Editing Hermann Esser (section)

==Early life==
Esser was born in [[Röhrmoos]], [[Kingdom of Bavaria]]. The son of a [[civil servant]], he was educated in the high school at [[Kempten]]. As a teenager, he volunteered for service in [[World War I]] and fought on the front lines in the Royal Bavarian 19th Foot Artillery Regiment.<ref name=Wistrich>{{cite book|title=Who's Who in Nazi Germany|url=https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinnaziger00robe|url-access=registration|author=Robert S. Wistrich|year=1982|publisher=Macmillan; First edition|isbn=9780026306003}}</ref> After demobilization, he joined the Swabian ''[[Freikorps]]'', and in May 1919 took part in the suppression of the [[Munich Soviet Republic]]. Esser early on became a socialist, after he joined a left-wing provincial newspaper to train as a journalist.<ref name=Wistrich/> He had previously formed his own Social Democrat party, but as it was small and one of numerous post-[[Armistice]] parties in Germany and Austria, it quickly failed.