National Socialism was the ideology (or weltanschauung) and the movement (Bewegung) upon which Adolf Hitler built his regime, the so-called Third Reich, between 1933 and 1945. Its primary characteristics were anti-Bolshevism, intense antisemitism, and virulent nationalist-chauvinism, plus an unoriginal fusion of other ideas and beliefs prevalent in nineteenth and twentieth century Western civilization in general, and Germany in particular. One can seriously question whether such an eclectic conglomerate, lacking in coherence, can be appropriately labelled an ideology. Nevertheless, it was precisely its amorphous nature that enabled so many to embrace those aspects which seemed t…
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Citation: Browder, George C.. "National Socialism, Nazism". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 February 2007 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1417, accessed 24 November 2024.]