Gregor Strasser

Born in Bavaria in 1892, Strasser fought in World War I as an artillery officer, earning the Iron Cross, then joined Franz Ritter von Epp's Freikorps after the armistice. He entered the Nazi Party in 1920 and took part in the failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, landing in prison until his election to the Reichstag secured early release. A skilled organizer and speaker, he transformed the NSDAP from a marginal southern outfit into a nationwide force, overseeing membership growth across northern Germany and rising to head the party's national organizational work by mid-1932. His "Strasser Program" with brother Otto in 1925-26 prompted Hitler to repudiate him at the Bamberg Conference, though the two reconciled with Strasser accepting Hitler's ideological supremacy while he continued as organizer. In December 1932, Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher offered him the vice-chancellorship; Hitler accused him of trying to split the party, and Strasser resigned all offices, renounced his Reichstag seat, and took a directorship at Schering-Kahlbaum. On 30 June 1934, the Gestapo arrested and executed him in the Night of the Long Knives.