Editing Hermann Esser

{{short description|Founding member of the Nazi Party (1900–1981)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
 | honorific_prefix = 
 | name             = Hermann Esser
 | native_name      = <!--The person's name in their own language, if different.-->
 | native_name_lang = 
 | honorific_suffix = 
 | image            = Hermann Esser.jpg
 | image_size       = 
 | image_upright    = 
 | smallimage       = <!--If this is specified, "image" should not be.-->
 | alt              = 
 | caption          = 
 | office           = Second Vice President of the ''[[Reichstag (Nazi Germany)|Reichstag]]'', later<br>Deputy to the ''Reichstag'' President
 | term_start       = 12 December 1933
 | term_end         = 8 May 1945
 | predecessor      = Walther Graef
 | successor        = ''Position abolished''
 | office2          = [[State Secretary]] for Tourism<br>[[Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda]]
 | term_start2      = 4 March 1939
 | term_end2        = 8 May 1945
 | office3          = Bavarian Minister of Economics
 | term_start3      = 1 March 1934
 | term_end3        = 21 March 1935
 | predecessor3     = [[Ludwig Siebert]]
 | successor3       = Hans Dauser
 | office4          = ''[[Gauleiter]]'' [[Upper Bavaria]]-[[Swabia]]
 | term_start4      = 16 September 1926
 | term_end4        = May 1927
 | predecessor4     = ''Position established''
 | successor4       = Fritz Reinhardt
 | office5          = ''Reichspropagandaleiter''
 | term_start5      = 4 August 1925
 | term_end5        = April 1926
 | predecessor5     = Otto May
 | successor5       = [[Gregor Strasser]]
 | pronunciation    = 
 | birth_name       = 
 | birth_date       = {{Birth date|1900|07|29|df=y}}
 | birth_place      = [[Röhrmoos]], [[Kingdom of Bavaria]], [[German Empire]]
 | death_date       = {{Death date and age|1981|02|07|1900|07|29|df=y}}
 | death_place      = [[Dietramszell, Bavaria|Dietramszell]], [[Bavaria]], [[West Germany]]
 | death_cause      = 
 | resting_place    = 
 | resting_place_coordinates = 
 | citizenship      = 
 | nationality      = 
 | party            = [[Nazi Party]]
 | spouse           = 
 | partner          = <!--For those with a domestic partner and not married-->
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<!--Military service-->
 | nickname         = 
 | allegiance       = {{flag|German Empire}}
 | branch           = [[Royal Bavarian Army]]
 | serviceyears     = 1917–1918
 | rank             = 
 | unit             = Royal Bavarian 19th Foot Artillery Regiment
 | commands         = 
 | battles          = [[World War I]]
 | mawards          = 
 | footnotes        = 
}}

'''Hermann Esser''' (29 July 1900 – 7 February 1981) was an early member of the [[Nazi Party]] (NSDAP).  A journalist, Esser was the editor of the Nazi paper, ''[[Völkischer Beobachter]]'', a propaganda leader, and a vice president of the [[Reichstag (Nazi Germany)|Reichstag]]. In the early days of the party, he was a ''[[de facto]]'' deputy of [[Adolf Hitler]]. As one of Hitler's earliest followers and friends, he held influential positions in the party during the [[Weimar Republic]], but increasingly lost influence during the Nazi era.

==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.

==Nazi career==
[[File:Obersalzberg meeting - May 1939.jpg|thumb|right|Hermann Esser (far right, back to camera) with [[Heinrich Himmler]] (left), [[Reinhard Heydrich]] (middle), [[Karl Wolff]] (2nd from right) at the [[Berghof (residence)|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.{{sfn|Hamilton|1984|p=266}} 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 fall of 1920, he began his public appearances in Passau.<ref>[[Anna Rosmus]], ''Hitlers Nibelungen: Niederbayern im Aufbruch zu Krieg und Untergang'', pp. 32f. Simone Samples Verlag, Grafenau, 2015, {{ISBN|978-3-938401-32-3}}</ref> 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.{{sfn|Hamilton|1984|p=266}}

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.{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2012|p=159}}

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]].{{sfn| Miller|Schulz|2012|pp=160-161}} Along with [[Julius Streicher]], he later returned to [[Bavaria]] in January 1924 and was sentenced to three months in prison.<ref name=Wistrich/> 

Esser was released from prison in April 1924 and later visited Hitler in [[Landsberg Prison]]. On 9 July 1924 he was elected the Deputy Chairman of the Nazi [[front organization]], the [[Greater German People's Community]] based in Bavaria under Streicher. He immediately made enemies with [[Gregor Strasser]] who was a leader of a rival organization in northern and western Germany which threatened to split the party in two. It was only in December 1924, after Hitler's release from prison, that the split was avoided.{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2012|p=161}} 

When the party was re-established on 27 February 1925, Esser immediately rejoined and was given membership number 2. On 4 August 1925, Esser resumed his position as Propaganda Leader (''Reichspropagandaleiter'') and continued in this role until April 1926. After Esser fell out with Streicher, and Hitler sided with his opponent, Esser threatened to go to the media with the NSDAP's secrets. He was bought off by being made editor of ''[[Illustrierter Beobachter]]'' from 1926 until 1932 in which he engaged the public through gossip and scandal. On 16 September 1926 he was made ''[[Gauleiter]]'' of [[Upper Bavaria]] and [[Swabia]], serving until May 1927.{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2012|p=162}}

From December 1929 to April 1933, Esser was the Party's floor leader in Munich's ''Stadtrat'' (City Council). From 1929 to 1932, he also was a member of the Upper Bavarian ''Kreistag'' (District Assembly). In April 1932 he was elected to the [[Bavarian Landtag]] and became its president in April 1933, serving until it was dissolved on 14 October 1933.{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2012|p=163}} On 10 March 1933, when the Nazis seized control of the Bavarian state government, he was appointed one of the state's representatives to the ''[[Reichsrat (Germany)|Reichsrat]]'' until its [[Law on the Abolition of the Reichsrat|abolition]] on 14 February 1934.<ref>{{cite web |title=Joachim Lilla: Ministers of State, senior administrative officials and (NS) officials in Bavaria from 1918 to 1945 |url=https://verwaltungshandbuch.bavarikon.de/VWH/I._Oberste_Staatsbeh%C3%B6rden_(einschl._Gesandtschaften)#r_i_5RAT |access-date=7 April 2023}}</ref> Also in March 1933, he was elected to the ''[[Reichstag (Nazi Germany)|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.<ref>[https://www.reichstag-abgeordnetendatenbank.de/selectmaske.html?name=Hermann+Esser&geschlecht=&ort=&beruforg=&BERUF=&BERUFSFELDER%5B%5D=&KONFESSION%5B%5D=&WP%5B%5D=&PARTEI%5B%5D=&schlu=reichstag24&recherche=ja  Hermann Esser entry] in the [https://www.reichstag-abgeordnetendatenbank.de/ ''Reichstag'' Members Database]</ref> 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.{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2012|pp=163, 166}} In May 1933, Esser returned to Passau to address a rally celebrating the dedication of the ''Ostmarkmuseum''.<ref>Anna Rosmus: Hitlers Nibelungen, Samples Grafenau 2015, pp. 70-73</ref> He first wrote and published his book ''Die jüdische Weltpest'' (The Jewish World Plague) in 1933. After the [[pogrom]]s of the ''[[Kristallnacht]]'' of 9 November 1938, he republished it in early 1939, again under the NSDAP press.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/esser.htm|title=Hermann Esser|publisher=Calvin|access-date=7 November 2013}}</ref>

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.{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2012|pp=163–164}} 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]].<ref name=Wistrich/> 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 Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda|Reich Propaganda Ministry]] under [[Joseph Goebbels]].<ref name=Wistrich/> On 4 March 1939, he was promoted to ''[[Gruppenführer]]'' of the [[National Socialist Flyers Corps]] (NSFK).{{sfn| Miller|Schulz|2012|p= 158}} 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.{{sfn|Miller|Schulz|2012|p=170}}

==Scandals==
Esser enjoyed life and the power that his media and political power gave him with women. His dalliances led to his being marginalized. After he impregnated a young woman and refused to marry her, she appealed directly to Hitler, who told Esser that he must do the right thing. Upon the birth of the child, Hitler became its [[Godparent|godfather]].{{citation needed|date=June 2024}}

Esser later sexually assaulted the underage daughter of a businessman. The combined disgust of Strasser, Streicher and [[Joseph Goebbels]] led to his suspension from the NSDAP in March 1935.<ref name=Wistrich/> Hitler had previously said of him, "I know Esser is a scoundrel, but I shall hold on to him as long as he is useful to me."{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

==Post-war==
Arrested by the Americans after the end of the war in Europe, he was released in May 1948 after being considered an unimportant Nazi official.{{sfn|Hamilton|1984|p=266}} Esser then went into hiding only to be re-arrested in 1949 by the West German Police.{{sfn|Hamilton|1984|p=266}} Charged under the new [[West Germany]] anti-Nazification laws, he was found guilty of being a "major offender" and sentenced to five years hard labour with a loss of civil rights for life. He was released from custody in 1952.{{sfn|Hamilton|1984|p=266}}

In 1980, Bavaria's [[Minister-president#Germany|Minister President]] [[Franz Josef Strauß]] congratulated Esser on his 80th birthday.<ref>Anna Rosmus: Hitlers Nibelungen, Samples Grafenau 2015, p. 33</ref>

Esser died in [[Dietramszell]], [[Bavaria]] aged 80 on 7 February 1981.{{sfn|Hamilton|1984|p=266}}

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite book | last = Hamilton | first = Charles | title = Leaders & Personalities of the Third Reich, Vol. 1 | year = 1984 | publisher = R. James Bender Publishing | isbn = 0-912138-27-0 }}
* {{cite book |first1=Michael D. |last1=Miller |first2=Andreas |last2=Schulz |title=Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies, 1925-1945 | volume= I (Herbert Albrecht –H. Wilhelm Huttmann) |publisher= R. James Bender Publishing |year= 2012 |isbn=978-1-932970-21-0 }}

==External links==
* {{PM20|FID=pe/004843}}
* {{ReichstagDB|122330811}}

{{NSDAP}}
{{Nazism |state=autocollapse}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Esser, Hermann}}
[[Category:1900 births]]
[[Category:1981 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Freikorps personnel]]
[[Category:Gauleiters]]
[[Category:German Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:German male journalists]]
[[Category:German male writers]]
[[Category:German Nazi propagandists]]
[[Category:German newspaper editors]]
[[Category:German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States]]
[[Category:German social democrats]]
[[Category:Greater German People's Community politicians]]
[[Category:Members of the Landtag of Bavaria]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1933]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1933–1936]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1936–1938]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1938–1945]]
[[Category:Military personnel of Bavaria]]
[[Category:Ministers of the Bavaria State Government]]
[[Category:Nazis convicted of crimes]]
[[Category:Nazis who participated in the Beer Hall Putsch]]
[[Category:People from the Kingdom of Bavaria]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of Germany]]