Anton Drexler

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Anton Drexler (June 13, 1884 - February 24, 1942) was a German Nazi political leader of the 1920s.

[edit] Biography

Drexler was born in Munich.

He 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 (DAP) in Munich with Gottfried Feder and Dietrich Eckart in 1919. At the behest of Adolf Hitler, who had joined the party shortly afterwards, Drexler changed the name to the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) early in 1920. When Hitler finally wrestled control of the party from Drexler in the autumn of 1921, Drexler had to content himself with the post of honorary chairman.

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; he was elected to the Bavarian state parliament for another party in 1924 and had no part in the NSDAP's refounding in 1925. He rejoined only after Hitler had come to power in 1933. He received the party's "blood badge" in 1934 and was still occasionally used as a propaganda tool until about 1937, but was never again allowed any real power. He was largely forgotten by the time of his death.