Are There Still Nazis Today?

Nazi Germany exported the villainous philosophy of Nazism to every corner of Europe during its attempt to purge the world of Jews, torturing and enslaving them. During this process, there were many local collaborators who acted out of fear to support the Nazis. However, very few people outside of Germany adopted the Nazi racial philosophy. When Nazism was expunged from Germany, its grip on the world loosened a great deal.
 
However, there are still some pockets of people around the world who loudly support Nazi racism for one reason or another. Many Holocaust deniers fall into this category and believe that Hitler was a “great leader” whose reputation has been unfairly tarnished. Despite all of the many pieces of evidence that establish the truth about the Holocaust, they remain in support of this dictator, though they may not refer to themselves as Nazis.
 
In Germany today, acting in accordance with Nazi belief is punishable by fines or jail time. Nazi memorabilia and paraphernalia can be seized by the government. In effect, it is impossible to build a “movement” upon the former tenets of Nazism. Elsewhere in the world, however, there are still those who actively adhere to the Nazi Party’s core beliefs.
 
Some hate groups in the United States and throughout Europe actively portray themselves as the heirs to the Nazi ideology. They may call themselves “Nazis” in one form or another and preach a program of racial hatred. This is often referred to as “race purity,” enforcing distinctions and separations between one group of races and another. In accordance with the historical precedent, many such Nazis consider “Aryan” people to superior to others.
 
As of right now, there is no organized Nazi movement that threatens to seize power in the same way that the original movement did. However, the seeds of racial hatred remain strewn all over the world. This is one reason why it is very important to retain the memory of the Holocaust and its truths.
 
Likewise, there are “fascist” political parties and movements in many countries, although they do not refer to themselves as Nazis. These movements threaten to restore the specter of anti-democratic violence and oppression to the political systems in which they work, just as the original Nazi Party dismantled German democracy using its own tools.
 
Nazism today does not look like the Nazism of yesterday, and does not use the same symbols or uniforms, but everyone must be attentive to its dangers and say “never again.”