The NSDAP was originally just the DAP (German Worker’s Party) started by Anton Drexler, who, while was anti-capitalist, was also anti-communist, and incredibly antisemitic.
Hitler joined the party in 1919, after his return from WW1, he was put on intelligence recon duty to observe the party (which was already making waves with their rhetoric, enough that the Weimar Republic considered them an internal element that required constant observation), liked the ideals of Drexler, and slowly pushed the party to be more nationalistic.
And mind you this was during a time where most Germans were… quite unhappy. Similar to today, they wanted quick and easy wins, as they just came out of a war most Germans didn’t want (it was the nobility of the German Empire that pushed for it), having lost said war, with sizeable reparations to be paid, tons of territory cut off… the Republic needed to raise taxes on already strained people, people who mostly thought the Versailles treaty was unfair and overly strict. A nationalism wave was essentially unavoidable at that point - and followed in pretty much all the other Central Power countries due to the same treaty and its effects.
Hitler’s push to make the DAP nationalistic and “socialist” was to appeal to the workers even more - because socialism IS appealing to most workers, especially in shitty economical situations where the blame can be directly put on Big Money.
And while it’s true that at its beginnings the NSDAP used socialist talking points, it’s also important to point out that the moment Hitler gained actual power, his literal first move was to clean out all the socialists, communists, and anyone else with even just fleeting views you could consider as socialist, during the Night of Long Knives…
A bit more in detail:
The NSDAP was originally just the DAP (German Worker’s Party) started by Anton Drexler, who, while was anti-capitalist, was also anti-communist, and incredibly antisemitic.
Hitler joined the party in 1919, after his return from WW1, he was put on intelligence recon duty to observe the party (which was already making waves with their rhetoric, enough that the Weimar Republic considered them an internal element that required constant observation), liked the ideals of Drexler, and slowly pushed the party to be more nationalistic.
And mind you this was during a time where most Germans were… quite unhappy. Similar to today, they wanted quick and easy wins, as they just came out of a war most Germans didn’t want (it was the nobility of the German Empire that pushed for it), having lost said war, with sizeable reparations to be paid, tons of territory cut off… the Republic needed to raise taxes on already strained people, people who mostly thought the Versailles treaty was unfair and overly strict. A nationalism wave was essentially unavoidable at that point - and followed in pretty much all the other Central Power countries due to the same treaty and its effects.
Hitler’s push to make the DAP nationalistic and “socialist” was to appeal to the workers even more - because socialism IS appealing to most workers, especially in shitty economical situations where the blame can be directly put on Big Money.
And while it’s true that at its beginnings the NSDAP used socialist talking points, it’s also important to point out that the moment Hitler gained actual power, his literal first move was to clean out all the socialists, communists, and anyone else with even just fleeting views you could consider as socialist, during the Night of Long Knives…