that I had to take this step...It was the most decisive resolve of my life. From here there was and could be no turning back." Adolf Hitler joined the committee of the German Workers' Party (Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or DAP) and thus entered politics. 4. When Hitler got up to speak, The German Workers' Party meeting he astounded everyone with a highly emotional, at times near hysterical manner of speech making. For Hitler, it was an important moment in his young political career. He described the scene in Mein Kampf:"I spoke for thirty minutes, and what before I had simply felt within me, without in any way knowing it, was now proved by reality: I could speak! After thirty minutes the people in the small room were electrified and the enthusiasm was first expressed by the fact that my appeal to the self-sacrifice of those present led to the donation of three hundred marks."Hitler took charge of party propaganda in early 1920, and also recruited young men he had known in the Army. Army Captain Ernst Rhm, a new party member, who would play a vital role in Hitler’s eventual rise to power, aided him in his recruiting efforts. He also understood how a political party directly opposed to a possible Communist revolution could play on the fears of so many Germans and gain support. In February of 1920, Hitler urged the German Workers' Party to hold its first mass meeting. He met strong opposition from leading party members who thought it was premature and feared it might be disrupted by Marxists. Hitler had no fear of disruption. In fact he welcomed it, knowing it would bring his party anti-Marxist notoriety. He even had the hall decorated in red to aggravate the Marxists.On February 24, 1920, Hitler was thrilled when he entered the large meeting hall in Munich and saw two thousand people waiting, including a large number of Communists. A few minutes into his speech, shouting followed by open brawling between German Workers’ Party ass...
