It's true that the so-called "big lie" is an expression made famous by the Nazis, who were not socialists in any meaningful sense, despite the canard of having "National Socialist" in their party's title. But the Nazi-era accusation gained currency in the Third Reich because it was deployed by Hitler and his followers to depict Jews as traitors to the German nation. The Nazi dictator used the term to blame Jews for propagating the idea that German Gen. Erich Ludendorff, a notorious anti-Semite who had been Paul von Hindenburg's chief deputy, was to blame for Germany's defeat in World War I.