This paper will examine the history of German National Socialism through the end of the Second World War. The first part of the paper will briefly review the origins of national socialism in Germany prior to the election of Adolf Hitler as chancellor in 1933. The second part of the paper will discuss the integration of national socialist theory and ideals into the Nazi state, particularly examining the role of Hitler as Fuhrer and the effect of national socialism on the lives of Germans. The third part of the paper will discuss the fate of national socialism in Germany during the Second World War.
The philosophy of German national socialism originated during the 18th Century as various German philosophers reacted negatively to the liberal western thought during the Age of enlightenment. The earliest critics of liberal thought and proponents of German nationalism and "thought" began expounding on "Germanity" and the unique German culture just before the beginning of the 19th Century. Becoming known as part of the Romanticism movement, these thinkers rejected the idea of the primacy of the individual which had become the philosophical centerpiece of the Age of Enlightenment; instead, they extolled the virtues of the Middle Ages. The ideas of nation and culture were inextricably intertwined, according to them, and a nation was defined by its culture, rather than solely by its politico-juridical nature. This became the basis for the ideas of German nationhood through 1945.
Central to the philosophy of the German romantics was the idea of "volk," the union between the German people, their culture, and their state. This idea transcended the typical conceptions of nationhood and nationality, for the idea of "volk" applied only to the German peoples. At its most extreme, this idea of "volk" and the German "volk-nation" imbued the German culture and state with a sense of eternity, giving them a mystical unity and virtue exten...