_1. Functions of the Party_
The third pillar of the Nazi state, the link between _Volk_ and Führer,
is the Nazi Party. According to Nazi ideology, all authority within the
nation is derived ultimately from the people, but it is the party
through which the people expresses itself. In _Rechtseinrichtungen und
Rechtsaufgaben der Bewegung_ (_Legal Organization and Legal Functions of
the Movement_) (document 8, _post_ p. 204), published in 1939, Otto
Gauweiler states:
The will of the German people finds its expression in the
party as the political organization of the people. It
represents the political conception, the political
conscience, and the political will. It is the expression and
the organ of the people's creative will to life. It
comprises a select part of the German people for "only the
best Germans should be party members" ... The inner
organization of the party must therefore bring the national
life which is concentrated within itself to manifestation
and development in all the fields of national endeavor in
which the party is represented.[60]
Gauweiler defines the relationship of the party to the state in the
following terms:
The party stands above and beside the state as the wielder
of an authority derived from the people with its own
sovereign powers and its own sphere of sovereignty ... The
legal position of the party is therefore that of a
completely sovereign authority whose legal supremacy and
self-sufficiency rest upon the original independent
political authority which the Führer and the movement have
attained as a result of their historical achievements.[61]
Neesse states that "It will be the task of National Socialism to lead
back the German people to an organic structure which proceeds from a
recognition of the differences in the characters and possibilities of
human beings without permitting this recognition to lead to a cleavage
of the people into two camps."[62] This task is the responsibility of
the party. Although it has become the only political party in Germany,
the party does not desire to identify itself with the state. It does
not wish to dominate the state or to serve it. It works beside it and
cooperates with it. In this respect, Nazi Germany is distinguished
from the other one-party states of Europe: "In the one-party state of
Russia, the party rules over the state; in the one-party state of
Italy, the party serves the state; but in the one-party state of
Germany, the party neither serves the state nor rules over it directly
but works and struggles together with it for the community of the
people."[63] Neesse contends that the party derives its legal basis
from the law inherent in the living organism of the German _Volk_:
The inner law of the NSDAP is none other than the inner law
of the German people. The party arises from the people; it
has formed an organization which crystallizes about itself
the feelings of the people, which seemed buried, and the
strength of the people, which seemed lost.[64]
Neesse states that the party has two great tasks--to insure the
continuity of national leadership and to preserve the unity of the
_Volk_:
The first main task of the party, which is in keeping with
its organic nature, is to protect the National Socialist
idea and to constantly renew it by drawing from the depths
of the German soul, to keep it pure and clear, and to pass
it on thus to coming generations: this is predominantly a
matter of education of the people.
The second great task, which is in keeping with its
organizational nature, is to form the people and the state
into the unity of the nation and to create for the German
national community forms which are ever new and suited to
its vital development: this is predominantly a matter of
state formation. These two tasks, one of which deals with
substance and the other with function, belong together. It
is as impossible to separate them as it is to split up the
party into organism and organization, form and content.[65]
Huber (document 1, _post_ p. 155) describes the tasks of the party in
similar terms. He states that the party is charged with the "education
of the people to a political people" through the awakening of the
political consciousness of each individual; the inculcation of a
"uniform political philosophy," that is, the teaching of Nazi
principles; "the selection of leaders," including the choice and
training of especially promising boys to be the Führers of the future;
and the shaping of the "political will of the people" in accordance
with the Führer's aims.[66]
The educational tasks of the party are stressed by Beck, who develops
the idea that the _Volk_ can be divided into three main groups, "a
supporting, a leading, and a creative class."[67] It is the duty of
the leading class, that is, the party, from which the creative class
of leaders is drawn, to provide for the education of the supporting
class.
Every member of the body of the people must belong to the
politically supporting class, that is, each one who bears
within himself the basic racial, spiritual, and mental
values of the people ... Here no sort of leading or creative
activity is demanded but only a recognition of the leading
and creative will ... Only those are called to leadership in
political life who have recognized the community-bound law
of all human life in purest clarity and in the all-embracing
extent of its validity and who will place all the powers of
their personal lives with the help of a politically moral
character in the service of the formation of community life
... From the politically leading class arise the politically
creative personalities. These are the mysterious elemental
forces which are beyond all explanation by human reason and
which through their action and by means of the living idea
within them give to the community of the people an
expression which is fresh, young, and eternal. Here is the
fulfilment of the highest and purest political humanity ...
The education of the socialist personality is essentially
the forming of the politically supporting class within the
German people and the encouragement of those political
tendencies which make a man a political leader. To educate
to political creativeness is just as impossible as to
educate to genius. Education can only furnish the spiritual
atmosphere, can only prepare the spiritual living-space for
the politically creative personality by forming a uniform
political consciousness in the socialistic personality, and
in the development of politically creative personalities it
can at the most give special attention to those values of
character and spirit which are of decisive importance for
the development of this personality.[68]
Goebbels in _The Nature and Form of National Socialism_ (document 2,
_post_ p. 170) emphasizes the responsibility of the party for the
leadership of the state:
The party must always continue to represent the hierarchy of
National Socialist leadership. This minority must always
insist upon its prerogative to control the state. It must
keep the way open for the German youth which wishes to take
its place in this hierarchy. In reality the hierarchy has
fewer rights than duties! It is responsible for the
leadership of the state and it solemnly relieves the people
of this responsibility. It has the duty to control the state
in the best interests and to the general welfare of the
nation.[69]
Dr. Frick, German Minister of the Interior, in his chapter in _Germany
Speaks_ indicates the exclusive position of the party in the Third
Reich:
National Socialist Germany, however, is not merely a unitary
state: it is also a unitary nation and its governance is
based on the principle of leadership ...
In National Socialist Germany, leadership is in the hands of
an organized community, the National Socialist Party; and as
the latter represents the will of the nation, the policy
adopted by it in harmony with the vital interests of the
nation is at the same time the policy adopted by the country
... The National Socialist Party is the only political party
in Germany and therefore the true representative of the
people ...[70]
To Dr. Ley, the party is identical with the Führer. As he wrote in the
_Angriff_ on April 9, 1942 (document 6, _post_ p. 184), "The National
Socialist Party is Hitler, and Hitler is the party."
The role of the party in legislation, in political matters, and in the
appointment of Government officials is indicated by the Führer's
decree of May 29, 1941,[71] as amplified by the order of January 16,
1942, concerning its execution.[72] (Document 9, _post_ p. 212). This
order provides that all legislative proposals and proposed laws and
decrees, as well as any proposed changes therein, must pass through
and receive the approval of the Party Chancelry.
_2. Party Membership_
Details concerning the qualifications and duties of party members are
contained in the _Party Organization Book_ for 1940 (document 7,
_post_ p. 186).
Membership is finally confirmed by the issuance of a
membership card or a membership book. Anyone who becomes a
party member does not merely join an organization but he
becomes a soldier in the German freedom movement and that
means much more than just paying his dues and attending the
members' meetings. He obligates himself to subordinate his
own ego and to place everything he has in the service of the
people's cause. Only he who is capable of doing this should
become a party member. A selection must be made in
accordance with this idea.
Readiness to fight, readiness to sacrifice, and strength of
character are the requirements for a good National
Socialist. Small blemishes, such as a false step which
someone has made in his youth, should be overlooked; the
contribution in the struggle for Germany should alone be
decisive. The healthy will naturally prevail over the bad if
the will to health finds sufficient support in leadership
and achievement. Admission to the party should not be
controlled by the old bourgeois point of view. The party
must always represent the elite of the people.[73]
German blood is one of the prerequisites for party membership. The
_Party Organization Book_ for 1940 (document 7, _post_ p. 186) also
states, "Only those racial comrades who possess German citizenship are
eligible for admission."[74]
Party members shall not exceed ten per cent of the German population
of the region. "The ideal proportion of the number of party members to
the number of racial comrades is set at ten per cent. This proportion
is to apply also to the individual Province [Gau]."[75]
_3. Pledges and Symbols of Allegiance_
Party members take an oath of loyalty to the Führer in the following
terms: "I pledge allegiance to my Führer, Adolf Hitler. I promise at
all times to respect and obey him and the leaders whom he appoints
over me."[76]
(a) The Hitler Salute
A pledge of allegiance to the Führer is also implied in the Nazi
salute, which is usually accompanied by the greeting, "Heil Hitler."
The phrase _mit deutschen Gruss_, which is commonly used as a closing
salutation in letters, is another form of the Hitler greeting. _Knaurs
Konversations-Lexikon_ (_Knaur's Conversational Dictionary_), published
in Berlin in 1934, contains the following definition:
_German greeting_, Hitler greeting: by raising the right
arm; used by the old Germans with the spear as a greeting of
arms _[Waffengruss]._ Communal greeting of the National
Socialists; introduced into general use in 1933.
That this greeting was used by the Nazis as early as 1923 is
demonstrated by a photograph which appeared in _Das Buch der NSDAP,
Werden, Kampf and Ziel der NSDAP_ (_The Book of the NSDAP, Growth,
Struggle, and Goal of the NSDAP_) by Walter M. Espe (Berlin, 1934),
illustration 34 (document 10, _post_ p. 214).
In the same book (page 23 in the supplement entitled "_Die NSDAP_")
the following distinction is made between the usual Nazi greeting and
the Storm Troopers' salute:
While the German greeting consists merely in raising the
right hand in any desired manner and represents rather a
general comradely greeting, the SA salute is executed, in
accordance with the specifications of the SA service
regulations, by placing the left hand on the belt and
raising the extended right arm.
The SA salute is to be given to all higher ranking leaders
of the SA and the SS and of the veterans' organization which
has been incorporated into the SA, as well as to the Army
and the national and security police forces.
The comradely German greeting is to be exchanged between all
equally ranking members of the SA and the SS and members of
a corresponding rank in the Army, the police, the veterans'
organization, the German air-sport league, the Hitler Youth,
the railway guards, and the whole membership of the party so
far as they are distinguishable by regulation uniforms.
(b) The Swastika
Early in its history the Nazi Party adopted the swastika banner as
its official emblem.[77] It was designed by Hitler himself, who wrote
in _Mein Kampf_:
I myself after countless attempts had laid down a final
form: a flag with a background of red cloth, having a white
circle, and, in its center, a black swastika....
As National Socialists we see our program in our flag. In
the _red_ we see the social idea of the movement, in the
_white_ the nationalistic idea, and in the _swastika_ the
fight for the victory of Aryan man and at the same time for
the victory of the idea of creative work, which in itself
always was and always will be anti-Semitic.[78]
The swastika banner came into general use after January 30, 1933 as a
symbol of allegiance to the Hitler regime, but not until two years
later was it made the German national flag by the Reich flag law of
September 15, 1935.[79] Another law, decreed on April 7, 1937,[80]
specified that:
The insignia which the NSDAP, its formations, and associated
organizations use for their officers, their structure, their
organization, and their symbols may not be used by other
associations either alone or with embellishments.
It is interesting to note that party regulations forbid members to use
passport photographs in which they appear in party uniform or wearing
party insignia and that party members are forbidden to discuss foreign
policy with foreigners unless they are officially designated by the
Führer to do so. The pertinent regulations read:
_Pass Photos on Identification Cards_
Members of the NSDAP must not use pass photos which show the
holder of any identification card in a uniform of the party
or of any of its formations. It is also forbidden to use as
pass photos pictures which show the person wearing a party
button.
* * * * *
_Conversations With Foreigners_
It is forbidden to all party members to engage in
discussions of foreign policy with foreigners. Only such
persons as have been designated by the Führer are entitled
to do so.[81]