Emil Maurice

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Emil Maurice as SS-Oberführer with the " Blood Order ", photo from the Federal Archives

Emil Maurice (born January 19, 1897 in Westermoor , Schleswig-Holstein , † February 6, 1972 in Munich ) was a long-time political and personal companion of Adolf Hitler and his chauffeur and friend . He contributed to the growth of the National Socialist movement, especially in the 1920s, and was an early member of the SA and SS . In the later years of the Nazi regime he held various political offices and achieved the rank of SS Oberführer .

Life

After secondary school and an apprenticeship as a watchmaker , Maurice was a soldier in the Bavarian Army from 1917 to 1919 , without serving in the First World War .

At the end of 1919 he joined the right-wing German Workers 'Party , which in February 1920 was renamed the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). Under the leadership of Anton Drexler, he participated in the suppression of the Munich Soviet Republic and fought in Upper Silesia in 1921 . The new party needed a security service for its events. To this end, Maurice founded a "gymnastics and sports club" in November 1920, which was renamed " Sturmabteilung " (SA) in October 1921 . In August 1921, he transferred the leadership of the SA, which was filled with Freikorps , to Hans Ulrich Klintzsch, whom the influential Freikorps leader Hermann Ehrhardt had ordered . Maurice took part in the Hitler-Ludendorff Putsch in November 1923 in the " Adolf Hitler Assault Troop " . As a result, he was imprisoned like Hitler in the Landsberg correctional facility in 1924 .

According to the results of more recent research , the claim, which occurs frequently in literature and the press, that Hitler dictated parts of his book Mein Kampf to Maurice while they were in prison , is very likely incorrect. After his imprisonment, Maurice again acted temporarily as Hitler's bodyguard and personal companion from 1925. When the " Schutzstaffel " (SS) initially emerged from a hall order service , Maurice was given SS number 2.

Maurice was not without controversy in party circles. When Hitler's niece Geli Raubal 1931 September 18 suicide committed, Maurice was suspected of having an affair talk to her. Rumor has it that she was pregnant by him.

With Chéri Maurice, Maurice had a Jewish great-grandfather (1805-1896), but due to his closeness to Adolf Hitler he was tolerated as an " honorary Aryan " contrary to the other demands for Himmler's proof of Aryan status in the SS .

1933 Maurice was his previous involvement in the rise of Nazism councilor in recognizing Munich City Council and with the Blood Order and the Golden Party Badge awarded the NSDAP.

Maurice's involvement in the so-called Röhm Putsch has not yet been conclusively clarified in research. In the early literature in particular, one often finds the claim that Maurice accompanied Hitler to Bad Wiessee on June 30, 1934 and there participated in the arrest of Ernst Röhm and other high SA leaders, which is considered unlikely by today's standards. In this context, the incorrect statement appeared repeatedly that Maurice had shot SA-Obergruppenführer Edmund Heines .

In 1935 he married the medical student Hedwig Ploetz (1911–2003).

From 1936 Ministerial Director, Maurice became President of the Chamber of Crafts in Munich on April 1, 1937. From March 29, 1936 he was a member of the National Socialist Reichstag . Within the SS, Maurice rose to the rank of SS Oberführer , which he was given on January 30, 1939 on an honorary basis.

1948 sentenced him a Spruchkammer to four years in a labor camp and the withdrawal of 30 percent of its assets. Maurice did not have to serve his sentence in full. Maurice died in 1972 at the age of 75. He was buried in the Nordfriedhof in Munich.

literature

  • Anna M. Sigmund: The leader's best friend. Heyne, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-453-62001-1 .
  • Emil Maurice - Hitler's former follower , in: Volker Koop : "I determine who is Jewish" - "Honorary Aryan" under National Socialism, Böhlau, 2014, ISBN 978-3-412-21703-7 , pp. 258-271. [1]

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wilhelm Hoser: National Socialist Workers' Party (NSDAP) 1920–1923 / 1925–1945. In: Online work Historical Lexicon of Bavaria (HLB)
  2. ↑ Othmar Plöckinger: History of a book: Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" 1922-1945. Oldenbourg, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-486-57956-8 .
  3. ↑ Bastian Hein: The SS: History and Crimes . Orig. Edition edition. Beck, Munich 2015, ISBN 3-406-67513-1 , p. 38 .
  4. ↑ Hedwig Maurice , findagrave.com
  5. ↑ SS-Personalhauptamt (Ed.): Seniority list of the Schutzstaffel. Berlin 1942, p. 21.
  6. ^ Emil Maurice , findagrave.com
personal data
SURNAME Maurice, Emil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chauffeur and former political companion of Adolf Hitler, politician (NSDAP), MdR
DATE OF BIRTH January 19, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Westermoor
DATE OF DEATH February 6, 1972
Place of death Munich