Otto Strasser facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Otto Strasser
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Strasser delivering a speech soon after his return to West Germany following World War II
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Otto Johann Maximilian Strasser
10 September 1897 Bad Windsheim, Bavaria, German Empire |
| Died | 27 August 1974 (aged 76) Munich, Bavaria, West Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Political party | Social Democratic Party (1917–1920) Völkischer Block (1922–1925) Nazi Party (1925–1930) Black Front (1930–1934) German Social Union (1956–1962) |
| Relatives | Gregor Strasser (brother) |
| Alma mater | Humboldt University of Berlin |
| Occupation | Philosopher, editor, politician |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  German Empire |
| Branch/service |  Freikorps |
| Years of service | 1914–1918 |
| Rank | Lieutenant |
| Battles/wars | World War I |
Otto Johann Maximilian Strasser (born September 10, 1897 – died August 27, 1974) was a German politician. He was an early member of the Nazi Party. Otto Strasser, along with his brother Gregor Strasser, was a key leader of a group within the party that had more socialist ideas. This group was called the "left-wing faction." He later left the party because he disagreed with Adolf Hitler's leadership.
After leaving, he created a group called the Black Front. His goal was to challenge Hitler's control over the Nazi Party. This group also worked secretly against the Nazis during his time in exile and throughout World War II. His specific political ideas are now known as Strasserism.
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Otto Strasser's Life and Career
Otto Strasser was born in Bad Windsheim, a town in Bavaria, Germany. He joined the Bavarian Army as a volunteer in World War I when he was 16. He became a lieutenant and was injured twice during the war.
After the war, in 1919, he returned to Germany. He joined a group of former soldiers called the Freikorps. This group helped to stop a workers' uprising in Bavaria. Around the same time, he also joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany. However, he soon became unhappy with this party. He felt they were not doing enough to help workers. He left the party in 1920.
In 1925, he joined the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), which was also known as the Nazi Party. His brother Gregor had already been a member for several years. Otto worked as a journalist for the party's newspaper and later took it over with his brother.
His Ideas in the Nazi Party
Otto Strasser focused on the socialist parts of the Nazi Party's program. He led the party's "left" group in northern Germany. This group wanted things like support for worker strikes and the government taking control of banks and industries. They even wanted closer ties with the Soviet Union.
However, Adolf Hitler disagreed with many of these ideas. Hitler thought they were too extreme. He also worried that these ideas would upset the middle class and wealthy business owners who supported the Nazis. At a meeting in 1926, Strasser's group lost the debate, and another leader, Joseph Goebbels, sided with Hitler. Even though he was disappointed, Otto Strasser continued to be a leading "Left Nazi" within the party. But in 1930, Hitler expelled him from the Nazi Party.
After Leaving the Nazi Party
After being expelled, Otto Strasser started his own political group called the Black Front. He hoped this group would cause a split in the Nazi Party. However, his group was not strong enough to stop Hitler from gaining power in 1933.
Strasser spent the years of Nazi Germany living outside of Germany. This time was known as his exile. In 1934, many members of the "Nazi Left" group were killed during an event called the Night of the Long Knives. Otto's brother, Gregor, was among those killed. This event made Hitler the undisputed leader of the Nazi Party. Besides the Black Front, Strasser also led the Free German Movement from outside Germany. This group tried to get Germans around the world to help bring down Hitler.
Life in Exile
Otto Strasser first fled to Austria, then to Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, and France. In 1940, he traveled to Bermuda by way of Portugal. He left his wife and two children in Switzerland. In 1941, he moved to Canada. He was sometimes called the "Prisoner of Ottawa" because of his political past.
During this time, Joseph Goebbels, a top Nazi leader, called Strasser "Public Enemy Number One." The Nazis even offered a large reward of $500,000 for his capture. Strasser lived in Montreal for a while. He later moved to a farm in Clarence, Nova Scotia, and then to Paradise, Nova Scotia.
After World War II, Strasser was not allowed to return to West Germany at first. The Allied powers and then the West German government prevented him. This was because he was a former Nazi Party member, even though he had disagreed with Hitler.
While in exile, he wrote articles about Nazi Germany and its leaders for newspapers in Britain, America, and Canada. He wrote for the New Statesman and a series for the Montreal Gazette.
Return to Germany and Later Life
In 1950, East Germany invited Strasser to join their Socialist Unity Party. But he said no. He hoped he would be allowed to return to Bavaria, which was then under American control. He believed West Germany was like an American colony and East Germany was a Russian colony.
Eventually, he got his German citizenship back and settled in Munich. In 1956, he tried to start a new political party called the German Social Union. He wanted it to be "nationalist and socialist" like his earlier ideas. However, his new group did not gain much support. For the rest of his life, Strasser continued to promote his ideas, known as Strasserism, until he died in Munich in 1974.
Otto Strasser always said that he disagreed with the Nazi Party's racial policies. He claimed he actively worked against these policies within the Nazi movement. For example, he said he helped remove Julius Streicher, a strong supporter of racial hatred, from a political party.
His Written Works
- Hitler and I (published in English in 1940)
- A History in My Time
- Germany Tomorrow
- Gregor Strasser (written using the name "Michael Geismeier")
- We Seek Germany (written using the name "D.G.")
- Whither Hitler? (written using the name "D.G.")
- Europe Tomorrow (written using the name "D.G.")
- Structure of German Socialism
- The German St. Bartholomew's Night
- European Federation
- The Gangsters Around Hitler
- Hitler tritt auf der Stelle
- Kommt es zum Krieg?
- Der Faschismus. Geschichte und Gefahr
- Mein Kampf. Eine politische Autobiografie.
See also
In Spanish: Otto Strasser para niños
