National Socialist German Workers Party

The National Socialist German Workers Party (German: {{Audio|de-NSDAP.ogg|Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei}}), better known as the NSDAP or the Nazi Party was a political party that was led to power in Germany by Adolf Hitler in 1933. The term Nazi is a short form of the German word Nazionalsozialist shortened to the first two syllables, and spelled with -zi, because the ti syllable is pronounced in German (National Socialist), reflecting the ideology of the NSDAP. The NSDAP set up the Third Reich after Hitler being appointed chancellor by the president and the party being democratically elected to lead the German government in 1933.

Party composition

General membership

The general membership of the Nazi Party, known as the Partei Mitglieder, consisted mainly of the lower middle classes both rural and urban. Seven percent belonged to the upper class, seven percent were peasants, thirty five percent were industrial workers and fifty one percent were what can be described as middle class. The largest single occupational group was elementary school teachers.

Related Topics:
Rural - Urban - Upper class - Peasants - Industrial - Middle class - Elementary school

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When the Nazi Party began in the 1920s, it averaged 2000 members. When the Nazi Party came to power in 1933, party membership had risen to 2.5 million. In 1945, when the Nazi Party was disbanded, official membership rolls listed a total of 8.5 million.

Related Topics:
1933 - 1945

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Military membership

Nazi members with military ambitions were encouraged to join the Waffen SS, but a great number enlisted in the Wehrmacht and even more were drafted for service after World War II began. Early regulations required that all Wehrmacht members be non-political, and therefore any National Socialist member joining in the 1930s was required to resign from the Nazi Party.

Related Topics:
Waffen SS - World War II

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This regulation was soon waived, however, and there is ample evidence that full Nazi Party members served in the Wehrmacht in particular after the outbreak of World War II. The Wehrmacht Reserves also saw a high number of senior Nazis enlisting, with such figures as Reinhard Heydrich and Fritz Todt joining the Luftwaffe, as well as Karl Hanke who served in the Army.

Related Topics:
Reinhard Heydrich - Fritz Todt - Karl Hanke

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Paramilitary groups

In addition to the NSDAP proper, several paramilitary groups existed which "supported" Nazi aims. All such members of these paramilitary organizations were required to become regular Nazi Party members first, and could then enlist in the group of their choice. A vast system of Nazi party paramilitary ranks developed for each of the various paramilitary groups.

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The major Nazi Party paramilitary groups were as follows:

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• Schutzstaffel (SS): Protection Service
• Sturmabteilung (SA): Storm Troopers
• Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps (NSFK): National Socialist Flyers 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.

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