Nazis

A German political party of the twentieth century, led by Adolf Hitler . The Nazis controlled Germany from the early 1930s until the end of World War II . The party's full name in English is National Socialist German Workers' party; Nazi is short for its German name. Despite the word socialist in its name, it was a fascist party, requiring from its members supreme devotion to the German government — the Third Reich ( see fascism and socialism ). The Nazis rose to power by promising the people that Germany, which had been humiliated after World War I , would become powerful again. The Nazis opposed communism and free intellectual inquiry. Desiring to form a master race that would rule the world, they fought the influence in Germany of peoples not of “pure” descent. Their power was particularly directed at controlling Jews (see also Jews ) in Germany and in the countries that Germany conquered in war. After depriving Jews (see also Jews ) of their property and confining them in concentration camps , the Nazis employed the Final Solution of killing them in large numbers; an estimated six million Jews lost their lives ( see Holocaust ). Also marked for extermination were the mentally and physically handicapped and “enemies of the Reich” such as Slavs, communists , Gypsies , homosexuals, Christians (see also Christian ) who resisted the government, and defenders of intellectual freedom. The Nazis fought World War II to spread their principles worldwide but were defeated. Twenty-two of their leaders were convicted of war crimes at the Nuremberg trials . A great number of symbols (see also symbol ), images, and names are associated with the reign of the Nazis, including the swastika emblem; the stiff-armed salute; the greeting “heil Hitler”; the goose-step march; mass political rallies; concentration camps, such as Auschwitz and Dachau ; and Hitler's aides Adolf Eichmann , Joseph Goebbels , Hermann Goering , and Heinrich Himmler .