Not many people know that the Nazi or NSDAP political party existed prior to
Adolf Hitler's rule in Germany. This paper will provide the history of this group, from its beginning, to the Hitler years and after World War II.
In 1918, a political party called the Freier Ausschuss für einen deutschen Arbeiterfrieden or the “Free Committee for a German Workers' Peace” was created in Bremen, Germany. Anton Drexler, a worker and poet, formed a separate group on
March 7, 1918, in Munich, Germany. Later in 1919, Drexler, with Gottfried Feder, Dietrich Eckart and Karl Harrer, changed its name to the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei aka “German Workers' Party” with the abbreviation of DAP.
This party was one of several Volkisch movements in Germany after their defeat in World War I. Their beliefs consisted of patriotism for German folklore, local history and a “back to the land” anti-urban Populism. Populist groups gain members by their political philosophy that says government should put people first. Populists usually concentrate on the economic, social and common sense concerns of the average person to gain popularity. Their stand says that the common man is oppressed by the wealthy and they promise to stand up to corporate power and corrupt elites. Sometimes these groups promoted racism and usually appealed to a specific class such as the working class, middle class or farmers and often claimed to represent the majority of the people.
As the Volkisch movement evolved it sometimes combined “racial adoration” and anti-Semitism, and included ideas of anti-communist, anti-capitalist, anti-immigration, and anti-Parlimentarian principles. These ideas lead up to the development of Nazism.
In a move that would later change the course of the World, German army intelligence sent a young corporal by the name of Adolf Hitler to monitor DAP party activities. During his investigations, he became impressed by what he saw and joined as Member Number 555, membership began at 500 to make it look bigger than it really was, and the 7th member of the central committee. At that time, Hitler attempted to change the name of the DAP to the “Social Revolutionary Party” however on February 24th, 1920, the party was renamed Deutsche Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterpartei hence the abbreviation of NSDAP or the Nazi Party.
On July 28th, 1921 Adolph Hitler became Nazi Party chairman and immediately began to change the Nazi Party to a radical and revolutionary organization by using fear, intimidation and violent attacks on other political parties to expand the Nazi Party. He was assisted with the help of “Sturmabteilung” or storm troopers founded by Hans Ulrich Klintzsch. At this time the Nazi Party was located mostly in Munich, Bavaria.
In 1923 the Nazi Party tried to take control of the Bavarian government in a two day revolution referred to as the “Beer Hall Putsch”. A “putsch” is a small revolt or military coup. The revolt took place in a beer hall but Munich authorities squashed the attempt, resulting in the deaths of several Nazi. Hitler and his top advisors were arrested. Hitler received a 5 year sentence to Landsberg prison but only served 9 months. During that time he wrote Mein Kampf, My Struggle, which told how he would make a comeback once he was released from prison.
Hitler was released in 1925 and the NSDAP was refounded with Hitler as Member Number 1. The vile SS or “Schutzstaffel” which means protective squadron was formed and later played a deadly role in the Holocaust by enforcing all of Hitler's laws.
From 1925 to 1929, the Nazi's were not successful in elections but to help strengthen the party, they became a national political party seeking the votes of everyone in Germany. They gained the support of many peasants and tried to attract the middle class through elections rather than by military force. By 1932 the Nazi Party had increased to 13.75 million voters and became the number one political party in Germany.
In January, 1933, Hitler threatened to overthrow the government unless he was named Chancellor of a coalition government by President Paul von Hindenburg. Immediately after he was appointed Chancellor, the Nazis set fire to the Reichstag parliament building on February 27th, 1933 but blamed the fire on a Communist conspiracy. The Reichstag fire was then used as an excuse to close the Communist Party offices in Germany, ban their press and arrest its leaders. Hitler was able to convince the aging and senile President von Hindenburg to sign the Reichstag Fire Decree, which eliminated human rights from the 1919 constitution and allowed for the detention of all the Communist deputies, in addition to many thousands of others.
Another step on Hitler's path to becoming dictator was the “Enabling Act”, which gave Hitler legislative powers, the right to rule by his own decree and to suspend additional civil liberties. The “Enabling Act” also gave the government the power to make laws without parliamentary approval, to make foreign treaties abroad and to also make changes to the Constitution. The Nazi banned all new political parties on July 14th, 1933 and forced all other parties to disband turning Germany into a one-party state.
