25-point program

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The 25-point program was the party program of the National Socialist German Workers Party . Adolf Hitler announced it on February 24, 1920 in front of about 2000 people in the Munich Hofbräuhaus . On the same day, the German Workers 'Party (DAP), founded in 1919, was renamed the "National Socialist German Workers' Party" ( NSDAP ).

In this program, a Greater German Reich was sought, the repeal of the provisions of the Versailles Treaty was demanded, German citizenship was rejected for Jews and the building of an authoritarian state with a politically controlled press and literature was announced.

content

In its first three points, the program was directed against the Versailles Treaty and the Treaty of Saint-Germain , which prescribed a ban on Austria's affiliation . A “union of all Germans” into a Greater Germany was called for , which the peoples' right to self-determination allowed them to do. The return of the German colonies , which the Treaty of Versailles had placed under a mandate from the League of Nations , was called for, as they were necessary “to feed our people and to settle our surplus population”.

Points 4 to 8 were anti-Semitic . Jews - defined by the program not religiously or culturally , but racially - should be excluded from German citizenship and placed under aliens legislation. They should be excluded from legislation and government offices, and in the event of a food crisis they should be expelled. In this context, the program also spoke out against the allegedly corrupting parliamentarism with its party proportional representation. The immigration ban for non-Germans in point 8 was also directed against Jews.

Points 9 and 10 talked about the rights and obligations of citizens. They would have to be the same for all citizens, as was also guaranteed in the Weimar constitution . In addition, a duty "to create mentally or physically" was stipulated, which should be "for the benefit of all". The principle “common good over self-interest ” already sounded here , which is listed in bold in point 24.

Points 11 to 18 deal with the implementation of this public benefit principle . Initially, and again in bold, point 11 called for an end to interest bondage . The following demands concerned the "confiscation of war profits " (point 12), the nationalization of trusts (point 13), profit sharing in large companies (point 14), an expansion of pension schemes (point 15), municipalization of large department stores in favor of small traders, which should be given special consideration when awarding public contracts (point 16), a land reform that should create the possibility of expropriating land for charitable purposes without compensation (point 17), the death penalty for " usurers and sluggers" (point 18).

Point 19 demanded that the whole of Roman law , which supposedly served materialism, be replaced by a “common German law”. Item 20 dealt with the education policy , which would give all Germans the chance of advancement through higher education, for example by the state financing the education of gifted children from socially disadvantaged families. The curriculum should be changed to practical life issues and civic education included. Particular emphasis was placed on sport , to which point 21 in the sense of "raising public health " obliged all citizens; The same goal should serve maternity protection , child protection , "prohibition of youth work" and state funding of sports clubs for young people. In point 22, with the "formation of a people's army ", the reintroduction of the conscription forbidden by the Versailles Treaty was demanded.

Point 23 called for the introduction of press censorship ; Jews should be prohibited from working in newspapers and from participating in them financially, and special control provisions should be set up for foreign press products. Point 24 called for a restriction of religious freedom that should not endanger the existence of the state "or offend against the morality and morality of the Germanic race". The party committed itself to a “ positive Christianity ” and to the fight against the “Jewish-materialistic spirit in and outside of us” - a formulation that went back to Dietrich Eckart . Common good goes before self-interest.

Finally, point 25 called for the creation of a strong central power in the empire; the “political central parliament” must have authority over the federal states. In these “ chambers of states and professions ” are to be set up, which should implement the framework laws of the headquarters. In conclusion, the leaders of the party vowed to “ruthlessly stand up for the implementation of the 25 program items if necessary, at the risk of one's own life”.

author

It is not certain who the specific wording of the program came from. It is generally assumed that DAP founder Anton Drexler was the main author; Hitler was probably not involved in the drafting of the content, only editorially.

Gottfried Feder's share is controversial . The demand for “breaking the interest bondage” was based on his “Manifesto for breaking the interest bondage of money” published in 1919. Since it was assumed to be known among party comrades, this point remained very brief. In an annotated edition published by Feder in 1927, he presented his own ideological contribution as the central category of the program. It is the "heart of National Socialism", the "steel axis around which everything revolves". Feder himself claimed in a letter to Hitler, which has only been passed down indirectly, that the program was "sanctioned by you (Hitler) and formulated by me". The Nazi researcher Albrecht Tyrell, on the other hand, believes that, apart from the catchphrase "breaking interest bondage", Feder had no part in the formulation. Hans-Ulrich Thamer names Drexler as the only author of the program. Kurt Bauer suspects that Feder exerted "significant influence" on the program, the authorship of which is "controversial". The Israeli historian Avraham Barkai , on the other hand, is convinced that Feder “at least formulated the economic demands of the party program of 1920”. Reinhard Neebe speaks directly of the "spring program of 1920". Hajo Holborn , Robert Wistrich and Wolfgang Wippermann also believe in (co-) authorship by Feders .

consequences

In practice, the party program was irrelevant. The speeches of the leading National Socialists and the reports of the press always attracted more attention. Nevertheless, a few points later became a political reality, such as the withdrawal of citizenship for Jews in the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 and their deportation from Germany from 1941.

The economic and socio-political points 11 to 18 were problematic. After Hitler was released prematurely from imprisonment in 1924, a year after his failed putsch , he tried to win donors from business circles for the reconstruction of the NSDAP. Demands for nationalization , profit-sharing and a “breaking of bondage” were not conducive to this.

In 1926 there were violent internal party disputes with the left wing of the party over the brothers Otto Strasser and Gregor Strasser , which Hitler won at the Bamberg Führer Conference . The program was then declared “immutable”. In order to make it clear that the economic concept of the NSDAP was neither anti-capitalist nor socialist, in 1928 he had a declaration added to the party program, according to which "in relation to the mendacious interpretations on the part of our opponents ... the NSDAP stands on the ground of private property ". However, changes were not lacking. On the one hand, Hitler rejected the demand for colonies (point 3): In the second volume of Mein Kampf , which appeared at the end of 1926, he instead announced the conquest of living space in the east on the territory of the Soviet Union .

The heavy industrial manager Martin Blank wrote to Paul Reusch in November 1929 that the program was "outdated". The social democratic newspaper Das Freie Wort analyzed the Nazi propaganda in 1931 and came to the conclusion that too little was known about the sheer existence of the NSDAP's party program - “perhaps our best weapon in this struggle”. When, after the success of the NSDAP in the Reichstag elections of September 1930, the involvement of the NSDAP in government responsibility was discussed, Jakob Wilhelm Reichert from the Association of German Iron and Steel Manufacturers named as a condition that the NSDAP must give up "its half socialist and half nebulous party program" and work “in a truly conservative sense”. Although the propagandistic catchphrase of “breaking the interest bondage” remained part of the National Socialist jargon long after the National Socialist “ seizure of power ” , the content had been significantly changed early on, so that instead of the abolition of any interest rate, it was simply a matter of lowering or “justifying” Interest ”went. This was mockingly noted by contemporary critics such as Gustav Stolper , who described this as “wise moderation”.

research

Historical research indicates that the program combined various slogans from very different origins, namely from anti-capitalist, anti-Semitic and nationalist sources as well as individual demands oriented towards medium-sized companies . These intellectually simple, disparate elements would not be held together adequately by the party slogan “ National Socialism ”. Avraham Barkai sees elements in the economic demands with his references to war profiteers, usurers and smugglers that are typical of the period after the First World War ; There are also various concessions to the revolutionary zeitgeist, such as demands for nationalization, profit-sharing and expropriations of land. Medium- sized demands, such as those relating to department stores and public contracts, would have corresponded to the social origins of the party founders and base.

The Berlin historian Wolfgang Wippermann emphasizes that the central demand “ breaking interest bondageamounts to a ban on all banking transactions - a measure that is “simply nonsensical” in a modern industrial state like Germany. According to the historian Malte Zierenberg, the party's declared hostility to the credit system is also evident in the demand for the death penalty for usurers and smugglers. The fact that this should apply explicitly regardless of their “race and denomination” shows that the NSDAP not only followed its anti-Semitism here, but also followed a pattern of sentiment that was widespread in the turmoil of the post-war period .

Wippermann also judges the "duty of every citizen [...] to create mentally or physically" called for in point 10 as unrealistic, as does the replacement of Roman law by a "German common law": Neither is it said what this might consist of, nor to what extent that was still valid. The program is very clear in its anti-Semitic and racist passages: Item 21, which called for the "physical exercise" to be increased by means of state legislation, does not only mean the compulsory promotion of popular sport , but also the racist purification and breeding of the German national body , the Hitler later described in more detail in Mein Kampf .

The economic demands of the program are considered by some historians to be " socialist ". According to the economic and social historian Friedrich-Wilhelm Henning , the program agreed on six points with those of the Marxist parties, while the only thing in common with the programs of the nationally oriented parties of the center and the right was the demand for colonies. Ernst Nolte and Henry A. Turner , on the other hand, assume that the socialist demands in Hitler's program were from the outset “only of a demagogic nature”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Also on the following see LeMO : 25-point program of the NSDAP ( Memento from July 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). In: dhm.de, accessed on May 18, 2019.
  2. ↑ The 25-point program is also published by the DFG-VK group in Darmstadt. In: dfg-vk-darmstadt.de, accessed on May 18, 2019 ( PDF; 16.1 kB ).
  3. a b Peter Glanninger: racism and Rechtsrextremismus. Racist argumentation patterns and their historical lines of development. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2009, p. 121.
  4. a b c Albrecht Tyrell: From the "drummer" to the "leader". The change in Hitler's self-image between 1919 and 1924 and the development of the NSDAP. Fink, Munich 1975, p. 85.
  5. ^ Wolfgang Horn: Leader ideology and party organization in the NSDAP 1919-1933. Droste, Düsseldorf 1972, p. 89.
  6. Gottfried Feder: The program of the NSDAP and its ideological basic ideas. Central Publishing House of the NSDAP, Franz Eher Nachf., Munich 1928, p. 9; quoted from Frédéric Krier: Socialism for the petty bourgeoisie. Pierre Joseph Proudhon - pioneer of the Third Reich. Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar, p. 39.
  7. Quoted in a letter from Otto Engelbrecht dated January 5, 1933. In: Albrecht Tyrell (Ed.): Führer befiehl ... Testimonials from the "fighting time" of the NSDAP. Grondrom Verlag, Bindlach 1991, p. 351.
  8. Albrecht Tyrell: Gottfried Feder and the NSDAP. In: Peter D. Stachura (Ed.): The Shaping often the Nazi State. Croon Helm, London 1978, p. 57.
  9. Hans-Ulrich Thamer: Seduction and violence. Germany 1933–1945. Siedler, Berlin 1994, p. 60.
  10. ^ Kurt Bauer: National Socialism. Origins, Beginnings, Rise and Fall. UTB Böhlau, Vienna 2008, p. 105.
  11. ^ A b Avraham Barkai: The economic system of National Socialism. Ideology, theory, politics 1933–1945. Extended new edition. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1988, p. 30.
  12. a b Reinhard Neebe: Big Industry, State and NSDAP 1930-1933. Paul Silverberg and the Reichsverband der Deutschen Industrie in the crisis of the Weimar Republic. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1981, p. 250.
  13. ^ Hajo Holborn: German history in modern times. Vol. III: The Age of Imperialism (1871 to 1945). Oldenbourg, Munich 1971, p. 512.
  14. Robert Wistrich: Who was who in the Third Reich. Supporters, followers, opponents from politics, business, military, art and science. Harnack, Munich 1983, p. 71.
  15. Wolfgang Wippermann: The consistent madness. Ideology and Politics of Adolf Hitler. Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag, Gütersloh / Munich 1989, p. 232.
  16. Gerhard Schulz: Rise of National Socialism. Crisis and Revolution in Germany. Propylaea, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin / Vienna 1975, p. 376.
  17. ^ Avraham Barkai: The economic system of National Socialism. Ideology, theory, politics 1933–1945. Extended new edition. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1988, p. 30 f.
  18. ^ Dietrich Orlow: History of the Nazi Party. 1919 to 1933. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh 1969, p. 137.
  19. ^ Kurt Bauer: National Socialism. Origins, Beginnings, Rise and Fall. UTB Böhlau, Vienna 2008, p. 106; Ian Kershaw : Hitler. 1889-1936. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-421-05131-3 , pp. 352 ff., 357.
  20. ^ Avraham Barkai: The economic system of National Socialism. Ideology, theory, politics 1933–1945. Extended new edition, Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1988, p. 32 and footnote 70. There, cited from the appendix to Otto Wagener : Das Wirtschaftsprogramm der NSDAP. Munich, Rather 1932, pp. 101-103.
  21. Adolf Hitler: Mein Kampf. Two volumes in one volume. unabridged edition, 9th edition. Franz Eher Nachf., Munich 1932, p. 742 u. ö.
  22. Othmar Plöckinger: History of a book. Adolf Hitler's “Mein Kampf” 1922–1945. Oldenbourg, Munich 2011, p. 375.
  23. Reinhard Neebe: Big Industry, State and NSDAP 1930-1933. Paul Silverberg and the Reichsverband der Deutschen Industrie in the crisis of the Weimar Republic. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1981, p. 76.
  24. ^ Avraham Barkai: The economic system of National Socialism. Ideology, theory, politics 1933–1945. Extended new edition. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1988, p. 31. Der Deutsche Volkswirt cited there . Volume 6, No. 8, November 20, 1931, p. 239.
  25. Albrecht Tyrell (ed.): Führer befiehl ... self-testimonies from the "fighting time" of the NSDAP. Grondrom Verlag, Bindlach 1991, p. 11 f.
  26. ^ Kurt Bauer: National Socialism. Origins, Beginnings, Rise and Fall. UTB Böhlau, Vienna 2008, p. 106.
  27. ^ Wolfgang Wippermann: Ideology. In: Wolfgang Benz , Hermann Graml and Hermann Weiß (eds.): Encyclopedia of National Socialism . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1997, p. 11 f.
  28. ^ Malte Zierenberg: City of the slide. The Berlin black market 1939–1950. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2008, p. 40.
  29. ^ A b Wolfgang Wippermann: Ideology. In: Wolfgang Benz, Hermann Graml and Hermann Weiß (eds.): Encyclopedia of National Socialism. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1997, p. 11 f.
  30. Georg May: Ludwig Kaas. The priest, the politician and the scholar from Ulrich Stutz's school (= canonical studies and texts. Volume 35). Volume 3. B. R. Grüner, Amsterdam 1982, ISBN 90-6032-199-5 , p. 32.
  31. Hans-Ulrich Thamer : Seduction and violence. Germany 1933–1945. Siedler, Berlin 1994, p. 60.
  32. ^ Henning Köhler : Germany on the way to itself. A history of the century. Hohenheim-Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, p. 226.
  33. F.-W. Henning: The industrialized Germany from 1914 to 1986. 6th edition. Schöningh, Paderborn 1988, p. 141 f.
  34. Ernst Nolte: Fascism in its epoch. Action française - Italian fascism - National Socialism. Munich 1963 [last new edition 2000], ISBN 3-7610-7248-1 , p. 391.
  35. ^ Henry A. Turner: Hitler's attitude to the economy and society before 1933. In: History and society . 2 (1976), p. 96.