1. The Defining Characteristics of Fascism
By: Brayden Carlson Sam Fath Skyler Sargeant

2. Powerful And Continuing Nationalism
The “Hitler Salute” is
originally from the Roman Salute
which was picked up by
Mussolini in Italy and later taken
by Hitler. It became mandatory
in 1926. It was an identifiable
system for all German's that
showed commitment to their
cause and to their leader, Hitler.
It is now universally associated
with Hitler’s Nazi Party.
“Anyone who sees and
paints a sky green and fields
blue ought to be sterilized.”
-Adolf Hitler

3. Disdain For The Recognition Of Human Rights
The Nazi’s disdain for human
rights is apparent in the concentration
camps. Those who didn’t comply with
the Nazis had to expect discrimination,
persecution, imprisonment and death.
Brutal enforcement against dissidents
and so called “subhuman beings” was
part of daily life of the Nazi/Aryan
system, common within the day to day
livings of the average German citizen.
People did not have the right to
express their beliefs about this
situation, nor did they have the right to
many of their basic rights such as the
right of free speech, freedom of
movement, and the freedom of media.
“Demoralize the enemy from within by
surprise, terror, sabotage, assassination.
This is the war of the future.”
- Adolf Hitler

4. Jewish and Ethnic Minorities As Scapegoats
To increase support in Nazi Germany
pre-WW2 the Nazi political party needed
to paint a public enemy for the common
people to focus their discontent and
problems on. This common enemy was the
Jews and other unpopular ethnic
minorities, such as gypsies, blacks and
homosexuals. Through this they were able
to gather a strong patriotism and sense of
nationalism against this common enemy.
“The heaviest blow which ever struck
humanity was Christianity; Bolshevism is
Christianity’s illegitimate child. Both are
inventions of the Jew.”
- Adolf Hitler

5. Military Supremacy
Hitler saw Nazi Germany as being at the centre of Europe and as the great power of
Europe, the nation needed a strong military. For two years, the German military expanded
in secret, and by March 1935, Hitler felt strong enough to go public on Nazi Germany's
military expansion - which broke the terms of the Versailles Treaty. The next step was
compulsory military conscription in Nazi Germany and that the army would be increased
to 550,000 men. Hitler stated, from even the 1920's, that he wanted "lebensraum" (or
living space) for the German people as a whole, wherever they existed. Hitler felt that to
be a strong nation they would need a strong army in order to expand and hold ground.
“Germany will either be a world
power or will not be at all.”
- Adolf Hitler

6. Rampant Sexism In Nazi Germany
A woman's role in Nazi Germany was that they
should be good mothers, bringing up children at home
while their husbands worked. From their earliest years,
girls were taught in schools that all good German
women married at a young age to a proper German
man and that the wife’s task was to keep a decent
home for her working husband and to have children. All
women - married or single – were told to have 4
children and that the fathers of these children had to
be "racially pure“. Women were not expected to wear
make-up or trousers and perms and hair dye was also
frowned upon. Only flat shoes were expected to be
worn. Women were discouraged from slimming as this
was considered bad for child birth and instead were
encouraged to have a well built figure. Women were
also discouraged from smoking, not because it was
linked to problems with pregnancies but because it was
considered non-German to do so. There were tax
reductions in Nazi Germany for woman that had a large
family and married women were excluded from civil
services and other professions, even employers were
encouraged to employ men opposed to women.
Abortion was restricted and birth control for Aryans
was condemned. They did it because of traditional
values, sexism, children and more jobs for men as
women filled their duties
Nazi Germany’s Slogan for a Female’s Role:
“Kinder, Küche, Kirche”
(Children, Kitchen, Church)

7. Censorship of the Media
Censorship ensured that Germans
could only see what the Nazi hierarchy
wanted people to see, hear what they
wanted them to hear and read only what the
Nazis deemed acceptable. The Gestapo dealt
with anyone who went outside of these
boundaries harshly and severely. Censorship
dominated the lives of the ordinary citizen in
Nazi Germany. With the Minister of
Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels creating a way
to influence the populous. Newspapers,
radio and all forms of media were put under
the control of the Nazi political party,
censoring what could be heard seen or read.
Anything that insulted the Nazi political
party’s control of party or tried to usurp
their power was dealt with by the Gestapo.
“If you tell a big enough lie and tell it
frequently enough, it will be believed.”
- Adolf Hitler

8. Obsession with National Security
After the fire that burnt down the
Reichstag, Hitler immediately declared that it
was the signal for a communist takeover of
the nation. Hitler knew that if he was to
convince President Hindenburg to give him
emergency powers - as stated in the Weimar
Constitution - he had to play on the fear of
communism, and this fear for national
security is the original cause for Hitler coming
to power. He employed people to monitor
each street, building complex etc. with the
sole purpose of keeping an eye on others in
their 'area' and reporting them to the
authorities if they believed that something
was amiss or was a threat to their power. All
the Nazis’ major opponents were killed,
exiled or put in prison by the Gestapo and
sentenced to the Concentration camps.
"The leader of genius must have the ability
to make different opponents appear as if
they belonged to one category.“
- Adolf Hitler

9. Religion and Government Are Intertwined
The greatest threat to Hitler was
religion - a belief stronger than Nazism.
Hitler tried to make a peace with the
churches claiming that he was catholic on
some occasions. Many Christians refused to
accept the Nazi ideas and some died for
their beliefs. However, others were
prepared to accept Nazi ideas, especially
when Hitler set up a Reich Church and the
swastika and the cross were put side by
side. This shows how they were finally at
peace and had come to an agreement.
Hitler used Christian vocabulary. He talked
about the blessing of the almighty and how
the Christian beliefs would become pillars
of the new state. He handed out deeply
religious stories to the press, especially the
church papers. It was reported, for
example, the he showed his tattered Bible
to some deaconesses and declared that he
drew from the strength for his great work
from the word of God.
“It is always more difficult to fight
against faith than against knowledge.”
- Adolf Hitler

10. Protection of Corporate Power
In Nazi Germany the split of power in the
economic system is balanced towards the
powerful and wealthy. The Nazi party needed
the support of the high class in their rise
towards power and by creating economic rules
that cater towards the wealthy and powerful
they were able to acquire this and keep it. The
goal of Germany’s economic was to make
several poor country’s rely upon Nazi Germany
for trade, providing Germany with a constant
influx of goods and a stable economy pre-war.

11. Labor Power Is Suppressed
The Gestapo secret police of Nazi Germany was
very effective at not only quelling any possible threat to
their power, but inspiring fear so that these kind of
problems would not start. This prevented many uprisings
of the worker class. In addition to this unions were not
allowed due to the power that they had in uniting the
working class as a single power towards the government.
There were state-run labor groups however they were
highly censored and controlled by the government.

12. Disdain for Intellectuals And The Arts
In Nazi Germany any art that was not
approved of by the Third Reich was either
destroyed or not allowed. According to Hitler
true art was “Artists who are able to impress
upon the State of the German people the
cultural stamp of the Germanic race... in their
origin and in the picture which they present
they are the expressions of the soul and the
ideals of the community." The artist’s were
required to create art that portrayed the
German’s in either glorified war scenes, or
anything that painted the Nazi’s cause as
honorable and just. Art was largely used as a
form of propaganda.
“By the skilful and sustained use of propaganda,
one can make a people see even heaven as hell
or an extremely wretched life as paradise.”
- Adolf Hitler

13. Obsession with Crime and Punishment
The Nazi party set up a secret
police force called the Schutzstaffel
abbreviated SS. The SS was made for
personal protection of Adolf Hitler.
As such, the SS had a lead role in the
“Final Solution”, the extermination
of the Jewish and other inferior
races, killing approximately 12
million people. The SS had almost
unlimited power in Nazi Germany to
accomplish whatever it is they felt
that they needed to do, killing and
kidnapping countless people. The
average citizen looked over this
offense in the name of patriotism
which was mainly a result of the
strong propaganda of the time.
“The great strength of the
totalitarian state is that it forces
those who fear it to imitate it.”
- Adolf Hitler

14. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
In Nazi Germany, Cronyism was used to great effect to satisfy the politically powerful
and wealthy. By electing people to high-ranking positions in his army/political structure
Hitler was able to get the support of many, ensuring that there was little opposition to his
power. With most Fascist and Totalitarian nations there was also a unfair distribution of
wealth to the select few, giving funds for extravagant projects and etc.
“Any alliance
whose purpose
is not the
intention to
wage war is
senseless and
useless.”
- Adolf Hitler

15. Fraudulent Elections
In Nazi Germany due to the enabling act there was almost no
fairness in the political system. The enabling act allowed the
Nazi party and Hitler to be the single totalitarian power, and
allowed him to move away from the Weimar Constitution.
Hitler then systematically destroyed all opposition to his
political party by abolishing the communist party and other
key opponents from the political system. The other political
party’s were firmly encouraged to disband. With these events
Nazi Germany became a single party state, with complete
control over the voting process and who led the country.
Communists 4.8 million votes
Social Democrats 7.2 million votes
Centre party 5.5 million votes
Nationalists 3.1 million votes
Other parties 1.4 million votes
Nazis 17.3 million votes
“The victor will never be
asked if he told the truth.”
- Adolf Hitler

16. References
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