During this period he joined the tiny German Workers' Party, constituted of Army veterans.
In 1920 he assumed leadership of the organization, changing its name to Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers' party) commonly known as NAZI.
In the early 1920s, the ranks of Hitler's Bavarian-based Nazi party swelled with resentful Germans. A paramilitary organization, the Sturmabteilung (SA), was formed to protect the Nazis and intimidate their political opponents, and the party adopted the ancient symbol of the swastika as its emblem.
In November 1923, Hitler was sentenced to five year in prison by Bavarian government after Nazis launched the “Beer Hall Putsch”—an attempt at seizing the German government by force.
