But they have been in place 100 years ago (before the Nazis came to power). How did that work out?

https://www.jta.org/2020/09/03/opinion/former-aclu-president...

I wonder if the Nazis used the laws to work in their favor and grow in power. If no one could insult the Nazi party then it would be easier for them to grow in power because they could just censor opposing views via the laws.

The Weimar Republic has hate speech laws and attempted to enforce them against Nazis. It merely drove more support to the Nazis.

That... sounds like a Nazi talking point... do you have evidence of that claim?

Don't have a primary source offhand, but here is one researcher for example:

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/copenhagen-speech-v...

"Contrary to what most people think, Germany did have hate-speech laws that were applied quite frequently. The assertion that Nazi propaganda played a significant role in mobilizing anti-Jewish sentiment is irrefutable. But to claim that the Holocaust could have been prevented if only anti-Semitic speech had been banned has little basis in reality. Leading Nazis, including Joseph Goebbels, Theodor Fritsch, and Julius Streicher, were all prosecuted for anti-Semitic speech. And rather than deterring them, the many court cases served as effective public relations machinery for the Nazis, affording them a level of attention that they never would have received in a climate of a free and open debate."