The Russian Roots of Nazism: White Émigrés and the Making of National Socialism, 1917–1945 (New Studies in European History)

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The first trial of the Nazis in Europe, which took place in Kaunas in 1935. The accused claimed that the Klaipėda Region should be part of Germany, not Lithuania, and spread propaganda, prepared for an armed uprising. [158] The German Nazi Party supported German irredentist claims to Austria, Alsace-Lorraine, the region now known as the Czech Republic, and the territory known since 1919 as the Polish Corridor. A major policy of the German Nazi Party was Lebensraum ("living space") for the German nation based on claims that Germany after World War I was facing an overpopulation crisis and that expansion was needed to end the country's overpopulation within existing confined territory, and provide resources necessary to its people's well-being. [155] Since the 1920s, the Nazi Party publicly promoted the expansion of Germany into territories held by the Soviet Union. [156] I offer thanks first and foremost to the members of my Ph.D. Committee at the University of California, Los Angeles: Professors Saul Friedländer, David Sabean, Ivan Berend, and Rogers Brubaker, who have given me excellent advice over the years. Professor Peter Baldwin of UCLA granted me valuable advice and support. Professor Arch Getty of UCLA helped me to gain an overview of important archival materials in Moscow. Others associated with UCLA who aided me in writing this book include Julie Jenkins, who gave me editing advice, Barbara Bernstein and Kathleen Addison, who took care of administrative matters for me while I was abroad, and Julia Wallace, who helped me to revise my text. Radical antisemitism was promoted by prominent advocates of völkisch nationalism, including Eugen Diederichs, Paul de Lagarde and Julius Langbehn. [89] De Lagarde called the Jews a " bacillus, the carriers of decay ... who pollute every national culture ... and destroy all faiths with their materialistic liberalism" and he called for the extermination of the Jews. [110] Langbehn called for a war of annihilation against the Jews, and his genocidal policies were later published by the Nazis and given to soldiers on the front during World War II. [110] One antisemitic ideologue of the period, Friedrich Lange, even used the term "National Socialism" to describe his own anti-capitalist take on the völkisch nationalist template. [111] Moving Together, a pro-Putin youth organisation notorious for its campaign against postmodernist literature, made the first move by reaching out to OB88, the most powerful skinhead gang in Russia.

A host on Russia’s NTV, which has been under state control since 2001, juxtaposes images of a far-right rally in Ukraine with historic footage of a Nazi rally during a broadcast on April 3. It is part of a great leader’s genius to make even widely separated adversaries appear as if they belonged to but one category, because among weakly and undecided characters the recognition of various enemies all too easily marks the beginning of doubt of one’s own rightness. Hitler’s intellectual viewpoint was influenced during his youth not only by these currents in the German tradition but also by specific Austrian movements that professed various political sentiments, notably those of pan-Germanic expansionism and anti-Semitism. Hitler’s ferocious nationalism, his contempt of Slavs, and his hatred of Jews can largely be explained by his bitter experiences as an unsuccessful artist living a threadbare existence on the streets of Vienna, the capital of the multiethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire. Günther emphasised Jews' Near Eastern racial heritage. [186] Günther identified the mass conversion of the Khazars to Judaism in the 8th century as creating the two major branches of the Jewish people: those of primarily Near Eastern racial heritage became the Ashkenazi Jews (that he called Eastern Jews) while those of primarily Oriental racial heritage became the Sephardi Jews (that he called Southern Jews). [187] Günther claimed that the Near Eastern type was composed of commercially spirited and artful traders, and that the type held strong psychological manipulation skills which aided them in trade. [186] He claimed that the Near Eastern race had been "bred not so much for the conquest and exploitation of nature as it had been for the conquest and exploitation of people". [186] Günther believed that European peoples had a racially motivated aversion to peoples of Near Eastern racial origin and their traits, and as evidence of this he showed multiple examples of depictions of satanic figures with Near Eastern physiognomies in European art. [188] Cover of the racist booklet " Der Untermensch" published by SS in 1942. 4 million copies of the brochure were printed by Nazi Germany and distributed across occupied territories. The pamphlet depicted the Slavic and Jewish inhabitants of Eastern Europe as primitive people. [189] As I demonstrated in a recent study of the Kremlin’s relationship with Russian fascists, these linkages made possible a bold experiment to create a pro-Putin neo-Nazi movement.

Further information: Lebensraum Beginning of Lebensraum, the Nazi German expulsion of Poles from central Poland, 1939 Russians–Germany–Political activity. 2. Aufbau (Organization). 3. Anti-communist movements–Germany. 4. Antisemitism–Soviet Union–History–20th century. 5. Antisemitism–Germany–History–20th century. 6. Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei. I. Title. II. Series. Nazism ( / ˈ n ɑː t s ɪ z əm, ˈ n æ t-/ NA(H)T-siz-əm; also Naziism /- s i . ɪ z əm/), [1] the common name in English for National Socialism ( German: Nationalsozialismus, German: [natsi̯oˈnaːlzotsi̯aˌlɪsmʊs] ⓘ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Nazi Germany. [2] [3] [4] During Hitler's rise to power in 1930s Europe, it was frequently referred to as Hitlerism ( German: Hitlerfaschismus). The later related term " neo-Nazism" is applied to other far-right groups with similar ideas which formed after the Second World War. The League of German Girls was particularly regarded as instructing girls to avoid race defilement, which was treated with particular importance for young females. [243] Russian authorities only admitted to possessing files looted from Germany and declassified them in 1991 after the Soviet Union had collapsed. Historians were allowed to investigate the huge archival collection at the Center for the Preservation of Historical-Documentary Collections, which had become part of the Russian State Military Archives by the time I examined materials there in 1999–2001. 35 I was temporarily denied access to the former Center in March 2001, likely as part of the chilled American–Russian relations that arose after the February 2001 arrest of the FBI operative Robert Hanssen as a double agent for both the Soviets and the Russians. 36

While I tend more towards Nolte’s views than those of Goldhagen, I defend a middle position between Goldhagen’s German-specific explanation of National Socialism’s murderous development and Nolte’s Bolshevik-centered analysis of National Socialism’s crimes. National Socialism had both German and Russian roots. The National Socialist movement developed primarily as a synthesis of radical right German and Russian movements and ideas. National Socialism arose out of a radical right post-World War Ⅰ Munich milieu of vengeful völkisch Germans and rancorous White émigrés. Several of the latter despised Bolshevism and yet admired the determination of its leaders as well as its practices of subversion followed by strict centralization, thorough militarization, and the ruthless elimination of political enemies. The origins of this relationship date to the late 1990s, when Russia was shaken by a wave of racist violence committed by neo-Nazi skinhead gangs. After Putin’s accession to the presidency in 2000, his regime exploited this development in two ways. The Nazis were initially very hostile to Catholics because most Catholics supported the German Centre Party. Catholics opposed the Nazis' promotion of compulsory sterilisation of those whom they deemed inferior and the Catholic Church forbade its members to vote for the Nazis. In 1933, extensive Nazi violence occurred against Catholics due to their association with the Centre Party and their opposition to the Nazi regime's sterilisation laws. [261] The Nazis demanded that Catholics declare their loyalty to the German state. [262] In their propaganda, the Nazis used elements of Germany's Catholic history, in particular the German Catholic Teutonic Knights and their campaigns in Eastern Europe. The Nazis identified them as "sentinels" in the East against "Slavic chaos", though beyond that symbolism, the influence of the Teutonic Knights on Nazism was limited. [263] Hitler also admitted that the Nazis' night rallies were inspired by the Catholic rituals which he had witnessed during his Catholic upbringing. [264] The Nazis did seek official reconciliation with the Catholic Church and they endorsed the creation of the pro-Nazi Catholic Kreuz und Adler, an organisation which advocated a form of national Catholicism that would reconcile the Catholic Church's beliefs with Nazism. [262] On 20 July 1933, a concordat ( Reichskonkordat) was signed between Nazi Germany and the Catholic Church, which in exchange for acceptance of the Catholic Church in Germany required German Catholics to be loyal to the German state. The Catholic Church then ended its ban on members supporting the Nazi Party. [262] Mr. Putin alluded to that history in a speech on May 9 for the Russian holiday commemorating victory over Nazi Germany. “You are fighting for our motherland so that nobody forgets the lessons of World War II,” he said to a parade of thousands of Russian soldiers. “So that there is no place in the world for torturers, death squads and Nazis.” Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Secret State Archives of Prussian Cultural Property, Berlin).Oswald Spengler, a German cultural philosopher, was a major influence on Nazism, although after 1933 he became alienated from Nazism and was later condemned by the Nazis for criticising Adolf Hitler. [131] Spengler's conception of national socialism and a number of his political views were shared by the Nazis and the Conservative Revolutionary movement. [132] Spengler's views were also popular amongst Italian Fascists, including Benito Mussolini. [133]

Hitler’s most important individual contribution to the theory and practice of Nazism was his deep understanding of mass psychology and mass propaganda. He stressed the fact that all propaganda must hold its intellectual level at the capacity of the least intelligent of those at whom it is directed and that its truthfulness is much less important than its success. According to Hitler:Others have served the Kremlin as “ monitors” who applaud the conduct of fraudulent elections. Meanwhile, Rinaldo Nazzaro, an American, has been quietly running The Base, the international neo-Nazi terrorist organisation, from an apartment in St Petersburg. Aufbau's legacy to National Socialism took several forms. The death of First Lieutenant Max von Scheubner-Richter, Aufbau's de facto leader and Hitler's closest political advisor, in the Hitler/Ludendorff Putsch served as an example of heroic sacrifice for the National Socialist cause. White émigrés continued to raise significant funds for the NSDAP after 1923. In the vein of Aufbau, Hitler continued to use White émigrés, especially Ukrainian nationalists, to destabilize Soviet rule after the failure of the Hitler/Ludendorff Putsch. Hitler's preoccupation with winning the Ukraine for Germany along the lines of Aufbau policy led him to divert powerful armed forces away from Moscow in 1941, thereby diminishing German chances of victory in World War II. Wilhelm Stapel, an antisemitic German intellectual, used Spengler's thesis on the cultural confrontation between Jews as whom Spengler described as a Magian people versus Europeans as a Faustian people. [139] Stapel described Jews as a landless nomadic people in pursuit of an international culture whereby they can integrate into Western civilisation. [139] As such, Stapel claims that Jews have been attracted to "international" versions of socialism, pacifism or capitalism because as a landless people the Jews have transgressed various national cultural boundaries. [139] Rasse und Siedlungshauptamt-SS, Verwaltung Prag (SS Race and Settlement Main Office, Prague Administration).

No less important is the role of neo-Nazis and other right-wing figures in Russia’s onslaught against Ukraine. The significance of substantial White émigré influences on Hitler’s Weltanschauung has become more apparent since Brigitte Hamann convincingly argued in her 1996 work, Hitlers Wien: Lehrjahre eines Diktators ( Hitler’s Vienna: Apprentice Years of a Dictator), that Hitler was not yet anti-Semitic during his “hunger years” in Vienna from 1908 to 1913. He even defended the Jews in intense political arguments with those who denounced them. 11 Hamann’s book refutes the earlier historical consensus which had contended that Hitler developed an acutely anti-Semitic world-view during his time in Vienna. 12 In Mein Kampf, Hitler stated his desire to "make war upon the Marxist principle that all men are equal". [316] He believed that "the notion of equality was a sin against nature." [317] Nazism upheld the "natural inequality of men," including inequality between races and also within each race. The Nazi state aimed to advance those individuals with special talents or intelligence, so they could rule over the masses. [66] Nazi ideology relied on elitism and the Führerprinzip (leadership principle), arguing that elite minorities should assume leadership roles over the majority, and that the elite minority should itself be organised according to a "hierarchy of talent", with a single leader—the Führer—at the top. [318] The Führerprinzip held that each member of the hierarchy owed absolute obedience to those above him and should hold absolute power over those below him. [67] Nazism, totalitarian movement led by Adolf Hitler as head of the Nazi Party in Germany. In its intense nationalism, mass appeal, and dictatorial rule, Nazism shared many elements with Italian fascism. However, Nazism was far more extreme both in its ideas and in its practice. In almost every respect it was an anti-intellectual and atheoretical movement, emphasizing the will of the charismatic dictator as the sole source of inspiration of a people and a nation, as well as a vision of annihilation of all enemies of the Aryan Volk as the one and only goal of Nazi policy. The roots of Nazism Nazi anthropologists attempted to scientifically prove the historical admixture of the Slavs who lived further East and leading Nazi racial theorist Hans Günther regarded the Slavs as being primarily Nordic centuries ago but he believed that they had mixed with non-Nordic types over time. [192] Exceptions were made for a small percentage of Slavs who the Nazis saw as descended from German settlers and therefore fit to be Germanised and considered part of the Aryan master race. [193] Hitler described Slavs as "a mass of born slaves who feel the need for a master". [194] Himmler classified Slavs as "bestial untermenschen" and Jews as the "decisive leader of the Untermenschen". [195] These ideas were fervently advocated through Nazi propaganda, which had a massive impact on the indoctrination of the German population. " Der Untermenschen", a racist brochure published by the SS in 1942, has been regarded as one of the most infamous pieces of Nazi anti-Slavic propaganda. [196] [197]The Nazis argued that free-market capitalism damages nations due to international finance and the We may be inhumane, but if we rescue Germany we have achieved the greatest deed in the world. We may work injustice, but if we rescue Germany then we have removed the greatest injustice in the world. We may be immoral, but if our people is rescued we have opened the way for morality. [200] The resulting scandal provoked a reconfiguration of “managed nationalism”. While Nashi distanced itself from football gangs, its radical militants migrated to two rival Kremlin proxies, the nationalist “Young Russia” group and the anti-immigration “Locals” group. These organisations became bridges between the neo-Nazi subculture and the Kremlin. Neo-Nazi leaders implicated in killings German business leaders disliked Nazi ideology but came to support Hitler, because they saw the Nazis as a useful ally to promote their interests. [68] Business groups made significant financial contributions to the Nazi Party both before and after the Nazi seizure of power, in the hope that a Nazi dictatorship would eliminate the organised labour movement and the left-wing parties. [69] Hitler actively sought to gain the support of business leaders by arguing that private enterprise is incompatible with democracy. [70] Further information: Women in Nazi Germany Obligations of Polish workers in Germany, warning them of the death penalty for any sexual relations between Germans and Poles