After defeat in World War I, Germany was plunged into bankruptcy, social injustice, poverty, crime and mass unemployment.[5] During these depressing years, Germany saw the creation of a number of extremist political and paramilitary associations, representing both the far-left and the far-right.[6] Amidst this crisis, Schaub decided to join the National Socialist German Workers Party, later commonly known as the Nazi Party; he became member #81.[1] The political program of the party was essentially a rejection of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, antisemitism, and anti-Bolshevism, driven by Adolf Hitler and his world view.[7]