Here a Nazi, there a Nazi, everywhere ….an Iggy?

First, my apologies again for not posting last week. I have a variety of reasons and excuses, but ultimately it is what it is, and that’s that. I appreciate your patience and understanding.

Now, on to business!

At the risk of sounding like Andy Rooney, one of the things I find most irksome when reading the news is the ubiquitous misuse of the term “Nazi”. Evidently, everything and anyone can be a “Nazi”: We have feminazis, soup-nazis, Judeo-nazis, Islamic-nazis, liberal-nazis, ChatBot-nazis, and, of course, Neo-nazis. As a member of the American Nazi Party, and what I believe to be a true “Nazi”, I find this insulting. I suppose it’s a bit like how the Jews must feel when anyone else uses the term “Holocaust®” (registered trademark Shoah Scam, LLC, all rights reserved).

This misuse, combined with the inability of the modern media to go one day, literally, without talking about or using the word “Nazi” in some context finally got the better of my good nature and inspired me to examine the term “Nazi” in depth and write this post.

We’ll start with the obvious and where things stand today, and work backward: the term “Nazi” has become linguistic shorthand, most often used by the mentally challenged to stand-in for any real thought or opinion. It is easier to say, “Trump supporters are Nazis” than to say, “Many of those who support Trump seem to hold beliefs or exhibit traits which I disagree with.” Indeed, by playing the “Nazi” card, it immediately races to the end of the argument and forestalls further debate.

In fact, there is a linguistic “Law”, called Godwin’s law of Nazi analogies, which states: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.” Created by American attorney and author Mike Godwin in 1990, Godwin’s law originally referred specifically to Usenet newsgroup discussions. Later, it was applied to any threaded online discussion, such as Internet forums, chat rooms, and social-media comment threads, as well as to speeches, articles, and other rhetoric where reductio ad Hitlerum occurs (also known as playing the Nazi card). So pervasive is this rhetorical sloppiness that in 2012, Godwin’s law became an entry in the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. Now, many newsgroups and other Internet discussion forums have a tradition that, when a Nazi or Hitler comparison is made, the thread is finished and whoever made the comparison loses whatever debate is in progress.

But it is this connotation or implication of the word, as used, that is itself the problem: it is built on assumptions and lies created and propagated by the Jewish media. Ultimately, the term “Nazi” as used by them is shorthand for “evil”.

What’s interesting is that the use of the word “Nazi” as a pejorative is not new. Most of us assume that “Nazi” is a contraction of Nationalsozialistische. However, this appears not the be the case. According to a variety of sources, including The Etymologicon by Mark Forsyth, the term “Nazi” has long been a pejorative name for a Catholic from Southern Germany (Bavaria) and Austria, being contraction or derivation “Ignatius”, a common name in that time and place. Another version of the name was Naze. The closest English equivalent of “Nazi,” in this context, would be “Iggy.” And in the Protestant North, long before Hitler, “Nazi” or “Iggy” meant a Southern, Catholic German “hillbilly,” “rube,” “moron,” or “dimwit.” The first appearance of the word, in this context, is from a two-volume German dictionary by Johann Schmeller published in 1827. By the turn of the 19th century, the prevailing understanding of “Nazi” became that of the mindless hillbilly, as evidenced by dictionaries of the period. It is what Americans would refer to now as a “Bubba”.

In popular culture, the word engendered all kinds of comical expressions and jokes and was the go-to name for a bumbling crook in comical literature. Thus, around 1900, it was usual to hear the expression, dummer als Nazi (“dumb as Iggy”), or der tappet Nazi (“bumbling Iggy”), or Du bist tauber Nazi (“you deaf Iggy, you”). A comical, sarcastic response to someone being bossy was es ist recht, Nazi (“sure thing, Iggy”). Someone mentally handicapped, or acting like one, was called a Zapfe-Nazi (“retard-Iggy”).

Hitler retracing route of the “Beer Hall Putsch” in 1935.
This first attempt at seizing power occurred in Munich, Bavaria.

As it happened, Hitler and the early NSDAP really did come from the deep, Catholic South, from Bavaria and, of course, Hitler was originally from Austria, the very homeland of all “Iggys”. Their chosen name, The National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei ), was a gift to their opponents. All the old associations of the name “Nazi” were readily transferred to Hitler and his acolytes, who were thus essentially being called rubes, morons, and hillbillies, bumbling about trying to be astute politicians. The cabaret culture of the Weimar Republic had a field day.

It was because of this connotation that members of the NSDAP never called themselves “Nazis”. There was a brief attempt to appropriate the term by the NSDAP before the war, but it was abandoned. Hitler never used the word in his conversations. Herman Goering also avoided including the term in any of his speeches. The same could be said of over 550 members of the NSDAP who were interviewed by Professor Theodore Abel of Columbia University in 1933.

But of course, the rest of the world did. It spread as people emigrated from Germany into non-German speaking countries. Thus, the original connotation to them meant nothing. Instead, abroad, “Nazi Germany” came to mean one thing, and over time, one thing only: Hitler’s Germany and all it stood for.

The propaganda war continues, non-stop, to this day. Why? It keeps the Jews framed as victims”, and is a perpetual source of income.

And it is this change of meaning over time that is at the heart of the matter. “Nazi” is a pejorative to those who disagree with the teachings of Adolf Hitler and what he created— National Socialist Germany— and the general principals of National Socialism. Thanks to years and years of mind-numbing Jewish propaganda, the pejorative “Nazi” term evokes images of rabid fanatics and jackboots, barbwire and drooling automatons, and we end up back where we started: for these mental midgets, “Nazi” is shorthand for “evil” and a topic not open for debate, because that is how they regard Hitler’s Germany.

But for us, the meaning is the same but the connotation is different, becoming instead a complement and not a pejorative: for us, “Nazi” also means “National Socialist” and/or “Hitler’s Germany”, embracing what it stands for and the images it evokes as we see it: racial solidarity, law-and-order, strong families, pride in ones’ people and heritage, and a deep appreciation of all Adolf Hitler said and tried to achieve. For us, in a way, “Nazi” is also shorthand. It says, “I appreciate what Adolf Hitler said and tried to do for the White race, I believe in the struggle, and am likewise committed to it.” In short, we embrace what “Nazi” has come to mean.

It is because of this shift in meaning and dual connotations that George Lincoln Rockwell cleverly chose to call his Party the American Nazi Party. There have been questions over the years about why we use that name. The above should give you some idea, but there are specific, and other, answers too.

In This Time The World, Commander Rockwell speaks of some of the early challenges faced by the Party, not least of which being “getting the word out”, as well as breaking through the complacency and apathy increasingly afflicting White Americans. If you wanted to get your name in front of readers, if you wanted to get people’s attention, you needed “press”- you needed to be in the news:

“…the problem of the dramatic approach which would force the spreading of our propaganda by their [Jewish] media was something else. I was determined, of course, to set up a program which was essentially National Socialist — Nazi — but for a long time I toyed with the idea of ‘disguising’ it, as do most other rightwingers, by using some other name and a slightly different symbol. At that time, an openly ‘Nazi’ party seemed too fantastic even to think about.

Available on the Internet Archive

But then I began to reflect that the ultimate smear of the Jews was always, “You’re a Nazi!” And I wondered what it would be like to answer, “You’re damned right we’re Nazis.. I would also force the Jews to publish my propaganda in their press! Every time they would howl that I advocated ‘gas chambers’, people would be shocked, but they would also lose a tiny bit of their ‘fear of the Jews’ as the Bible calls the filthy terror inspired by these ‘apostles of tolerance’. If millions of people kept reading in the Jew press about a man who was not only an ‘anti-Semite’, but an open Hitlerite, a Nazi — and survived as such — the myth of Jewish invincibility would be smashed. The timid little people all over the country who have been silently and fearfully reading all this material designed to ‘wake them up’ all these years would begin to creep out of their closets. While the Jews were desperately busy combating me, the little fellows would become bolder and would begin to act more like their American forefathers. By being a Nazi, with the Swastika, I would also gather the only kind of people I wanted around me: the tough, dedicated idealists ready to fight for those ideals and give their lives, if necessary. And even more important, I would automatically scare off the millions of blabber- mouths, cowards, fools and crackpots which infest the rest of the ‘movement’. The Swastika would probably not bring me many supporters, but those who came would be men.” ~ GLR, This Time The World

It’s interesting to note above how Commander Rockwell himself equates “Nazi” with National Socialism: “a program which was essentially National Socialist — Nazi — …” I think that’s a key point. Likewise, the “shock value” of the Nazi moniker and use of the Swastika was aimed at cutting through the chaff, increasing awareness, and drawing to the Party those truly unafraid and committed to the cause. He feared that a lukewarm approach to National Socialism would attract only lukewarm followers, if the message reached them at all.

The American Nazi Party has carried this message forward into the 21st century. As our Party Chairman said on May 4, 2022:

One of the more vexing queries we get from uninformed minors and do-nothing anonymous detractors is why we utilize the ANP moniker. Why, they say, would we use The American Nazi Party instead of something with “National-Socialism” or just something with “pro-White” in the name?…

Ask the average American (apart from the typical European) what a “National Socialist” is…and they can’t honestly tell you! They are so politically illiterate that you will receive the response that NS is some sort of “Left-wing Red.” LOL! [But] They UNDERSTAND “NAZI”. Unlike other organizations that give a wink and a nod, whisper that “yeah, we’re really Nazis…”, the American Nazi Party doesn’t try to FOOL anyone. We are seeking those few who at this stage PROPERLY understand the National Socialist IDEOLOGY and are willing to advance it in a serious manner.

We also want to show the enemy, that while GLR is deceased, his party is alive and well!

George Lincoln Rockwell once stated that he would have called us the “Purple People Eaters Party”, IF that would advance our agenda…”

And in the FAQ section of our website, one finds the following:

Q: Why do you call yourselves “Nazis?” Are you white supremacists?

We are National Socialists, which is a term best understood by the population as “Nazi.” We do not consider ourselves supremacists, but rather as separatists- we believe that racial separation is best for all, White and non-White alike.

Q: Why use the term “Nazi” and the swastika? Would the Party be more successful if it did not use suchterms or imagery?

No. There is power in a symbol. A well-used symbol can communicate a thousand words. We are National-Socialists and not afraid to proclaim it. We will not edit our identity to be more palatable to the masses. By proclaiming who and what we are plainly we can attract the people who empathize with our cause. We offer a serious movement in need of dedicated activists, not costume parties in cheap SS uniforms.

All this being said, you will notice as you peruse the blog, my contributions to The White Worker publication, or listen to the podcast, that I use the term “National Socialist” much more often than “Nazi”, though I do use the word “Nazi” from time to time. There is method to my madness. It is a subtle attempt to re-appropriate the term “Nazi” from those who use it pejoratively and to more firmly establish the “National Socialist” connotation. To my mind, the two mean essentially the same thing, even if that originally was not the case in the 1930s. Word meanings change over time, and words are tools, and it is important to use the right tools for the job. In discussions involving political theory and history, philosophical foundations and beliefs, and underlying motivations and aspirations, the term “National Socialism” is appropriate, as it more fully describes what is being discussed.

But when asked openly or confronted unawares, when a lengthy discussion is not an option and cutting to the chase is the best course of action, I quote Commander Rockwell: “You’re damned right we’re Nazis!”

Amerika Erwache!

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One response to “Here a Nazi, there a Nazi, everywhere ….an Iggy?”

  1. Dan Schneider Avatar
    Dan Schneider

    I also read that before the NSDAP, the word Nazi was often used as a put down to agricultural workers and those in related fields. Related fields that applied might be millers, blacksmiths, cooperers (barrel makers) and the like. It was used in the same context that we use the word peon.

    Peon is a play on words. A peon is someone so low in society that we pee on them. It is also derived from the Spanish word peone (pay-O-nay) which basically means a low level member of society, usually in the agricultural field.

    Hitler’s thinking was that there should be no shame in being an agricultural worker. Without them, the rest of us would starve.

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