Editing Nazi Party (section)

== Membership ==
=== General membership ===
{{Main|List of Nazi Party members}}
The general membership of the Nazi Party mainly consisted of the urban and rural [[lower middle class]]es. 7% belonged to the upper class, another 7% were [[peasant]]s, 35% were industrial workers and 51% were what can be described as middle class. In early 1933, just before Hitler's appointment to the chancellorship, the party showed an under-representation of "workers", who made up 30% of the membership but 46% of German society. Conversely, white-collar employees (19% of members and 12% of Germans), the self-employed (20% of members and 10% of Germans) and civil servants (15% of members and 5% of the German population) had joined in proportions greater than their share of the general population.{{sfn|Panayi|2007|p=40}} These members were affiliated with local branches of the party, of which there were 1,378 throughout the country in 1928. In 1932, the number had risen to 11,845, reflecting the party's growth in this period.{{sfn|Panayi|2007|p=40}}

When it came to power in 1933, the Nazi Party had over {{Nowrap|2 million}} members. In 1939, the membership total rose to 5.3 million with 81% being male and 19% being female. It continued to attract many more and by 1945 the party reached its peak of 8 million with 63% being male and 37% being female (about 10% of the German population of 80 million).{{sfn|McNab|2011|pp=22, 23}}{{sfn|The History Place|2015}}

=== Military membership ===
{{See also|Nazism and the Wehrmacht}}
Nazi members with military ambitions were encouraged to join the Waffen-SS, but a great number enlisted in the {{lang|de|Wehrmacht}} and even more were drafted for service after World War II began. Early regulations required that all {{lang|de|Wehrmacht}} members be non-political and any Nazi member joining in the 1930s was required to resign from the Nazi Party.

However, this regulation was soon waived and full Nazi Party members served in the {{lang|de|Wehrmacht}} in particular after the outbreak of World War II. The {{lang|de|Wehrmacht}} Reserves also saw a high number of senior Nazis enlisting, with [[Reinhard Heydrich]] and [[Fritz Todt]] joining the {{lang|de|[[Luftwaffe]]}}, as well as [[Karl Hanke]] who served in the army.

The British historian [[Richard J. Evans]] wrote that junior officers in the army were inclined to be especially zealous National Socialists with a third of them having joined the Nazi Party by 1941. Reinforcing the work of the junior leaders were the National Socialist Leadership Guidance Officers, which were created with the purpose of indoctrinating the troops for the "war of extermination" against Soviet Russia.{{sfn|Evans|1989|p=59}} Among higher-ranking officers, 29% were NSDAP members by 1941.{{sfn|Bartov|1986|p=49}}

=== Student membership ===
In 1926, the party formed a special division to engage the student population, known as the [[National Socialist German Students' League]] (NSDStB). A group for university lecturers, the [[National Socialist German University Lecturers' League]] (NSDDB), also existed until July 1944.

=== Women membership ===
The [[NS-Frauenschaft|National Socialist Women's League]] was the [[women's wing|women's organization]] of the party and by 1938 it had approximately 2 million members.

=== Membership outside Germany ===
Party members who lived outside Germany were pooled into the {{lang|de|Auslands-Organisation}} ([[NSDAP/AO]], "Foreign Organization"). The organisation was limited only to so-called "[[Imperial Germans]]" (citizens of the German Empire); and "Ethnic Germans" ({{lang|de|[[Volksdeutsche]]}}), who did not hold German citizenship were not permitted to join.

Under [[Beneš decrees|Beneš decree]] [[Beneš decrees#List of decrees|No. 16/1945 Coll.]], in case of citizens of Czechoslovakia membership of the Nazi Party was punishable by between five and twenty years of imprisonment.

==== ''Deutsche Gemeinschaft'' ====
{{lang|de|Deutsche Gemeinschaft}} was a branch of the Nazi Party founded in 1919, created for Germans with {{lang|de|[[Volksdeutsche]]}} status.{{sfn|Musiał|2009}} It is not to be confused with the post-war right-wing {{lang|de|{{Interlanguage link multi|Deutsche Gemeinschaft|de|3=Deutsche Gemeinschaft (Deutschland)}}}}, which was founded in 1949.

Notable members included:{{sfn|Rosar|1971|p=?}}{{Page needed|date=June 2020}}
* [[Oswald Menghin]] ([[Vienna]])
* [[Hermann Neubacher]] who was responsible for invading Yugoslavia.
* [[Rudolf Much]] ([[Vienna]])
* [[Arthur Seyß-Inquart]] ([[Vienna]])