In other words, it might be helpful to nail down what they had in common with the non-fascist right (anti-communism, nostalgia for trad / Middle Ages and the "corporative" model, which was tied up in that). But also what they didn't have in common, which was building a mass movement. Mass politics. Mass rallies. This was a whole thing fascism. Then you throw in some crackpot theories.

That's part of the appeal of it. I think people who sometimes get drawn to Hitler as a "misunderstood" figure do so because they have certain prejudices which they have in common with other rightists, and they're also told that Hitler was a crazy dictator but then they see the mass participation of Germans in this movement, which also makes liberals uncomfortable. All progressive-minded people identify with mass democracy, but what if the masses are xenophobic? You have mass nationalism or mass xenophobia. That's very disturbing. But if tens of millions of Germans were into this and actively participating in this as a mass movement, were they wrong? Well, I think so (and I think most Germans would agree with me), but it feels very powerful.

It belonged to an age of mass movements. You see this as a theme over and over again in fascist movies. Look at the beginning of Kolberg, which is a Nazi film that depicts the defense of this East Prussian city during the Napoleonic Wars, and the people in the city are engaged in mass politics as they mobilize to "unleash the storm," which I don't think was the reality during the actual battle in the war, but this is how the Nazis saw themselves:
https://youtu.be/lsoQOQvNrAw