NSDAP

National Socialist German Workers' Party

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NSDAP - Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei

National Socialist / Fascist / Völkisch

At a Glance

  • Founded: 1920 (reorganized after failed 1923 coup)
  • Reichstag Seats: 12 / 491 (2.4%) - MARGINAL
  • Support Base: Bavarian völkisch nationalists, disaffected across classes
  • Stance on Republic: Seeks total destruction - establish dictatorship
  • Leader: Adolf Hitler (Der Führer) - NOT a German citizen
  • Paramilitary: SA (Sturmabteilung/Storm Troopers) - ~60,000 members

⚠️ Currently Marginal - But Growing

With only 12 seats (2.4% of the vote) in 1928, mostly limited to Bavaria, the NSDAP is a radical fringe with no real ability to influence Germany's future.

Or so most Germans believe.

But the party has reason for optimism:

  • Mussolini in Italy serves as a model for fascist success
  • Elite SS unit gives professional image vs. thuggish SA
  • Campaign against Young Plan gains new credibility (allied with DNVP)
  • Great Depression makes many wonder if Germany needs radical solutions
  • Strategic shift: downplaying anticapitalism to court middle class and elites

Who We Are

The NSDAP belongs to an entirely new type of ideology—a racialized version of the fascism of Italy's Benito Mussolini. We initially attracted followers of the far-right völkisch nationalist milieu and the anticommunist Freikorps paramilitary culture.

Unlike traditional conservatives, however, the NSDAP appeals to the working class. Our left wing employs anti–big business, antibourgeois, and anticapitalist rhetoric. Yet, after a failed coup in 1923, and no discernible inroads into the Marxist parties' supporters, the NSDAP recently began downplaying its anticapitalism to gain the support of elites and the middle class.

What Makes Us Different

Now, a chauvinistic revanchist nationalism stressing antisemitism blends with anti-Marxist themes. We relentlessly denounce everything related to defeat in 1918—Marxism, the Republic, the Treaty of Versailles. We call for the execution of the November criminals.

We claim to stand above party politics—the NSDAP does not even like to call itself a party, likening itself instead to a "national movement."

The Führer Principle

At the top of the NSDAP is the führer, war veteran Adolf Hitler, who ostensibly holds full command over the party. Unlike other parties with internal democracy, we follow the Führerprinzip (Leader Principle):

  • Absolute authority flows from Hitler downward
  • No votes, no debates - Hitler decides
  • Each level of organization has its own führer who commands those below
  • Unity of command prevents the chaos of parliamentary democracy
  • The führer embodies the will of the Volk (people)

Adolf Hitler's Legal Status

IMPORTANT: Hitler is not a German citizen. He was born in Austria-Hungary, though he fought in the German army in the war and renounced his Austrian citizenship in 1925. He is technically stateless.

Legal consequences:

  • Cannot sit in the Reichstag
  • Cannot run for president
  • CAN be appointed chancellor (loophole: chancellor need not be citizen or Reichstag member)

The Legality Strategy

After the failed Munich Putsch (1923), we adopted a strategy of "legality":

  • Official policy: Disavow violent revolution; pursue power through elections
  • Practice: SA continues street violence but "unofficially"
  • Goal: Use democracy to destroy democracy from within
  • Hitler's promise: "We will enter legal organizations and make our party a factor. When we have the numbers, we will legally possess the constitutional right to overthrow the existing order."

Translation: We'll use the Republic's rules to gain power, then abolish those rules once we're in control.

Core Beliefs

Racial Antisemitism (Biological)

Jews are not a religion or culture—they are a biologically destructive race. This is the core of our ideology:

  • Jews are a parasitic race that lives off host nations
  • Cannot assimilate: Jewishness is genetic, unchangeable
  • International Jewish conspiracy: Control finance, Marxism, democracy, media
  • Racial pollution: Jews "contaminate" German blood through intermarriage
  • November criminals: Jews orchestrated the "stab in the back" that lost the war
  • The "Jewish Question" requires a racial solution: Removal from German society

Note: This differs from DNVP's cultural antisemitism, which allows assimilation. We see Jews as biologically unchangeable enemies.

Völkisch Nationalism

Germany is defined by blood and soil (Blut und Boden), not citizenship:

  • The Volk: A racial community of ethnic Germans
  • One people, one Reich, one leader: All Germans united under the führer
  • Lebensraum (living space): Germany needs territory in the East for expansion
  • Racial hierarchy: Aryans superior; Slavs inferior; Jews enemies
  • Elimination of "aliens": Jews, Gypsies, others have no place in Germany

Destruction of Versailles

The treaty is a criminal diktat that must be totally destroyed:

  • No reparations: Not one mark to our enemies
  • Recover all lost territories: Especially Polish Corridor, Alsace-Lorraine
  • Rearmament: Rebuild military without limits
  • War guilt is a lie: Germany was betrayed, not defeated
  • Jews and Marxists caused defeat: Stab in the back must be avenged

Anti-Marxism

Marxism is a Jewish conspiracy to destroy nations:

  • Marx was a Jew: Communism is Jewish ideology
  • Class conflict is a lie: National unity, not class struggle
  • SPD and KPD must be destroyed: Physical elimination if necessary
  • Trade unions replaced: By Nazi-controlled "Labor Front"
  • November Revolution was betrayal: Marxists stabbed Germany in the back

Fascist Dictatorship

Democracy is weak, chaotic, and Jewish. We offer:

  • Führerstaat: Führer has absolute authority
  • One-party state: NSDAP is the only legal party
  • Total control: Media, education, culture, economy—all coordinated
  • Elimination of opposition: Concentration camps for enemies
  • Militarized society: Discipline, order, obedience

"Socialism" in National Socialism

Our "socialism" is not Marxist class conflict. It means:

  • National community (Volksgemeinschaft): Classless racial unity
  • "Common good before individual good": Submit to the nation
  • Aryanization: Remove Jews from business; give to "Aryans"
  • Labor dignity: Workers valued but controlled
  • Anti-capitalist rhetoric (for workers): Attack "Jewish finance capital"
  • Pro-capitalist practice (for elites): Preserve private property for "Aryans"

Translation: We use socialist language to appeal to workers but will preserve capitalism for German businessmen.

Internal Divisions

Despite the Führerprinzip, internal tensions exist between left (socialist) and right (capitalist-friendly) wings.

Strasser Wing (Left / "Socialist")

Leaders: Gregor Strasser, Ernst Graf zu Reventlow

Position: Take the "socialist" part seriously

Policies:

  • Nationalize big industry
  • Land reform (break up estates)
  • Anti-capitalist economics
  • Create People's Army (replace Reichswehr)
  • Appeal to workers
  • Ally with Italy, even Soviet Union, against Western capitalism

Support: SA rank-and-file, northern Germany, working-class Nazis

Hitler / Göring Wing (Right / Capitalist-Friendly)

Leaders: Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring, Joseph Goebbels

Position: Downplay socialism to win elite support

Policies:

  • Preserve private property (for "Aryans")
  • Court industrialists for funding
  • Focus on antisemitism, nationalism, anti-Marxism
  • "Aryanization" not nationalization (take from Jews, give to Germans)
  • Appeal to middle class fear of communism

Support: Hitler loyalists, SS, Munich headquarters, wealthy backers

Hitler's Balancing Act

Hitler needs both wings:

  • Left wing: Provides mass appeal to workers; energizes SA street fighters
  • Right wing: Attracts funding from industrialists; reassures middle class

His solution: Ambiguity. Use socialist rhetoric publicly while promising capitalists privately that property rights will be safe. Focus on what unites both wings: antisemitism, nationalism, anti-Marxism.

Long-term: Once in power, Hitler will likely purge the left wing (Strasser faction) to consolidate elite support.

Key Figures in the Reichstag

Hermann Göring

Faction Leader; War Hero

The charismatic faction leader, a popular and highly decorated war hero and flying ace from the war, he has been with the party since its earliest days and was wounded at Hitler's side during the failed Munich Putsch.

Role: Leads NSDAP delegation in Reichstag (Hitler can't serve as non-citizen). Provides respectability—aristocratic connections, war hero status.

Position: Right wing. Pro-capitalist. Focused on winning elite support.

Gregor Strasser

Northern Leader; Socialist Wing

A leader in north Germany, war veteran, head of the SA and NSDAP trade unions, he represents a left wing that takes the working-class elements of the party seriously; he also calls for the creation of a People's Army to replace the Reichswehr.

Power base: Northern Germany (Berlin, Ruhr). Popular with SA. Organizes Nazi trade unions.

Tension with Hitler: Sometimes challenges Hitler's authority. Advocates genuine socialism. May be too independent for führer's taste.

Joseph Goebbels

Berlin Gauleiter; Propaganda Genius

Though he joined only in 1924, he has established himself as a leader of the Berlin branch of the party; his inflammatory speeches are extremely popular with the local Brownshirts and he is fiercely loyal to Hitler in Munich.

Talent: Master propagandist. Understands modern media. Brilliant speaker and writer.

Evolution: Started in Strasser camp but switched to total Hitler loyalty. Now right wing, downplays socialism.

Wilhelm Frick

First NSDAP Minister in Germany

A former faction leader, now about to be the first NSDAP member to hold a ministerial office in Germany as education and interior minister of the state of Thuringia, he has a reputation for making aggressive antisemitic speeches.

Significance: Proves NSDAP can govern. Will use Thuringia ministry to implement Nazi education policies, ban "degenerate" art, etc.

Werner Willikens

Agrarian Specialist

A farmer by upbringing and the party's most popular man within the agrarian constituencies, his goal is to unite the various farming parties into a common front behind the NSDAP.

Strategy: Appeal to small farmers with promises of debt relief, land redistribution (from Jews), protection from foreclosure.

Ernst Graf zu Reventlow

Naval Expert; Left Wing

A nobleman, expert on naval affairs, and widely read publicist, he epitomizes the power constituency within the party around Strasser who believe that the socialism aspect of the party must take precedence.

Franz Xaver Ritter von Epp

Freikorps Leader; SA Commander

An officer and veteran of the war as well as leader of right-wing Freikorps in Bavaria after the war, he currently is closely associated with the violent wing of the SA.

Background: Crushed Bavarian Soviet Republic (1919). Experienced in street violence and paramilitary tactics.

Walter Buch

Party Disciplinarian

A military man by training, he joined the party immediately after his demobilization after 1918, and now inside the party he heads the powerful Inquiry and Mediation Board that maintains party discipline and loyalty to Hitler.

Role: Internal enforcer. Investigates "disloyalty." Ensures Führerprinzip is obeyed.

Goals and Strategy

What We Want

Immediate Goals (1929-1932)

  • Massive electoral growth: From 2.4% to 20%+ (exploit economic crisis)
  • Win middle class: Downplay socialism, emphasize anti-Marxism and order
  • Win farmers: Debt relief, anti-Semitic scapegoating, "blood and soil"
  • Legitimacy through DNVP alliance: Young Plan campaign makes us "respectable"
  • Destabilize Republic: Street violence, parliamentary obstruction, create chaos
  • Build SA: Expand paramilitary to dominate streets
  • Legal path to power: Win elections, then destroy democracy from within

Long-Term Vision

  • Seize total power: Hitler as dictator (Führer und Reichskanzler)
  • One-party state: Ban all other parties
  • Eliminate Jews: Remove from German society entirely
  • Destroy Marxism: Physical elimination of SPD/KPD leadership
  • Total coordination (Gleichschaltung): Control all institutions
  • Rearm Germany: Rebuild military for expansion
  • Lebensraum: Conquer territory in Eastern Europe
  • Racial state: Society organized by blood, not class or citizenship
  • Thousand Year Reich: Permanent Nazi empire

The Dual Strategy

⚠️ Legal Facade, Violent Reality

Official policy ("legality strategy"):

  • Pursue power through elections
  • Disavow revolutionary violence
  • Promise to work within constitutional framework
  • Hitler: "We will come to power legally"

Actual practice:

  • SA continues street violence ("unofficially")
  • Disrupt opponent rallies, beat communists, intimidate voters
  • Hitler winks at violence while publicly condemning it
  • Goal: Use legality to gain power, then abolish legality

"Legality" is a tactic, not a principle. Once we have power, the constitution becomes irrelevant.

Relationships with Other Factions

Faction Relationship Notes
DNVP Allied (tactical) Hugenberg allies with us for Young Plan campaign; we use their respectability; plan to discard them later
Stahlhelm Rivals / potential allies Both right-wing paramilitaries; compete for same base; could merge if we absorb them
Agrarian parties Targets for conversion Small farmers desperate; our antisemitism + debt relief appeals to them
Camarilla Complicated Hindenburg dislikes Hitler (vulgar); von Schleicher may try to use us; we may use them
Centre / BVP Enemies Political Catholicism opposes pagan nationalism; BVP violently anti-Nazi; cannot work together
DVP / DDP / WP Enemies Bourgeois parties; too moderate; we'll destroy them once in power
SPD MORTAL ENEMIES Marxist "November criminals"; social fascists; will be eliminated when we take power
KPD MORTAL ENEMIES BUT... Bolshevik scum; BUT sometimes vote together against Republic; "After Hitler, their turn" (they think)

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

  • Economic crisis helps us: Desperation drives people to extremism; unemployment = recruitment
  • Dynamic movement: Young, energetic; sense of action vs. stale parties
  • Modern propaganda: Goebbels masters radio, film, mass rallies
  • Cross-class appeal: Workers (left wing) + middle class (anti-communism) + farmers (debt relief)
  • SA dominates streets: 60,000+ fighters; can intimidate opponents
  • DNVP alliance: Hugenberg gives us legitimacy and media access
  • Simple message: Blame Jews, Marxists, Versailles for everything; promise strong leadership
  • Führer cult: Hitler as charismatic savior; fanatic loyalty

Weaknesses

  • Currently marginal: Only 12 seats; seen as radical fringe
  • Limited to Bavaria: Little support in northern/urban Germany (yet)
  • Failed coup stigma: 1923 Beer Hall Putsch discredited us
  • Hitler stateless: Can't run for president or sit in Reichstag
  • Internal divisions: Strasser vs. Hitler on economics; could split
  • Violence backfires: SA thuggery alienates respectable middle class
  • Extremist reputation: Most Germans find us too radical
  • BVP opposition: In Bavaria, conservative Catholics block us
  • Reichswehr suspicious: Military sees us as undisciplined rabble
  • Funding limited: Not yet backed by major industrialists

Playing the NSDAP

Your Position in the Game

You start as a marginal, radical fringe party with only 12 seats. Most players will dismiss you as irrelevant extremists.

Your challenge: Prove them wrong.

You must grow from 2.4% to 20%+ by exploiting:

  • Economic crisis
  • Fear of communism
  • Resentment of Versailles
  • Antisemitic scapegoating
  • Desire for "strong leadership"

Strategic Considerations

The Legality Strategy

You must maintain the facade of legality while using violence strategically.

In the Reichstag:

  • Give fiery speeches but don't call explicitly for revolution
  • Vote against everything (unless tactically useful)
  • Obstruct, disrupt, create chaos
  • Walk out dramatically to show contempt

On the streets:

  • SA beats up communists, disrupts rallies
  • Hitler publicly "condemns" violence (wink wink)
  • "We were just defending ourselves from Marxist attack"
  • Goal: Intimidate opponents while maintaining deniability

The Strasser Problem

Your party contains incompatible visions:

Short-term: Keep both wings. You need workers (Strasser) and funding (Hitler).

Long-term: If you take power, Hitler will likely purge Strasser to consolidate elite support.

Key Decisions

Victory Objectives

Your specific victory objectives will be on your role sheet, but generally the NSDAP seeks:

Historical Reality Check

In actual history, the NSDAP grew from 2.6% (1928) to 18.3% (1930) to 37.3% (July 1932) by exploiting the Depression.

Can you replicate this growth? Or will players recognize the threat and stop you before you become unstoppable?

Remember: Everyone underestimated Hitler. Don't let them underestimate you.