On this day in 1920, the Nazi Party was founded

The National Socialist German Workers’ Party, more commonly known as the Nazi Party, was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945.

The party, infamous for executing around six million Jewish people was founded on February 24, 1920.

How the Nazi party was formed?

After World War I ended, Germany witnessed great political turmoil. The Treaty of Versailles (1919) imposed harsh terms on Germany, which had lost the war. In addition, the country saw the overthrow of its monarchy.

In its place arose the new Weimar Republic, a democratic government. Racist and antisemitic groups sprang up on the radical right. These groups opposed the Weimar Republic and the Treaty of Versailles and were against democracy, human rights, capitalism, socialism, and communism.

In September 1919, Hitler attended a meeting of one of these groups in Munich; the German Workers’ Party which sought to convert German workers away from Marxist Socialism.

In 1920, Hitler changed the Party’s name to the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. “National Socialism” was a racist and antisemitic political theory, which was developed in Hitler’s native Austria as the antithesis of Marxist Socialism and Communism.

In the same year, Hitler created a 25-point plan. Its arguments included rejecting the Versailles Treaty and urged the unification of all German people of "blood".

The program called for a Greater Germany ruled by a strong central state. Under the program, the country was to obtain new lands and colonies. The program would deny citizenship and rights to all non-Germans, particularly Jews.

The Nazi Party grew steadily under Hitler’s leadership. It attracted support from influential people in the military, big business, and society. The Party also absorbed other radical right-wing groups.

After Germany's surrender in World War 2, Nazism was as good as over. Although small neo-Nazi parties were found in many European countries as well as in the United States, Canada, Nazism as a mass movement was non-existent.