2. Key Players in the Rise to Power. Timothy Ryback introduces core players in the 1932–1933 drama. Gregor Strasser was critical to the NSDAP, balancing Hitler's fanatic nationalism with a committed socialist agenda, functioning as a popular coalition bui

2. Key Players in the Rise to Power. Timothy Ryback introduces core players in the 1932–1933 drama. Gregor Strasser was critical to the NSDAP, balancing Hitler's fanatic nationalism with a committed socialist agenda, functioning as a popular coalition builder. On the establishment side were Chancellor Papen and Minister of Defense Schleicher. Schleicher was the political mastermind and "key power broker." Papen was widely seen as Schleicher's unintelligent "puppet." Also prominent was Röhm, who led the SA (Brownshirts). The SA was a 400,000-man private army of stormtroopers used for fundraising and fighting communists in the militarized German streets.
1933