History11 - Nazism in Germany 1918-1945: Rise of Nazi Party

National Socialism, German Nationalsozialismus, also called Nazism or Naziism, totalitarian movement led by Adolf Hitler as head of the Nazi Party in Germany. In its intense nationalism, mass appeal, and dictatorial rule, National Socialism shared many elements with Italian fascism. However, Nazism was far more extreme both in its ideas and in its practice.

Kristallnacht, (German: “Crystal Night”) , also called Night of Broken Glass or November Pogroms, the night of November 9–10, 1938, when German Nazis attacked Jewish persons and property. The name Kristallnacht refers ironically to the litter of broken glass left in the streets after these pogroms.

The first volume, entitled Die Abrechnung (“The Settlement [of Accounts],” or “Revenge”), was written in 1924 in the Bavarian fortress of Landsberg am Lech, where Hitler was imprisoned after the abortive Beer Hall Putsch of 1923.

Beer Hall Putsch, also called Munich Putsch, German Bierkeller Putsch, Münchener Putsch, or Hitlerputsch, Adolf Hitler’s attempt to start an insurrection in Germany against the Weimar Republic on Nov. 8–9, 1923.

Göring’s sole concern in the Reichstag was to stultify the democratic system, which the Reichstag ostensibly represented up to March 1933. He had the ear of the 84-year-old president of the Weimar Republic, Paul von Hindenburg, and used his position to outmaneuver the successive chancellors, particularly Kurt von Schleicher and Franz von Papen, until Hindenburg was finally forced to invite Hitler to become chancellor on January 30, 1933

Joseph Goebbels, in full Paul Joseph Goebbels, (born October 29, 1897, Rheydt, Germany—died May 1, 1945, Berlin), minister of propaganda for the German Third Reich under Adolf Hitler. A master orator and propagandist, he is generally accounted responsible for presenting a favourable image of the Nazi regime to the German people.

Reichstag fire, burning of the Reichstag (parliament) building in Berlin, on the night of February 27, 1933, a key event in the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship and widely believed to have been contrived by the newly formed Nazi government itself to turn public opinion against its opponents and to assume emergency powers.

Enabling Act, law passed by the German Reichstag (Diet) in 1933 that enabled Adolf Hitler to assume dictatorial powers. Deputies from the Nazi Party, the German National People’s Party, and the Centre Party voted in favour of the act, which “enabled” Hitler’s government to issue decrees independently of the Reichstag and the presidency. It gave Hitler a base from which to carry out the first steps of his National Socialist revolution.

Night of the Long Knives, (June 30, 1934), in German history, purge of Nazi leaders by Adolf Hitler. Fearing that the paramilitary SA had become too powerful, Hitler ordered his elite SS guards to murder the organization’s leaders, including Ernst Röhm. Also killed that night were hundreds of other perceived opponents of Hitler, including Kurt von Schleicher and Gregor Strasser.