Nazism

:The term "National Socialism" has been used in self-description by a number of different political groups and ideologies, some of which have no connection with the Nazis; see National socialism (disambiguation).

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Nazism was the ideology held by the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, commonly called NSDAP or the Nazi Party), which was led by its "F?hrer", Adolf Hitler. The word Nazism is most often used in connection with the dictatorship of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 (the "Third Reich"), and it is derived from the term National Socialism (German: Nationalsozialismus, often abbreviated NS. Adherents of Nazism held that the Aryan race were superior to other races, and they promoted Germanic racial supremacy and a strong, centrally governed state. Nazism has been outlawed in modern Germany, yet small remnants and revivalists, known as "Neo-Nazis", continue to operate in Germany and abroad.

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Originally, Nazi was invented by analogy to Sozi (a common and slightly pejorative abbreviation for socialists in Germany). The original Nazis from the era of the Third Reich probably never referred to themselves as "Nazis" and generally always as "National Socialists", since Nazi was most commonly used as a pejorative term. Currently some Neo-Nazis also use it to describe themselves.

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A better derivation of the spelling of both Nazi and Sozi would seem to be phonetic spellings of the words as pronounced. Listen to the pronunciations of "National" and "der Sozialismus" at LEO (University of Munich).

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There is a very close relationship between Nazism and Fascism. Since the term Nazism is normally used to refer to the ideology and policies of Nazi Germany alone, while Fascism is used in a broader sense, to refer to a wider political movement that exists or existed in many countries, Nazism is often classified as a particular version of Fascism.

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National Socialist German Workers Party: The National Socialist German Workers Party (German: '), 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 wi...

Dictatorship: Dictatorship, in contemporary usage, refers to absolute rule by a leadership (usually one dictator) unrestricted by law, constitutions, or other social and political factors within the state....

Nazi Germany: Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian ideology of the National Socialist German Workers Party, or Nazi Party, with the F?hrer Adolf Hitler as dictator....