Nazism Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Etymology == [[File:NSDAP-Logo.svg|thumb|left|upright|Nazi Party badge emblem]] The full name of the Nazi Party was {{langnf|de|Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei|National Socialist German Workers' Party}} and they officially used the acronym NSDAP. The term "nazi" had been in use, before the rise of the NSDAP, as a colloquial and derogatory word for a backwards farmer or [[peasant]]. It characterised an awkward and clumsy person, a [[yokel]]. In this sense, the word ''Nazi'' was a [[hypocorism]] of the German male name ''Igna(t)z'' (itself a variation of the name [[Ignatius]])—Igna(t)z being a common name at the time in [[Bavaria]], the area from which the NSDAP emerged.<ref name=GottliebMorgensen2007/><ref name=HarperOED/> In the 1920s, political opponents of the NSDAP in the German [[labour movement]] seized on this. Using the earlier abbreviated term {{lang|de|Sozi}} for {{langnf|de|Sozialist|Socialist}} as an example,<ref>{{cite web|title=Nazi|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Nazi|website=[[Online Etymology Dictionary]]|access-date=18 August 2017}}</ref> they shortened the NSDAP's name, {{lang|de|Nationalsozialistische}}, to the dismissive "Nazi", in order to associate them with the derogatory use of the aforementioned term.<ref name=Lepage2009_9/><ref name=HarperOED/><ref name=Sourcebook/><ref name=DailyTelegraph23102011/><ref name=Seebold2002/><ref>''Nazi.'' In: Friedrich Kluge, [[Elmar Seebold]]: ''Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache.'' 24. Auflage, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/New York 2002, {{ISBN|3-11-017473-1}} ([http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Nazi Online Etymology Dictionary: ''Nazi'']).</ref> The first use of the term "Nazi" by the National Socialists occurred in 1926 in a publication by [[Joseph Goebbels]] called {{lang|de|Der Nazi-Sozi}} ["The Nazi-Sozi"]. In Goebbels' pamphlet, the word "Nazi" only appears when linked with the word "Sozi" as an abbreviation of "National Socialism".<ref>[[Joseph Goebbels|Goebbels, Joseph]] (1927) [https://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/nazi-sozi.htm "The Nazi-Sozi"], translated and annotated by Randall Bytwerk, [[Calvin College]] German Propaganda Archive</ref> After the NSDAP's rise to power in the 1930s, the use of the term "Nazi" by itself or in terms such as "[[Nazi Germany]]", "[[Nazi regime]]", and so on was popularised by German exiles outside the country, but not in Germany. From them, the term spread into other languages and it was eventually brought back into Germany after World War II.<ref name=Sourcebook/> The NSDAP briefly adopted the designation "Nazi" in an attempt to [[reappropriate]] the term, but it soon gave up this effort and generally avoided using the term while it was in power.<ref name=Sourcebook/><ref name=DailyTelegraph23102011/> In each case, the authors typically referred to themselves as "National Socialists" and their movement as "National Socialism", but never as "Nazis". A compendium of Hitler's conversations from 1941 through 1944 entitled ''[[Hitler's Table Talk]]'' does not contain the word "Nazi" either.<ref>[[Martin Bormann|Bormann, Martin]], compiler, et al., ''Hitler's Table Talk'', republished 2016</ref> In speeches by [[Hermann Göring]], he never uses the term "Nazi".<ref>See ''Selected Speeches of Field Marshal Hermann Goring''</ref> Hitler Youth leader [[Melita Maschmann]] wrote a book about her experience entitled ''Account Rendered''.<ref>[[Melita Maschmann|Maschmann, Melita]], ''Account Rendered: A Dossier On My Former Self'', originally published in 1963, republished in 2016, Plunkett Lake Press</ref> She did not refer to herself as a "Nazi", even though she was writing well after World War II. In 1933, 581 members of the National Socialist Party answered interview questions put to them by Professor [[Theodore Fred Abel|Theodore Abel]] from Columbia University. They similarly did not refer to themselves as "Nazis".<ref>{{cite book | url=https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/4087885 | title=Theodore Fred Abel papers}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page