Editing Georg Elser (section)

===Career and social life===
In 1917, Elser worked for half a year assisting in his father's business. Seeking independence, he started an apprenticeship as a lathe operator at the smelter in Königsbronn, but had to quit for health reasons. Between 1919 and 1922, he was apprenticed to master woodworker Robert Sapper in Königsbronn. After topping his class at [[Heidenheim an der Brenz|Heidenheim]] Trade School, he worked in the furniture factory of Paul Rieder in [[Aalen]]. In 1925, he left home to briefly work at the Wachter woodworking company in the small community of [[Bernried]], near [[Tettnang]]. Exploring along Lake Constance on foot, he arrived at [[Friedrichshafen]], where he found employment shaping wooden propellers for the fledgling aircraft-manufacturer [[Dornier Flugzeugwerke|Dornier]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Gestapo Interrogation Report 1939"/>

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-12963, Flugboot "Do X".jpg|thumb|left|[[Dornier Flugzeugwerke|Dornier]] flying boat, 1932]]
In August 1925, a work-friend enticed Elser to go with him to [[Konstanz]] to work in a clock factory. Due to lack of work, the clock factory closed down, was sold, then reopened as the Schuckmann Clock Factory. Elser was re-employed, but, along with the other employees, he was dismissed when the factory mysteriously burned down after the owner had unsuccessfully tried to sell the failing business. During this period, Elser shared a room with a [[Communist]] co-worker who convinced him to join the [[Roter Frontkämpferbund|Red Front-Fighters League]]. He also joined traditional dress and dance groups ({{langx |de| Trachtenvereine}}). In 1929, he found work with Schönholzer, a small woodworking company in [[Bottighofen]]; this required Elser to cross the border daily into Switzerland. The work ran out within six months, however, and he was let go.<ref name="Gestapo Interrogation Report 1939"/><ref name="Hellmut G 2013"/>

Around this time Elser met a waitress, Mathilde Niedermann. When she became pregnant, he drove her to [[Geneva]] in Switzerland. Mathilde was found to be in the fourth month of pregnancy, precluding a legal abortion. The child was born, a boy named Manfred. When Elser left Mathilde, he was left with child-support payments that often surpassed his weekly wage.<ref name="Gestapo Interrogation Report 1939"/>

In 1930, Elser began commuting daily by ferry from Konstanz to work in the small Rothmund clock factory in [[Meersburg]] where he made housings for wall and table clocks. At the [[Kreuzlingen]] Free Temperance Union he started a friendship with a seamstress, Hilda Lang. Between May and August 1932, after Rothmund closed down, he lived with several families in Meersburg doing odd carpentry jobs.<ref name="Gestapo Interrogation Report 1939"/><ref name="Hellmut G 2013"/>

In August 1932, Elser returned to Königsbronn after receiving a call for help from his mother. His alcoholic father, often violent and abusive towards her, was now heavily in debt. Elser assisted his parents in their work and supplemented his income by making furniture in a home workshop until his father was forced to sell the family property in late 1935. Elser escaped the grim family situation with music, playing [[flute]], [[accordion]], bass and the [[zither]]. He joined the Zither Club in Königsbronn in early 1933.<ref name="Gestapo Interrogation Report 1939"/>

At around this time, Elser joined a hiking club where he met Elsa Härlen. He moved to lodge in the Härlens' basement, building kitchen cabinets, kitchen chairs and a doll's house for Elsa. Their love affair in the spring of 1936 led to her separation from her husband in 1937 and divorce in 1938.<ref name="Hellmut G 2013"/>

In 1936, Elser worked with a carpenter named Grupp in Königsbronn, making desks and installing windows, but soon gave up the job, believing the pay was too low. He began working as a labourer at the Waldenmaier armament factory in Heidenheim, commuting by train or by bike from Königsbronn. While working there, he began a friendship with a fellow employee, Maria Schmauder.<ref name="Gestapo Interrogation Report 1939"/>

In 1938, Elser's parents bought half of a double house together with their son Leonhard and his wife. Elser felt cheated, and was forced to move out of the house, severing ties with his family except for his sister Maria in Stuttgart. In May 1939, he moved in with the Schmauder family in nearby [[Schnaitheim]].<ref name="Hellmut G 2013"/>

At Waldenmaier, Elser worked in the shipping department and had access to many parts of the plant, including the "special department" where fuses and detonators were produced. After his arrest and confession, Elser told the Gestapo: "Before the decision to take my action in the fall of 1938, I had stolen neither parts nor powder from the factory."<ref name="Gestapo Interrogation Report 1939"/>