Hitler And DAP Essay, Research Paper

The German Workers’ Union was conceived by Anton Drexler on the seventh of

March, 1918. Drexler’s union consisted of about forty members, most of whom were

railwaymen, that were banded together by shared sentiments of fierce

nationalism, anti-Semitism, and support for the war effort. Previous to the end

of World War I, this small union carried the rather verbose title of the

"Free Labor Committee for a Good Peace." At this time the organization

adhered to a rather straightforward program-"Strikers, Bolsheviks, Jews,

malingerers, and war profiteers were the enemy, and it was the duty of the

workers to unite behind the war effort." (Payne, 135) However, after the

disastrous conclusion to the war, Drexler’s union, having changed its name to

the "German Worker’s Party," lacked any coherent program and was on

the brink of collapse when Hitler inadvertently stepped into the picture.