Zusammenfassung: This study is the first to analyze both the Nazi party's membership development and composition and the motives for joining and the exoneration strategies of former party members chosen during the denazification process.

Zusammenfassung: Cover -- Half Title -- Series Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Foreword -- 1 Who was Allowed to Become an NSDAP Member? -- 1.1 The "Historical Minority" -- 1.2 From the Movement Phase to the Regime Phase -- 1.3 Recording Practice in the Movement Phase -- 1.4 The Membership Number Counts -- 1.5 Admission Practice Between 1933 and 1937 -- 1.6 Special Actions -- 1.7 Extensive Opening 1937 -- 1.8 Lifting of the Admission Ban in 1939 and Renewed Closure of the Party from 1942 -- 2 Membership Development -- 2.1 On Periodization -- 2.2 Membership Development in the Individual Accession Periods -- 2.2.1 The Early (NS)DAP -- 2.2.2 Further Expansion During the Period of Prohibition -- 2.2.3 The Development from the Re-Establishment to the Reichstag Elections in 1930 -- 2.2.4 From the 1930 Reichstag Election to the Seizure of Power -- 2.2.5 From the Seizure of Power to the Closure of the Party on May 1, 1933 -- 2.2.6 The First Lockdown Phase from May 1, 1933 to April 19, 1937 -- 2.2.7 1937-1942: First Extensive, then Complete Lifting of the Membership Ban -- 2.2.8 Discrepancy Between Application Date and Entry Date -- 2.2.9 1942-1945: Renewed Closure of the Party -- 2.3 Party Comrades in the War -- 2.4 The Connection Between Membership Growth and Electoral Trends -- 2.5 Party Withdrawals and Re-Entries -- 2.6 Regional Spread -- 2.6.1 NSDAP Strongholds and Diaspora Areas -- 2.7 Summary -- 3 Demography of NSDAP Members: Gender, Age, Marital Status, Size of Town and Denomination -- 3.1 Gender -- 3.2 Age and Entry Generations -- 3.3 Marital Status -- 3.4 Location Size -- 3.5 The Denominational Context -- 3.6 Withdrawals -- 3.7 Summary -- 4 The Social Composition of Party Members -- 4.1 The Election of the NSDAP by Various Professional Groups -- 4.2 The Occupational Composition of New NSDAP Members.