p=39}} The party aimed to unite "racially desirable" Germans as national comrades while excluding those deemed to be either political dissidents, physically or intellectually inferior, or of a [[foreign races|foreign race]] ({{lang|de|Fremdvölkische}}).{{sfn|Wildt|2012|pp=96–97}} The Nazis sought to strengthen the Germanic people, the "[[Aryan race|Aryan]] [[master race]]", through racial purity and [[eugenics]], broad social welfare programs, and a collective subordination of individual rights, which could be sacrificed for the good of the state on behalf of the people. To protect the supposed purity and strength of the Aryan race, the Nazis sought to disenfranchise, segregate, and eventually [[Genocide|exterminate]] [[Jews]], [[Romani people|Romani]], [[Slavs]], the [[Physical disability|physically]] and [[mentally disabled]], [[Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany|homosexuals]], [[Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Nazi Germany|Jehovah's Witnesses]], and political opponents.{{sfn|Gigliotti|Lang|2005|p=14}} The persecution reached its climax when the party-controlled German state set in motion the [[Final Solution]] &ndash; an industrial system of genocide that carried out mass murders of [[Holocaust victims|around 6&nbsp;million Jews and millions of other targeted victims]]  in what has become known as [[the Holocaust]].{{sfn|Evans|2008|p=318}}

[[Adolf Hitler]], the party's leader since 1921, was appointed [[Chancellor of Germany]] by President [[Paul von Hindenburg]] on 30&nbsp;January 1933, and quickly seized power afterwards. Hitler established a [[totalitarian]] regime known as the [[Third Reich]] and became dictator with [[Dictator|absolute power]].{{sfn|Arendt|1951|p=306}}{{sfn|Curtis|1979|p=36}}{{sfn|Burch|1964|p=58}}{{sfn|Maier|2004|p=32}} <!-- expand history section on activities of the Nazi party up to and during WWII -->

Following the military defeat of Germany in [[World War II]], the party was declared illegal.{{sfn|Elzer|2003|p=602}} The Allies attempted to purge German society of Nazi elements in a process known as [[denazification]]. [[List of defendants at the International Military Tribunal|Several top leaders]] were tried and found guilty of crimes against humanity in the [[Nuremberg trials]], and executed. The use of symbols associated with the party is still outlawed in many European countries, including Germany and Austria.
__TOC__

== Name ==
The renaming of the [[German Workers' Party]] (DAP) to the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) was partially driven by a desire to draw upon both left-wing and right-wing ideals, with "[[Socialist]]" and "Workers'" appealing to the left, and "[[Nation|National]]" and "German" appealing to the right.{{sfn|Childers|2001a|loc=26:00–31:04}} {{lang|de|Nazi}}, the informal and originally derogatory term for a party member, abbreviates the party's name ({{lang|de|Nationalsozialist}} {{IPA|de|natsi̯oˈnaːlzotsi̯aˌlɪst|}}), and was coined in analogy with {{lang|de|[[wikt:Sozi|Sozi]]}} (pronounced {{IPA|de|ˈzoːtsiː|}}), an abbreviation of {{lang|de|Sozialdemokrat}} (member of the rival [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]]).{{efn|or {{lang|de|Sozialdemokrat}} ({{IPA|de|zoˈtsi̯aːldemoˌkʁaːt|pron}}, "[[social democrat]]")}}{{sfn|Mautner|1944|p=93–100}} Members of the party referred to themselves as {{lang|de|Nationalsozialisten}} (National Socialists), but some did occasionally embrace the colloquial {{lang|de|Nazi}} (so [[Leopold von Mildenstein]] in his article series ''[[Ein Nazi fährt nach Palästina]]'' published in {{lang|de|[[Der Angriff]]}} in 1934). The term {{lang|de|Parteigenosse}} (party member) was commonly used among Nazis, with its corresponding feminine form {{lang|de|Parteigenossin}}.{{sfn|Hitler|1936|p=10}}

Before the rise of the party, these terms had been used as colloquial and derogatory words for a backward [[peasant]], or an awkward and clumsy person. It derived from Ignaz, a shortened version of [[Ignatius]],{{sfn|Gottlieb|Morgensen|2007|p=247}}{{sfn|Harper|n.d.}} which was a common name in the Nazis' home region of [[Bavaria]]. Opponents seized on this, and the long-existing {{lang|de|Sozi}}, to attach a dismissive nickname to the National Socialists.{{sfn|Harper|n.d.}}{{sfn|Rabinbach|Gilman|2013|p=4}}

In 1933, when [[Adolf Hitler]] assumed power in the German government, the usage of "Nazi" diminished in Germany, although Austrian anti-Nazis continued to use the term.{{sfn|Mautner|1944|p=93–100}} The use of "[[Nazi Germany]]" and "Nazi regime" was popularised by anti-Nazis and German exiles abroad. Thereafter, the term spread into other languages and eventually was brought back to Germany after World War II.{{sfn|Rabinbach|Gilman|2013|p=4}} In English, the term is not considered slang and has such derivatives as [[Nazism]] and [[denazification]].

== History ==
=== Origins and early years: 1918–1923 ===
The Nazi Party grew out of smaller political groups with a nationalist orientation that formed in the last years of [[World War&nbsp;I]]. In 1918, a league called the {{lang|de|Freier Arbeiterausschuss für einen guten Frieden}} (Free Workers' Committee for a good Peace){{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=82}} was created in [[Bremen]], Germany. On 7 March 1918, [[Anton Drexler]], an avid German nationalist, formed a branch of this league in [[Munich]].{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=82}} Drexler was a local locksmith who had been a member of the militarist [[German Fatherland Party|Fatherland Party]]{{sfn|Shirer|1991|p=34}} during World War I and was bitterly opposed to the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|armistice]] of November 1918 and the revolutionary upheavals that followed. Drexler followed the views of militant nationalists of the day, such as opposing the [[Treaty of Versailles]], having [[antisemitic]], anti-monarchist and anti-Marxist views, as well as believing in the superiority of Germans whom they claimed to be part of the [[Aryan race|Aryan]] "[[master race]]" ({{lang|de|Herrenvolk}}). However, he also accused international capitalism of being a Jewish-dominated movement and denounced capitalists for war profiteering in World War I.{{sfn|Spector|2004|p=137}} Drexler saw the political violence and instability in Germany as the result of the [[Weimar Republic]] being out-of-touch with the masses, especially the lower classes.{{sfn|Spector|2004|p=137}} Drexler emphasised the need for a synthesis of {{lang|de|völkisch}} nationalism with a form of economic [[Preussentum und Sozialismus|socialism]], in order to create a popular nationalist-oriented workers' movement that could challenge the rise of communism and [[internationalism (politics)|internationalist politics]].{{sfn|Griffen|1995|p=105}} These were all well-known themes popular with various [[Weimar paramilitary groups]] such as the {{lang|de|[[Freikorps]]}}.

[[File:NSDAP-Logo.svg|thumb|left|upright|Nazi Party badge emblem]]

Drexler's movement received attention and support from some influential figures. Supporter [[Dietrich Eckart]], a well-to-do journalist, brought military figure [[Felix Graf von Bothmer]], a prominent supporter of the concept of "national socialism", to address the movement.{{sfn|Abel|2012|p=55}} Later in 1918, [[Karl Harrer]] (a journalist and member of the [[Thule Society]]) convinced Drexler and several others to form the {{lang|de|[[Politischer Arbeiter-Zirkel]]}} (Political Workers' Circle).{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=82}} The members met periodically for discussions with themes of nationalism and racism directed against Jewish people.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=82}} In December 1918, Drexler decided that a new political party should be formed, based on the political principles that he endorsed, by combining his branch of the Workers' Committee for a good Peace with the Political Workers' Circle.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=82}}{{sfn|Carlsten|1982|p=91}}

On 5 January 1919, Drexler created a new political party and proposed it should be named the "German Socialist Workers' Party", but Harrer objected to the term "socialist"; so the term was removed and the party was named the [[German Workers' Party]] ({{lang|de|Deutsche Arbeiterpartei}}, DAP).{{sfn|Carlsten|1982|p=91}} To ease concerns among potential middle-class supporters, Drexler made clear that unlike Marxists the party supported the middle-class and that its socialist policy was meant to give [[social welfare]] to German citizens deemed part of the Aryan race.{{sfn|Spector|2004|p=137}} They became one of many [[völkisch movement|''völkisch'' movements]] that existed in Germany. Like other {{lang|de|völkisch}} groups, the DAP advocated the belief that through [[profit-sharing]] instead of [[socialization (economics)|socialisation]] Germany should become a unified "people's community" ({{lang|de|Volksgemeinschaft}}) rather than a society divided along class and party lines.{{sfn|Fest|1979|pp=37–38}} This ideology was explicitly antisemitic. As early as 1920, the party was raising money by selling a tobacco called {{lang|de|Anti-Semit}}.{{sfn|van der Vat|1997|p=30}}

From the outset, the DAP was opposed to non-nationalist political movements, especially on the left, including the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]] (SPD) and the [[Communist Party of Germany]] (KPD). Members of the DAP saw themselves as fighting against "[[Bolsheviks|Bolshevism]]" and anyone considered a part of or aiding so-called "[[Antisemitic canard|international Jewry]]". The DAP was also deeply opposed to the [[Treaty of Versailles]].{{sfn|Shirer|1991|p=33}} The DAP did not attempt to make itself public and meetings were kept in relative secrecy, with public speakers discussing what they thought of Germany's present [[State of affairs (sociology)|state of affairs]], or writing to like-minded societies in [[Northern Germany]].{{sfn|Fest|1979|pp=37–38}}

[[File:Nsdap01.jpg|thumb|upright|NSDAP membership book]]

The DAP was a comparatively small group with fewer than 60 members.{{sfn|Fest|1979|pp=37–38}} Nevertheless, it attracted the attention of the German authorities, who were suspicious of any organisation that appeared to have subversive tendencies. In July 1919, while stationed in [[Munich]], army {{lang|de|[[Gefreiter]]}} [[Adolf Hitler]] was appointed a {{lang|de|Verbindungsmann}} (intelligence agent) of an {{lang|de|Aufklärungskommando}} (reconnaissance unit) of the {{lang|de|[[Reichswehr]]}} (army) by [[Karl Mayr|Captain Mayr]], the head of the ''Education and Propaganda Department'' (Dept Ib/P) in [[Bavaria]]. Hitler was assigned to influence other soldiers and to infiltrate the DAP.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|pp=71–82}} While Hitler was initially unimpressed by the meetings and found them disorganised, he enjoyed the discussion that took place.{{sfn|Childers|2001a|loc=23:00–24:30}} While attending a party meeting on 12 September 1919 at Munich's [[Sterneckerbräu]], Hitler became involved in a heated argument with a visitor, Professor Baumann, who questioned the soundness of [[Gottfried Feder]]'s arguments against capitalism; Baumann proposed that Bavaria should break away from [[Prussia]] and found a new South German nation with [[Austria]]. In vehemently attacking the man's arguments, Hitler made an impression on the other party members with his oratorical skills; according to Hitler, the "professor" left the hall acknowledging unequivocal defeat.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=75}} Drexler encouraged him to join the DAP.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=75}} On the orders of his army superiors, Hitler applied to join the party{{sfn|Evans|2003|p=170}} and within a week was accepted as party member 555 (the party began counting membership at 500 to give the impression they were a much larger party).{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|pp=75, 76}}{{sfn|Mitcham|1996|p=67}} Among the party's earlier members were [[Ernst Röhm]] of the Army's District Command VII; Dietrich Eckart, who has been called the spiritual father of National Socialism;{{sfn|Blamires|2006|p=185}} then-[[University of Munich]] student [[Rudolf Hess]];{{sfn|Shirer|1991|p=43}} {{lang|de|Freikorps}} soldier [[Hans Frank]]; and [[Alfred Rosenberg]], often credited as the philosopher of the movement. All were later prominent in the Nazi regime.{{sfn|Jaman|1956|p=88}}

Hitler later claimed to be the seventh party member. He was, in fact, the seventh executive member of the party's central committee{{sfn|Rees|2006|p=23}} and he would later wear the [[Golden Party Badge]] number one. Anton Drexler drafted a letter to Hitler in 1940—which was never sent—that contradicts Hitler's later claim:
{{blockquote|No one knows better than you yourself, my Führer, that you were never the seventh member of the party, but at best the seventh member of the committee... And a few years ago I had to complain to a party office that your first proper membership card of the DAP, bearing the signatures of Schüssler and myself, was falsified, with the number 555 being erased and number 7 entered.{{sfn|Kershaw|1998|p=127}}}}

Although Hitler initially wanted to form his own party, he claimed to have been convinced to join the DAP because it was small and he could eventually become its leader.{{sfn|Kershaw|1998|p=126}} He consequently encouraged the organisation to become less of a debating society, which it had been previously, and more of an active political party.{{sfn|Childers|2001a|loc=15:00–25:00}} Normally, enlisted army personnel were not allowed to join political parties. In this case, Hitler had Captain [[Karl Mayr]]'s permission to join the DAP. Further, Hitler was allowed to stay in the army and receive his weekly pay of 20 gold marks a week.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=76}} Unlike many other members of the organisation, this continued employment provided him with enough money to dedicate himself more fully to the DAP.{{sfn|Childers|2001a|loc=24:00–25:00}}

Hitler's first DAP speech was held in the [[Hofbräukeller]] on 16 October 1919. He was the second speaker of the evening, and spoke to 111 people.{{sfn|Kershaw|1998|p=140}} Hitler later declared that this was when he realised he could really "make a good speech".{{sfn|Fest|1979|pp=37–38}} At first, Hitler spoke only to relatively small groups, but his considerable oratory and propaganda skills were appreciated by the party leadership. With the support of Anton Drexler, Hitler became chief of propaganda for the party in early 1920.{{sfn|Jaman|1956|p=89}} Hitler began to make the party more public, and organised its biggest meeting yet of 2,000 people on 24 February 1920 in the {{lang|de|[[Hofbräuhaus am Platzl|Staatliches Hofbräuhaus in München]]}}. Such was the significance of this particular move in publicity that [[Karl Harrer]] resigned from the party in disagreement.{{sfn|Shirer|1991|p=36}} It was in this speech that Hitler enunciated the [[National Socialist Program#German Party program|twenty-five points of the German Workers' Party manifesto]] that had been drawn up by Drexler, Feder and himself.{{sfn|Shirer|1991|p=37}} Through these points he gave the organisation a much bolder stratagem{{sfn|Jaman|1956|p=89}} with a clear foreign policy (abrogation of the Treaty of Versailles, a [[German question|Greater Germany]], Eastern expansion and exclusion of Jews from citizenship) and among his specific points were: confiscation of [[War profiteering|war profits]], abolition of unearned incomes, the State to share profits of land and land for national needs to be taken away without compensation.{{sfn|Johnson|1984|p=133}} In general, the manifesto was [[antisemitic]], [[anti-capitalist]], [[Aristocracy (class)|anti-democratic]], [[anti-Marxist]] and [[Fascism|anti-liberal]].{{sfn|Fest|1979|p=42}} To increase its appeal to larger segments of the population, on the same day as Hitler's {{lang|de|Hofbräuhaus}} speech on 24 February 1920, the DAP changed its name to the {{lang|de|Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei}} ("National Socialist German Workers' Party", or Nazi Party).{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=87}}{{sfn|Zentner|Bedürftig|1997|p=629}}{{efn|Some sources say the name change happened on 1 April 1920.{{sfn|Carruthers|2015|p=?}}{{sfn|Lepage|2009|p=9}}}} The name was intended to draw upon both left-wing and right-wing ideals, with "Socialist" and "Workers'" appealing to the left, and "National" and "German" appealing to the right.<ref name="Childers DAP 2">{{Cite episode| title= The Weimar Republic and the Rise of the Nazi Party | url= https://www.wondrium.com/a-history-of-hitlers-empire-2nd-edition|access-date=27 March 2023| series= A History of Hitler's Empire, 2nd Edition| first= Thomas| last= Childers| author-link= Thomas Childers| publisher= [[The Great Courses]] | date= 2001| number= 3 | time= 26:00–31:04| language= English}}</ref> The word "Socialist" was added by the party's executive committee (at the suggestion of [[Rudolf Jung]]), over Hitler's initial objections,{{Efn|Hitler's original name suggested was the Social Revolutionary Party ({{langx|de|link=no|Sozialrevolutionäre Partei}}).<ref>[[Konrad Heiden]], "Les débuts du national-socialisme", Revue d'Allemagne, VII, No. 71 (Sept. 15, 1933), p. 821.</ref>}} in order to help appeal to left-wing workers.{{sfn|Mitcham|1996|p=68}}

In 1920, the Nazi Party officially announced that only persons of "pure Aryan descent [{{lang|de|rein arischer Abkunft}}]" could become party members and if the person had a spouse, the spouse also had to be a "racially pure" Aryan. Party members could not be related either directly or indirectly to a so-called "non-Aryan".{{sfn|Ehrenreich|2007|p=58}} Even before it had become legally forbidden by the [[Nuremberg Laws]] in 1935, the Nazis banned sexual relations and marriages between party members and Jews.{{sfn|Weikart|2009|p=142}} Party members found guilty of {{lang|de|[[Rassenschande]]}} ("racial defilement") were persecuted heavily. Some members were even sentenced to death.{{sfn|Gordon|1984|p=265}}

Hitler quickly became the party's most active orator, appearing in public as a speaker 31 times within the first year after his self-discovery.{{sfn|Fest|1979|p=39}} Crowds began to flock to hear his speeches.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=89}} Hitler always spoke about the same subjects: the Treaty of Versailles and [[the Jewish question]].{{sfn|Fest|1979|p=42}} This deliberate technique and effective publicising of the party contributed significantly to his early success,{{sfn|Fest|1979|p=42}} about which a contemporary poster wrote: "Since Herr Hitler is a brilliant speaker, we can hold out the prospect of an extremely exciting evening".{{sfn|Franz-Willing|2001|p=?}}{{Page needed|date=June 2020}} Over the following months, the party continued to attract new members,{{sfn|Rees|2006|p=23}} while remaining too small to have any real significance in German politics.{{sfn|Shirer|1991|p=38}} By the end of the year, party membership was recorded at 2,000,{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=89}} many of whom Hitler and Röhm had brought into the party personally, or for whom Hitler's oratory had been their reason for joining.{{sfn|Fest|1979|p=40}}

[[File:Hitler's DAP membership card.png|thumb|left|Hitler's membership card in the DAP (later NSDAP). The membership number (7) was altered from the original.]]

Hitler's talent as an orator and his ability to draw new members, combined with his characteristic ruthlessness, soon made him the dominant figure. However, while Hitler and Eckart were on a fundraising trip to Berlin in June 1921, a mutiny broke out within the party in Munich. Members of its executive committee wanted to merge with the rival [[German Socialist Party]] (DSP).{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|pp=100, 101}} Upon returning to Munich on 11 July, Hitler angrily tendered his resignation. The committee members realised that his resignation would mean the end of the party.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=102}} Hitler announced he would rejoin on condition that he would replace Drexler as party chairman, and that the party headquarters would remain in Munich.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=103}} The committee agreed, and he rejoined the party on 26 July as member 3,680. Hitler continued to face some opposition within the NSDAP, as his opponents had [[Hermann Esser]] expelled from the party and they printed 3,000 copies of a pamphlet attacking Hitler as a traitor to the party.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=103}} In the following days, Hitler spoke to several packed houses and defended himself and Esser to thunderous applause.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|pp=83, 103}}

Hitler's strategy proved successful; at a special party congress on 29 July 1921, he replaced Drexler as party chairman by a vote of 533{{nbsp}}to{{nbsp}}1.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|pp=83, 103}} The committee was dissolved, and Hitler was granted nearly absolute powers in the party as its sole leader.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|pp=83, 103}} He would hold the post for the remainder of his life. Hitler soon acquired the title {{lang|de|[[Führer]]}} ("leader") and after a series of sharp internal conflicts it was accepted that the party would be governed by the {{lang|de|[[Führerprinzip]]}} ("leader principle"). Under this principle, the party was a highly centralised entity that functioned strictly from the top down, with Hitler at the apex. Hitler saw the party as a revolutionary organisation, whose aim was the overthrow of the [[Weimar Republic]], which he saw as controlled by the socialists, Jews and the "[[November criminals]]", a term invented to describe alleged elements of society who had 'betrayed the German soldiers' in 1918. The [[Sturmabteilung|SA]] ("storm troopers", also known as "Brownshirts") were founded as a party militia in 1921 and began violent attacks on other parties.

[[File:Erstausgabe von Mein Kampf.jpg|thumb|{{lang|de|[[Mein Kampf]]}} in its first edition cover]]

For Hitler, the twin goals of the party were always German nationalist expansionism and [[antisemitism]]. These two goals were fused in his mind by his belief that Germany's external enemies—Britain, France and the Soviet Union—were controlled by the Jews and that Germany's future wars of national expansion would necessarily entail a war of annihilation against them.{{sfn|Hakim|1995|p=?}}{{Page needed|date=June 2020}} For Hitler and his principal lieutenants, national and racial issues were always dominant. This was symbolised by the adoption as the party emblem of the [[swastika]]. In German nationalist circles, the swastika was considered a symbol of an "[[Aryan race]]" and it symbolised the replacement of the Christian Cross with allegiance to a National Socialist State.

The Nazi Party grew significantly during 1921 and 1922, partly through Hitler's oratorical skills, partly through the SA's appeal to unemployed young men, and partly because there was a backlash against socialist and liberal politics in Bavaria as Germany's economic problems deepened and the weakness of the Weimar regime became apparent. The party recruited former World War&nbsp;I soldiers, to whom Hitler as a decorated frontline veteran could particularly appeal, as well as small businessmen and disaffected former members of rival parties. Nazi rallies were often held in beer halls, where downtrodden men could get free beer. The [[Hitler Youth]] was formed for the children of party members. The party also formed groups in other parts of Germany. [[Julius Streicher]] in [[Nuremberg]] was an early recruit and became editor of the racist magazine {{lang|de|[[Der Stürmer]]}}. In December 1920, the Nazi Party had acquired a newspaper, the {{lang|de|[[Völkischer Beobachter]]}}, of which its leading ideologist Alfred Rosenberg became editor. Others to join the party around this time were [[Heinrich Himmler]] and World War I flying ace [[Hermann Göring]].

==== Adoption of Italian fascism: The Beer Hall Putsch ====
On 31 October 1922, a [[fascist]] party with similar policies and objectives came into power in Italy, the [[National Fascist Party]], under the leadership of the charismatic [[Benito Mussolini]]. The Fascists, like the Nazis, promoted a national rebirth of their country, as they opposed communism and liberalism; appealed to the working-class; opposed the [[Treaty of Versailles]]; and advocated the territorial expansion of their country. Hitler was inspired by Mussolini and the Fascists, beginning to adopt elements of their program for the Nazi Party and himself.{{sfn|Kershaw|2000|p=182}} The Italian Fascists also used a straight-armed [[Roman salute]] and wore black-shirted uniforms; Hitler would later borrow their use of the straight-armed salute as a [[Nazi salute]].

When the Fascists took control of Italy through their [[coup d'état]] called the "[[March on Rome]]", Hitler began planning his own coup less than a month later.{{sfn|Kershaw|2000|p=182}} In January 1923, France occupied the [[Ruhr]] industrial region as a result of Germany's failure to meet its [[World War I reparations|reparations]] payments. This led to economic chaos, the resignation of [[Wilhelm Cuno]]'s government and an attempt by the German Communist Party (KPD) to stage a revolution. The reaction to these events was an upsurge of nationalist sentiment. Nazi Party membership grew sharply to about 20,000,{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=110}} compared to the approximate 6,000 at the beginning of 1923.{{sfn|Childers|2001a|loc=29:00–30:00}} By November 1923, Hitler had decided that the time was right for an attempt to seize power in Munich, in the hope that the {{lang|de|Reichswehr}} (the post-war German military) would mutiny against the Berlin government and join his revolt. In this, he was influenced by former General [[Erich Ludendorff]], who had become a supporter—though not a member—of the Nazis.{{sfn|Jablonsky|1989|pp=20–26, 30}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_119-1486,_Hitler-Putsch,_München,_Marienplatz.jpg|left|thumb|Nazis during the [[Beer Hall Putsch]] in Munich]]
On the night of 8 November, the Nazis used a patriotic rally in a Munich beer hall to launch an attempted {{lang|de|putsch}} ("coup d'état"). This so-called [[Beer Hall Putsch]] attempt failed almost at once when the local {{lang|de|Reichswehr}} commanders refused to support it. On the morning of 9 November, the Nazis staged a march of about 2,000 supporters through Munich in an attempt to rally support. The two groups exchanged fire, after which 15 putschists, four police officers, and a bystander lay dead.{{sfn|Shirer|1990|p=112}}<ref name="H2">[[Hanns Hubert Hofmann]]: ''Der Hitlerputsch. Krisenjahre deutschen Geschichte 1920–1924''. Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung, München 1961, S. 211, 272; als ''Karl Kulm'' bei [[Hans Günter Hockerts]]: ''„Hauptstadt der Bewegung“''. In: Richard Bauer et al. (Hrsg.): ''München – „Hauptstadt der Bewegung“. Bayerns Metropole und der Nationalsozialismus''. 2. Auflage. Edition Minerva, München 2002, S. 355&nbsp;f.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-06-11 |title=Einsatz für Freiheit und Demokratie |url=https://www.stmi.bayern.de/med/aktuell/archiv/2013/20131109demokratie/ |access-date=2023-10-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150611133949/https://www.stmi.bayern.de/med/aktuell/archiv/2013/20131109demokratie/ |archive-date=11 June 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Hitler, Ludendorff and a number of others were arrested and were tried for treason in March 1924. Hitler and his associates were given very lenient prison sentences. While Hitler was in prison, he wrote his semi-autobiographical political manifesto {{lang|de|[[Mein Kampf]]}} ("My Struggle").

The Nazi Party was banned on 9 November 1923; however, with the support of the nationalist [[Völkisch-Social Bloc]] ({{lang|de|Völkisch-Sozialer Block}}), it continued to operate under the name "German Party" ({{lang|de|Deutsche Partei}} or DP) from 1924 to 1925.{{sfn|Jablonsky|1989|p=57}} The Nazis failed to remain unified in the DP, as in the north, the right-wing [[Volkish]] nationalist supporters of the Nazis moved to the new [[German Völkisch Freedom Party]], leaving the north's left-wing Nazi members, such as [[Joseph Goebbels]] retaining support for the party.{{sfn|Jablonsky|1989|p=57}}

=== Rise to power: 1925–1933 ===
{{Further|Adolf Hitler's rise to power}}
{{Redirect|Rise of Nazism|the culmination of the rise|Nazi seizure of power}}
{{More citations needed section|date=February 2017}}
[[File:Refoundation.jpg|thumb|right|Adolf Hitler (standing) delivers a speech on the occasion of the refoundation of the NSDAP in February of 1925. Next to him from the perspective of the onlooker: On the right: Gregor Strasser and Heinrich Himmler. On the left: Franz Xaver Schwarz, Walter Buch and Alfred Rosenberg. Behind Hitler the Blutfahne (blood-flag), a central relique within the propaganda of the National-Socialists, can be seen attached to the wall.]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 119-0289, München, Hitler bei Einweihung "Braunes Haus".jpg|thumb|Hitler with Nazi Party members in 1930]]

Pardoned by the Bavarian Supreme Court, Hitler was released from prison on 20 December 1924, against the state prosecutor's objections.{{sfn|Kershaw|1998|p=239}} On 16 February 1925, Hitler convinced the Bavarian authorities to lift the ban on the NSDAP and the party was formally refounded on 26 February 1925, with Hitler as its undisputed leader. It was at this time Hitler began referring to himself as "''der [[Führer]]''".{{sfn|Childers|2001b|loc=13:45–14:12}} The new Nazi Party was no longer a paramilitary organisation and disavowed any intention of taking power by force. In any case, the economic and political situation had stabilised and the extremist upsurge of 1923 had faded, so there was no prospect of further revolutionary adventures. Instead, Hitler intended to alter the party's strategy to achieving power through what he called the "path of legality".{{sfn|Childers|2001b|loc=15:50–16:10}} The Nazi Party of 1925 was divided into the "Leadership Corps" ({{lang|de|Korps der politischen Leiter}}) appointed by Hitler and the general membership ({{lang|de|Parteimitglieder}}). The party and the SA were kept separate and the legal aspect of the party's work was emphasised. In a sign of this, the party began to admit women. The SA and the [[SS]] members (the latter founded in 1925 as Hitler's bodyguard, and known originally as the {{lang|de|Schutzkommando}}) had to all be regular party members.{{sfn|Weale|2010|pp=26–29}}{{sfn|Koehl|2004|p=34}}

In the 1920s the Nazi Party expanded beyond its Bavarian base. At this time, it began surveying voters in order to determine what they were dissatisfied with in Germany, allowing Nazi propaganda to be altered accordingly.{{sfn|Childers|2001b|loc=17:00–17:27}} Catholic Bavaria maintained its right-wing nostalgia for a Catholic monarch;{{Citation needed|date=July 2016}} and [[Westphalia]], along with working-class "Red Berlin", were always the Nazis' weakest areas electorally, even during the Third Reich itself. The areas of strongest Nazi support were in rural Protestant areas such as [[Schleswig-Holstein]], [[Mecklenburg]], [[Pomerania]] and [[East Prussia]]. Depressed working-class areas such as [[Thuringia]] also produced a strong Nazi vote, while the workers of the [[Ruhr]] and [[Hamburg]] largely remained loyal to the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democrats]], the [[Communist Party of Germany]] or the Catholic [[Centre Party (Germany)|Centre Party]]. Nuremberg remained a Nazi Party stronghold, and the first [[Nuremberg Rally]] was held there in 1927. These rallies soon became massive displays of Nazi paramilitary power and attracted many recruits. The Nazis' strongest appeal was to the lower middle-classes—farmers, public servants, teachers and small businessmen—who had suffered most from the inflation of the 1920s, so who feared Bolshevism more than anything else. The small business class was receptive to Hitler's antisemitism, since it blamed Jewish big business for its economic problems. University students, disappointed at being too young to have served in the War of 1914–1918 and attracted by the Nazis' radical rhetoric, also became a strong Nazi constituency. By 1929, the party had 130,000 members.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=194}}

The party's nominal Deputy Leader was [[Rudolf Hess]], but he had no real power in the party. By the early 1930s, the senior leaders of the party after Hitler were [[Heinrich Himmler]], [[Joseph Goebbels]] and [[Hermann Göring]]. Beneath the Leadership Corps were the party's regional leaders, the {{lang|de|[[Gauleiter]]s}}, each of whom commanded the party in his {{lang|de|[[Gau (country subdivision)|Gau]]}} ("region"). Goebbels began his ascent through the party hierarchy as {{lang|de|Gauleiter}} of Berlin-Brandenburg in 1926. Streicher was {{lang|de|Gauleiter}} of [[Franconia]], where he published his antisemitic newspaper {{lang|de|[[Der Stürmer]]}}. Beneath the {{lang|de|Gauleiter}} were lower-level officials, the {{lang|de|[[Kreisleiter]]}} ("county leaders"), {{lang|de|[[Zellenleiter]]}} ("cell leaders") and {{lang|de|[[Blockleiter]]}} ("block leaders"). This was a strictly hierarchical structure in which orders flowed from the top and unquestioning loyalty was given to superiors. Only the SA retained some autonomy. Being composed largely of unemployed workers, many SA men took the Nazis' socialist rhetoric seriously. At this time, the [[Hitler salute]] (borrowed from the [[Italian Fascism|Italian fascists]]) and the greeting "Heil Hitler!" were adopted throughout the party.

[[File:1930-election.jpg|thumb|Nazi Party election poster used in [[Vienna]] in 1930 (translation: "We demand freedom and bread")]]
The Nazis contested elections to the national parliament (the {{lang|de|[[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]]}}) and to the state legislature (the {{lang|de|[[Landtag]]e}}) from 1924, although at first with little success. The "[[National Socialist Freedom Movement]]" polled 3% of the vote in the [[December 1924 German federal election|December 1924 ''Reichstag'' elections]] and this fell to 2.6% in [[1928 German federal election|1928]]. State elections produced similar results. Despite these poor results and despite Germany's relative political stability and prosperity during the later 1920s, the Nazi Party continued to grow. This was partly because Hitler, who had no administrative ability, left the party organisation to the head of the secretariat, [[Philipp Bouhler]], the party treasurer [[Franz Xaver Schwarz]] and business manager [[Max Amann]]. The party had a capable propaganda head in [[Gregor Strasser]], who was promoted to national organizational leader in January 1928. These men gave the party efficient recruitment and organizational structures. The party also owed its growth to the gradual fading away of competitor nationalist groups, such as the [[German National People's Party]] (DNVP). As Hitler became the recognised head of the German nationalists, other groups declined or were absorbed. In the late 1920s, seeing the party's lack of breakthrough into the mainstream, Goebbels proposed that instead of focusing all of their propaganda in major cities where there was competition from other political movements, they should instead begin holding rallies in rural areas where they would be more effective.{{sfn|Childers|2001b|loc=23:30–24:00}}

Despite these strengths, the Nazi Party might never have come to power had it not been for the [[Great Depression]] and its effects on Germany. By 1930, the German economy was beset with mass unemployment and widespread business failures. The Social Democrats and Communists were bitterly divided and unable to formulate an effective solution: this gave the Nazis their opportunity and Hitler's message, blaming the crisis on the Jewish financiers and the [[Bolshevik]]s, resonated with wide sections of the electorate. At the [[1930 German federal election|September 1930 ''Reichstag'' elections]], the Nazis won 18% of the votes and became the second-largest party in the {{lang|de|Reichstag}} after the Social Democrats. Hitler proved to be a highly effective campaigner, pioneering the use of radio and aircraft for this purpose. His dismissal of Strasser and his appointment of Goebbels as the party's propaganda chief were major factors. While Strasser had used his position to promote his own leftish version of national socialism, Goebbels was completely loyal to Hitler, and worked only to improve Hitler's image.

The 1930 elections changed the German political landscape by weakening the traditional nationalist parties, the DNVP and the DVP, leaving the Nazis as the chief alternative to the discredited Social Democrats and the Zentrum, whose leader, [[Heinrich Brüning]], headed a weak minority government. The inability of the democratic parties to form a united front, the self-imposed isolation of the Communists and the continued decline of the economy, all played into Hitler's hands. He now came to be seen as ''de facto'' leader of the opposition and donations poured into the Nazi Party's coffers. Some major business figures, such as [[Fritz Thyssen]], were Nazi supporters and gave generously{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=372}} and some Wall Street figures were allegedly involved,{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}} but many other businessmen were suspicious of the extreme nationalist tendencies of the Nazis and preferred to support the traditional conservative parties instead.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=224}}

In 1930, as the price for joining a [[coalition government]] of the ''Land'' (state) of [[Thuringia]], the Nazi Party received the state ministries of the [[Interior minister|Interior]] and Education. On 23 January 1930, [[Wilhelm Frick]] was appointed to these ministries, becoming the first Nazi to hold a ministerial-level post at any level in Germany.
[[File:Wahl zum Preussischen Landtag, NSDAP-Wahlspendenmedaille 1932.jpg|thumb|right|German NSDAP Donation Token 1932, Free State of Prussia elections]]
In 1931 the Nazi Party altered its strategy to engage in perpetual campaigning across the country, even outside of election time.{{sfn|Childers|2001b|loc=30:35–30:57}} During 1931 and into 1932, Germany's political crisis deepened. Hitler ran for president against the incumbent [[Paul von Hindenburg]] in March 1932, polling 30% in the first round and 37% in the second against Hindenburg's 49% and 53%. By now the SA had 400,000 members and its running street battles with the SPD and Communist paramilitaries (who also fought each other) reduced some German cities to combat zones. Paradoxically, although the Nazis were among the main instigators of this disorder, part of Hitler's appeal to a frightened and demoralised middle class was his promise to restore law and order. Overt antisemitism was played down in official Nazi rhetoric, but was never far from the surface. Germans voted for Hitler primarily because of his promises to revive the economy (by unspecified means), to restore German greatness and overturn the [[Treaty of Versailles]] and to save Germany from communism. On 24 April 1932, the [[Elections in the Free State of Prussia|Free State of Prussia elections]] to the [[Landtag of Prussia|Landtag]] resulted in 36% of the votes and 162 seats for the NSDAP.

On 20 July 1932, the Prussian government was ousted by a coup, the {{lang|de|[[Preussenschlag]]}}; a few days later at the [[July 1932 German federal election|July 1932 ''Reichstag'' election]] the Nazis made another leap forward, polling 37% and becoming the largest party in parliament by a wide margin. Furthermore, the Nazis and the Communists between them won 52% of the vote and a majority of seats. Since both parties opposed the established political system and neither would join or support any ministry, this made the formation of a majority government impossible. The result was weak ministries governing by decree. Under [[Comintern]] directives, the Communists maintained their policy of treating the Social Democrats as the main enemy, calling them "[[social fascists]]", thereby splintering opposition to the Nazis.{{efn|"Social democracy is objectively the moderate wing of fascism.&nbsp;... These organisations (ie Fascism and social democracy) are not antipodes, they are twins." ([[J.V. Stalin]]: ''Concerning the International Situation'' (September 1924), in ''Works'', Volume 6, 1953; p. 294.) This later led [[Otto Wille Kuusinen]] to conclude that "The aims of the fascists and the social-fascists are the same." (Report To the 10th Plenum of ECCI, in ''International Press Correspondence'', Volume 9, no. 40, (20 August 1929), p. 848.)}} Later, both the Social Democrats and the Communists accused each other of having facilitated [[Hitler's rise to power]] by their unwillingness to compromise.

Chancellor [[Franz von Papen]] called another {{lang|de|Reichstag}} election in November, hoping to find a way out of this impasse. The electoral result was the same, with the Nazis and the Communists winning 50% of the vote between them and more than half the seats, rendering this {{lang|de|Reichstag}} no more workable than its predecessor. However, support for the Nazis had fallen to 33.1%, suggesting that the Nazi surge had passed its peak—possibly because the worst of the Depression had passed, possibly because some middle-class voters had supported Hitler in July as a protest, but had now drawn back from the prospect of actually putting him into power. The Nazis interpreted the result as a warning that they must seize power before their moment passed. Had the other parties united, this could have been prevented, but their shortsightedness made a united front impossible. Papen, his successor [[Kurt von Schleicher]] and the nationalist press magnate [[Alfred Hugenberg]] spent December and January in political intrigues that eventually persuaded President Hindenburg that it was safe to appoint Hitler as Reich Chancellor, at the head of a cabinet including only a minority of Nazi ministers—which he did on 30 January 1933.

==== Ascension and consolidation ====
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1982-159-21A, Nürnberg, Reichsparteitag, Hitler und Röhm.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|''Reichsparteitag'' (Nuremberg Rally): Nazi Party leader [[Adolf Hitler]] and SA-leader [[Ernst Röhm]], August 1933]]
In ''[[Mein Kampf]]'', Hitler directly attacked both left-wing and right-wing politics in Germany.{{efn|Hitler stated: "Today our left-wing politicians in particular are constantly insisting that their craven-hearted and obsequious foreign policy necessarily results from the disarmament of Germany, whereas the truth is that this is the policy of traitors [...] But the politicians of the Right deserve exactly the same reproach. It was through their miserable cowardice that those ruffians of Jews who came into power in 1918 were able to rob the nation of its arms."{{sfn|Hitler|2010|p=287}}}} However, a majority of scholars identify [[Nazism]] in practice as being a [[far-right]] form of politics.{{Sfnm|1a1=Fritzsche|1y=1998|1p=?|2a1=Eatwell|2y=1996|2pp=xvii–xxiv, 21, 26–31, 114–40, 352|3a1=Griffin|3y=2000|3p=?}}{{Page needed|date=June 2020}} When asked in an interview in 1934 whether the Nazis were "bourgeois right-wing" as alleged by their opponents, Hitler responded that Nazism was not exclusively for any class and indicated that it favoured neither the left nor the right, but preserved "pure" elements from both "camps" by stating: "From the camp of bourgeois tradition, it takes national resolve, and from the materialism of the Marxist dogma, living, creative Socialism".{{sfn|Domarus|2007|pp=171–73}}

The votes that the Nazis received in the 1932 elections established the Nazi Party as the largest parliamentary faction of the Weimar Republic government. Hitler was appointed as [[Chancellor of Germany]] on 30 January 1933.

The [[Reichstag fire|''Reichstag'' fire]] on 27 February 1933 gave Hitler a pretext for suppressing his political opponents. The following day he persuaded the Reich's President [[Paul von Hindenburg]] to issue the [[Reichstag Fire Decree|''Reichstag'' Fire Decree]], which suspended most [[civil liberties]]. The NSDAP won the [[March 1933 German federal election|parliamentary election on 5 March 1933]] with 44% of votes, but failed to win an absolute majority. After the election, hundreds of thousands of new members joined the party for opportunistic reasons, most of them civil servants and white-collar workers. They were nicknamed the "casualties of March" ({{langx|de|link=no|Märzgefallenen}}) or "March violets" ({{langx|de|link=no|Märzveilchen}}).{{sfn|Beck|2013|p=259}} To protect the party from too many non-ideological turncoats who were viewed by the so-called "old fighters" {{lang|de|(alte Kämpfer)}} with some mistrust,{{sfn|Beck|2013|p=259}} the party issued a freeze on admissions that remained in force from May 1933 to 1937.{{sfn|Ingrao|2013|p=77}}

On 23 March, the parliament passed the [[Enabling Act of 1933]], which gave the cabinet the right to enact laws without the consent of parliament. In effect, this gave Hitler dictatorial powers. Now possessing virtually absolute power, the Nazis established [[totalitarian]] control as they abolished labour unions and other political parties and imprisoned their political opponents, first at {{lang|de|wilde Lager}}, improvised camps, then in [[concentration camp]]s. [[Nazi Germany]] had been established, yet the {{lang|de|Reichswehr}} remained impartial. Nazi power over Germany remained virtual, not absolute.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: right"
|-
|+ NSDAP federal election results (1924–1933){{sfn|Kolb|2005|pp=224–225}}
|-
!rowspan="2"|Election
!colspan="3"|Votes
!colspan="2"|Seats
!rowspan="2"|Notes
|-
!No.
!%
!+/–
!No.
!+/–
|-
![[May 1924 German federal election|May 1924]]<br />{{small|(as [[National Socialist Freedom Movement]])}}
|1,918,300
|6.5 (No.&nbsp;6)
|
|{{Composition bar|32|472|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
|
|style="text-align:left;"|Hitler in prison
|-
![[December 1924 German federal election|December 1924]]<br />{{small|(as [[National Socialist Freedom Movement]])}}
|907,300
|3.0 (No.&nbsp;8)
|{{decrease}}&nbsp;3.5
|{{Composition bar|14|493|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
|{{decrease}}&nbsp;18
|style="text-align:left;"|Hitler released from prison
|-
![[1928 German federal election|May 1928]]
|810,100
|2.6 (No.&nbsp;9)
|{{decrease}}&nbsp;0.4
|{{Composition bar|12|491|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
|{{decrease}}&nbsp;2
|style="text-align:left;"|
|-
![[1930 German federal election|September 1930]]
|6,409,600
|18.3 (No.&nbsp;2)
|{{increase}}&nbsp;15.7
|{{Composition bar|107|577|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
|{{increase}}&nbsp;95
|style="text-align:left;"|After the financial crisis
|-
![[July 1932 German federal election|July 1932]]
|13,745,000
|37.3 ('''No.&nbsp;1''')
|{{increase}}&nbsp;19.0
|{{Composition bar|230|608|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
|{{increase}}&nbsp;123
|style="text-align:left;"|After Hitler was candidate for presidency
|-
![[November 1932 German federal election|November 1932]]
|11,737,000
|33.1 ('''No.&nbsp;1''')
|{{decrease}}&nbsp;4.2
|{{Composition bar|196|584|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
|{{decrease}}&nbsp;34
|style="text-align:left;"|&nbsp;
|-
![[March 1933 German federal election|March 1933]]
|17,277,180
|43.9 ('''No.&nbsp;1''')
|{{increase}}&nbsp;10.8
|{{Composition bar|288|647|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
|{{increase}}&nbsp;92
|style="text-align:left;"|During Hitler's term as Chancellor of Germany
|}

=== After taking power: intertwining of party and state ===
The Nazis embarked on a campaign of {{lang|de|[[Gleichschaltung]]}} (coordination) to exert their control over all aspects of German government and society. During June and July 1933, all competing parties were either outlawed or dissolved themselves and subsequently the [[Law Against the Formation of Parties]] of 14 July 1933 legally established the Nazi Party's monopoly. On 1 December 1933, the [[Law to Secure the Unity of Party and State]] entered into force, which was the base for a progressive intertwining of party structures and state apparatus.{{sfn|Kuntz|2011|p=73}} By this law, the SA—actually a party division—was given quasi-governmental authority and their ''[[Stabschef]]'' became a cabinet [[minister without portfolio]]. By virtue of the 30 January 1934 [[Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich]], the {{lang|de|Länder}} (states) lost their sovereignty and were demoted to administrative divisions of the {{lang|de|Reich}} government. Effectively, they lost most of their power to the {{lang|de|[[Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany|Gaue]]}} that were originally just regional divisions of the party, but took over most competencies of the state administration in their respective sectors.{{sfn|Schaarschmidt|2014|pp=104–05}}

During the [[Röhm Purge]] of 30 June to 2 July 1934 (also known as the "Night of the Long Knives"), Hitler disempowered the SA's leadership—most of whom belonged to the [[Strasserist]] (national revolutionary) faction within the NSDAP—and ordered them killed. He accused them of having conspired to stage a ''coup d'état'', but it is believed that this was only a pretense to justify the suppression of any intraparty opposition. The purge was executed by the SS, assisted by the Gestapo and Reichswehr units. Aside from Strasserist Nazis, they also murdered anti-Nazi conservative figures like former chancellor von Schleicher.{{sfn|Evans|2015|p=98}} After this, the SA continued to exist but lost much of its importance, while the role of the SS grew significantly. Formerly only a sub-organisation of the SA, it was made into a separate organisation of the NSDAP in July 1934.{{sfn|McNab|2013|p=20}}

Upon the death of President Hindenburg on 2 August 1934, Hitler merged the offices of party leader, head of state and chief of government in one, taking the title of {{lang|de|[[Führer]] und Reichskanzler}} by passage of the [[Law Concerning the Head of State of the German Reich]]. The [[Hitler's Chancellery|Chancellery of the Führer]], officially an organisation of the Nazi Party, took over the functions of the Office of the President (a government agency), blurring the distinction between structures of party and state even further. The SS increasingly exerted police functions, a development which was formally documented by the merger of the offices of {{lang|de|[[Reichsführer-SS]]}} and Chief of the German Police on 17 June 1936, as the position was held by [[Heinrich Himmler]] who derived his authority directly from Hitler.{{sfn|Kuntz|2011|p=74}} The {{lang|de|[[Sicherheitsdienst]]}} (SD, formally the "Security Service of the Reichsführer-SS") that had been created in 1931 as an intraparty intelligence became the ''de facto'' intelligence agency of Nazi Germany. It was put under the [[Reich Security Main Office]] (RSHA) in 1939, which then coordinated SD, Gestapo and [[Kriminalpolizei|criminal police]], therefore functioning as a hybrid organisation of state and party structures.{{sfn|Delarue|2008|pp=x–xi}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H12704, Bad Godesberg, Vorbereitung Münchener Abkommen.jpg|thumb|Adolf Hitler in [[Bonn]] in 1938]]

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|-
|+ NSDAP election and referendum results in the [[Reichstag (Nazi Germany)|Reichstag]] under [[Nazi Germany]] (1933–1938)
|-
!Election
!Votes
!%
!Seats
|-
![[November 1933 German federal election|November 1933]]
|39,655,224
|92.1
|{{Composition bar|661|661|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
|-
![[1936 German election and referendum|1936]]
|44,462,458
|98.8
|{{Composition bar|741|741|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
|-
![[1938 German election and referendum|1938]]
|44,451,092
|99.0
|{{Composition bar|813|813|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
|}

=== Defeat and abolition ===
Officially, Nazi Germany lasted only 12 years. The [[German Instrument of Surrender|Instrument of Surrender]] was signed by representatives of the German High Command at [[Berlin]], on 8 May 1945, when the war ended in Europe.{{sfn|McNab|2009|p=25}} The party was formally abolished on 10 October 1945 by the [[Allied Control Council]], followed by the process of [[denazification]] along with [[Nuremberg trials|trials of major war criminals]] before the International Military Tribunal (IMT) in Nuremberg.{{sfn|McNab|2009|pp=25, 26}} Part of the [[Potsdam Agreement]] called for the destruction of the Nazi Party alongside the requirement for the reconstruction of the German political life.{{sfn|Lewkowicz|2008|p=74}} In addition, the Control Council Law no. 2 Providing for the Termination and Liquidation of the Nazi Organization specified the abolition of 52 other Nazi affiliated and supervised organisations and outlawed their activities.{{sfn|Cogen|2016|p=226}} The denazification was carried out in Germany and continued until the onset of the Cold War.{{sfn|Judt|2006|p=?}}{{Page needed|date=June 2020}}{{sfn|Junker|2004|p=65}}

Between 1939 and 1945, the Nazi Party led regime, assisted by [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|collaborationist]] governments and recruits from occupied countries, was responsible for the deaths of at least twenty million people,{{sfn|Rummel|1994|p=112}} including 5.5 to 6&nbsp;million Jews (representing two-thirds of the Jewish population of Europe),{{sfn|Evans|2008|p=318}}{{sfn|Fischel|1998|p=87}}{{sfn|Bauer|Rozett|1990|p=1799}} and between 200,000 and 1,500,000 [[Porajmos|Romani people]].{{sfn|Hancock|2004|pp=383–96}}{{sfn|Holocaust Memorial Museum}} The estimated total number includes the killing of nearly two million non-Jewish [[Nazi crimes against the Polish nation|Poles]],{{sfn|Holocaust Memorial Museum}} over three million [[Nazi crimes against Soviet POWs|Soviet prisoners of war]],{{sfn|Snyder|2010|p=184}} [[communist]]s, and other political opponents, homosexuals, the physically and mentally disabled.{{sfn|Niewyk|Nicosia|2000|p=45}}{{sfn|Goldhagen|1996|p=290}}

== Political programme ==
{{Main|National Socialist Program}}
The National Socialist Programme was a formulation of the policies of the party. It contained 25 points and is therefore also known as the "25-point plan" or "25-point programme". It was the official party programme, with minor changes, from its proclamation as such by Hitler in 1920, when the party was still the German Workers' Party, until its dissolution.

== Party composition ==
=== Command structure ===
==== Top leadership ====
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-10541, Weimar, Aufmarsch der Nationalsozialisten.jpg|thumb|Adolf Hitler and [[Rudolf Hess]] in [[Weimar]] in 1930]]

At the top of the Nazi Party was the party chairman ("{{lang|de|Der Führer}}"), who held absolute power and full command over the party. All other party offices were subordinate to his position and had to depend on his instructions. In 1934, Hitler founded a separate body for the chairman, [[Hitler's Chancellery (Kanzlei des Führers)|Chancellery of the Führer]], with its own sub-units.

Below the Führer's chancellery was first the "Staff of the [[Deputy Führer]]", headed by [[Rudolf Hess]] from 21 April 1933 to 10 May 1941; and then the "[[Party Chancellery]]" ({{lang|de|[[Parteikanzlei]]}}), headed by [[Martin Bormann]].

Following Hitler's suicide on 30 April 1945, Bormann would be named as Party Minister, which gave him the top position in the Nazi Party itself;{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|1999|p=187}} unlike Hitler, however, Bormann would not have a leadership role over the government of Nazi Germany.{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|1999|p=187}} Bormann, whose fate would remain unknown for several decades, would soon afterwards commit suicide as well on 2 May 1945 while trying to flee Berlin around the time Soviet Union forces [[Battle of Berlin|captured the city]].{{sfn|Trevor-Roper|2002|p=193}}{{sfn|Miller|2006|p=154}} His remains were first identified in 1972, then again in 1998 through DNA testing.{{sfn|Whiting|1996|pp=217–218}}{{sfn|Karacs|1998}}

==== ''Reichsleiter'' ====
Directly subjected to the Führer were the {{lang|de|[[Reichsleiter]]}} ("Reich Leader(s)"—the singular and plural forms are identical in German), whose number was gradually increased to eighteen. They held power and influence comparable to the Reich Ministers' in [[Cabinet Hitler|Hitler's Cabinet]]. The eighteen {{lang|de|Reichsleiter}} formed the "Reich Leadership of the Nazi Party" ({{lang|de|Reichsleitung der NSDAP}}), which was established at the so-called [[Brown House, Munich, Germany|Brown House]] in Munich. Unlike a {{lang|de|[[Gauleiter]]}}, a {{lang|de|Reichsleiter}} did not have individual geographic areas under their command, but were responsible for specific spheres of interest.

=== Nazi Party offices ===
The Nazi Party had a number of party offices dealing with various political and other matters. These included:
* {{lang|de|[[NSDAP Office of Racial Policy|Rassenpolitisches Amt der NSDAP]]}} (RPA): "NSDAP Office of Racial Policy"
* {{lang|de|[[NSDAP Office of Foreign Affairs|Außenpolitische Amt der NSDAP]]}} (APA): "NSDAP Office of Foreign Affairs"
* {{lang|de|[[NSDAP Office of Colonial Policy|Kolonialpolitisches Amt der NSDAP]]}} (KPA): "NSDAP Office of Colonial Policy"
* {{lang|de|[[NSDAP Office of Military Policy|Wehrpolitisches Amt der NSDAP]]}} (WPA): "NSDAP Office of Military Policy"
* {{lang|de|[[Amt Rosenberg]]}} (ARo): "[[Alfred Rosenberg|Rosenberg]] Office"

=== Paramilitary groups ===
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-P049500, Berlin, Aufmarsch der SA in Spandau.jpg|thumb|The [[Sturmabteilung|SA]] in Berlin in 1932. The group had nearly two million members at the end of 1932.]]

In addition to the Nazi Party proper, several paramilitary groups existed which "supported" Nazi aims. All members of these paramilitary organisations were required to become regular Nazi Party members first and could then enlist in the group of their choice. An exception was the [[Waffen-SS]], considered the military arm of the SS and Nazi Party, which during the Second World War allowed members to enlist without joining the Nazi Party. Foreign volunteers of the Waffen-SS were also not required to be members of the Nazi Party, although many joined local nationalist groups from their own countries with the same aims. Police officers, including members of the [[Gestapo]], frequently held SS rank for administrative reasons (known as "rank parity") and were likewise not required to be members of the Nazi Party.

A vast system of [[Nazi Party paramilitary ranks]] developed for each of the various paramilitary groups. This was part of the process of {{lang|de|Gleichschaltung}} with the paramilitary and auxiliary groups swallowing existing associations and federations after the Party was flooded by millions of membership applications.{{sfn|Steber|Gotto|2018|p=91}}

The major Nazi Party paramilitary groups were as follows:
* {{lang|de|[[Schutzstaffel]]}} (SS): "Protection Squadron" (both {{lang|de|[[Allgemeine SS]]}} and [[Waffen-SS]])
* {{lang|de|[[Sturmabteilung]]}} (SA): "Storm Division"
* {{lang|de|[[Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps]]}} (NSFK): "National Socialist Flyers Corps"
* {{lang|de|[[National Socialist Motor Corps|Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrerkorps]]}} (NSKK): "National Socialist Motor Corps"

The [[Hitler Youth]] was a paramilitary group divided into an adult leadership corps and a general membership open to boys aged fourteen to eighteen. The [[League of German Girls]] was the equivalent group for girls.

=== Affiliated organisations ===
Certain nominally independent organisations had their own legal representation and own property, but were supported by the Nazi Party. Many of these associated organisations were labour unions of various professions. Some were older organisations that were nazified according to the {{lang|de|Gleichschaltung}} policy after the 1933 takeover.
* Reich League of German Officials (union of civil servants, predecessor to [[German Civil Service Federation]])
* [[German Labour Front]] (DAF)
* [[National Socialist German Doctors' League]]
* National Socialist League for the Maintenance of the Law (NSRB, 1936–1945, earlier National Socialist German Lawyers' League)
* [[National Socialist War Victim's Care]] (NSKOV)
* [[National Socialist Teachers League]] (NSLB)
* [[National Socialist People's Welfare]] (NSV)
* [[Reich Labour Service]] (RAD)
* [[German Faith Movement]]
* [[German Colonial League]] (RKB)
* [[German Red Cross]]
* [[Kyffhäuserbund|Kyffhäuser League]]
* [[TENO|Technical Emergency Relief]] (TENO)
* [[Reichsbund der Kinderreichen|Reich's Union of Large Families]]
* [[Reichsluftschutzbund]] (RLB)
* [[Reichskolonialbund]] (RKB)
* [[Bund Deutscher Osten]] (BDO)
* [[German American Bund]]

The employees of large businesses with international operations such as [[Deutsche Bank]], [[Dresdner Bank]], and [[Commerzbank]] were mostly party members.{{sfn|Simpson|2002|pp=149, 257, 299}} All German businesses abroad were also required to have their own Nazi Party {{lang|de|Ausland-Organization}} liaison men, which enabled the party leadership to obtain updated and excellent intelligence on the actions of the global corporate elites.{{sfn|Farrell|2008|p=?}}{{Page needed|date=June 2020}}

== Regional administration ==
{{See also|Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany|List of Gauleiters}}
[[File:NS administrative Gliederung 1944.png|thumb|upright=1.8|Administrative units of the Nazi Party in 1944]]

For the purpose of centralisation in the {{lang|de|[[Gleichschaltung]]}} process, a rigidly hierarchal structure was established in the Nazi Party, which it later carried through in the whole of Germany in order to consolidate total power under the person of [[Hitler]] ({{lang|de|Führerstaat}}). It was regionally sub-divided into a number of {{lang|de|[[Gaue]]}} (singular: {{lang|de|Gau}}) headed by a {{lang|de|[[Gauleiter]]}}, who received their orders directly from Hitler. The name (originally a term for sub-regions of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] headed by a {{lang|de|Gaugraf}}) for these new provincial structures was deliberately chosen because of its [[mediaeval]] connotations. The term is approximately equivalent to the English {{lang|de|[[shire]]}}.

While the Nazis maintained the nominal existence of state and regional governments in Germany itself, this policy was not extended to territories acquired after 1937. Even in German-speaking areas such as Austria, state and regional governments were formally disbanded as opposed to just being dis-empowered.

After the {{lang|de|[[Anschluss]]}} a new type of administrative unit was introduced called a {{lang|de|[[Reichsgau]]}}. In these territories the {{lang|de|Gauleiters}} also held the position of {{lang|de|[[Reichsstatthalter]]}} (Reich Governor) thereby formally combining the spheres of both party and state offices. The establishment of this type of district was subsequently carried out for any further territorial annexations of Germany both before and during [[World War II]]. Even the former territories of [[Prussia]] were never formally re-integrated into what was then Germany's largest state after being re-taken in the 1939 Polish campaign.

The {{lang|de|Gaue}} and {{lang|de|Reichsgaue}} (state or province) were further sub-divided into {{lang|de|[[Districts of Germany|Kreise]]}} (counties) headed by a {{lang|de|[[Kreisleiter]]}}, which were in turn sub-divided into {{lang|de|Zellen}} (cells) and {{lang|de|Blöcke}} (blocks), headed by a {{lang|de|[[Zellenleiter]]}} and {{lang|de|[[Blockleiter]]}} respectively.

A reorganisation of the ''Gaue'' was enacted on 1 October 1928. The given numbers were the official ordering numbers. The statistics are from 1941, for which the ''Gau'' organisation of that moment in time forms the basis. Their size and populations are not exact; for instance, according to the official party statistics the ''Gau'' Kurmark/Mark Brandenburg was the largest in the German Reich.{{sfn|Materna|Ribbe|1995|p=?}}{{Page needed|date=June 2020}} By 1941, there were 42 territorial ''Gaue'' for Greater Germany.{{efn|The 43rd ''Gau'' known as the [[NSDAP/AO|Auslandsorganisation]] was non-territorial.}} Of these, 10 were designated as Reichsgaue: 7 of them for Austria, one for the [[Sudetenland]] (annexed from [[Czechoslovakia]]) and two for the areas annexed from [[Poland]] and the [[Free City of Danzig]] after the joint [[invasion of Poland]] by [[Nazi Germany]] and the [[Soviet Union]] in 1939 at the onset of World War II.{{sfn|German Historical Institute|2008}} Getting the leadership of the individual ''Gaue'' to co-operate with one another proved difficult at times since there was constant administrative and financial jockeying for control going on between them.{{sfn|Broszat|1985|pp=44–47}}

The first table below describes the organizational structure for the ''Gaue'' that existed before their dissolution in 1945.{{sfn| Miller| Schulz| 2012| pp=18–41}} Information on former ''Gaue'' (that were either renamed, or dissolved by being divided or merged with other ''Gaue'') is provided in the second table.{{sfn| Miller| Schulz| 2012| pp=41–50}}

=== Nazi Party ''Gaue'' ===
{| class="wikitable" style="border-collapse:collapse"
|-
! {{abbr|Nr.|Number}}
! Gau 
! Headquarters 
! Area (km<sup>2</sup>) 
! Inhabitants (1941) 
! Gauleiter
|-
|01 || [[Gau Baden-Alsace|Baden-Alsace]] || [[Strasbourg]] || 23,350 || 2,502,023 || [[Robert Heinrich Wagner]] from 22 March 1941
|-
|02 || [[Gau Bayreuth|Bayreuth]], renaming of Gau Bayerische Ostmark 2 June 1942 || [[Bayreuth]] || 29,600 || 2,370,658 || [[Hans Schemm]] (1933–1935)<br />[[Fritz Wächtler]] (1935–1945)<br />[[Ludwig Ruckdeschel]] from 19 April 1945
|-
|03 || [[Gau Berlin|Berlin]] || [[Berlin]] || 884 || 4,338,756 || [[Joseph Goebbels]] from 1 October 1928
|-
|04 || [[Danzig-Westpreußen]] || [[Danzig]] || 26,057 || 2,287,394 || [[Albert Forster]] from 10 October 1939
|-
|05 || [[Gau Düsseldorf|Düsseldorf]] || [[Düsseldorf]] || 2,672 || 2,261,909 || [[Friedrich Karl Florian]] from 1 August 1930
|-
|06 || [[Gau Essen|Essen]] || [[Essen]] || 2,825 || 1,921,326 || [[Josef Terboven]] from 1 August 1928
|-
|07 || [[Gau Franconia|Franken]], renaming of Gau Mittelfranken 21 April 1933 || [[Nuremberg]] || 7,618 || 1,077,216 || [[Julius Streicher]] (1929–1940)<br />[[Hans Zimmermann]] (1940–1942)<br />[[Karl Holz (Nazi)|Karl Holz]] from 19 March 1942
|-
|08 || [[Gau Halle-Merseburg|Halle-Merseburg]] || [[Halle an der Saale]] || 10,202 || 1,578,292 || [[Walter Ernst]] (1925–1926)<br />[[Paul Hinkler]] (1926–1931)<br />[[Rudolf Jordan (politician)|Rudolf Jordan]] (1931–1937)<br />[[Joachim Albrecht Eggeling]] from 20 April 1937
|-
|09 || [[Gau Hamburg|Hamburg]] || [[Hamburg]] || 747 || 1,711,877 || [[Josef Klant]] (1925–1926)<br />[[Albert Krebs]] (1926–1928)<br />[[Hinrich Lohse]] (1928–1929)<br />[[Karl Kaufmann]] from 15 April 1929
|-
|10 || [[Gau Hessen-Nassau|Hessen-Nassau]] || [[Frankfurt]] || 15,030 || 3,117,266 || [[Jakob Sprenger]] from 1 January 1933
|-
|11 || [[Reichsgau Kärnten|Kärnten]] || [[Klagenfurt]] || 11,554 || 449,713 || [[Hans Mazenauer]] (1926–1927)<br />[[Hugo Herzog]] (1927–1933)<br />[[Hans vom Kothen]] (1933)<br />[[Hubert Klausner]] (1933–1936)<br />[[Peter Feistritzer]] (1936–1938)<br />[[Hubert Klausner]] (1938–1939)<br />[[Franz Kutschera]] (1939–1941)<br />[[Friedrich Rainer]] from 27 November 1941
|-
|12 || [[Gau Köln-Aachen|Köln-Aachen]] || [[Köln]] || 8,162 || 2,432,095 || [[Joseph Grohé]] from 1 June 1931
|-
|13 || [[Gau Kurhessen|Kurhessen]], renaming of Gau Hessen-Nord 1934 || [[Kassel]] || 9,200 || 971,887 || [[Walter Schultz (Gauleiter)|Walter Schultz]] (1925–1928)<br />[[Karl Weinrich]] (1928–1943)<br />[[Karl Gerland]] from 6 November 1943
|-
|14 || [[Gau Magdeburg-Anhalt|Magdeburg-Anhalt]], renaming of Gau Anhalt-Provinz Sachsen Nord 1 October 1928  || [[Dessau]] || 13,910 || 1,820,416 || [[Gustav Hermann Schmischke]] (1926–1927) <br />[[Wilhelm Friedrich Loeper]] (1927–1935) with a short replacement by [[Paul Hofmann (Gauleiter)|Paul Hofmann]] from August to December 1932<br />[[Joachim Albrecht Eggeling]] (1935–1937)<br />[[Rudolf Jordan (politician)|Rudolf Jordan]] from 20 April 1937
|-
|15 || [[Gau Mainfranken|Mainfranken]], renaming of Gau Unterfranken 30 July 1935 || [[Würzburg]] || 8,432 || 840,663 || [[Otto Hellmuth]] from 1 October 1928
|-
|16 || [[Gau March of Brandenburg|Mark Brandenburg]], renaming of<br />Gau Kurmark 1 January 1939 || [[Berlin]] || 38,278 || 3,007,933 || [[Wilhelm Kube]] (1933–1936)<br />[[Emil Stürtz]] from 7 August 1936
|-
|17 || [[Gau Mecklenburg|Mecklenburg]], renaming of<br />Gau Mecklenburg-Lübeck 1 April 1937 || [[Schwerin]] || 15,722 || 900,427 || [[Friedrich Hildebrandt]] from 1925 with a short replacement by [[Herbert Albrecht]] (July 1930 – January 1931)
|-
|18 || [[Gau Moselland|Moselland]] || [[Koblenz]] || 11,876 || 1,367,354 || [[Gustav Simon]] from 24 January 1941
|-
|19 || [[Gau München-Oberbayern|München-Oberbayern]] || [[Munich]] || 16,411 || 1,938,447 || [[Adolf Wagner]] (1930–1944)<br  />[[Paul Giesler]] from 12 April 1944
|-
|20 || [[Niederdonau]], renaming of<br />Gau Niederösterreich 21 May 1938 || Nominal capital: [[Krems an der Donau|Krems]], District Headquarters: [[Vienna]] || 23,502 || 1,697,676 || [[Leopold Eder]] (1926–1927)<br  />[[Josef Leopold]] (1927–1938)<br / >[[Hugo Jury]] from 21 May 1938 
|-
|21 || [[Gau Lower Silesia|Niederschlesien]] || [[Breslau]] || 26,985 || 3,286,539 || [[Karl Hanke]] from 27 January 1941
|-
|22 || [[Reichsgau Oberdonau|Oberdonau]], renaming of<br />Gau Oberösterreich 22 May 1938  || [[Linz]] || 14,216 || 1,034,871 || [[Alfred Proksch (politician)|Alfred Proksch]] (1926–1927) <br  />[[Andreas Bolek]] (1927–1934)<br  />[[Rudolf Lengauer]] (1934–1935)<br  />[[Oscar Hinterleitner]] (1935)<br  />[[August Eigruber]] from 22 May 1938
|-
|23 || [[Gau Upper Silesia|Oberschlesien]] || [[Kattowitz]] || 20,636 || 4,341,084 || [[Fritz Bracht]] from 27 January 1941
|-
|24 || [[Gau Eastern Hanover|Ost-Hannover]], renaming of<br />Gau Lüneburg-Stade 1 October 1928 || [[Buchholz in der Nordheide|Buchholz]], after 1 April 1937 [[Lüneburg]] || 18,006 || 1,060,509 || [[Otto Telschow]] from 27 March 1925
|-
|25 || [[Gau East Prussia|Ostpreußen]] || [[Königsberg]] || 52,731 || 3,336,777 || [[Wilhelm Stich]] (1925–1926)<br />[[Bruno Gustav Scherwitz]] (1926–1927)<br />[[Hans Albert Hohnfeldt]] (1927–1928)<br />[[Erich Koch]] from 1 October 1928
|-
|26 || [[Gau Pomerania|Pommern]] || [[Stettin]] || 38,409 || 2,393,844 || [[Theodor Vahlen]] (1925–1927)<br />[[Walther von Corswant]] (1927–1931)<br />[[Wilhelm Karpenstein]] (1931–1934)<br />[[Franz Schwede-Coburg]] from 21 July 1934
|-
|27 || [[Gau Saxony|Sachsen]] || [[Dresden]] || 14,995 || 5,231,739 || [[Martin Mutschmann]] from 27 March 1925
|-
|28 || [[Reichsgau Salzburg|Salzburg]] || [[Salzburg]] || 7,153 || 257,226 || [[Karl Scharizer]] (1932–1934)<br />[[Anton Wintersteiger]] (1934–1938)<br />[[Friedrich Rainer]] (1938–1941)<br />[[Gustav Adolf Scheel]] from 27 November 1941
|-
|29 || [[Gau Schleswig-Holstein|Schleswig-Holstein]] || [[Kiel]] || 15,687 || 1,589,267 || [[Hinrich Lohse]] from 27 March 1925
|-
|30 || [[Gau Swabia|Schwaben]] || [[Augsburg]] || 10,231 || 946,212 || [[Karl Wahl]] from 1 October 1928
|-
|31 || [[Reichsgau Steiermark|Steiermark]] || [[Graz]] || 17,384 || 1,116,407 || [[Walther Oberhaidacher]] (1928–1934)<br />[[Georg Bilgeri]] (1934–1935)<br />[[Sepp Helfrich]] (1936–1938)<br />[[Siegfried Uiberreither]] from 25 May 1938
|-
|32 || [[Reichsgau Sudetenland|Sudetenland]] (also known as Sudetengau) || [[Liberec|Reichenberg]] || 22,608 || 2,943,187 || [[Konrad Henlein]] from 1 October 1938
|-
|33 || [[Gau Southern Hanover-Brunswick|Südhannover-Braunschweig]] || [[Hannover]] || 14,553 || 2,136,961 || [[Bernhard Rust]] (1928–1940)<br />[[Hartmann Lauterbacher]] from 8 December 1940
|-
|34 || [[Gau Thuringia|Thüringen]] || [[Weimar]] || 15,763 || 2,446,182 || [[Artur Dinter]] (1925–1927)<br />[[Fritz Sauckel]] from 30 September 1927
|-
|35 || [[Tirol-Vorarlberg]] || [[Innsbruck]] || 13,126 || 486,400 || [[Franz Hofer]] from 25 May 1938
|-
|36 || [[Wartheland]] (also known as Warthegau), renaming of Gau Posen (29 January 1940) || [[Poznań|Posen]] || 43,905 || 4,693,722 || [[Arthur Karl Greiser]] from 21 October 1939
|-
|37 || [[Gau Weser-Ems|Weser-Ems]] || [[Oldenburg (city)|Oldenburg]] || 15,044 || 1,839,302 || [[Carl Röver]] (1928–1942)<br />[[Paul Wegener (Gauleiter)|Paul Wegener]] from 26 May 1942
|-
|38 || [[Gau Westphalia-North|Westfalen-Nord]] || [[Münster]] || 14,559 || 2,822,603 || [[Alfred Meyer]] from 31 January 1931
|-
|39 || [[Gau Westphalia-South|Westfalen-Süd]] || [[Bochum]] || 7,656 || 2,678,026 || [[Josef Wagner (Nazi)|Josef Wagner]] (1931–1941)<br />[[Paul Giesler]] (1941–1943)<br />[[Albert Hoffmann (Nazi)|Albert Hoffmann]] from 26 January 1943
|-
|40 || [[Gau Westmark|Westmark]]|| [[Saarbrücken]] || 14,713 || 1,892,240 || [[Josef Bürckel]] (1940–1944)<br />[[Willi Stöhr]] from 29 September 1944
|-
|41 || [[Reichsgau Wien|Wien]] || [[Vienna]] || 1,216 || 1,929,976 || [[Walter Rentmeister]] (1926–1928)<br />[[Eugen Werkowitsch]] (1928–1929)<br />[[Robert Derda]] (1929) <br />[[Alfred Frauenfeld]] (1930–1933)<br />[[Leopold Tavs]] (1937–1938)<br /> [[Odilo Globocnik]] (1938–1939)<br />[[Josef Bürckel]] (1939–1940)<br />[[Baldur von Schirach]] from 8 August 1940
|-
|42 || [[Gau Württemberg-Hohenzollern|Württemberg-Hohenzollern]] || [[Stuttgart]] || 20,657 || 2,974,373 || [[Eugen Munder]] (1925–1928)<br />[[Wilhelm Murr]] from 1 February 1928
|-
|43 || [[NSDAP/AO|Auslandsorganisation]] (also known as NSDAP/AO) || [[Berlin]] || || || [[Hans Nieland]] (1932–1933)<br />[[Ernst Wilhelm Bohle]] from 17 February 1934
|}

Later Gaue:
:* [[Reichsgau Flandern|Flanders]], existed from 15 December 1944 (''Gauleiter'' in German exile: [[Jef van de Wiele]])
:* [[Reichsgau Wallonien|Wallonia]], existed from 8 December 1944 (''Gauleiter'' in German exile: [[Léon Degrelle]])

=== ''Gaue'' dissolved before 1945 ===
The numbering is not based on any official former ranking, but merely listed alphabetically. {{lang|de|Gaue}} that were simply renamed without territorial changes bear the designation '''''RN''''' in the column "later became." {{lang|de|Gaue}} that were divided into more than one {{lang|de|Gau}} bear the designation '''''D''''' in the column "later became." {{lang|de|Gaue}} that were merged with other {{lang|de|Gaue}} (or occupied territory) bear the designation '''''M''''' in the column "together with."

{| class="wikitable" style="border-collapse:collapse"
|-
! {{abbr|Nr.|Number}}
! Gau
! in existence
! later became
! together with
! Gauleiter
|-
|01 || Anhalt || 1925–1926 || Anhalt-Provinz Sachsen Nord<br />(1 September 1926) || Magdeburg & Elbe-Havel '''''M''''' || from 17 July 1925 to 1 September 1926 [[Gustav Hermann Schmischke]]
|-
|02 || Anhalt-Provinz Sachsen Nord || 1926–1928 || Magdeburg-Anhalt<br />(1 October 1928) '''''RN''''' || ||see above table
|-
|03 || Baden || 1925–1941 || Baden-Elsaß<br />(22 March 1941) || [[Alsace-Lorraine#World War II|Alsace]] '''''M''''' || from 25 March 1925 to 22 March 1941 [[Robert Heinrich Wagner]]

|- 
|04 || Bayerische Ostmark || 1933–1942 || Bayreuth<br />(2 June 1942) '''''RN''''' || || see above table
|-
|05 || Berlin-Brandenburg || 1926–1928 || Berlin &<br />Brandenburg (II)<br />(1 October 1928) '''''D'''''  || || from 26 October 1926 to 1 October 1928 [[Joseph Goebbels]]
|-
|06 || Brandenburg (I) || 1925–1926 || Potsdam<br />(February 1926) '''''RN''''' || || from 5 November 1925 to February 1926 [[Walter Klaunig]]
|-
|07 || Brandenburg (II) || 1928–1933 || Kurmark<br />(6 March 1933) || Ostmark '''''M''''' || from 1 October 1928 to 1930 [[Emil Holtz]], then from 18 October 1930 to 16 March 1933 [[Ernst Schlange]]
|-
|08 || Burgenland || 1935–1938 || Niederdonau & Steiermark<br />(1 October 1938) '''''D''''' || || from May 1935 to 1 October 1938 [[Tobias Portschy]]
|-
|09 || Danzig || 1926–1939 || Danzig-Westpreußen<br />(10 October 1939) || [[Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Westpreußen]] '''''M''''' || from 11 March 1926 to 20 June 1928 [[Hans Albert Hohnfeldt]], then from 20 August 1928 to 1 March 1929 [[Walter Maass]], then from 1 March 1929 to 30 September 1930 [[Erich Koch]], then from 15 October 1930 to 10 October 1939 [[Albert Forster]]
|-
|10 || Elbe-Havel || 1925–1926 || Anhalt-Provinz Sachsen Nord<br />(1 September 1926) || Anhalt & Magdeburg '''''M''''' || from 25 November 1925 to 1 September 1926 [[Alois Bachschmid]]
|-	
|11 || Göttingen || 1925  || Hannover-Süd<br />(December 1925) '''''RN''''' || || from 27 March 1925 to December 1925 [[Ludolf Haase]] 
|-
|12 ||  Groß-Berlin || 1925–1926 ||Berlin-Brandenburg<br />(26 October 1926) || Potsdam '''''M''''' || from 27 March 1925 to 20 June 1926 [[Ernst Schlange]], then from 20 June 1926 to 26 October 1926 [[Erich Schmiedicke]]
|-
|13 || Groß-München ("Traditionsgau") || 1929–1930 || München-Oberbayern<br />(15 November 1930) || Oberbayern '''''M''''' || from 1 November 1929 to 15 November 1930 [[Adolf Wagner]]
|-
|14 || Hannover-Braunschweig ||1925 || Hannover-Nord<br />(December 1925) '''''RN''''' || || from 22 March 1925 to December 1925 [[Bernhard Rust]] 
|-
|15 || Hannover-Nord ||1925–1928 || Süd-Hannover-Braunschweig &<br /> Weser Ems<br />(1 October 1928) '''''D'''''   || || from December 1925 to 30 September 1928 [[Bernhard Rust]] 
|-
|16 || Hannover-Süd || 1925–1928 || Süd-Hannover-Braunschweig<br />(1 October 1928) || Hannover-Nord '''''M''''' || from December 1925 to 30 September 1928 [[Ludolf Haase]] 
|-
|17 || Harzgau || 1925–1926 || Magdeburg<br />(April 1926) '''''RN''''' || || from August 1925 to April 1926 [[Ludwig Viereck]]
|-
|18 || Hessen-Darmstadt || 1927–1933 || Hessen-Nassau<br />(1 January 1933) || Hessen-Nassau-Süd '''''M''''' || from 1 March 1927 to 9 January 1931 [[Friedrich Ringshausen]], then [[Peter Gemeinder]] to 30 August 1931, then [[Karl Lenz]] to 15 December 1932
|-
|19 || Hessen-Nassau-Nord || 1925–1934 || Kurhessen<br />(1934) '''''RN''''' || || see above table
|-
|20 || Hessen-Nassau-Süd || 1925–1932 || Hessen-Nassau<br />(1 January 1933) || Hessen-Darmstadt '''''M''''' || from 1 April 1925 to 22 September 1926 [[Anton Haselmayer]], then from 1 October 1926 to 1 April 1927 [[Karl Linder]], then from 1 April 1927 to 1 January 1933 [[Jakob Sprenger]] with a short replacement by Karl Linder (August 1932 – December 1932)
|-
|21 || Koblenz-Trier || 1931–1941 || Moselland<br />(24 January 1941) ||[[Luxembourg in World War II|Luxembourg]] '''''M''''' || from 1 June 1931 to 24 January 1941 [[Gustav Simon]]
|-
|22 || Köln || 1925 || Rhineland-Süd<br />(27 March 1925) '''''RN''''' || || from 22 February 1925 to 27 March 1925 [[Heinrich Haake]]
|-
|23 || Kurmark || 1933–1939 || Mark Brandenburg<br />(1 January 1939) '''''RN''''' || || see above table
|-
|24 || Lüneburg-Stade || 1925–1928 || Ost-Hannover<br />(1 October 1928) '''''RN''''' || || see above table
|-
|25 || Magdeburg || 1926 || Anhalt-Provinz Sachsen Nord<br />(1 September 1926) || Anhalt &<br />Elbe-Havel '''''M''''' || from April 1926 to 1 September 1926 [[Ludwig Viereck]]
|-
|26 || Mecklenburg-Lübeck || 1925– 1937 || Mecklenburg<br />(1 April 1937) '''''RN''''' || || see above table
|-
|27 || Mittelfranken || 1929–1933 || Franken<br />(21 April 1933) '''''RN''''' ||  || see above table
|-
|28 || Mittelfranken-West || 1928–1929 || Mittelfranken<br />(1 March 1929) || Nürnburg-Fürth-Erlangen '''''M''''' || from 1 October 1928 to 1 March 1929 [[Wilhelm Grimm (Nazi politician)|Wilhelm Grimm]]
|-
|29 || Niederbayern (I) || 1925–1926 || Niederbayern-Oberpfalz (I)<br />(December 1926) || Oberpfalz (I) '''''M''''' || from February 1925 to December 1926 [[Gregor Strasser]]
|-
|30 || Niederbayern (II) || 1928–1932 || Niederbayern-Oberpfalz (II)<br />(1 April 1932) || Oberpfalz (II) '''''M''''' || from 1 October 1928 to 1 March 1929 [[Gregor Strasser]], then from 1 March 1929 to 1 April 1932 [[Otto Erbersdobler]], then from 1 April 1932 to 17 August 1932 [[Franz Maierhofer]]
|-
|31 || Niederbayern-Oberpfalz (I) || 1926–1928 || Oberpfalz (II) & Niederbayern (II)<br />(1 October 1928) '''''D''''' || || from December 1926 to 1 October 1928 [[Gregor Strasser]]
|-
||32 || Niederbayern-Oberpfalz (II) || 1932–1933 || Bayerische Ostmark<br />(19 January 1933) || Oberfranken '''''M''''' || from 17 August 1932 to 13 January 1933 [[Franz Maierhofer]]
|-
|33 || Niederösterreich || 1926–1938 || Niederdonau<br />(21 May 1938) '''''RN''''' || || see above table
|-
|34 || Nordbayern || 1925–1928 || Mittelfranken-West,<br />Nürnburg-Fürth, Oberfranken & Unterfranken<br />(1 October 1928) '''''D''''' || ||from 2 April 1925 to 1 October 1928 [[Julius Streicher]]
|-
|35 ||  Nürnburg-Fürth-Erlangen || 1925–1929 || Mittelfranken<br />(1 March 1929) || Mittelfranken-West '''''M''''' || from 2 April 1925 to 1 March 1929 [[Julius Streicher]]
|-
|36 || Oberbayern || 1928–1930 || München-Oberbayern<br />(15 November 1930) || Groß-München '''''M''''' || from 1 October 1928 to 1 November 1930 [[Fritz Reinhardt]]
|-
|37 || Oberbayern-Schwaben || 1926–1928 || Oberbayern & Schwaben<br />(1 October 1928) '''''D''''' || || from 16 September 1926 to May 1927 [[Hermann Esser]], then from 1 June 1928 to 1 October 1928 [[Fritz Reinhardt]]
|-
|38 || Oberfranken || 1929–1933 || Bayerische Ostmark<br />(19 January 1933) || Niederbayern-Oberpfalz (II) '''''M''''' || from 1 March 1929 to 19 January 1933 [[Hans Schemm]]
|-
|39 || Oberösterreich ||1926–1938 || Oberdonau<br />(22 May 1938) '''''RN''''' || || see above table
|-
|40 || Oberpfalz (I) || 1925–1926 || Niederbayern-Oberpfalz (I)<br />(December 1926) || Niederbayern (I) '''''M''''' || unknown
|-
|41 || Oberpfalz (II) || 1928–1932 || Niederbayern-Oberpfalz (II)<br />(17 August 1932) || Niederbayern (II) '''''M''''' || from 1 October 1928 to 1 November 1929 [[Adolf Wagner]], then from 1 November 1929 to June 1930 [[Franz Maierhofer]], then from June 1930 to November 1930 [[Edmund Heines]], then from 15 November 1930 to 17 August 1932 Franz Maierhofer
|-
|42 || Ostmark || 1928–1933 || Kurmark<br />(6 March 1933) || Brandenburg (II) '''''M''''' || from 2 January 1928 to 6 March 1933 [[Wilhelm Kube]]
|-
|43 || Ostsachsen || 1925–1926 || Sachsen<br />( 16 May 1926) || Sachsen '''''M'''''  || from 22 May 1925 to 16 May 1926 [[Anton Goss]]
|-
|44 || Pfalz-Saar || 1935–1936|| Saarpfalz<br />(13 January 1936) '''''RN''''' || || from 1 March 1935 to 13 January 1936 [[Josef Bürckel]] 
|-
|45 || Posen || 1939–1940 || Wartheland<br />(29 January 1940) '''''RN''''' || || see above table
|-
|46 || Potsdam || 1926 || Berlin-Brandenburg<br />(26 October 1926) || Groß-Berlin '''''M''''' || from February to June 1926 [[Walter Klaunig]]
|-
|47 || Rheinland || 1926–1931 || Köln-Aachen & <br />Koblenz-Trier<br />(1 June 1931) '''''D''''' || || from July 1926 to 1 June 1931 [[Robert Ley]]
|-
|48 || Rheinland-Nord || 1925–1926 || Ruhr<br />(7 March 1926) || Westfalen (I) '''''M''''' || from March 1925 to July 1925 [[Axel Ripke]], then from July 1925 to 7 March 1926 [[Karl Kaufmann]]
|-
|49 || Rheinland-Süd || 1925–1926 || Rhineland<br />(July 1926) '''''RN''''' || || 27 March 1925 to 1 June 1925 [[Heinrich Haake]], then from July 1925 to July 1926 [[Robert Ley]]
|-
|50 || Rheinpfalz || 1925–1935 || Pfalz-Saar<br />(1 March 1935) || Saar '''''M''''' || from February 1925 to 13 March 1926 [[Friedrich Wambsganss]], then from February 1926 to 1 March 1935 [[Josef Bürckel]]
|-
| 51 || Rhein-Ruhr || 1926 || Ruhr<br />(July 1926) '''''RN''''' || || from 7 March 1926 to 20 June 1926 [[Karl Kaufmann]]
|-
|52 || Ruhr<br />("Großgau Ruhr") || 1926–1928 || Düsseldorf,<br /> Essen &<br />Westfalen (II)<br />(1 October 1928) '''''D''''' || || from 20 June 1926 to 1 October 1928 [[Karl Kaufmann]]
 |-
|53 || Saar || 1926–1935 || Pfalz-Saar<br />(1 March 1935) || Rheinpfalz '''''M''''' || from 30 May 1926 to 8 December 1926 [[Walter Jung (Gauleiter)|Walter Jung]], then from 8 December 1926 to 21 April 1929 [[Jakob Jung]], then from 21 April 1929 to 30 July 1929 [[Gustav Staebe]] (acting), then from 30 July 1929 to 1 September 1931 [[Adolf Ehrecke]], then from 15 September 1931 to 6 May 1933 [[Karl Brück]], then from 6 May 1933 to 1 March 1935 [[Josef Bürckel]] 
|-
|54 || Saarpfalz || 1936–1940 || Westmark<br />(7 December 1940) || [[Alsace-Lorraine#World War II|Lorraine]] '''''M''''' || from 13 January 1936 to 7 December 1940 [[Josef Bürckel]]
|-
|55 || Schlesien || 1935–1941 || Niederschlesien &<br /> Oberschlesien<br />(27 January 1941) '''''D''''' || || from 15 March 1925 to 4 December 1934 [[Helmuth Brückner]], then from 12 December 1934 to 9 January 1941 [[Josef Wagner (Gauleiter)|Josef Wagner]]
|-
|56 || Tirol || 1932–1938 || Tirol-Vorarlberg<br />(22 May 1938) || Vorarlberg '''''M''''' || from 1 November 1932 to July 1934 [[Franz Hofer]], then from 28 July 1934 to 1 February 1935 [[Friedrich Plattner]], then from 15 August 1935 to 11 March 1938 [[Edmund Christoph]]
|-
|57 || Unterfranken || 1928–1935 || Mainfranken<br />(30 July 1935) '''''RN''''' || || see above table
|-
|58 || Vorarlberg || 1932–1938 || Tirol-Vorarlberg<br />(22 May 1938) || Tirol '''''M''''' || from 12 March 1938 to 22 May 1938 [[Anton Plankensteiner]]
|-
|59 || Westfalen (I) || 1925–1926 || Ruhr<br />(7 March 1926) || Rheinland-Nord '''''M''''' || from 27 March 1925 to 7 March 1926 [[Franz Pfeffer von Salomon]]
|-
|60 || Westfalen (II) || 1928–1931 || Westfalen-Nord &<br /> Westfalen-Süd<br />(1 January 1931) '''''D''''' || || from 1 October 1928 to 1 January 1931 [[Josef Wagner (Nazi)|Josef Wagner]]
|-
|61 || Westgau || 1928–1932 || Salzburg,<br />Tirol &<br />Vorarlberg<br />(1 July 1932) '''''D''''' || || from 1 October 1928 to 1931 [[Heinrich Suske]], then from 1931 to 1 July 1932 [[Rudolf Riedel (Gauleiter)|Rudolf Riedel]]

|}

=== Associated organisations abroad ===
{{See also|NSDAP/AO}}

==== ''Gaue'' in Switzerland ====
The irregular Swiss branch of the Nazi Party also established a number of Party {{lang|de|Gaue}} in that country, most of them named after their regional capitals. These included {{lang|de|Gau [[Canton of Basel|Basel]]-[[Canton of Solothurn|Solothurn]]}}, {{lang|de|Gau [[Canton of Schaffhausen|Schaffhausen]]}}, {{lang|de|Gau [[Canton of Luzern|Luzern]]}}, {{lang|de|Gau [[Canton of Bern|Bern]]}} and {{lang|de|Gau [[Canton of Zürich|Zürich]]}}.{{sfn|Wolf|1969|pp=121, 253, 283}}{{sfn|Schom|1998}}{{sfn|Historischer Verein des Kantons Bern|1973|p=150}} The {{lang|de|Gau Ostschweiz}} (East Switzerland) combined the territories of three cantons: [[Canton of St. Gallen|St. Gallen]], [[Thurgau]] and [[Appenzell]].{{sfn|Glaus|1969|p=147}}

== Membership ==
=== General membership ===
{{Main|List of Nazi Party members}}
The general membership of the Nazi Party mainly consisted of the urban and rural [[lower middle class]]es. 7% belonged to the upper class, another 7% were [[peasant]]s, 35% were industrial workers and 51% were what can be described as middle class. In early 1933, just before Hitler's appointment to the chancellorship, the party showed an under-representation of "workers", who made up 30% of the membership but 46% of German society. Conversely, white-collar employees (19% of members and 12% of Germans), the self-employed (20% of members and 10% of Germans) and civil servants (15% of members and 5% of the German population) had joined in proportions greater than their share of the general population.{{sfn|Panayi|2007|p=40}} These members were affiliated with local branches of the party, of which there were 1,378 throughout the country in 1928. In 1932, the number had risen to 11,845, reflecting the party's growth in this period.{{sfn|Panayi|2007|p=40}}

When it came to power in 1933, the Nazi Party had over {{Nowrap|2 million}} members. In 1939, the membership total rose to 5.3 million with 81% being male and 19% being female. It continued to attract many more and by 1945 the party reached its peak of 8 million with 63% being male and 37% being female (about 10% of the German population of 80 million).{{sfn|McNab|2011|pp=22, 23}}{{sfn|The History Place|2015}}

=== Military membership ===
{{See also|Nazism and the Wehrmacht}}
Nazi members with military ambitions were encouraged to join the Waffen-SS, but a great number enlisted in the {{lang|de|Wehrmacht}} and even more were drafted for service after World War II began. Early regulations required that all {{lang|de|Wehrmacht}} members be non-political and any Nazi member joining in the 1930s was required to resign from the Nazi Party.

However, this regulation was soon waived and full Nazi Party members served in the {{lang|de|Wehrmacht}} in particular after the outbreak of World War II. The {{lang|de|Wehrmacht}} Reserves also saw a high number of senior Nazis enlisting, with [[Reinhard Heydrich]] and [[Fritz Todt]] joining the {{lang|de|[[Luftwaffe]]}}, as well as [[Karl Hanke]] who served in the army.

The British historian [[Richard J. Evans]] wrote that junior officers in the army were inclined to be especially zealous National Socialists with a third of them having joined the Nazi Party by 1941. Reinforcing the work of the junior leaders were the National Socialist Leadership Guidance Officers, which were created with the purpose of indoctrinating the troops for the "war of extermination" against Soviet Russia.{{sfn|Evans|1989|p=59}} Among higher-ranking officers, 29% were NSDAP members by 1941.{{sfn|Bartov|1986|p=49}}

=== Student membership ===
In 1926, the party formed a special division to engage the student population, known as the [[National Socialist German Students' League]] (NSDStB). A group for university lecturers, the [[National Socialist German University Lecturers' League]] (NSDDB), also existed until July 1944.

=== Women membership ===
The [[National Socialist Women's League]] was the [[women's wing|women's organization]] of the party and by 1938 it had approximately 2 million members.

=== Membership outside Germany ===
Party members who lived outside Germany were pooled into the {{lang|de|Auslands-Organisation}} ([[NSDAP/AO]], "Foreign Organization"). The organisation was limited only to so-called "[[Imperial Germans]]" (citizens of the German Empire); and "Ethnic Germans" ({{lang|de|[[Volksdeutsche]]}}), who did not hold German citizenship were not permitted to join.

Under [[Beneš decree]] [[Beneš decrees#List of decrees|No. 16/1945 Coll.]], in case of citizens of Czechoslovakia membership of the Nazi Party was punishable by between five and twenty years of imprisonment.

==== ''Deutsche Gemeinschaft'' ====
{{lang|de|Deutsche Gemeinschaft}} was a branch of the Nazi Party founded in 1919, created for Germans with {{lang|de|[[Volksdeutsche]]}} status.{{sfn|Musiał|2009}} It is not to be confused with the post-war right-wing {{lang|de|{{Interlanguage link multi|Deutsche Gemeinschaft|de|3=Deutsche Gemeinschaft (Deutschland)}}}}, which was founded in 1949.

Notable members included:{{sfn|Rosar|1971|p=?}}{{Page needed|date=June 2020}}
* [[Oswald Menghin]] ([[Vienna]])
* [[Hermann Neubacher]] who was responsible for invading Yugoslavia.
* [[Rudolf Much]] ([[Vienna]])
* [[Arthur Seyß-Inquart]] ([[Vienna]])

== Party symbols ==
* [[Flag of Nazi Germany|Nazi flags]]: The Nazi Party used a right-facing [[swastika]] as their symbol and the red and black colours were said to represent {{lang|de|[[Blut und Boden]]}} ("blood and soil"). Another definition of the flag describes the colours as representing the ideology of National Socialism, the swastika representing the Aryan race and the Aryan nationalist agenda of the movement; white representing Aryan racial purity; and red representing the socialist agenda of the movement. Black, white and red were in fact the colours of the old [[North German Confederation]] flag (invented by [[Otto von Bismarck]], based on the Prussian colours black and white and the red used by northern German states). In 1871, with the foundation of the German Reich the flag of the North German Confederation became the German {{lang|de|Reichsflagge}} ("Reich flag"). Black, white and red became the colours of the nationalists through the following history (for example [[World War I]] and the [[Weimar Republic]]).
:The {{lang|de|[[:File:Flag of the NSDAP (1920–1945).svg|Parteiflagge]]}} design, with the centred swastika disc, served as the party flag from 1920. Between 1933 (when the Nazi Party came to power) and 1935, it was used as the National flag ({{lang|de|Nationalflagge}}) and Merchant flag ({{lang|de|Handelsflagge}}), but interchangeably with the [[:File:Flag of German Reich (1933–1935).svg|black-white-red horizontal tricolour]]. In 1935, the black-white-red horizontal tricolour was scrapped (again) and the [[:File:Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg|flag with the off-centre swastika and disc]] was instituted as the national flag, and remained as such until 1945. The flag with the centred disk continued to be used after 1935, but exclusively as the {{lang|de|Parteiflagge}}, the flag of the party.
* [[German eagle]]: The Nazi Party used the traditional German eagle, standing atop a swastika inside a wreath of oak leaves. It is also known as the "Iron Eagle". When the eagle is looking to its left shoulder, it symbolises the Nazi Party and was called the {{lang|de|Parteiadler}}. In contrast, when the eagle is looking to its right shoulder, it symbolises the country ({{lang|de|[[Reich]]}}) and was therefore called the {{lang|de|[[Reichsadler]]}}. After the Nazi Party came to national power in Germany, they replaced the traditional version of the German eagle with the modified party symbol throughout the country and all its institutions.

== Ranks and rank insignia ==
{{Main|Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party}}
<div class="center">
[[File:NSDAP Reihe1.jpg|thumb|none|upright=3.45|1: Anwärter (not party member), 2:&nbsp;Anwärter, 3:&nbsp;Helfer, 4:&nbsp;Oberhelfer, 5:&nbsp;Arbeitsleiter, 6:&nbsp;Oberarbeitsleiter, 7:&nbsp;Hauptarbeitsleiter, 8:&nbsp;Bereitschaftsleiter, 9:&nbsp;Oberbereitschaftsleiter, 10:&nbsp;Hauptbereitschaftsleiter]]
[[File:NSDAP Reihe2.jpg|thumb|none|upright=3.45|11:&nbsp;Einsatzleiter, 12:&nbsp;Obereinsatzleiter, 13:&nbsp;Haupteinsatzleiter, 14:&nbsp;Gemeinschaftsleiter, 15:&nbsp;Obergemeinschaftsleiter, 16:&nbsp;Hauptgemeinschaftsleiter, 17:&nbsp;Abschnittsleiter, 18:&nbsp;Oberabschnittsleiter, 19:&nbsp;Hauptabschnittsleiter]]
[[File:NSDAP Reihe3.jpg|thumb|none|upright=3.8|20:&nbsp;Bereichsleiter, 21:&nbsp;Oberbereichsleiter, 22:&nbsp;Hauptbereichsleiter, 23:&nbsp;Dienstleiter, 24:&nbsp;Oberdienstleiter, 25:&nbsp;Hauptdienstleiter, 26:&nbsp;Befehlsleiter, 27:&nbsp;Oberbefehlsleiter, 28:&nbsp;Hauptbefehlsleiter, 29:&nbsp;Gauleiter, 30:&nbsp;Reichsleiter]]
</div>

== Slogans and songs ==
* Nazi slogans: "{{lang|de|[[Sieg Heil]]!}}"; "{{lang|de|[[Hitler salute|Heil Hitler]]}}"
* Nazi anthem: {{lang|de|[[Horst-Wessel-Lied]]}}

== Election results ==
{{See also|Nazi Party election results}}

=== German Reichstag ===
{{See also|Reichstag (Weimar Republic)}}
{| class=wikitable style="text-align: right;"
|-
! Election year
! Votes
! %
! Seats won
! +/–
! Notes
|-
! [[1928 German federal election|1928]]
| 810,127
| 2.6
| align=left|{{Composition bar|12|491|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
| align=left|{{increase}} 12
| align=left|
|-
! [[1930 German federal election|1930]]
| 6,379,672
| 18.3
| align=left|{{Composition bar|107|577|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
| align=left|{{increase}} 95
| align=left|
|-
! [[July 1932 German federal election|July 1932]]
| 13,745,680
| 37.3
| align=left|{{Composition bar|230|608|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
| align=left|{{increase}} 123
| align=left|
|-
! [[November 1932 German federal election|November 1932]]
| 11,737,021
| 33.1
| align=left|{{Composition bar|196|584|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
| align=left|{{decrease}} 34
| align=left|Last free and fair election.
|-
! [[March 1933 German federal election|March 1933]]
| 17,277,180
| 43.9
| align=left|{{Composition bar|288|647|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
| align=left|{{increase}} 92
| align=left|Semi-free yet questionable election.<br />Last multi-party contested election.
|-
! [[November 1933 German parliamentary election|November 1933]]
| 39,655,224
| 92.1
| align=left|{{Composition bar|661|661|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
| align=left|{{increase}} 373
| align=left|Sole legal party.
|-
! [[1936 German parliamentary election and referendum|1936]]
| 44,462,458
| 98.8
| align=left|{{Composition bar|741|741|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
| align=left|{{increase}} 80
| align=left|Sole legal party.
|-
! [[1938 German parliamentary election and referendum|1938]]
| 44,451,092
| 99.0
| align=left|{{Composition bar|813|813|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
| align=left|{{increase}} 72
| align=left|Sole legal party.
|}

=== Presidential election ===
{{See also|President of Germany (1919–1945)}}
{| class=wikitable style="text-align: right;"
|-
!rowspan=2|Election year
!rowspan=2|Candidate
!colspan=3|First round
!colspan=3|Second round
|-
!Votes
!%
!Place
!Votes
!%
!Place
|-
! [[1925 German presidential election|1925]]
|colspan=4 align=center| endorsed [[Erich Ludendorff|Ludendorff]] (1.1%)
|colspan=3 align=center| endorsed [[Paul von Hindenburg|Hindenburg]] (48.3%)
|-
! [[1932 German presidential election|1932]]
| [[Adolf Hitler]]
| 11,339,446
| 30.1
| 2nd
| 13,418,547
| 36.8
| 2nd
|}

=== Volkstag of Danzig ===
{{See also|Volkstag}}
{| class=wikitable style="text-align: right;"
|-
! Election year
! Votes
! %
! Seats won
! +/–
|-
! [[1927 Free City of Danzig parliamentary election|1927]]
| 1,483
| 0.8
| align=left|{{Composition bar|1|72|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
| align=left|{{increase}} 1
|-
! [[1930 Free City of Danzig parliamentary election|1930]]
| 32,457
| 16.4
| align=left|{{Composition bar|12|72|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
| align=left|{{increase}} 11
|-
! [[1933 Free City of Danzig parliamentary election|1933]]
| 107,331
| 50.1
| align=left|{{Composition bar|38|72|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
| align=left|{{increase}} 26
|-
! [[1935 Free City of Danzig parliamentary election|1935]]
| 139,423
| 59.3
| align=left|{{Composition bar|43|72|hex={{party color|Nazi Party}}}}
| align=left|{{increase}} 5
|}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Modern history|Germany}}
{{div col}}
* [[Business collaboration with Nazi Germany]]
* [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy]]
* [[Glossary of Nazi Germany]]
* [[List of books about Nazi Germany]]
* [[List of companies involved in the Holocaust]]
* [[List of Nazi Party leaders and officials]]
* [[Mass suicides in 1945 Nazi Germany]]
* [[Neo-Nazism]]
* [[Socialist Reich Party]]
* ''[[Volkssturm]]''
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{notelist|30em}}

==Citations==
{{Reflist|20em}}

'''Bibliography'''
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last1=Abel |first1=Theodore Fred |title=The Nazi Movement |date=2012 |orig-year=1938 |publisher=Aldine Transaction |isbn=978-1412846134}}
* {{cite book |last1=Arendt |first1=Hannah |author-link1=Hannah Arendt |title=The Origins of Totalitarianism |title-link=The Origins of Totalitarianism |date=1951 |publisher=Harvest Book |location=London; New York; San Diego |oclc= 52814049}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bartov |first1=Omer |author-link1=Omer Bartov |title=The Eastern Front, 1941–45: German Troops and the Barbarisation of Warfare |date=1986 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0312224868}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last1=Bauer |first1=Yehuda |author-link1=Yehuda Bauer |last2=Rozett |first2=Robert |editor-last=Gutman |editor-first=Israel |editor-link=Israel Gutman |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the Holocaust |title=Appendix |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofho0000unse_l4l4/page/1797 |year=1990 |publisher=Macmillan Library Reference |location=New York |isbn=0028960904 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofho0000unse_l4l4/page/1797 1797–1802] }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Beck |first1=Hermann |title=The Fateful Alliance: German Conservatives and Nazis in 1933: The ''Machtergreifung'' in a New Light |date=2013 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-0857454102}}
* {{cite book |last1=Blamires |first1=Cyprian P. |title=World Fascism: A Historical Encyclopedia |date=2006 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nvD2rZSVau4C&pg=PA185 |access-date=13 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130622030210/http://books.google.com/books?id=nvD2rZSVau4C&pg=PA185 |archive-date=22 June 2013 |url-status=live |isbn=978-1576079409 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Broszat |first1=Martin |title=The Hitler State: The Foundation and Development of the Internal Structure of the Third Reich |date=1985 |publisher=Longman |location=London and New York}}
* {{cite book |last1=Burch |first1=Betty Brand |title=Dictatorship and Totalitarianism: Selected Readings |date=1964 |publisher=Van Nostrand}}
* {{cite book |last1=Carlsten |first1=F. L. |title=The Rise of Fascism |date=1982 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0520046436 |edition=2nd}}
* {{cite book |last1=Carruthers |first1=Bob |title=Hitler's Violent Youth: How Trench Warfare and Street Fighting Moulded Hitler |date=2015 |publisher=[[Pen and Sword]] |isbn=978-1473859647}}
*{{Cite episode| title= The Weimar Republic and the Rise of the Nazi Party| url= https://www.wondrium.com/a-history-of-hitlers-empire-2nd-edition| access-date= 27 March 2023| series= A History of Hitler's Empire, 2nd Edition| first= Thomas| last= Childers| author-link= Thomas Childers| publisher= [[The Great Courses]]| date= 2001a| number= 3| language= English| archive-date= 27 March 2023| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230327110328/https://www.wondrium.com/a-history-of-hitlers-empire-2nd-edition| url-status= live}}
*{{Cite episode| title= The Twenties and the Great Depression| url= https://www.wondrium.com/a-history-of-hitlers-empire-2nd-edition| access-date= 28 March 2023| series= A History of Hitler's Empire, 2nd Edition| first= Thomas| last= Childers| author-link= Thomas Childers| publisher= [[The Great Courses]]| date= 2001b| number= 4| language= English| archive-date= 27 March 2023| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230327110328/https://www.wondrium.com/a-history-of-hitlers-empire-2nd-edition| url-status= live}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Cogen |first1=Marc |title=Democracies and the Shock of War: The Law as a Battlefield |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |location=Oxon |isbn=978-1409443636}}
* {{cite book |last1=Curtis |first1=Michael |title=Totalitarianism |date=1979 |publisher=Transactions Publishers |location=New Brunswick (US); London |isbn=978-0878552887}}
* {{cite book |last1=Davidson |first1=Eugene |title=The Making of Adolf Hitler: The Birth and Rise of Nazism |date=1997 |publisher=University of Missouri Press |isbn=978-0826211170 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JagUZcri3s8C&q=241 |access-date=14 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927145845/https://books.google.com/books?id=JagUZcri3s8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Making+of+Adolf+Hitler:+The+Birth+and+Rise+of+Nazism&hl=en&sa=X&ei=bYqMUtqAEYyg7AbL14C4AQ&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=241&f=false |archive-date=27 September 2015 |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Delarue |first1=Jacques |title=The Gestapo: A History of Horror |year=2008 |publisher=Frontline Books |isbn=978-1602392465}}
* {{cite book |last1=Domarus |first1=Max |editor1-last=Romane |editor1-first=Patrick |title=The Essential Hitler: Speeches and Commentary |date=2007 |publisher=Bolchazy-Carducci Pub. |isbn=978-0865166271}}
* {{cite book |last1=Eatwell |first1=Roger |title=Fascism, A History |date=1996 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0140257007}}
* {{cite book |last1=Ehrenreich |first1=Eric |title=The Nazi Ancestral Proof: Genealogy, Racial Science, and the Final Solution |date=2007 |publisher=Indiana University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/naziancestralpro00ehre_0 |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0253116871 }}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Elzer |editor1-first=Herbert |title=Dokumente Zur Deutschlandpolitik |date=2003 |publisher=Oldenbourg Wissenschaftverlag |volume=First half band – Appendix B, Section XI, §39 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P9JaIiRTPwQC&q=illegal |access-date=6 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151130163122/https://books.google.com/books?id=P9JaIiRTPwQC&printsec=frontcover&vq=to+be+illegal&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=illegal&f=false |archive-date=30 November 2015 |url-status=live |isbn=3486566679 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Evans |first1=Richard J. |author-link1=Richard J. Evans |title=In Hitler's Shadow West German Historians and the Attempt to Escape the Nazi Past |date=1989 |publisher=Pantheon |location=New York |isbn=978-0394576862 |edition=f |url=https://archive.org/details/inhitlersshadow00rich }}
* {{cite book |last1=Evans |first1=Richard J. |author-link1=Richard J. Evans |title=The Coming of the Third Reich |title-link=The Coming of the Third Reich |date=2003 |publisher=Penguin |location=New York; Toronto |isbn=978-0143034698}}
* {{cite book |last1=Evans |first1=Richard J. |author-link1=Richard J. Evans |title=The Third Reich in Power |date=2005 |publisher=Penguin |location=New York |isbn=978-0143037903 |url=https://archive.org/details/thirdreichinpowe00evan |url-access=registration }}
* {{cite book |last1=Evans |first1=Richard J. |author-link1=Richard J. Evans |title=The Third Reich at War |date=2008 |publisher=Penguin Group |location=New York |isbn=978-0143116714}}
* {{cite book |last1=Evans |first1=Richard J. |author-link1=Richard J. Evans |title=The Third Reich in History and Memory |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0190228392}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Farrell |first1=Joseph |title=Nazi International: The Nazis' Postwar Plan to Control Finance, Conflict, Physics and Space |date=2008 |publisher=SCB Distributors|location=Kempton, Illinois |isbn=978-1931882934}}
* {{cite book |last1=Fest |first1=Joachim |title=The Face of the Third Reich |date=1979 |publisher=Penguin books |isbn=978-0201407143}}
* {{cite book |last1=Fischel |first1=Jack R. |title=The Holocaust |date=1998 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, CT |isbn=0313298793}}
* {{cite book |last1=Franz-Willing |first1=Georg |title=Die Hitler-Bewegung: 1925 bis 193 |date=2001 |publisher=Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft |isbn=978-3920722641 |language=de}}
* {{cite book |last1=Fritzsche |first1=Peter |title=Germans into Nazis |date=1998 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0674350922}}
* {{cite web |author1=German Historical Institute |title=Administrative Structure under National Socialism (1941) |date=2008 |url=http://www.germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/map.cfm?map_id=2885 |access-date=9 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150110001143/http://www.germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/map.cfm?map_id=2885 |archive-date=10 January 2015 |location=Washington DC }}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Gigliotti |editor1-first=Simone |editor2-last=Lang |editor2-first=Berel |title=The Holocaust: a reader |date=2005 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, Massachusetts; Oxford, England; Carlton, Victoria, Australia |isbn=978-1405114004}}
* {{cite book |last1=Glaus |first1=Beat |title=Die Nationale front |date=1969 |publisher=Zürich |language=de}}
* {{cite book |last1=Goldhagen |first1=Daniel |author-link1=Daniel Goldhagen |title=Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust |title-link=Hitler's Willing Executioners |date=1996 |publisher=Knopf |location=New York |isbn=978-0679446958}}
* {{cite book |last1=Gordon |first1=Sarah Ann |title=Hitler, Germans, and the "Jewish Question" |year=1984 |publisher=Princeton University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/hitlergermansjew0000gord/page/265 |isbn=0691101620 }}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Gottlieb |editor1-first=Henrik |editor2-last=Morgensen |editor2-first=Jens Erik |title=Dictionary Visions, Research and Practice: Selected Papers from the 12th International Symposium on Lexicography, Copenhagen, 2004 |date=2007 |publisher=J. Benjamins Pub. Co. |location=Amsterdam |isbn=978-9027223340 |edition=illustrated |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UaggHAJ7jToC&pg=PA247 |access-date=22 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905170544/https://books.google.com/books?id=UaggHAJ7jToC&pg=PA247 |archive-date=5 September 2015 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last1=Grant |first1=Thomas D. |title=Stormtroopers and Crisis in the Nazi Movement: Activism, Ideology and Dissolution |date=2004 |publisher=Routledge |location=London; New York |isbn=978-0415196024}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Griffen |editor1-first=Roger |title=Fascism |date=1995 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0192892492}}
* {{cite book |last1=Griffin |first1=Roger |author-link1=Roger Griffin |editor1-last=Parker |editor1-first=David |chapter=Revolution from the Right: Fascism |title=Revolutions and the Revolutionary Tradition in the West 1560–1991 |date=2000 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0415172950}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Hakim |first1=Joy |title=A History of Us: War, Peace and all that Jazz |date=1995 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn= 0195095146}}
* {{cite book |last1=Hancock |first1=Ian |author-link1=Ian Hancock |editor1-last=Stone |editor1-first=Dan |title=The Historiography of the Holocaust |date=2004 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=New York; Basingstoke |isbn=978-0333997451 |chapter=Romanies and the Holocaust: A Reevaluation and an Overview}}
* {{cite web |last1=Harper |first1=Douglas |title=Nazi |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Nazi |date=n.d. |website=etymonline.com |publisher=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=22 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006134952/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Nazi |archive-date=6 October 2014 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |author1=Historischer Verein des Kantons Bern |title=Archiv des Historischen Vereins des Kantons Bern, vol 57–60 |publisher=Stämpfliche Verlagshandlung |year=1973 }}{{ISBN?}}
* {{cite web |author1=The History Place |title=German population in 1945 |date=2015 |url=http://www.historyplace.com/specials/faq/ |website=The History Place |access-date=28 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150828050815/http://www.historyplace.com/specials/faq/ |archive-date=28 August 2015 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last1=Hitler |first1=Adolf |author-link1=Adolf Hitler |title=Die Reden des Führers am Parteitag der Ehre, 1936 |date=1936 |publisher=Zentralverlag der NSDAP |location=Munich |url=https://archive.org/details/DieRedendesFuehrersamParteitagderEhre1936 |access-date=25 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025035527/http://archive.org/details/DieRedendesFuehrersamParteitagderEhre1936 |archive-date=25 October 2012 |language=de |quote="Parteigenossen! Parteigenossinnen! Nationalsozialisten!" |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last1=Hitler |first1=Adolf |author-link1=Adolf Hitler |title=''Mein Kampf'' |title-link=Mein Kampf |date=2010 |publisher=Bottom of the Hill Publishing |isbn=978-1935785071}}
* {{cite web |author1=Holocaust Memorial Museum |title=Introduction to the Holocaust |publisher=[[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]] |url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143 |access-date=23 October 2017 |archive-date=30 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120630184902/http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last1=Höhne |first1=Heinz |author-link1=Heinz Höhne |title=The Order of the Death's Head: The Story of Hitler's SS (Der Orden unter dem Totenkopf: Die Geschichte der SS) |date=2000 |orig-year=1969 |publisher=Penguin |location=London |isbn=978-0141390123 }}<!-- not referenced -->
* {{Cite book|last=Ingrao|first=Christian|title=Believe and Destroy: Intellectuals in the SS War Machine|date=2013|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-7456-7004-1}}
* {{cite book |last1=Jablonsky |first1=David |title=The Nazi Party in Dissolution: Hitler and the Verbotzeit, 1923–1925 |date=1989 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0714633220}}
* {{cite book |last1=Jaman |first1=T. L. |title=The Rise and Fall of Nazi Germany |date=1956 |publisher=New York University Press |location=New York }}
* {{cite book | last = Joachimsthaler | first = Anton |author-link=Anton Joachimsthaler | others = Trans. Helmut Bögler | title = The Last Days of Hitler: The Legends, the Evidence, the Truth | year = 1999 | orig-year = 1995 | publisher = Brockhampton Press | location = London | isbn = 978-1-86019-902-8 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=Paul |title=A History of the Modern World: From 1917 to the 1980s |year= 1984 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|isbn=978-0297782261}}
* {{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Daniel |author-link1=Daniel Jones (phonetician) |editor-last1=Roach |editor-first1=Peter |editor-last2=Hartmann |editor-first2=James |editor-last3=Setter |editor-first3=Jane |title=English Pronouncing Dictionary |date=2003 |orig-year=1917 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=3125396832}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Judt |first1=Tony |title=Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 |date=2006 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=London |isbn=978-1440624766}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Junker |first1=Detlef |title=The United States and Germany in the Era of the Cold War, 1945–1990: A Handbook, Volume 1 |date=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0521791120}}
* {{cite journal | last = Karacs | first = Imre | title = DNA test closes book on mystery of Martin Bormann | date = 4 May 1998 | journal = [[The Independent]] | publisher = Independent Print Limited | location = London | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/dna-test-closes-book-on-mystery-of-martin-bormann-1161449.html | access-date = 1 May 2024 | archive-date = 7 November 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171107013555/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/dna-test-closes-book-on-mystery-of-martin-bormann-1161449.html | url-status = live }}
* {{cite book |last1=Kershaw |first1=Ian |author-link1=Ian Kershaw |title=Hitler: 1889–1936: Hubris |date=1998 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |location=New York |isbn=0393046710 |url=https://archive.org/details/hitlerhubris00kers |url-access=registration }}
* {{cite book |author-last=Kershaw |author-first=Ian |title=Hitler, 1889–1936: Hubris |location=New York; London |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |year=2000}}
* {{cite book |last1=Kershaw |first1=Ian |author-link1=Ian Kershaw |title=Hitler: A Biography |date=2008 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |location=New York |isbn=978-0393067576}}
* {{cite book |last1=Koehl |first1=Robert |title=The SS: A History 1919–45 |date=2004 |publisher=Tempus |location=Stroud |isbn=978-0752425597}}
* {{cite book |last1=Kolb |first1=Eberhard |author-link1=Eberhard Kolb |title=The Weimar Republic |date=2005 |orig-year=1984 |publisher=Routledge |location=London; New York |url=https://archive.org/details/weimarrepublic00kolb |url-access=limited |isbn=978-0415344418 }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Kuntz |first1=Dieter |title=Hitler and the functioning of the Third Reich |date=2011 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0415779562}}
* {{cite book |last1=Lepage |first1=Jean-Denis G.G. |title=Hitler Youth, 1922–1945: An Illustrated History |date=2009 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0786452811}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Lewkowicz |first1=Nicolas |title=The German Question and the Origins of the Cold War |date=2008 |publisher=Ipoc Press |location=Milan |isbn=978-8895145273}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Maier |editor1-first=Hans |translator-last1=Bruhn |translator-first1=Jodi |title=Totalitarianism and Political Religions: Concepts for the Comparison of Dictatorships |date=2004 |publisher=Routledge |location=Oxon (UK); New York |isbn=978-0714656090}}
* {{cite book |last1=Majer |first1=Diemut |title="Non-Germans" Under The Third Reich: The Nazi Judicial and Administrative System in Germany and Occupied Eastern Europe, with Special Regard to Occupied Poland, 1939–1945 |date=2013 |publisher=Texas Tech University Press in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |isbn=978-0896728370}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Materna |editor1-first=Ingo |editor2-last=Ribbe |editor2-first=Wolfgang |title=Brandenburgische Geschichte |date=1995 |publisher=De Gruyter Akademie Forschung |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D64GY0T8_M4C&q=%22gau+kurmark%22&pg=PA633 |access-date=12 November 2010 |language=de |isbn=978-3050025087 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Mautner |first1=Franz H. |title=Nazi und Sozi |journal=Modern Language Notes |date=1944 |volume=59 |issue=2 |pages=93–100 |doi=10.2307/2910599 |jstor=2910599 |quote=Dass ''Nazi'' eine Abkürzung von ''Nationalsozialist'' ist ... [u]nd zwar eine Verkürzung des Wortes auf seine ersten zwei Silben, aber nicht eine Zusammenziehung aus ''Na''tionalso''zi''alist' ...[... that ''Nazi'' is an abbreviation of ''Nationalsozialist'' ... and to be precise a truncation of the word to its first two syllables, not a contraction of ''Na''tionalso''zi''alist' ...]|issn=0149-6611 }}
* {{cite book |last1=McDonough |first1=Frank |title=Hitler and the Rise of the Nazi Party |date=2003 |publisher=Pearson/Longman |isbn=978-0582506060}}
* {{cite book |last1=McNab |first1=Chris |title=The Third Reich |date=2009 |publisher=Amber Books |isbn=978-1906626518}}
* {{cite book |last1=McNab |first1=Chris |title=Hitler's Masterplan: The Essential Facts and Figures for Hitler's Third Reich |date=2011 |publisher=Amber Books Ltd |isbn=978-1907446962}}
* {{cite book |last1=McNab |first1=Chris |title=Hitler's Elite: The SS 1939–45 |date=2013 |publisher=Osprey |isbn=978-1782000884}}
* {{cite book | last = Miller | first = Michael | year = 2006 | title = Leaders of the SS and German Police, Vol. 1 | publisher = R. James Bender | location = San Jose, CA | isbn = 978-93-297-0037-2 }}
*{{cite book |last1= Miller |first1=  Michael D. |last2= Schulz |first2= Andreas |title= Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies, 1925–1945 |volume= 1 (Herbert Albrecht – H. Wilhelm Hüttmann) |publisher= R. James Bender Publishing |year= 2012 |isbn=978-1-932970-21-0}}
* {{cite book |last1=Mitcham |first1=Samuel W. |author-link1=Samuel W. Mitcham |title=Why Hitler?: The Genesis of the Nazi Reich |date=1996 |publisher=Praeger |location=Westport, Connecticut |isbn=978-0275954857}}
* {{cite book |last1=Mitchell |first1=Otis C. |title=Hitler's Stormtroopers and the Attack on the German Republic, 1919–1933 |date=2008 |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. |location=Jefferson, North Carolina|isbn=978-0786477296}}
* {{cite web |last1=Musiał |first1=Bogdan |author-link1=Bogdan Musiał |title=Fakty wypaczone przez Erikę Steinbach |work=Rzeczpospolita |date=2009 |access-date=24 June 2009 |url=http://www.rp.pl/artykul/324302.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303004727/http://www.rp.pl/artykul/324302.html |archive-date=3 March 2012 |language=pl |location=Rzeczpospolita }}
* {{cite book |last1=Niewyk |first1=Donald L. |last2=Nicosia |first2=Francis R. |title=The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust |date=2000 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0231112000 |url=https://archive.org/details/columbiaguidetot00niew }}
* {{cite book |last1=Orlow |first1=Dietrich |title=The Nazi Party 1919–1945: A Complete History |year=2010 |publisher=Enigma Books |isbn=978-0982491195 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9a9MRnxtdJgC&q=far+right |access-date=14 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001162036/https://books.google.com/books?id=9a9MRnxtdJgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Nazi+Party+1919-1945:+A+Complete+History&hl=en&sa=X&ei=momMUriAFumN7AawiIDwBg&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=snippet&q=far%20right&f=false |archive-date=1 October 2015 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Rabinbach |editor1-first=Anson |editor2-last=Gilman |editor2-first=Sander |title=The Third Reich Sourcebook |date=2013 |publisher=California University Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=978-0520955141 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XhDakMp55i0C&pg=PA4 |access-date=14 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905172830/https://books.google.com/books?id=XhDakMp55i0C&pg=PA4 |archive-date=5 September 2015 |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last1=Panayi |first1=P. |title=Life and Death in a German Town: Osnabrück from the Weimar Republic to World War II and Beyond |date=2007 |publisher=Tauris Academic Studies |location=New York}}
* {{cite book |last1=Rees |first1=Laurence |title=The Nazis: A Warning From History |date=2006 |publisher=BBC Books |isbn=978-0563493334}}
* {{cite book |last1=Rosar |first1=Wolfgang |title=Deutsche Gemeinschaft. Seyss-Inquart und der Anschluß |date=1971 |publisher=Europa-Verlag |location=Wien |language=de |isbn=978-3203503844}}
* {{cite book |last1=Rummel |first1=Rudolph |author-link1=Rudolph Rummel |title=Death by Government |date=1994 |publisher=Transaction |location=New Brunswick, NJ |isbn=978-1560001454 |url=https://archive.org/details/deathby_rum_1994_00_3431 |url-access=registration }}
* {{cite book |last1=Schaarschmidt |first1=Thomas |title=Mobilizing German Society for War: The National Socialist ''Gaue'' |date=2014 |series=Visions of Community in Nazi Germany |publisher=Oxford University Press}}
* {{cite book |last1=Schom |first1=Alan Morris |author-link=Alan Schom |title=A Survey of Nazi and Pro-Nazi Groups in Switzerland: 1930–1945 |date=1998 |publisher=Simon Wiesenthal Center |url=http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/pp.asp?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=4441393 |access-date=17 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606202923/http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/pp.asp?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=4441393 |archive-date=6 June 2011 |chapter=NSDAP and Affiliated Meetings in Northern Switzerland for the Week of May 10–18, 1935 |url-status=dead }}
*{{cite book |last = Shirer |first = William L.|author-link1=William L. Shirer |title = [[The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich]] |year = 1990 |orig-year=1959 |location = New York |publisher = MJF Books |isbn = 978-1-56731-163-1}}
* {{cite book |last1=Shirer |first1=William L. |author-link1=William L. Shirer |title=The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich |date=1991 |orig-year=1960 |publisher=Arrow Books |location=London |isbn=978-0099421764}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Simpson |first1=Christopher |title=War Crimes of the Deutsche Bank and the Dresdner Bank: Office of Military Government (U.S.) Reports |date=2002 |publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers |location=London |isbn=978-0841914070}}
* {{cite book |last1=Snyder |first1=Timothy |author-link1=Timothy D. Snyder |title=Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin |title-link=Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin |date=2010 |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0465002399}}
* {{cite book |last1=Spector |first1=Robert |title=World Without Civilization: Mass Murder and the Holocaust, History, and Analysis |date=2004 |publisher=University of America Press |isbn=978-0761829638}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Steber |first1=Martina |last2=Gotto |first2=Bernhard |title=Visions of Community in Nazi Germany: Social Engineering and Private Lives |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0199689590}}
* {{cite book |last1=Steves |first1=Rick |title=Rick Steves' Snapshot Munich, Bavaria & Salzburg |date=2010 |publisher=Avalon Travel |location=Berkeley, California; New York|isbn=978-1598806892 |quote="Though the Nazis eventually gained power in Berlin, they remembered their roots, dubbing Munich "Capital of the Movement". The Nazi headquarters stood near today's obelisk on Brienner Strasse..."}}
* {{cite book | last = Trevor-Roper | first = Hugh | author-link = Hugh Trevor-Roper | title = The Last Days of Hitler | publisher = Pan Books | location = London | year = 2002 | orig-year = 1947 | isbn = 978-0-330-49060-3 }}
* {{cite book |last1=van der Vat |first1=Dan |author-link1=Dan van der Vat |title=The Good Nazi: The Life and Lies of Albert Spee |date=1997 |publisher=George Weidenfeld & Nicolson|isbn=0297817213}}
* {{cite book |last1=Weale |first1=Adrian |author-link1=Adrian Weale |title=The SS: A New History |date=2010 |publisher=Little, Brown |location=London |isbn=978-1408703045}}
* {{cite book |last1=Weikart |first1=Richard |title=Hitler's Ethic |year=2009 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |url=https://archive.org/details/hitlersethicnazi00weik |url-access=limited |isbn=978-0230623989 }}
* {{cite book | last = Whiting | first = Charles | author-link = Charles Whiting | title = The Hunt for Martin Bormann: The Truth | year = 1996 | orig-year = 1973 | publisher = Pen & Sword | location = London | isbn = 0-85052-527-6 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Wildt |first1=Michael |title=Hitler's Volksgemeinschaft and the Dynamics of Racial Exclusion: Violence Against Jews in Provincial Germany, 1919–1939 |date= 2012 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-0857453228}}
* {{cite book |last1=Wolf |first1=Walter |title=''Faschismus in der Schweiz'' |date=1969 |publisher=Flamberg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=psYJAQAAIAAJ&q=gau+basel |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018233925/https://books.google.com/books?ei=tyNTTMTPFo6bOJ7NvZ4O&ct=result&id=psYJAQAAIAAJ&dq=aktion+s+himmler+schweiz&q=gau+basel |archive-date=18 October 2015 }}
* {{cite book |last1 = Zentner |first1 = Christian |last2 = Bedürftig |first2 = Friedemann |title = [[The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich]] |year = 1997 |orig-date = 1991 |publisher = Da Capo Press |location = New York |isbn = 978-0-3068079-3-0 }}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|National Socialist German Workers' Party}}
{{Wikisource|Program of the NSDAP|Program of the Nazi Party, its "Manifesto"}}
* [https://archive.org/details/MeinKampf_483 Text of ''Mein Kampf'']
* {{in lang|de}} [http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/weimar/innenpolitik/nsdap/index.html Die Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) 1920–1933] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207000355/http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/weimar/innenpolitik/nsdap/index.html |date=7 February 2009 }} at ''Lebendiges Museum Online''.
* {{in lang|de}} [http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/nazi/innenpolitik/nsdap/index.html Die Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) 1933–1945] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140706130717/http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/nazi/innenpolitik/nsdap/index.html |date=6 July 2014 }} at ''Lebendiges Museum Online''.
* [https://archive.org/details/OrganisationsbuchNSDAP ''Organisationsbuch NSDAP'' An encyclopedic reference guide to the Nazi Party, organisations, uniforms, flags etc. published by the party itself]

{{NSDAP}}
{{Weimar Republic political parties}}
{{Nazism}}
{{Fascism}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Nazi Party| ]]
[[Category:1919 establishments in Germany]]
[[Category:1945 disestablishments in Germany]]
[[Category:Adolf Hitler]]
[[Category:Anti-black racism in Germany]]
[[Category:Anti-communism in Germany]]
[[Category:Anti-communist parties]]
[[Category:Antisemitism in Germany]]
[[Category:Antiziganism in Germany]]
[[Category:Banned far-right parties]]
[[Category:Banned political parties in Germany]]
[[Category:Defunct political parties in Germany]]
[[Category:Far-right political parties in Germany]]
[[Category:Fascist parties in Germany]]
[[Category:Homophobia]]
[[Category:Identity politics]]
[[Category:Nazi parties| ]]
[[Category:Nazism|*]]
[[Category:Parties of one-party systems]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in 1945]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1919]]
[[Category:Political parties in the Weimar Republic]]
[[Category:Right-wing populism in Germany]]
[[Category:The Holocaust in Germany]]
[[Category:Political parties of Bavaria]]