Dietrich Eckart (German: [ˈɛkaʁt]; 23 March 1868 – 26 December 1923) was a German journalist, playwright, poet, and politician who was one of the founders of the German Workers' Party, the predecessor to the Nazi Party (NSDAP). Eckart was a key influence of Adolf Hitler in the early Nazi Party, the original publisher of the party newspaper, the Völkischer Beobachter, and the lyricist of the party anthem, Deutschland erwache. Eckart was a participant in the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923 and died shortly after his release from Landsberg Prison. Eckart was elevated to the status of a major thinker and writer upon the establishment of Nazi Germany in 1933, and has been called the spiritual father of National Socialism.