On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 13:59:44 -0500, Brice Yokem <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Hitler founded the National Socialist German Workers Party.  He was
>a Socialist.

not quiet right according to
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/NSDAP

Encyclopedia: NSDAP
The National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische
Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), better known as the NSDAP or the Nazi Party was a
political party that was led to power in Germany by Adolf Hitler in 1933.
The term Nazi is a short form of the German Nationalsozialismus (National
Socialism); the ideology of the NSDAP.

The party was the main political force in Nazi Germany from the fall of the
Weimar Republic in 1933 until the end of World War II in 1945, when it was
declared illegal and its leaders were arrested and convicted of crimes
against humanity at the Nuremberg trials.

The forerunner of the NSDAP, the Deutsche Arbeiters Partei (German Workers'
Party, abbreviated DAP), was founded in 1919 by a Munich locksmith and self-
styled poet, Anton Drexler, as one of many völkisch movements that existed
in Germany as a result of its defeat in World War I. In order to
investigate this party, German army intelligence sent Hitler as a young
corporal to monitor party activities. Impressed by what he saw, he joined
as member 555, although Hitler later claimed to be "Party Member number 7"
to make it look like he was a founder. He in fact was the 7th member of the
DAP's central committee. The DAP was shortly renamed the NSDAP. When the
NSDAP was refounded after being banned following the abortive Beer Hall
Putsch in 1923, Hitler took Party membership number 1.

After the failure of its coup attempt in Bavaria, the Nazis competed poorly
in elections for the remainder of the 1920s. In the election of 1930,
however, the Nazis, propelled by Germany's economic problems in the
incipient Great Depression increased their vote dramatically, becoming the
second largest party in the Reichstag. It improved its position in the
years thereafter, despite a brief ban in 1932 of the S.A. (the party's
private army) and in the elections of 1932 the party reached a total of
13.75 million votes and became the largest voting bloc in the Reichstag.
Hitler was appointed Chancellor by president Hindenburg in January 1933,
and in an election marred by S.A. strong arming, the Nazis and their
Nationalist allies gained a majority, which they used to pass an Enabling
Act to put absolute power into Hitler's hands. After the banning or
cancellation of all other parties (July 5, 1933) and the ban on new parties
(July 14, 1933), the National Socialists became the only remaining
political party. This was part of the Gleichschaltung.

Election results:

date votes in millions share
May 20, 1928        0.81  2.6%
September 14, 1930  6.41 18.3%
July 31, 1932      13.75 37.3%
November 6, 1932   11.74 33.1%
March 5, 1933      17.28 43.9%

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