Anton Drexler

Anton Drexler
Chairman of the DAP
In office 1919–1921
Preceded by	Karl Harrer
Succeeded by	Adolf Hitler
Personal details
Born	(1884-06-13)13 June 1884 Munich, Germany
Died	24 February 1942(1942-02-24) (aged 57) Munich, Germany
Political party	DAP
Occupation	Politician

Anton Drexler (13 June 1884 – 24 February 1942) was a German far-right political leader of the 1920s, instrumental in the formation of the anti-communist German Workers' Party (Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (DAP)), the antecedent of the Nazi Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP)). Drexler served as mentor to Adolf Hitler during his early days in politics.

Biography

Born in Munich, Drexler was a machine-fitter before becoming a railway locksmith in Berlin in 1902. He joined the Fatherland Party during World War I. He was a poet and a member of the völkisch agitators who, together with journalist Karl Harrer, founded the German Workers' Party (Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (DAP)), in Munich with Gottfried Feder and Dietrich Eckart in 1919.

At a meeting of the Party in Munich in September 1919, the main speaker was Gottfried Feder. When he had finished speaking, a member of the audience stood up and suggested that Bavaria should break away from Prussia and form a separate nation with Austria. Adolf Hitler sprang up from the audience to rebut the argument. Drexler approached Hitler and thrust a booklet into his hand. It was My Political Awakening and, according to Hitler in his book Mein Kampf, it reflected the ideals he already believed in. Later the same day Hitler received a postcard telling him that he had been accepted for membership of what was at that time the German Workers' Party. By 1921, Hitler was rapidly becoming the undisputed leader of the Party. In June 1921, while Hitler and Eckart were on a fundraising trip to Berlin, a mutiny broke out within the NSDAP in Munich. Members of the its executive committee, some of whom considered Hitler to be too overbearing, wanted to merge with the rival German Socialist Party (DSP). Hitler returned to Munich on 11 July and angrily tendered his resignation. The committee members realised his resignation would mean the end of the party. Hitler announced he would rejoin on the condition that he would replace Drexler as party chairman, and that the party headquarters would remain in Munich. The committee agreed; he rejoined the party as member 3,680. Drexler was thereafter moved to the purely symbolic position of honorary president, and left the Party in 1923.

Drexler was also a member of a völkisch political club for affluent members of Munich society known as the Thule Society. His membership in the NSDAP ended when it was temporarily outlawed in 1923 following the Beer Hall Putsch, in which Drexler had not taken part. In 1924 he was elected to the Bavarian state parliament for another party, in which he served as vice-president until 1928. He had no part in the NSDAP's refounding in 1925, and rejoined only after Hitler had come to power in 1933. He received the party's Blood Order in 1934 and was still occasionally used as a propaganda tool until about 1937, but he was never again allowed any real power.

In popular culture

In Harry Turtledove's Southern Victory Series of alternate history novels, the character Anthony Dresser appears to be based on Drexler.

In the 2003 film Hitler: The Rise of Evil, British actor Robert Glenister plays Drexler, although Drexler is portrayed without his trademark spectacles and moustache.

References

• Hitler, Adolf (1999) [1925]. Mein Kampf. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-92503-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Kershaw, Ian (2008). Hitler: A Biography. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-06757-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Shirer, William L. (1960). The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-62420-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)