Politischer Arbeiter-Zirkel (Political Workers' Circle) was a political activist group founded by

Karl Harrer Karl Harrer (8 October 1890 – 5 September 1926) was a German journalist and politician, one of the founding members of the ''Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (German Workers' Party, DAP) in January 1919, the predecessor to the ''Nationalsozialistische ...

, a known nationalist, in hopes of gathering intellectuals to discuss the political future of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in March 1918. The organization eventually merged with the Workers' Committee for a Good Peace formed by

Anton Drexler Anton Drexler (13 June 1884 – 24 February 1942) was a German far-right political agitator for the Völkisch movement in the 1920s. He founded the pan-German and anti-Semitic German Workers' Party (DAP), the antecedent of the Nazi Party (NSDAP). ...

to become the

German Workers' Party The German Workers' Party (german: Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, DAP) was a short-lived far-right political party established in Weimar Germany after World War I. It was the precursor of the Nazi Party, which was officially known as the National Soci ...

in January 1919. Ultimately these principles would develop into the

National Socialist German Workers Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

(''Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei''; NSDAP), also known as the Nazi Party.

Background

Germany's defeat in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

forced them to take complete responsibility for the war, completely humiliating the German people. Additionally, the

stab-in-the-back myth The stab-in-the-back myth (, , ) was an antisemitic conspiracy theory that was widely believed and promulgated in Germany after 1918. It maintained that the Imperial German Army did not lose World War I on the battlefield, but was instead ...

or the idea that Germany was actually winning the war and was undermined by domestic revolutions, emerged and added anger to the equation. The

Thule Society The Thule Society (; german: Thule-Gesellschaft), originally the ''Studiengruppe für germanisches Altertum'' ("Study Group for Germanic Antiquity"), was a German occultist and '' Völkisch'' group founded in Munich shortly after World War I, ...

, an organization encompassing people from all classes centered around hopes for a counterrevolution, emerged as a result of German humiliation and anger and attempted to fill the gap felt by Germans that the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...

was “out of touch,” with lower classes. The society approached Karl Harrer, a member and sports reporter for the right-wing publication ''Münchner-Augsburger Abendzeitung'', to start a political activist group in Munich. The hope was to collect discuss critical German principles, namely nationalism and anti-Semitism.

Ideology

''Politischer Arbeiter-Zirkel'' met periodically for about a year, generally in a small group of three to seven consistent members. Members shared a similar and traditional outlook as highly nationalist, anti-Marxist and anti-Semitic. They also discussed emerging ideas of the time such as Jews as the enemy to Germany, various aspects of the defeat of World War I, and anti-English sentiment, generally thought to be brought on by the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...

. During the meetings Harrer lead the group in studying the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

in hopes of finding an escape for Germany.

Future of the Club

met Karl Harrer at a Rightist rally in Wagner Hall in Munich in 1918. Harrer was impressed with Drexler's desire to have citizen representation in the political sphere and Drexler began attending meetings. Drexler was the leader of his own political group known as the Workers' Committee for a Good Peace, consisting mostly of Drexler's railway coworkers. The Workers' Committee was united under beliefs that international capitalists, considered to be Jews, and Marxists were the enemy. While Harrer believed there was something to be said for keeping the ''Politischer Arbeiter-Zirkel'' small and secretive, Drexler wanted to have a bigger audience and work on the spread of his ideals. Drexler wanted to make it a political party. Ultimately, Drexler proposed the creation of the

. With the uniting of the ''Politischer Arbeiter-Zirkel'' with the Workers' Committee, the German Workers' Party (''Deutsche Arbeiterpartei''; DAP) was founded. Besides Drexler and Harrer, founding members included

Gottfried Feder Gottfried Feder (27 January 1883 – 24 September 1941) was a German civil engineer, a self-taught economist, and one of the early key members of the Nazi Party and its economic theoretician. It was one of his lectures, delivered in 1919, that d ...

and

Dietrich Eckart Dietrich Eckart (; 23 March 1868 – 26 December 1923) was a German '' völkisch'' poet, playwright, journalist, publicist, and political activist who was one of the founders of the German Workers' Party, the precursor of the Nazi Party. Eckart ...

. It met for the first time on January 5, 1919, in the hotel ''Fürstenfelder Hof'' in Munich. Drexler's vision for the party increasingly came into conflict with Harrer's. Harrer wished to ensure that an elite 'inner circle' remained in control of the party, while Drexler wanted to expand it into a mass movement. When

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

joined the party, Drexler's position was strengthened. Hitler and Drexler worked on a new constitution to marginalise the role of the ''Politischer Arbeiter-Zirkel''. Harrer was outvoted, and resigned from the party. The DAP was renamed the National Socialist German Workers' Party (''Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei''; NSDAP) on February 24, 1920.

Notes

References

* Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas (2004). '' The Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology'', London: Tauris Parke. *Heinz, Heinz A. (2014) ''Hitler: Personal Recollections: Memoirs From Those Who Knew Him''. Pen and Sword Books *Horne, John; Kramer, Alan (2001). ''German Atrocities, 1914: A History of Denial'', Yale University Press. * *Luhrssen, David (2012). "Thule and the Nazi Circle" in ''Hammer of the Gods: The Thule Society and the Birth of Nazism''. Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books. *Spector, Robert M. (2005). ''World without Civilization: Mass Murder and the Holocaust, History and Analysis'', Lanham, MD: University Press of America. {{Authority control 1918 establishments in Germany 1919 disestablishments in Germany Adolf Hitler Far-right politics in Germany German nationalist organizations Organizations based in the Weimar Republic Organizations disestablished in 1919 Organizations established in 1918 Pan-Germanism Politics of the Weimar Republic