About Gregor Strasser
Gregor Strasser (German: Gregor Straßer, 31 May 1892 – 30 June 1934) was a German politician and early leader of the Nazi Party. Along with his younger brother Otto, he was a leading member of the party's northern group, which brought them into conflict with the dominant faction led by Adolf Hitler. Gregor's willingness to engage in political negotiations with Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher in 1932 ultimately led to his resignation and murder in the Night of the Long Knives in 1934. The brothers' strand of the Nazi ideology is later known as Strasserism, a political concept largely popularized by Otto after he left the party in 1930. Born in Bavaria, Strasser served in an Imperial German Army artillery regiment during World War I, rising to the rank of first lieutenant and winning the Iron Cross of both classes for bravery. After the war, he and his brother became members of Franz Ritter von Epp's Freikorps. He joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in 1920 and quickly became an influential and important figure in the fledgling party. In 1923, Strasser took part in the abortive Beer Hall Putsch in Munich and was imprisoned. After securing an early release following his election to the Reichstag, he joined a revived NSDAP in 1925 and once again established himself as a powerful and dominant member. A highly skilled organiser and effective public speaker, Strasser oversaw a major increase in the party's membership and reputation in northern Germany, transforming the NSDAP from a marginal southern party to a nationwide political force. By mid-1932, Strasser was in charge of the party's national organizational work. The Strasser brothers jointly drafted the "Strasser Program" for 1925–1926, which included some radical proposals, mainly developed by Otto, such as reorganizing large agricultural estates into "hereditary fiefs" (Erblehen). This program had led Hitler to repudiate Gregor at the 1926 Bamberg Conference. The two later reconciled, with Strasser acknowledging that Hitler had assumed the role of ideological leader for the movement while he himself continued as organizer. In 1932, he introduced the party's "Emergency Economic Program" (Wirtschaftliches Sofortprogramm), a program advocating for state-funded work creation. In December 1932, his relationship with Hitler became permanently fractured when Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher offered him the post of Vice-Chancellor. Accused of attempting to split the party, he subsequently resigned from all party offices. Strasser then renounced his Reichstag seat and retired from active politics to serve as a director at the Schering-Kahlbaum pharmaceutical company. On 30 June 1934, in a purge that became known as the Night of the Long Knives, Strasser was arrested by the Gestapo and subsequently executed. Historian Hans Mommsen has commented that Otto Strasser was "in most respects" the intellectual superior of his brother Gregor. Peter Stachura views Gregor as a realpolitisch opportunist, and that his reputation as a principled "revolutionary" is a myth exaggerated and often fabricated by his brother Otto. Strasser was known for his enormous stature, commanding personality, and boundless organizational energy. Along with his younger brother Otto, he was a leading member of the party's left-wing faction, which brought them into conflict with the dominant faction led by Adolf Hitler, resulting in Gregor's murder in 1934. The brothers' strand of the Nazi ideology is known as Strasserism.
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