ABSTRACT
The resignation of Gregor Strasser from his Party offices on 8 December 1932 caused a major sensation in Weimar political circles,1 and at the same time threw the NSDAP into one of the most serious crises of its early history. Strasser, elder brother of Otto Strasser who had already broken with Hitler in July 1930, was widely regarded as the Fuhrer’s right-hand man,2 and his reputation as a brilliant organiser, polemical public speaker, and forceful personality extended far beyond the National Socialist movement. As organisation leader of the Party (Reichsorganisationsleiter) since January 1928, Strasser had been primarily responsible for building up the NSDAP’s organisational and administrative structure into perhaps the most efficient of all German political parties, and thus providing an indispensable ingredient of the Party’s dramatic ascent during the early 1930s. Indeed, Strasser’s overall contribution to the successful development of National Socialism before 1933 was overshadowed only by that of Hitler himself. The astonishment and general furore which greeted his resignation decision bore unequivocal testimony to Strasser’s substantial political standing.
