The Führerprinzip (German pronunciation: [ˈfyːʀɐpʀɪnˌtsiːp] , Leader Principle) was the basis of executive authority in the government of Nazi Germany. It placed Adolf Hitler's word above all written law, and meant that government policies, decisions, and officials all served to realize his will. In practice, the Führerprinzip gave Hitler supreme power over the ideology and policies of his political party; this form of personal dictatorship was a basic characteristic of Nazism. The state itself received "political authority" from Hitler, and the Führerprinzip stipulated that only what the Führer "commands, allows, or does not allow is our conscience," with party leaders pledging "eternal allegiance to Adolf Hitler."
According to Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess, the Nazi German political system meant "unconditional authority downwards, and responsibility upwards." At each level of the pyramidal power structure the sub-leader, or Unterführer, was subordinate to the superior leader, and responsible to him for all successes and failures. "As early as July 1921," Hitler proclaimed the Führerprinzip as the "law of the Nazi Party," and in Mein Kampf he said the principle would govern the new Reich. At the Bamberg Conference on 14 February 1926, Hitler invoked the Führerprinzip to assert his power, and affirmed his total authority over Nazi administrators at the party membership meeting in Munich on 2 August 1928.
