Strasser! That was the name. Hitler's obsessions and fixations ARE Nazism. To separate them from the politics is to misunderstand how the Nazi Party, and later The Third Reich, worked. Arguably, Nazism could more accurately be described as Hitlerism. Nothing more than blind faith and belief in the Fuhrer.
Yes, the NSDAP was predicated on a personality cult surrounding Adolf. I think we can all agree with that assessment. And his energy seemed, at a distance, to have radiated from him through those surrounding him often empowering them by association. My old professor conversed with a fair number of Adolf's inner cadre. I still recall how he spoke of Keitel as an oily sycophant, Jodel as an honorable victim, and so on, describing the men with whom he had conversed. But that was of the Nazi military hierarchy, not the political institutions of the NSDAP. Still, I tend to think the interpersonal relations of the NSDAP must have been structured in a similar vein, with power centered with Adolf and radiating out from him. I can recall reading years ago part of an excellent, scholarly study of the early Nazi Party. The impression that haunts me was that though Adolf was not a founder of the party, as he wished people to believe, he was an early member. And he was early on the dynamo through which the energy of the party was channeled. Yes, I like that imagery, that Adolf had an almost mystical power to tap into a collective energy of the German people, and, like a dynamo, manipulate that energy, build it up, channel it, distribute it, enchant with it, and make the German as a whole slightly insane. He managed to get the normally sane people, in minuscule stages ready to do insane acts.
I prefer to think of Hitler as an insane con man, he was very good at tapping the prideful desires and fears of his "marks", his rise to power had the earmarks of what a con man would do. He gave them what they thought they wanted and took what he could, the problem was he started to believe his own line and tried to be what he wasn't and that ruined the German dream of empire.
The Nazi Party prior to 1933 was a grouping of various factions. The Strasser brothers radical Working Class nationalism; Ernst Roehm's SA radical Nationalist ex-soldiers and young unemployed men and Adolf Hitler's more lower middle-class faction. Hitler was the spokesman, but by no means absolute. In order to gain that absolute power Hitler sacrificed the Strasser's and the SA in a deal with German Conservatives and the Army. The cost to his new found allies was to be the Third Reich and Germany's devastation.
I stumbled across this site and was prompted to sign up as a member after reading the sensible and measured discussion in this thread. Many of the comments are interesting and most contain elements of the truth - at least as far as we see that tenuous entity from today's perspective. To me - and I was well acquainted with several people who grew up under Hitler (including a Waffen SS veteran who died only recently) - the element of Nazism that made it socialist (for non- Jewish Germans at least) was the feeling that they felt valued under Hitler, that there was a sense of community, greater than the individual, that gave them purpose in life. Many of those I knew (most have died by now) despite the hardships of the war - and regrets that it was ever begun - looked upon their days under Hitler as the best days of their life. Stalinism was oppressive and did little for the ordinary individual - most of you probably have heard of the Russian joke about the three kinds of Soviet citizen and jail so I won't repeat it here - whereas, from what I can tell, Nazism had direct material benefits for most Germans after years of suffering under the 'democracy' parasitized by hedge fund managers and speculators that led many Germans to the brink of starvation.
" .... der Nationalsozialische Deutsche Arbeiters Partei .. " this afterall not reflexes von Meses's identity. Anyway, apart from his followers none could think Germany as a socialist state, mainly by the communists in or ouside Germany. Who is wrong? ! The people of Germany (middle class mainly) ellected a new Chancellor in '33 but in their last ellection 13 million of them either voted for Socialist or Communist candidates. I must recall the then German business tycoons like Kirkdorfs or Krupps who funded the Nazi Party since last decade, now wanted of it in power. So their newly elected Chancellor asked Shroeder to form a government.
Perhaps Hitler was more pragmatic than a con man. I think he and many others felt betrayed, and out of that came finding a scapegoat, building a belief structure, and finally implementation of removing those people they blamed.
I am harsh on Hitler because he preached hatred and greed. He fed that and gained power from that and led the German people into a prideful war that should never have been.
No need to have to plumb German History or mass social psychology to understand how fear and hatred are powerful emotions for the manipulation of masses of people. Just look at the political benefit derived by Senator Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin during the 1950s during the era of the House Committee on Un-American Activities and the Communist Witch-hunts. Please recall how Rush Limbaugh has used fear and hatred. And look to the Tea-Party and Micelle Bachman of Minnesota has used these tactics. Or look to the Dixie-crats during the 1960s with their suppression of the Civil Rights movement. Or the KKK phenomena.
I often despair at how the US keeps being manipulated by fear, and how there are those who think that Hitler is a good person to emulate. There are those in the Tea Party who would love to come out of the closet and declare their neo-nazi beliefs. I look to History because I don't want to see certain things repeated, such as the holocaust,yet it seems to happen anyways due to the refusal of those to overcome greed and fear.
While I was trained as an Interrogator by the US Army in reality I functioned as an Analyst and Writer of Psyops (propaganda and "advertising"). I was good at this. I could see through the media and the message because I was at the level where I could craft it. It is amazing how much dreck is put forth, and by whom. But I am not here to dwell upon the present, but rather to speak of history, especially of the NSDAP Germany. Recently I came across a piece which addressed how Berlin after the Great War had become a "playground of sex and perversions". I think if one does study the German capital of that period, i.e. the Weimar era, there was something of this nature going on. Because industry and production had virtually stopped, the means of securing a living all too often became allied to the 'sex industry' and prostitution. Though this topic is not often covered by mainstream Historians, this can be found by some diligent historical research. As a counter to this was the rise of both the political movement of the Communists and the counter of the Volkish movement in Germany. Both spoke of their own form of reform and neo-puritanism. And an examination of the speeches of Adolf and other leaders of the NSDAP for the themes being sold to the people, to "the Masses" should reveal what the Nazis were 'selling' to the Germans. Among these themes there was a self-pride. Another theme was the value of work. Racial purity was another theme, as well as public health and collective beauty. There was more to Germany and the NSDAP than just militarism, but most of the time one only hears of the twin themes of militarism and anti-Jewish memes.
Of course, I believe that in every people there is a basic honest work ethic, and a desire for good things, that was what was happening. Hitler sold his dream in Mein Kamph and wanted folks to have something to be proud of. Yet his hatred and egomania eventually trumped his charisma. You see folks today using his same formula of building up the pride of one group and implying that all other groups are inferior. This can only lead to confrontation. The German people are basically good, hard working folks that strive for excellence and these are admirable traits, yet when that positive energy was distorted by fear, anger, and pride the result was disastrous.
Yes, there are few things really new and original under the Sun. Many of the themes used today are almost identical or ARE IDENTICAL to those used in the past. And, as you pointed out, as a society we need better education in History. Speaking of Mein Kampf, do you know in whose handwriting is the manuscript of that book?
I found the answer: "Hitler dictated the book during his imprisonment in Landsberg to Emil Maurice, then after July 1924 to Rudolf Heß, who later, along with several others, edited it." Par for course, I have seen those with self esteem issues idolize Hitler, and Hitler was not everything that those who idolize him make him out to be. Things that make ya go hmmm. Question Interrogator#6: Who would Hitler's puppet master be? I ask you this due to your professed experience in Psyops.
Who was Adolf's "puppet master(s)" be? This is an excellent historical question, not really needing any expertise in Psyops. I would evaluate it more of a issue of History or Political Science. Who would be the puppet master? It depends upon the time frame, as he had several 'masters' over the years. After the Great War it is known that he remained on the payroll of the German Army as a low level political operative (spy) whose mission was to infiltrate into various of the 'Volkish' political movement emerging in the nation at the time. He did, and he did report on them, but became entrance by the message of the German Workers Party, to the point of becoming a member. After internal power struggles he emerges as a leader, if not THE LEADER. This was during the early Twenties. There was a period in the later part of the Twenties into the Thirties when a collective of industrialists (Big Money) gave him financial backing with the notion that thus they could influence and control him. But Adolf was skillful enough as a leader/orator/manipulator that even with their monies they were not able to control him. He was no one's puppet, rather he was the master. As WWII developed Adolf's health and energies declined, to the point where he was open to the influence of Martin Borman. There is the theory that Borman was in reality an operative for the Soviets, which makes some sense if one looks through the right distortion lens. But I think what you may have in mind was the relationship he has with Henry Ford. There are some who classified Henry as Puppet-Master-wanna-be, as there certainly certain dark dealings between the two men, but Henry's later recant of his anti-Hebrew (Jewish) sentiments, along with his support for the American war effort meant that the two men broke ties. In my opinion Adolf rarely suffered outside influence. He rarely danced to anyone's tune. Rather HE was the master calling the tune. This served him well up to 1941, but eventually lead to his and Germany's downfall.
It is hard for me answer specifically how the writings of Karl Marx influenced Adolf Hitler for it has been many years since I read the works of Marx, Lenin, or Adolf. Thus I can speak only in generalities. The policies of the NSDAP do indeed show some programmes which appear to have socialism antecedents, such as the "Strength Through Joy" programmes. But on the other hand the NSDAP government outlawed independent Trade Unions. They 'collectivized' workers unions into one massive Party-controlled institution as a means of controlling the citizens. Adolf may indeed had some background in Marx, but a reading of Mein Kampf reveals a loathing of 'Bolshevism' as a grave danger to European civilization and Christianity. This is a theme repeated not only by Adolf in speeches, but also by other NSDAP orators and other political advertising of the era. The Soviet Union was predicated not just on the writings of Marx. The aware scholars do not refer to it as strictly Marxism. Rather it is an amalgamation of the ideas of Marx and Lenin, with a leavening of the writings of others. But curiously enough both the Germans and the Soviets had similar institutions for CONTROL of the mechanics of the nation. The Germans had the NSDAParty. The Soviets had a system called "Nomenkultura" which was parallel but not run strictly by the Communist Party.
From my limited understanding, the differences in control were a matter of style. In both the USSR and Nazi Germany there was a slim chance of being successful in any endeavor dealing with the government unless you were a member of the party in control. Hitler consolidated Germany's law enforcement and intelligence organizations and placed more trust in Wehrmacht officers that were a Nazi party member along with forming the SS, an army outside the control of the Wehrmacht. Where as the Soviets had party observers (commissars) with in the law enforcement and military and had their own investigators (the KGB) to keep track of everybody. From what I read about Nomenkultura it sorta fits into what I am saying. Basically centralized control.
Ford was a shrewd man, but I just don't see him in the role of a puppet master, he was strong willed and ambitious, yet he did not want to sit in the shadows.
