Early period of the NSDAP

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Today we will explain you about first steps of NSDAP party. Hitler has created movement not from scratch, but entered small already excisting party. It was German wokingmen’s party (DAP). At the dawn of DAP were to men, railway toolmaker Anton Drexler and sports journalist Karl Harrer. Both from Munich. 

Karl Harrer wrote sports articles for the newspaper "Münchener Beobachter" (Munich Observer). In 1918, the newspaper was acquired by the Thule Society, a Munich-based esoteric and anti-Semitic ultra-right organization dedicated to fighting Bolshevism. The Thule Society was like a laboratory for the creation of various political organizations. Some of the regular participants in the Thule Society meetings were such later famous people as Alfred Rosenberg, Rudolf Hess and Hans Frank. 

The actual owner of the "Münchener Beobachter" became the head of the Thule Society, Rudolf von Sebottendorff, who was also a member of the Teutonic Order (created in August 1918, the Thule Society became the Bavarian branch of this order). Karl Harrer, who, like Hitler, volunteered for the war, was demobilized after being wounded in the spring of 1918. He became one of the most active employees of the "Münchener Beobachter" and assistant to von Sebottendorf. In the same year, Harrer met Anton Drexler.

Drexler was born into the family of a railway worker. He did not get to the front, because he worked in railway repair shops. In 1917, Anton Drexler joined the conservative German Fatherland Party, whose ideology combined anti-democratic nationalism and anti-Semitism. Under the influence of the ideas of this party, Drexler founded in 1918 the "Committee of Free German Workers for a Good World", and a little later the "Conservative Political Workers' Circle", the essence of which was anti-Bolshevism and anti-Semitism. On October 2, 1918, the first meeting of the Free Workers' Committee was held, which was attended by Karl Harrer.

Harrer convinced Drexler to create a political party. He also hinted at the help of the powerful Thule Society. On January 5, 1919, a new organization was announced in Munich: the German Workingmen's Party (Deutsche Arbeiter-Partey, DAP). Karl Harrer became party chairman, and Anton Drexler became the head of the Munich branch. In addition to them, the party at that time consisted of only 22 people (mainly members of the Committee of Free Workers). However, from the very first steps the party included such people as Gottfried Feder (author of the anti-capitalist work Break of the Kabbalah of Percentage), Alfred Rosenberg (who fled Russia from the Bolshevik terror) and Dietrich Eckart.

At the beginning, the DAP stood out little among similarly small nationalist organizations. All work was reduced to the release of propaganda brochures and small meetings where lectures were given. This was in line with Karl Harrer's concept that the party should be a small, almost secret organization. Anton Drexler, who did not have oratorical talents, also did not strive for a significant increase in the number. But on September 12, 1919, an epoch-making event happened that changed the history of the DAP, and soon the whole world. On this day, Adolf Hitler, a little-known then, came to the DAP meeting.

After Germany's surrender in November 1918, Hitler continued to serve in the reserve battalion of the Munich regiment. The management drew attention to his oratorical talent. He was asked to act as an agitator in various paramilitary formations. At that time, Hitler did not yet have any definite political plans. His guiding stars were nationalism, anti-Bolshevism and a desire for revenge in order to take revenge on Germany's enemies. In May 1919, Hitler was noticed by Captain Karl Mayer, who was the head of the Reichswehr intelligence department in Bavaria. Mayer began to direct Hitler to collect information about the situation in various units, as well as political organizations in Munich. In the fall of 1919, Mayer introduced Adolf Hitler to one of the leaders of the secret officers' right-wing organization "Iron Fist" (Eiserne Faust).

This leader was Ernst Röhm, who was involved in the creation of mobilization teams secret from the winners (the French and the British).

On September 12, 1919, Karl Mayer sent Hitler to a meeting of a small group calling itself the DAP. As Hitler himself later recalled, he unexpectedly took the floor to challenge the statements of one of the speakers, who insisted on the withdrawal of Bavaria from the Reich. Hitler challenged this opinion fiercely and vividly, capturing the hearts of his listeners. Anton Draksler was also inspired by the guest's speech and immediately after the meeting invited him to join the party. Hitler promised to think it over. Until that moment, he had not even thought about any political prospects for himself and the proposal was completely unexpected for him. But after weighing the pros and cons, Adolf Hitler decided to join the DAP.

Of course, no one offered him the post of Fuhrer. The idea of the Fuehrer (somewhat later) was put forward by Dietrich Eckart and it was Eckart who later contributed to the formation of the image of Hitler as the Fuehrer of the party. But Eckart did not live to see the seizure of power by the NSDAP. After the Munich putsch, he died of a heart attack in December 1923.

Initially, Hitler headed the DAP's propaganda department. Hitler made his first appearance as a party member on October 16, 1919. He gave a public speech to a crowd of hundreds of people gathered at the Munich Hofbräukeller, who read an advertisement in the newspaper "Münchener Beobachter". From that moment on, Hitler's ascent as a party speaker began. 

However, not everything suited the future Fuhrer in DAP. Hitler was greatly irritated by the democratic manner of making decisions. To solve even the simplest issue, a lengthy discussion was often arranged. In addition, he considered Karl Harrer's point of view about the small number and almost secret direction of the organization to be fundamentally incorrect. Hitler, on the other hand, believed that it was necessary to bet on attracting the masses. By the end of 1919, the rivalry between Harrer and Hitler within the party had become open. In early January 1920, Harrer resigned after failing to prevent Hitler from holding a massive street event. From that moment on, Anton Drexler became the chairman of the DAP.

On February 24, 1920, an important meeting of the DAP took place. On this day, Hitler proposed epoch-making changes: 1. He proposed changing the name from DAP to NSDAP (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei). 2. He offered the party banner in the form of a black swastika in a white circle on a red field. 3. Hitler announced a new party program "25 points", co-authored with Gottfried Feder. The audience accepted all three proposals with full enthusiasm. From that moment on, a new countdown began in the history of the party and the whole world.