The 25 points of the NSDAP Program were composed by
Adolf Hitler and Anton Drexler. They were publically presented
on 24 February 1920 "to a crowd of almost two thousand and
every single point was accepted amid jubilant approval."
(Mein Kampf, Volume II, Chapter I)
Hitler explained their purpose in the fifth chapter of the second
volume of Mein Kampf:
Hitler was intent on having a community of mutual interest that desired
mutual success instead of one that was divided over the control of money
or differing values.
In these straightforward statements of intent, Hitler translated his
ideology into a plan of action which would prove its popularity with the
German people throughout the coming years. For many, the abruptness of
its departure from the tradition of politics as practiced in the
western world was as much of a shock as its liberal nature and foresight
of the emerging problems of western democracy.
The Programme of the German Workers' Party is designed to be of
limited duration. The leaders have no intention, once the aims announced
in it have been achieved, of establishing fresh ones, merely in order to
increase, artificially, the discontent of the masses and so ensure the
continued existence of the Party.
1. We demand the union of all Germany in a Greater Germany on the
basis of the right of national self-determination.
2. We demand equality of rights for the German people in its dealings
with other nations, and the revocation of the peace treaties of Versailles
and Saint-Germain.
3. We demand land and territory (colonies) to feed our people and
to settle our surplus population.
4. Only members of the nation may be citizens of the State. Only
those of German blood, whatever be their creed, may be members of the nation.
Accordingly, no Jew may be a member of the nation.
5. Non-citizens may live in Germany only as guests and must be subject
to laws for aliens.
6. The right to vote on the State's government and legislation shall
be enjoyed by the citizens of the State alone. We demand therefore that all
official appointments, of whatever kind, whether in the Reich, in the states
or in the smaller localities, shall be held by none but citizens.
We oppose the corrupting parliamentary custom of filling posts merely
in accordance with party considerations, and without reference to character
or abilities.
7. We demand that the State shall make it its primary duty to provide
a livelihood for its citizens. If it should prove impossible to feed the
entire population, foreign nationals (non-citizens) must be deported from
the Reich.
8. All non-German immigration must be prevented. We demand that
all non-Germans who entered Germany after 2 August 1914 shall be required
to leave the Reich forthwith.
9. All citizens shall have equal rights and duties.
10. It must be the first duty of every citizen to perform physical
or mental work. The activities of the individual must not clash with the
general interest, but must proceed within the framework of the community
and be for the general good.
We demand therefore:
11. The abolition of incomes unearned by work.
The breaking of the slavery of interest
12. In view of the enormous sacrifices of life and property demanded
of a nation by any war, personal enrichment from war must be regarded as a
crime against the nation. We demand therefore the ruthless confiscation of
all war profits.
13. We demand the nationalization of all businesses which have been
formed into corporations (trusts).
14. We demand profit-sharing in large industrial enterprises.
15. We demand the extensive development of insurance for old age.
16. We demand the creation and maintenance of a healthy middle
class, the immediate communalizing of big department stores, and their lease
at a cheap rate to small traders, and that the utmost consideration shall
be shown to all small traders in the placing of State and municiple orders.
17. We demand a land reform suitable to our national requirements,
the passing of a law for the expropriation of land for communal purposes
without compensation; the abolition of ground rent, and the prohibition of
all speculation in land. *
18. We demand the ruthless prosecution of those whose activities
are injurious to the common interest. Common criminals, usurers, profiteers,
etc., must be punished with death, whatever their creed or race.
19. We demand that Roman Law, which serves a materialistic world
order, be replaced by a German common law.
20. The State must consider a thorough reconstruction of our national
system of education (with the aim of opening up to every able and hard-working
German the possibility of higher education and of thus obtaining advancement).
The curricula of all educational establishments must be brought into line with
the requirements of practical life. The aim of the school must be to give the
pupil, beginning with the first sign of intelligence, a grasp of the nation of
the State (through the study of civic affairs). We demand the education of
gifted children of poor parents, whatever their class or occupation, at the
expense of the State.
21. The State must ensure that the nation's health standards are
raised by protecting mothers and infants, by prohibiting child labor, by
promoting physical strength through legislation providing for compulsory
gymnastics and sports, and by the extensive support of clubs engaged in
the physical training of youth.
22. We demand the abolition of the mercenary army and the foundation
of a people's army.
23. We demand legal warfare on deliberate political mendacity and
its dissemination in the press. To facilitate the creation of a German
national press we demand:
(a) that all editors of, and contributors to newspapers appearing in the
German language must be members of the nation;
(b) that no non-German newspapers may appear without the express permission
of the State. They must not be printed in the German language;
(c) that non-Germans shall be prohibited by law from participating financially
in or influencing German newspapers, and that the penalty for contravening
such a law shall be the suppression of any such newspaper, and the immediate
deportation of the non-Germans involved.
The publishing of papers which are not conducive to the national
welfare must be forbidden. We demand the legal prosecution of all those
tendencies in art and literature which corrupt our national life, and the
suppression of cultural events which violate this demand.
24. We demand freedom for all religious denominations in the State,
provided they do not threaten its existence not offend the moral feelings
of the German race.
The Party, as such, stands for positive Christianity, but does not
commit itself to any particular denomination. It combats the
Jewish-materialistic spirit within and without us, and is convinced that
our nation can achieve permanent health only from within on the basis of
the principle: The common interest before self-interest.
25. To put the whole of this programme into effect, we demand the
creation of a strong central state power for the Reich; the unconditional
authority of the political central Parliament over the entire Reich and
its organizations; and the formation of Corporations based on estate and
occupation for the purpose of carrying out the general legislation passed
by the Reich in the various German states.
The leaders of the Party promise to work ruthlessly -- if need be
to sacrifice their very lives -- to translate this programme into action.
* On April 13, 1928, Adolf Hitler clarified section seventeen in the programme
in order to stop political mischaracterizations: "Because of the mendacious
interpretations on the part of our opponents of Point 17 of the programme of
the NSDAP, the following explanation is necessary.: Since the NSDAP is
fundamentally based on the principle of private property, it is obvious
that the expression "confiscation without compensation" refers merely to
the creation of possible legal means of confiscating when necessary, land
illegally acquired, or not administered in accordance with the national
welfare. It is therefore directed in the first instance against the Jewish
companies which speculate in land.