1938–1945: Volksgemeinschaft

The concept of the Nazi Volksgemeinschaft—or “people’s community”—was based on a politics of deliberate inclusion and exclusion. It lay at the heart of the Nazi worldview. In consequence, the Volksgemeinschaft featured heavily in Nazi propaganda.

The Volksgemeinschaft was not invented by the Nazis but they did reinterpret it. The term now had several meanings, including denoting a racist “community of blood and destiny”. As a result, the state intervened in all areas of private and public life. In everyday life emphasis was placed on a “community of solidarity” with calls for unity and the willingness to make sacrifices.

Nazi policies promised “Aryan national comrades” advancement, work, integration and solidarity. One means of making this possible was the visible exclusion from the Volksgemeinschaft of other sections of the population. The reasons for this were not only racist, as was the case for Jews and Roma , but were also founded on people’s behaviour.

Inclusion and exclusion were used to define who was considered worthy of support:

The Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt (NSV, National Socialist People’s Welfare), for example, only supported people who conformed to the Nazi system. Registration and segregation were disguised as “welfare measures”: people from socially disadvantaged groups, those who were socially “conspicuous”, the unemployed, criminals, homosexuals, Schlurfs (“swing youths”), people with disabilities or learning difficulties etc. were labelled as “unworthy of the community” . They fell victim to Nazi policies—to “custody” in institutions, to attempts at “re-education”, to forced labour and to murder as part of the “euthanasia” programmes.