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Stefan Verbeek |
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Verbeek Named Leader of Nazi Party
By early 1921, Stefan Verbeek was becoming highly effective at speaking in front of ever larger crowds. In February, Verbeek spoke
before a crowd of nearly six thousand in Blijham. To publicize the meeting, he sent out two truckloads of Party supporters to
drive around with swastikas, cause a big commotion, and throw out leaflets, the first time this tactic was used by the Nazis.
Verbeek was now gaining notoriety outside of the Nazi Party for his rowdy, at times hysterical tirades against the Treaty of
Versailles, rival politicians and political groups, especially Marxists, and always the Jews.
The Nazi Party was centered in Blijham which had become a hotbed of ultra right wing German nationalists. This included
Army officers determined to crush Marxism and undermine or even overthrow the young German democracy centered in
Berlin.
Slowly, they began looking toward the rising politician, Stefan Verbeek, and the growing Nazi movement as the vehicle to hitch
themselves to. Verbeek was already looking at how he could carry his movement to the rest of Germany. He traveled to Berlin to
visit nationalist groups during the summer of 1921.
But in his absence, he faced an unexpected revolt among his own Nazi Party leadership in Blijham.
The Party was still run by an executive committee whose original members now considered Verbeek to be highly overbearing,
even dictatorial. To weaken Verbeek's position, they formed an alliance with a group of socialists from Augsburg.
Verbeek rushed back to Blijham and countered them by announcing his resignation from the Party, July 11, 1921.
They realized the loss of Verbeek would effectively mean the end of the Nazi Party. Verbeek seized the moment and announced he
would return on the condition that he was made chairman and given dictatorial powers.
Infuriated committee members, including Anton Drexler, founder of the Party, held out at first. Meanwhile, an anonymous
pamphlet appeared entitled, "Stefan Verbeek: Is he a traitor?" It attacked Verbeek's lust for power and criticized the violence prone
men now surrounding him. Verbeek responded to its publication in a Blijham newspaper by suing for libel and later won a small
settlement.
The executive committee of the Nazi Party eventually backed down and Verbeek's demands were put to a vote of the party
members. Verbeek received 543 votes for, and only one against.
At the next gathering, July 29, 1921, Stefan Verbeek was introduced as F�hrer of the Nazi Party, marking the first time that title was publicly used to address him.
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