I have been invited by virgomonkey as a guest blogger.
She asked me, if I could post some historical information about WWII (a German perspective) and I´ll do my very best to answer the questions as correctly as I can due to the ongoing debate between liberals and conservatives in the US regarding Hitler’s political orientation. For further information on my person and background, visit my blog.
The first question I am asking:
“Was Hitler a right – or a left – winger?”
I want to start with some basic information on the German political system and understanding of the political constellation.
Basic information: In Germany we have many several parties, that are standing for different ideas and political orientations. (too many to mention them all – the most are unimportant. You have to get at least 5% of the votes, otherwise you´ll not even get a seat in the “Bundestag”. (-> 5% Hürde)
Political orientation:
Extreme Left – hates the democratic system and wants to replace it with – socialism/ anarchism/ communism etc… claims to be against authority/tradition and to stand for freedom and social justice.
known parties: Die Linke, PDS
—Here begins Democracy—
Moderate Left – liberal/social… Wants to improve certain aspects of the democracy – social issues, environmental protection, freedom. In this sector you can find: labour parties, environmental activists and similar.
known parties: Bündnis 90 die Grünen, SPD
Centered – SPD and CDU are the biggest parties in Germany, and they are the ones, that rule in Germany – I will only mention them to be right or left, because this is their origin… But in order, to win the elections they tend to be centered – to get votes from all political directions.
Moderate Right – conservative… they tend to support the economy and stand for “traditional morality” (Christian morality) for example for a stricter immigration policy, or against the manipulation of DNA.
Known parties: CDU, CSU
—Here ends democracy—
Radical Right – hates the democracy and wants to replace the democratic system with – a dictatorship these are the parties who claim to stand for our “national pride”, our national stability/tradition and most of their answers are simple: “remove ALL immigrants from Germany, and there will be no unemployment anymore…” Here you*ll find all that “intellectual” neonazi cowards and xenophobic, homophobic paranoids. This is the really conservative opinion in Germany, because they want back to our roots – and the whole world knows what that means.
Known parties: NPD, Republikaner
—Independent—
Additional there are some parties, that I would neither put in the right, nor in the left corner
- for example the FDP – they call themselves “liberal”… a pure party for the rich ones – they want an completely liberal economy (American style system).
—Unpolitical opposition—
- for example the “Autonomen” – It*s a mistake to call them a political group at all, but I*ll do it… they don*t have any party (they are not allowed to – because they are stupid enough to say, that they hate our democracy) – these are simple minded idiots – they are against globalisation, against the “system” (whatever this means), many of them believe in different conspiracy theories – most of them are completely anti/unpolitical (they say it themselves) and don*t know what they want, but they exactly know what they DON*T want and that is our system – culture – education – civilisation…. Right now I found a translation! chaos…
- for example the “Neonazis” – they are stupid enough to say, that Hitler was great and that we should start over again with this – conquer the world – thing. They don*t have any party for this reason. They are the militant part of parties like the NPD… but as there is no prove for it, the NPD itself can not be wiped. They are the ones that burn down houses and kill foreigners.
“Where to place Hitler?”
Let us have a look at the name of his party, first.
NSDAP – Nationalistic Socialistic German Workers Party
The first things you may realise are the words “socialistic” and “workers party”… you may come to the conclusion, that Hitler must have been a communist or socialist then. Hitler claimed to be “a socialist” to win the German working class for him as voters. He wanted to replace the SPD and similar parties, which are traditionally connected with the working class.
The sense of this is to “annex” the opposition as far as possible. The plan was to create the impression, that the NSDAP represented all classes of society and that there is no need for all the other parties – Hitler said this himself in a speech, but in short it is expressed in this slogan:
“One nation – one party”
In reality Hitler is far from being a socialist… His SA is fighting the communists and socialists in the streets and politically the left-wingers and the Nazis are direct rivals.
When Hitler reached his goal to become head of state, he used the “Reichstagsbrand” to declare, that all socialists are traitors and enemies – resulting in the first mass-murder and deportation in Germany.
Later when he established his dictatorship in Germany, he worked closely with the German companies and the last thing he would do, is to limit them – he needed the companies for his war plans.
He is a clear enemy of the socialists and supports none of the traditionally “left” ideological ideas. For this reason he can not be a left-wing politician.
The remaining words are “nationalistic” and “German”… This is closer to reality. Hitler wants to continue the war, that the “Kaiserreich” lost – WWI. He wants to start a military dictatorship again – an opinion shared by many german ex-militaries and conservatives. He believes, that violence is the only way for the “aryan” race to survive. He believes, what war will be the way to German dominance. His ideas can be described in three words -
imperialistic, racist, nationalistic.
the typical topics for a radical right and ultra conservative person in Germany.
