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==Nazi Theory==
[[Alfred Rosenberg]]'s racial philosophy wholly embraced the [[Aryan Invasion Theory]], which traced Aryan peoples in ancient [[Iran]] invading the [[Indus Valley Civilization]] of [[India]], and carrying with them great knowledge and science that had been preserved from the [[antediluvian]] world. This "antediluvian world" referred to [[Thule]], the speculative pre-Flood/Ice Age origin of the Aryan race, and is often tied to ideas of [[Atlantis]]. Most of the leadership and the founders of the Nazi Party were made up of members of the "Thule Gesellschaft" (the Thule Society), which romanticized the Aryan race through theology and ritual.
Hitler also claimed that a [[nation]] was the highest creation of a [[race]], and great nations (literally ''large'' nations) were the creation of homogenous populations of great races, working together. These nations developed cultures that naturally grew from races with "natural good health, and aggressive, intelligent, courageous traits". The weakest nations, Hitler said, were those of impure or mongrel races, because they had divided, quarrelling, and therefore weak cultures. Worst of all were seen to be the parasitic [[Untermensch]] (''Subhumans''), mainly Jews, but also Gypsies, homosexuals, the disabled and so called anti-socials, all of whom were considered ''lebensunwertes Leben'' (''Life-unworthy life'') owing to their perceived deficiency and inferiority, as well as their wandering, nationless invasions ("the International Jew"). The [[History of Gays during the Holocaust|persecution of homosexuals]] as part of [[the Holocaust]] has seen increasing scholarly attention since the 1990s.
The role of homosexuals in the Nazi Party is considered anecdotal by most historians. Some tiny groups, like the International Committee for Holocaust Truth, and authors Scott Lively and Kevin E. Abrams in ''The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party'', (ISBN 0964760932), argue that many homosexuals were involved in the inner circle of the Nazi party: [[Ernst Röhm]] of the SA (whose execution was thinly rationalized as being based on his homosexuality), [[Horst Wessel]], [[Max Bielas]], and others. This perspective is denounced as hateful propaganda by most human rights associations and groups, stirring heated debates and accusations of censorship and "hate-speech" from both sides. Most historians and scholars of fascism do not take the work of Lively and Abrams seriously, and dismiss it as part of a [[Christian Right]] campaign against gay rights. Conversely, some Nazi supporters argue that such claims are simply more attempts to discredit Nazi ideology.
According to Nazism, it is an obvious mistake to permit or encourage [[multilingualism]] and [[multiculturalism]] within a nation. Fundamental to the Nazi goal was the unification of all [[Germanic tribe|German-speaking peoples]], "unjustly" divided into different [[Nation State]]s. Hitler claimed that nations that could not defend their territory did not deserve it. Interesting to note, when the Germans failed to defend their country at the end of the Second World War, the Allies were more merciful than Nazis would have considered correct. The Allies let the Germans keep their country. [[West Germany]] became independent in the 1950's. [[East Germany]] became subject to a so-called slave race, the Russians. After decades the [[GDR]] became independent and joined West Germany. Slave races he thought of as less worthy to exist than "master races". In particular, if a master race should require room to live (''[[Lebensraum]]''), he thought such a race should have the right to displace the inferior [[Indigenous peoples|indigenous races]]. Hitler drew parallels between Lebensraum and the American [[ethnic cleansing]] and relocation policies towards the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], which he saw as key to the success of the [[US]]. Hitler had always admired the Americans for their treatment of the Indians, and considered America to be a shining example of what Germany's ambitions should be. Hitler often compared his Lebensraum policies to the [[Manifest Destiny]] policy of the United States, in which the ultimate destiny of the American people was to expand west and defeat the Indians.
{{Fascism}}
"Races without homelands", Hitler proclaimed, were "parasitic races", and the richer the members of a "parasitic race" were, the more "virulent" the parasitism was thought to be. A "master race" could therefore, according to the Nazi doctrine, easily strengthen itself by eliminating "parasitic races" from its homeland. This was the given rationalization for the Nazis' later oppression and elimination of [[Jews]], [[Roma (people)|Gypsies]], Czechs, Poles, the mentally and physically handicapped, the homosexuals and others not belonging to these groups or categories in what is known as the [[Holocaust]]. Hitler and his ''living space'' doctrine found immense popularity among the German population. The [[Wehrmacht]], [[Waffen-SS]] and other German soldiers as well as civilian paramilitary groups in occupied territories were responsible for the deaths of an estimated eleven million men, women, and children in concentration camps, prisoner-of-war camps, labor camps, and death camps such as [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz]] and [[Treblinka extermination camp|Treblinka]].
Hitler extended his rationalizations into [[religious]] doctrine, claiming that those who agreed with and taught his "truths", were "true" or "master" religions, because they would "create mastery" by avoiding comforting lies. Those that preached [[love]] and tolerance, "in contravention to the facts", were said to be "slave" or "false" religions. The man who recognized these "truths", Hitler continued, was said to be a "natural leader", and those who denied it were said to be "natural slaves". "Slaves" – especially intelligent ones, he claimed – were always attempting to hinder their masters by promoting false religious and political doctrines.
The ideological roots which became German "National Socialism" were based on numerous sources in European history, drawing especially from [[Romanticism|Romantic]] 19th Century [[idealism]], and from a biological reading of [[Friedrich Nietzsche]]'s thoughts on "breeding upwards" toward the goal of an [[Übermensch]] (''Superhuman''). Hitler was an avid reader and received ideas that were later to influence Nazism from traceable publications, such as those of the [[Germanenorden]] (''Germanic Order'') or the [[Thule society]]. He also adopted many [[populist]] ideas such as limiting profits, abolishing rents and generously increasing social benefits - but only for Germans.
Hitler's theories were not only attractive to Germans. People in positions of wealth and power in other nations are said to have seen them as beneficial. Examples are [[Henry Ford]], founder of the [[Ford Motor Company]], and [[Eugene Schueller]], founder of [[L'Oréal]]. Nevertheless, the support for these theories was highest among the general population of Germany.
=== Nazi mysticism ===
[[Nazi mysticism]] is a term used to describe a [[philosophical]] undercurrent of [[Nazism]]; it denotes the combination of Nazism with [[occultism]], [[esotericism]], [[cryptohistory]], and/or the [[paranormal]]. [[Himmler|Heinrich Himmler]] was one of the few Nazi leaders to show a strong interest in such matters.
==Key elements of the Nazi ideology==
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