The Unofficial Clone Wars Site

Rise of the Empire and Nazism
by Andrew Liptak, August 19, 2003

Until recently, the thought had never crossed my mind: that the Galactic Empire might have connections between the Nazi government in the 1930s and 1940s. That thought had never crossed my mind until I read the latest Holonet News article in Star Wars Insider #70.

The featured article was entitled Republic Youths hold Patriot Parade. The article covered an event concerning thousands of young children; ages 13 through 17, all fanatically devoted to the Republic. The article went on to describe the youths as "Consisting of color guards of various ranks, the young volunteers marched in precise military order, carrying banners of the Republic loyalist worlds." This seems to me to be startlingly similar to the Hitler Youths, an organization in Nazi Germany, where children, around the same age, were recruited for a similar purpose, that being nationalism and patriotism.

The article also featured an image, of a pair of Clone Troopers, a youth making a speech and a large picture of Senator Palpatine. Several elements of this image suggest influences from the Nazis during World War II. The first is the banners around the youth. They are red and black, prominently featuring the Republic symbol in a white circle. The Nazi party had similar banners: red, with the swastika in a white circle. The youth takes on a stance that is very similar to that of Hitler, when making a speech. The soldiers in front indicate the militant aspect of the organization, as does the uniforms that the youths wear.

These elements point to an element of Nazism in the rise of the Empire. The nationalistic point was one of the main reasons that Nazism rose in Germany before World War II in the first place, and was very common with many of the German citizens. The same seems to be true of the Republic citizens. The youths in the parade use an excessive amount of nationalism in their own speeches, as well as addressing corruption in the government, something that Hitler did as well. The youths also carried banners of loyalist worlds, another nationalist and patriotic gesture.

Another little point caught my eye while reading this article, that the youth's ranks were made up of almost all humans. Those who were not human were of near human decent. This is similar to the German's 'perfect race', the argument that allowed for the slaughter of millions of Jews during the world war. The same happens in the Star Wars chronology, that many aliens were persecuted, detained, killed or enslaved during and after the rise of the Empire.

These connections are not the only ones between Star Wars and Nazism. Palpatine displays a couple similarities of Hitler, that being a popular leader, elected by the people, who rises to lead a government and essentially has near-unlimited power. Palpatine was elected as Supreme Chancellor because of his position in the Naboo crisis, and in the Clone Wars, has been given near-unlimited power to fight the war. Now, it appears that he may have also been responsible for increasing the patriotism of thousands by providing them organizations that will allow them to show it, namely SAGgroup, the youth branch of Commission for the Protection of the Republic, as mentioned in the article. Hitler had his Hitler Youth, and went for patriotism to gather people to his cause. It seems that Palpatine has done the same.

Palpatine is another similarity between the Nazis and Star Wars. He, in his rise to power and policies, is startlingly similar to Hitler, who was able to convince the German people to give him power. After promising to give back that power, he didn't, and the entire world went at war because of it. Palpatine, as we've seen, has done the same thing.

There is evidence that the Empire used a form of work camp across the entire galaxy, yet another similarity to Nazism. As seen in several books, we've seen that non-human species were persecuted, killed, displaced and worked to death by the Empire-- just like Germans just before and during World War II. The reasons were the same, that the aliens were not trusted, blamed for many problems, so that Palpatine's 'New Order' could be established, namely humans. Now, doesn't this sound almost exactly like the motivations of the Nazi party to destroy the Jewish population? The Nazis were after a 'pure' race of humans, and as a result, the Jewish population and everyone else that was undesirable were worked to death, displaced or killed.

Shortly after the Empire rose, Palpatine established the Imperial Security Bureau (ISB) under the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order (COMPNOR). The agents in this department were a sort of security force that would enforce the wills of the people, and thus ensure that there was no ill intention towards the Empire from the citizens, as a sort of buffer against rebellion. These agents had near complete authority to do as they wished, and as a result, many people were afraid of what the Empire could and would do to them if they had any misgivings towards their government. The TV show Babylon 5 had a similar organization featured, the Nightwatch. Here, this is similar to the Nazi Gestapo, who served the same function in the government.

In addition, the term "Storm Trooper" comes from a type of German shock trooper that were deployed during World War I. They were armored in an attempt to protect the soldiers, but the armor was fairly in effective at times and cumbersome.

So, are the Clone Wars and the Galactic Rebellion a metaphor for World Wars I & II? I think not. The political situations were vastly different. In Star Wars, the entire series of wars were more like a civil war, rather than a conflict that involved many separate states. World Wars I and II involved many countries. This does not mean that there are no similarities, as shown above, but it does make one wonder…

Article Cited: Pablo Hidalgo, Republic Youths Hold Patriotic Parade, Republic Holonet News, 14:9:04, Star Wars Insider # 70, Page 54 and 55.

DISCLAIMER: This article does not reflect the views of TUCWS, nor does the author wish to imply that Star Wars is meant to be an anti-Nazi medium of media, and does not endorse or condone Nazism. This essay is only meant to highlight a possible historical reference between Nazism and Star Wars.