Senior Library Books
Resource Key
When accessing content use the numbers below to guide you:
LEVEL 1
brief, basic information laid out in an easy-to-read format. May use informal language. (Includes most news articles)
LEVEL 2
provides additional background information and further reading. Introduces some subject-specific language.
LEVEL 3
lengthy, detailed information. Frequently uses technical/subject-specific language. (Includes most analytical articles)
Linked Databases
- Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre Plus This link opens in a new window
This resource provides the largest collection of full text from leading regional and international newspapers and periodicals, full-text reference books, tens of thousands of full-text biographies, and a collection of images containing more than one million photos, maps, and flags.
Introduction
National Socialism, German Nationalsozialismus, also called Nazism or Naziism, was a 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. 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. (Britannica, 2015)
Rise of the Nazis
Discovery TV. (2009, September 3). Rise of the Nazis [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2YEUhHFMHY
Rise of National Socialism
- History.com. (2009). Nazi Party. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/nazi-partyUnder the leadership of Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, or Nazi Party, grew into a mass movement and ruled Germany through totalitarian means from 1933 to 1945.
- Boden, M. A., & Foley, R. T. (2000). Versailles Treaty: Was the Treaty of Versailles Responsible for the Rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany? In D. Showalter (Ed.), History in Dispute (Vol. 4, pp. 266-274). Detroit: St. James Press.The treaty concluded at Versailles to end the Great War of 1914— 1918 has been widely blamed for fostering the subsequent emergence of National Socialism. The treaty’s indemnity and reparations clauses are cited for causing the successive financial crises that destabilized the Weimar Republic. Its requirement that Germany assume sole responsibility for the conflict, the “War Guilt clause,” is seen as an insult to national pride permanently discrediting the Republic that accepted it. Yet, at the same time, Versailles left the essential elements of German power intact and maintained Germany’s existence as an independent state. The result was a peace that fell between two stools. Neither conciliatory nor punitive, it fostered the confusion and destabilization on which the Nazis thrived.
Britannica Links
- National Socialism 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.
- Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler, byname Der Führer (German: “The Leader”), (born April 20, 1889, Braunau am Inn, Austria—died April 30, 1945, Berlin, Germany), leader of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party (from 1920/21) and chancellor (Kanzler) and Führer of Germany (1933–45). He was chancellor from January 30, 1933, and, after President Paul von Hindenburg’s death, assumed the twin titles of Führer and chancellor (August 2, 1934).
- Germany from 1918 to 1945 The rise and fall of the Weimar Republic, 1918–33 The republic proclaimed early in the afternoon of Saturday, November 9, 1918, is often called the “accidental republic.” When Friedrich Ebert, the leader of the so-called Majority Socialists, accepted the imperial chancellorship from Max von Baden, it was with the understanding that he would do his utmost to save the imperial system from revolution. Ebert believed that the only way to accomplish this would be by transforming Germany into a constitutional monarchy. Elections would have to be held for a constituent assembly, whose task it would be to draw up a new constitution.
- World War II World War II, also called Second World War, conflict that involved virtually every part of the world during the years 1939–45. The principal belligerents were the Axis powers—Germany, Italy, and Japan—and the Allies—France, Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and, to a lesser extent, China. The war was in many respects a continuation, after an uneasy 20-year hiatus, of the disputes left unsettled by World War I.
- Anti-Semitism anti-Semitism, hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious or racial group. The term anti-Semitism was coined in 1879 by the German agitator Wilhelm Marr to designate the anti-Jewish campaigns under way in central Europe at that time. Although the term now has wide currency, it is a misnomer, since it implies a discrimination against all Semites. Arabs and other peoples are also Semites, and yet they are not the targets of anti-Semitism as it is usually understood.
- Nürnberg Laws Nürnberg Laws, two race-based measures depriving Jews of rights, designed by Adolf Hitler and approved by the Nazi Party at a convention in Nürnberg on September 15, 1935.
- Dictatorship Dictatorship, form of government in which one person or a small group possesses absolute power without effective constitutional limitations. The term dictatorship comes from the Latin title dictator, which in the Roman Republic designated a temporary magistrate who was granted extraordinary powers in order to deal with state crises.
German Propaganda Archive
- Bytwerk, R. (n.d.). Nazi and East German Propaganda. Retrieved from http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/Propaganda was central to Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic. The German Propaganda Archive includes both propaganda itself and material produced for the guidance of propagandists. The goal is to help people understand the two great totalitarian systems of the twentieth century by giving them access to the primary material.
Resources
- Public Broadcasting System. (2020). Interactive Timeline - Inside the Nazi State. Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/auschwitz/learning/timeline/1939.htmlExplore the extensive educational and outreach materials created to support the broadcast of Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State.
- Weiner Holocaust Library (2020). The Holocaust explained. Retrieved from https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/This website has been created to help learners understand the essential facts of the Holocaust, its causes and its consequences.