Hanke was fired from his teaching position at the vocational school in April 1931 for his political agitation for the Nazi Party. He went to work full-time for the party. By late 1931, he was "Kreisleiter" (ward leader) of Westend in Berlin, working under Berlin's "Gauleiter" Joseph Goebbels. In 1932, Hanke was made chief Gau organizational director and on 1 April 1932, personal adjutant and "Referent" (advisor) to Goebbels in his capacity as propaganda director of the NSDAP ("Reichspropagandaleiter der NSDAP").