(left),
Reinhard Heydrich (middle),
Karl Wolff (2nd from right) at the
Obersalzberg, May 1939 Having met
Anton Drexler through his work, he met with the group of men that formed the
German Workers' Party (DAP): Drexler,
Gottfried Feder and
Dietrich Eckart, joining their party in January 1920. In 1920 he met Hitler in the regional press office of the
Reichswehr (Army of the
Weimar Republic) and joined the renamed
National Socialist German Workers' Party in March 1920. In the autumn of 1920, he began his public appearances in Passau. On 15 May 1921 he was made editor-in-chief of
Völkischer Beobachter, the Party newspaper, turning out a series of posters and a book attacking the Jews. Esser was able to use his abilities as a public speaker to rouse his audience, encouraging them to attack the political meetings of groups and parties that the NSDAP frowned upon. Esser's speeches were described by
Louis Snyder as "crude, uncultured, of low moral character", featuring the kernel of future Nazi policies: extreme nationalism and anti-Semitism. On 12 August 1921 he left as editor of the Party newspaper and became the first head of propaganda (
Propagandaleiter, NSDAP), serving until the party was outlawed in November 1923. At the time of the
Beer Hall Putsch on 8–9 November 1923, Esser gave a speech and drafted the Party's "proclamation to the German people", but told Hitler that he was ill and did not participate in the actual march. After the failure of the putsch, he fled to
Austria. Along with
Julius Streicher, he later returned to
Bavaria in January 1924 and was sentenced to three months in prison. Also in March 1933, he was elected to the
Reichstag from the Nazi Party electoral list. At the November 1933 election, he was returned as a deputy for electoral constituency 24,
Upper Bavaria–Swabia, a seat he would retain for the duration of the Nazi regime. In December 1933 he was made 2nd Vice President of the chamber under
Hermann Göring, and some time later was styled Deputy to the
Reichstag President, the only person to hold this title. In May 1933, Esser returned to Passau to address a rally celebrating the dedication of the
Ostmarkmuseum. He first wrote and published his book
Die jüdische Weltpest (The Jewish World Plague) in 1933. After the
pogroms of the
Kristallnacht of 9 November 1938, he republished it in early 1939, again under the NSDAP press. of March 1933 (German:
Bayerische Kommission, Reichskommissariat für Bayern, Kabinett von Epp). Seated from left Minister of Finance
Ludwig Siebert, Prime Minister/Reich Governor of Bavaria
Franz von Epp, Minister of the Interior
Adolf Wagner, and Minister of Culture
Hans Schemm. Standing from left State Commissioner
Ernst Röhm, Minister of Justice
Hans Frank, Minister of State
Hermann Esser, and Minister of Agriculture
Georg Luber. Press Photo:
National Digital Archives of Poland On 12 April 1933, he was appointed a
Minister without Portfolio in the Bavarian government. He was also named head of the Bavarian Press Office and Chief of the Bavarian State Chancellery. This was followed on 1 March 1934 by his appointment as Bavaria's Minister of Economics by Bavarian
Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor)
Franz Ritter von Epp. Esser intrigued against the powerful
Gauleiter of
Gau Munich-Upper Bavaria Adolf Wagner and, as a result, was forced out of his ministerial posts on 14 March 1935. After his exclusion from politics in Bavaria, Esser did not wield any significant political power. In April 1936, he was appointed Chairman of the Reich Committee for Foreign Tourism, and on 27 January 1939
State Secretary for Tourism in the
Reich Propaganda Ministry under
Joseph Goebbels. On 4 March 1939, he was promoted to
Gruppenführer of the
National Socialist Flyers Corps (NSFK). His last official duty was on 24 February 1945 in Munich, delivering a speech on behalf of Hitler at the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Nazi Party program. ==Scandals==