Hitler Takes Nazi Party: Path to Totalitarianism
Adolf Hitler became chairman of the National Socialist German Workers' Party on July 29, 1921, barely two years after joining as member number 555 (the party started numbering at 500 to appear larger). He immediately demanded and received dictatorial control over party affairs, threatening to resign unless granted absolute authority. The party had fewer than 3,000 members at the time and was one of dozens of fringe nationalist groups in Munich. Hitler's control of the NSDAP gave him a platform for his oratory, which was his single greatest political weapon. He built the party from a beer-hall debating society into a paramilitary movement that would control Germany within twelve years.
July 29, 1921
105 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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