ABSTRACT
In January 1919 Anton Drexler, a locksmith by trade, merged his ‘Committee of Independent Workmen’ with a similar group, the ‘Political Workers’ Circle’. This was led by one Karl Harrer, a newspaper reporter. The new organization called itself the ‘German Workers Party’, and aimed at achieving a just peace for Germany and combating Marxism in the trade unions. This merger of two minor like-minded organizations might be regarded as the beginning of the Nazi Party. 1 It is certainly true that Hitler, with some hesitation (for he had experienced club life at its worst) 2 joined this party as the seventh member of its committee. Röhm was already a member. 3
