München – Hofbräuhaus

It was in the Hofbräuhaus beer hall that the National Socialist German workers’ party (german Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, NSDAP) was founded on 24 February, 1920. Prior to that, the party had been called the German Labor Party (the German Deutsche Arbeiter Partei, DAP), but Hitler and other leaders of the DAP felt that the current name only attracted supporters from the working class. They hoped that the new name would also attract voters and sympathizers from other social classes such as conservatives, socialists and nationalists. During the meeting, Hitler announced a new 25-point party program that would form the basis for party, state and a future Europe. The party program had been compiled by Hitler, Anton Drexler and Gottfried Feder. Both Drexler and Feder were prominent figures in the DAP but would disappear more and more during the twenties to completely disappear from the political scene during the thirties. Drexler died in 1942 and Feder died in 1941. Between 1933 and 1945, Hofbräuhaus was a place of pilgrimage for Nazis and Hitler had a memorial erected in honor of the party in the hall. The Hofbräuhaus was destroyed at the end of the war after repeated air strikes over Munich.