If the Nazis were "nationalists" why didn't they stay within their boarders?

[George S]

Ironically (the world and its history are full of ironies) the Nazis adopted Jews' type of "Hebrew nation" chauvinism. According to Torah Moses created a Hebrew nation from Semitic Canaanite tribes descended from "Israel" (Jacob). HIs Mosaic laws formed one of the earlier civilizations whose ethics are foundations of modern western civilization.

Hitler and Himmler through the National Socialist German Workers' Party enhanced (I believe) Bismarck's mystique of a German nation formed from a looser Confederation of German States (older principalities). The irony is they wanted to form, and did, the kind of national spirit Moses had initiated among his Hebrew tribes thousands of years before.

Once that national spirit was instilled in the Germanic principalities the economic destruction from nearly universal overpopulation gave a good excuse, even reason, to evict all "non-Germans" from German territories. Again ironically, the Jewish nation typically keeping itself isolated from its host nations, was better assimilated in Germany than other places in Europe.

That didn't save them from being high on the list for eviction from German territory. When the Nazis found they couldn't get rid of all of them by intimidation they enslaved them and ultimately slaughtered them along with a similar number of other "inferior" (according to Nazis) people.

What began as an again necessary -- as it had been necessary around the world many times when populations began to exceed their lands' ability to support them at contemporary technology levels -- conquest for land and resources took on its own life. Like so many times before -- with the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Mongols, Turks, French, and British -- once advanced weapons and tactics easily conquered immediate objectives the victors said: "That was so easy lets take everything we can!"

So arrogantly failing to learn from Napoleon's blunders, Hitler repeated them almost exactly.

PS: "Nation" here means the true nation of related people, not the modern inaccurate use as a substitute for "country."

[Philip H]

That was just Another excuse for instituting Tyranny.
All Big Government Power leads to Tyranny. The only difference is the pathway chosen.
America's Founding Fathers knew that Fat LONG ago. That is why the Constitution Limits the power of Government. Still, Marxists and Despots of all sorts still think they have their totalitarinaism and Liberty too.
FOOLS!
In their systems, Liberty is only for the Elites.

[BekindtoAnimals22]

There was a strong Progressive movement in the early to mid 20th century in the US. They engaged in eugenics here and this is where Hitler got his ideas about the Aryan society. Hitler admired the US Progressives and Hitler was admired by the US for his success in turning the German economy around at least until he decided to engage in aggressive imperialism.

"After the eugenics movement was well established in the United States, it was spread to Germany. California eugenicists began producing literature promoting eugenics and sterilization and sending it overseas to German scientists and medical professionals.[4] By 1933, California had subjected more people to forceful sterilization than all other U.S. states combined. The forced sterilization program engineered by the Nazis was partly inspired by California's.[5]

The Rockefeller Foundation helped develop and fund various German eugenics programs, including the one that Josef Mengele worked in before he went to Auschwitz.[4][6]

Upon returning from Germany in 1934, where more than 5,000 people per month were being forcibly sterilized, the California eugenics leader C. M. Goethe bragged to a colleague:


"You will be interested to know that your work has played a powerful part in shaping the opinions of the group of intellectuals who are behind Hitler in this epoch-making program. Everywhere I sensed that their opinions have been tremendously stimulated by American thought . . . I want you, my dear friend, to carry this thought with you for the rest of your life, that you have really jolted into action a great government of 60 million people."[7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_eugenics

This has a lot to do with the acceptance of Darwin's theories. Any form of collectivism which requires a very strong central government has little regard for individuals on any level. Its all based on what is good for the "state" in the end even though the original appeal is a better life for "all".

[HILL]

It's rather simple actually. Nationalism and imperialism are not incompatible with each other. The Third Reich wanted the whole world to belong to the Germans. Thus, the only way they could feed their military machine was to enslave other nations.

The rest of your additional "details" have nothing to do with your question.