CBSE Class 9 Answered

The basic tenets of the Nazi ideology were based in 'social Darwinism'. It was a theory based on the ideas of Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer. The Nazis held the view that humanity is divided in a social hierarchy. The top rung of this hierarchy was occupied by the 'Aryan race', i.e. the blond, blue eyed Nordic Germans, whereas the lowest rung was that of the Jews. All the other races were placed in the middle rungs.

The other aspect of Nazism was the concept of Lebensraum or living space. Hitler believed that the Germans had to acquire new territories for settlement. This would enhance the area of the mother country and at the same time enable the settlers to maintain an intimate link with their place of origin. It would also enhance the material resources and power of the German nation. The State was to physically eliminate all those citizens which were considered 'undesirable'. These included people of other races and even those 'Aryan Germans' who were physically or mentally challenged. Only the 'pure blooded' and healthy Nordic Aryans were to be retained by the State. All of this was to be done in order to maintain the racial purity and superiority of the Aryan race which was to conquer the world and master its resources. War was seen as an instrument to achieve this 'racial utopia'. Through war and territorial occupation of areas like Poland, the German State was to first segregate and then exterminate other 'unpure' races'.