Nazism
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Nazism is a political movement that started in the 1920s. The word Nazi is a short for Nationalsozialist (supporter of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) in the German language. This means "National Socialist German Workers' Party". As a form of fascism, much of the philosophy of this movement was based on the racist idea that the Aryan race was superior to all others and had the greatest ability to survive. According to Nazism, inferior races had to be eradicated, especially Jews, Slavs and Roma. Adolf Hitler, the founder of Nazism, said that all the problems of Germany were the result of Jews plotting against the country. Hitler's Nazi party took over Germany by burning the Reichstag (German Parliament) building, and blaming it on their main oposition party to discredit them, so that they would then be the only large party left who counted in the Parliament. As soon as they had enough votes in this way, they immediately voted to give Hitler complete power over Germany. As leader of Germany, Hitler began occupying neighboring countries and making them part of Germany. When Germany attacked Poland, this started World War II.
In the Holocaust, millions of Jews and Roma from Germany and German-controlled countries were sent to concentration camps in Poland and Germany, where many were gassed to death. Some people do not believe this happened, and are known as Holocaust deniers. Millions of Polish and other Slavic people, Communists and other political rivals to the Germans, were worked to death as slave labor for the Nazi war effort.
In 1945, the Soviet Union invaded Berlin, and the National Socialists were defeated. During this invasion, Hitler shot himself in a bunker with his new wife, and some members of the party, not wanting to live in a world without National Socialism party, promptly ended their lives as well. While there has not been a Nazi state since 1945, there are still a few neo-Nazis in some countries.
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