The most influential and substantial leader, after Hitler, in the pre-1933 National Socialist Party was Gregor Strasser. This book (originally published in 1983 but as yet not superseded) is a comprehensive and scholarly assessment of Strasser’s significant and ultimately tragic career, based largely on previously unpublished German archival material. Strasser’s importance as a Nazi propagandist, organiser, ideologue and spokesman is examined and the analysis and interpretation which follow are fundamentally revisionist in that many of the accepted ideas about Strasser’s career are challenged and shown to be untenable. The book provides important insights into an interesting personality which in turn considerably enhances our understanding of the character of early National Socialism and the politics of the Weimar Republic.

The most influential and substantial leader, after Hitler, in the pre-1933 National Socialist Party was Gregor Strasser. This book (originally published in 1983) is a comprehensive and scholarly assessment of Strasser's significant and ultimately tragic career, based largely on previously unpublished German archival material. Strasser's importance as a Nazi propagandist, organiser, ideologue and spokesman is examined and the analysis and interpretation which follow are fundamentally revisionist in that many of the accepted ideas about Strasser's career are challenged and shown to be untenable. The book provides important insights into an interesting personality which in turn considerably enhances our understanding of the character of early National Socialism and the politics of the Weimar Republic.

Now fully revised and reformatted, Hitler and the Rise of the Nazi Party is an indispensible guide to the history of the Nazi party between its initial electoral breakthrough in 1930 and its victory in 1933. Arguing that the Nazis owed their success as much to Hitler’s charismatic leadership and their own effective propaganda and organisation as to the weakness of the Weimar regime, Frank McDonough provides an original perspective on the subject as well as a concise, readable introduction to key events and debates. This new edition includes: A new introduction on the broad context of Weimar Germany Two new chapters on the reasons for the Nazi breakthrough in 1930 and on the crucial 1930-1933 period New clearer student-friendly format Supported by an expanded documents section and fully revised bibliography, a chronology of key events and a who’s who of leading figures, Hitler and the Rise of the Nazi Party will provide an invaluable introduction for any student of this fascinating period.

This collection of early writings by leading Nazi intellectuals sheds light on the evolution of Nazi political thought as the party came to power. Barbara Miller Lane and Leila J. Rupp bring together a crucial yet hitherto inaccessible body of material that thoroughly chronicles Nazi ideology before 1933. It includes the extensive writings and programs published by Dietrich Eckart, Alfred Rosenberg, Gottfried Feder, Joseph Goebbels, Gregor and Otto Strasser, Heinrich Himmler, and Richard Walther Darré. Hitler’s role in the development of Nazi ideology, interpreted here as a very permissive one, is thoroughly assessed. In commentary by the editors, the significance of each Nazi theorist is evaluated at each stage of the history of the party. Lane and Rupp conclude that early Nazi ideology was not a consistent whole but a doctrine in the process of rapid development to which new ideas were continually introduced. By the time the Nazis came to power, however, a group of interrelated assertions and official promises had been made to party followers and to the public. Hitler and the Third Reich had to accommodate this ideology, even when not implementing it. Each selection is accompanied by an introductory note and annotations which clarify its relationship to other works of the author and other writings of the period. Also included are original translations of the “Twenty-Five Points” and a number of little-known official party statements.

Representing the scholarship of historians who have largely based their findings on previously unpublished material, this volume (originally published in 1978) provides a critical and provocative assessment of many established opinions on significant themes related to the dramatic rise and development of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Movement. The volume discusses among other things: The development of Hitler’s foreign policy ideas The contributions of Gottfried Feder and Gregor Strasser to the successful growth of the Nazi party The social composition of the Stormtroopers The bureaucratic structure of the Third Reich The character and scope of resistance within Germany to the regime

HITLER AND I by OTTO STRASSER CONTENTS: INTRODUCTION PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION MY FIRST MEETING WITH HITLER THE GERMAN CAULDRON THE CONSPIRATORS OF THE BURGERBRAU HITLER WRITES MM KAMPF THE MAN HITLER HITLERISM VERSUS STRASSERISM OPEN COMBAT THROUGH TREASON TO POWER THE GESTAPO ON MY HEELS THE GERMAN BLOODBATH HITLER, MASTER OF EUROPE THE FUTURE AGAINST HITLER PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION IN the early morning of November 9th, 1939, the world was startled by the report of an attempt on Hitlers life, the occasion being the traditional reunion in the Burger braukeller of Munich. Responsibility was laid by the Nazi propagandists at my door, as Leader of the Black Front, and at that of the British Secret Service. Such accusations are not worth answering. The incident had quite another significance: it was the signal for the opening of the second phase of Hitlers war. The first phase was the Polish campaign, which Hitler and his General Staff regarded as a mere police action, to be accompanied by a peace offensive against the Western powers. It was the unexpected failure of this offensive that determined Hitler to end the war in the West by a lightning victory. In this war he has one objective: to destroy the power of Britain. France is a secondary consideration, like Belgium important only as a jumpingoff ground. But to bring Britain to her knees there must be an effective blockade, to be followed by the landing of troops and crowned by a peace dictated from Buckingham Palace. Peace with France would follow as a natural consequence, and Hitler, as Emperor of Europe, would have reached the first stage towards world domination. To secure the submarine and air bases essential for this twofold military and economic attack upon Britain, Hitler decided upon the invasion of Holland. He reckoned on no great military outlay, and was confident that Belgium would remain neutral, thus preventing effective Allied assistance. The invasion was planned for November 12th, 1939, and the Munich explosion was arranged a day or two earlier for the purpose of arousing public opinion against perfidious Albion. It was thanks to the diplomacy of the Western powers, and to an even greater extent to her own enlightened selfinterest, that on November nth and isth Belgium announced that in the event of an invasion she would fight at the side of Holland, thus opening the way for Allied assistance to the Low Countries. The plan for a minor war therefore had to be abandoned. Instead a major war had to be undertaken, and this neces sarily demanded several months preparation. The first step was the invasion of Denmark and Norway, to secure the eastern seaboard of the North Sea and to protect northern Germany from a British counteroffensive.

"The harsh Armistice terms of 1918, the short-lived Weimar Republic, Hindenburg's senile vacillations, and behind-the-scene power plays form the backbone of this excellent study covering German history during the first three-and-a-half decades of the century."--Publishers website.