Bernhard Strasser
Bernhard Strasser | |
|---|---|
| Born | Paul Strasser 21 March 1895 Bavaria, Germany |
| Died | 11 May 1981 (aged 86) Norfolk, Nebraska, United States |
| Citizenship | German |
| Alma mater | University of Munich University of Würzburg |
| Occupations | Benedictine monk, author, chaplain, teacher |
| Employer(s) | Metten Abbey Saint John's Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota |
| Known for | Brother of Gregor Strasser and Otto Strasser, memoirs on early Nazi Party history |
| Relatives | Gregor Strasser (brother) Otto Strasser (brother) |
Bernhard Strasser (born Paul Strasser; 21 March 1895 – 11 May 1981) was a German Benedictine monk and author. A member of the Metten Abbey in Bavaria, he is historically significant primarily as the brother of the politicians Gregor Strasser and Otto Strasser, key figures in the early Nazi Party who led its paramilitary and "left-wing" factions.
Targeted by the Nazi regime due to his family connections following the Night of the Long Knives (1934), Strasser fled Germany in 1935 to escape arrest by the Gestapo. He was subsequently classified as an enemy of the state and placed on "The Black Book" (Sonderfahndungsliste G.B.), a list of prominent targets to be arrested by the SS in the event of a German invasion of Great Britain.
Strasser spent the latter half of his life in exile in the United States, where he served as a prominent member of the German-Catholic diaspora in Minnesota and Nebraska. His post-war writings, particularly his biographical works concerning his brothers, serve as important primary sources for historians researching the internal dynamics of the Nazi Party's rise and the political ideology of Strasserism.