02/24/2024 – 5:43
On February 24, 1920, the German Workers' Party presented a nationalist, anti-Semitic and anti-capitalist program. On the same day, it became the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). “This laughable little creation, with its few members, seemed to me to have the advantage of not having yet solidified itself into an 'organization'. Here one could still work, and the smaller the movement was, the more it would be able to be guided into the right form. Here the content, objective and means could still be determined.” Words by Adolf Hitler in his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle).
The “laughable little creation” mentioned was the German Workers' Party (DAP), which Hitler joined in September 1919. As Stuttgart historian Eberhard Jäckel recounts: “It was really a very small and insignificant group from Munich. It was then called the German Workers' Party. Hitler contacted him just a few months after the founding.”
Adolf Hitler was part of a military command that came to control Munich after the brief period of socialist rule established there by Kurt Eisner, murdered in February 1919. That same year, Hitler joined the small party, founded by railway worker Anton Drexler and journalist Karl Harrer. It didn't take long for him to take over as head of the association's propaganda department. His influence on the party was so great that he wrote the 25-point program, presented in 1920, with his own hand.
Populist demands
The program demanded, first of all, the unification of all Germans into a Greater Germany. It demanded the acquisition of colonies and the cancellation of the Treaty of Versailles, which had sealed German defeat in the First World War. Furthermore, only those who had “German blood” would have the right to become a German citizen. Non-Germans would not have access to public bodies and would be subject to special laws.
The program's socialist guidelines focused on the nationalization of companies and the requirement for profit sharing from large firms. In terms of internal politics, he only mentioned slogans, without offering defined strategies. He preached, for example, the fight against “political lies” or “improvements in the health of the population”.
In short, a collection of populist demands, presented at the time in front of 2,000 people, at the famous Hofbräuhaus brewery in Munich. Hitler took the opportunity to change the name of the faction to the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazionalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei – NSDAP). From the abbreviation “Nazi”, by which he came to be identified, comes the term “Nazi”.
The small Nazi group began to bring together elements from the most varied tendencies and social classes. The party itself saw itself as a “movement”, which represented the wishes of the population. A movement in which Hitler took the reins, until he assumed the presidency in 1921.
Two years later, the coup attempt that became known as the “Munich brewery putsch” to overthrow the Weimar Republic failed. Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison, but only served nine months.
He then decided to come to power through elections, and began to reorganize his small party. In the serious economic crisis of 1929, the middle class and industrialists, fearful of the advance of communism, saw salvation in the Nazis. In 1930, the party was the second most voted party in the country, with 6.5 million votes.
Heinz Dylong (rw)
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