Franz Ritter von Epp (born Franz Epp; from 1918 as Ritter von Epp; 16 October 1868 – 31 January 1947)Lilla, Joachim:
Epp, Franz Ritter v.
'. In: Staatsminister, leitende Verwaltungsbeamte und (NS-)Funktionsträger in Bayern 1918 bis 1945. Bayerische Landesbibliothek Online. Retrieved on 12 November 2015.Epp's death date is often erroneously given as 31 December 1946. According to Lilla, Staatsminister, this error was replicated from the . The correct date, 31 January 1947, is confirmed by Epp's death certificate in the

civil registry Civil registration is the system by which a government records the vital events ( births, marriages, and deaths) of its citizens and residents. The resulting repository or database has different names in different countries and even in diffe ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. was a German general and politician who started his military career in the

Bavarian Army The Bavarian Army () was the army of the Electorate of Bavaria, Electorate (1682–1806) and then Kingdom of Bavaria, Kingdom (1806–1918) of Bavaria. It existed from 1682 as the standing army of Bavaria until the merger of the military sovereig ...

. Successful wartime military service earned him a knighthood in 1916. After the end of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and the dissolution of the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

, Epp was a commanding officer in the and the . His unit, the ''Freikorps Epp'', was responsible for numerous massacres during the crushing of the

Bavarian Soviet Republic The Bavarian Soviet Republic (or Bavarian Council Republic), also known as the Munich Soviet Republic (), was a short-lived unrecognised socialist state in Bavaria during the German revolution of 1918–1919. A group of communists and anarchist ...

. He was a member of

Bavarian People's Party The Bavarian People's Party (German: ; BVP) was a principally Catholic christian democratic political party in Bavaria during the Weimar Republic. After the collapse of the German Empire in 1918, it split away from the federal Centre Party and ...

, before joining the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

in 1928, when he was elected as a member of the German parliament or , a position he held until the fall of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. He was the , later , for Bavaria, and a of the Nazi Party. During the Nazi era, Epp, who had participated in the

Herero and Nama genocide The Herero and Nama genocide or Namibian genocide, formerly known also as the Herero and Namaqua genocide, was a campaign of ethnic extermination and collective punishment waged against the Herero people, Herero (Ovaherero) and the Nama people, N ...

as a young man, shared responsibility for the liquidation of virtually all Bavarian Jews and Romas as the governor of Bavaria.

Biography

Military career

Franz Epp was born in Munich in 1868, the son of the painter Rudolph Epp and Katharina Streibel. He spent his school years in

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

and after this joined the military academy in Munich. He served as a volunteer in

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

during the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...

in 1900–01 and then became a

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

commander in the colony of

German South-West Africa German South West Africa () was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. German rule over this territory was punctuated by ...

(now

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

), where he took part in the bloody

. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he served as the commanding officer of the Royal Bavarian Infantry Lifeguards Regiment in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, and at the Isonzo front. For his war service, Epp received numerous medals, of which the

Pour le Mérite The (; , ), also informally known as the ''Blue Max'' () after German WWI flying ace Max Immelmann, is an order of merit established in 1740 by King Frederick II of Prussia. Separated into two classes, each with their own designs, the was ...

(29 May 1918) was the most significant. He was also knighted, being made Ritter von Epp on 25 February 1918, and received the Bavarian

Military Order of Max Joseph The Military Order of Max Joseph () was the highest military order (decoration), order of the Kingdom of Bavaria. It was founded on 1 January 1806 by Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, the first king of Bavaria. The order came in three classes: ...

(23 June 1916).

Freikorps

After the end of the war, Epp formed the ''Freikorps Epp'', a right-wing

paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

unit mostly made up of war veterans, of which the future leader of the ''

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; or 'Storm Troopers') was the original paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party of Germany. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and early 1930s. I ...

'' (SA)

Ernst Röhm Ernst Julius Günther Röhm (; 28 November 1887 – 1 July 1934) was a German military officer, politician and a leading member of the Nazi Party. A close friend and early ally of Adolf Hitler, Röhm was the co-founder and leader of the (SA), t ...

was a member. This unit took part in the crushing of the

in Munich, being responsible for various massacres. Epp joined the ''Reichswehr'' and was promoted to ''

Generalmajor is the Germanic languages, Germanic variant of major general, used in a number of Central Europe, Central and Northern European countries. Austria Belgium Denmark is the second lowest general officer rank in the Royal Danish Army and R ...

'' in 1922. He took his leave from the German Army after getting involved with right-wing associations in 1923. When it became necessary for the Nazi Party to purchase a newspaper to publicize its political creed, Epp made available some 60,000

Reichsmark The (; sign: ℛ︁ℳ︁; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945, and in the American, British and French occupied zones of Germany, until 20 June 1948. The Reichsmark was then replace ...

s from secret army funds to acquire the ''

Völkischer Beobachter The ''Völkischer Beobachter'' (; "'' Völkisch'' Observer") was the newspaper of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) from 25 December 1920. It first appeared weekly, then daily from 8 February 1923. For twenty-four years it formed part of the official pub ...

'', which became the daily mouthpiece of the party. As the SA expanded, it became an armed band of several hundred thousand men, whose function was to guard Nazi rallies and disrupt those of other political parties. Some of its leaders, particularly Ernst Röhm, visualized the SA as supplanting the regular army when

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

came to national power. To this end, a department was set up under Epp called the ''Wehrpolitisches Amt'' ("Army political office"). Nothing came of this, as a distrustful Hitler had the SA crushed and many of its leaders killed in the

Night of the Long Knives The Night of the Long Knives (, ), also called the Röhm purge or Operation Hummingbird (), was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from 30 June to 2 July 1934. Chancellor Adolf Hitler, urged on by Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler, ord ...

in the summer of 1934.

Career in parliament and the Nazi Party

After leaving the

, Epp on 20 May 1928 was elected from electoral constituency 26 (

Franconia Franconia ( ; ; ) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (). Franconia is made up of the three (governmental districts) of Lower Franconia, Lower, Middle Franconia, Middle and Upper Franco ...

) as one of the first 12 Nazi Party deputies to the '' Reichstag''. He would continue to be elected to the ''Reichstag'' in each subsequent election throughout the Weimar and Nazi regimes to 1945, switching to represent constituency 24 ( Upper Bavaria-Swabia) at the November 1933 election. He served as the Nazi Party's head of its Military-Political Office from 1928 to 1945, and later as leader of the German Colonial Society, an organization devoted to regaining Germany's lost colonies. On 31 August 1933 he was made a ''Reichsleiter'', the second highest political rank in the Nazi Party. On 3 October 1933, he was also made a member of the

Academy for German Law The Academy for German Law () was an institute for legal research and reform founded on 26 June 1933 in Nazi Germany. After suspending its operations during the Second World War in August 1944, it was abolished after the fall of the Nazi regime on ...

. In May 1934 he became head of the NSDAP Office of Colonial Policy until its dissolution in February 1943.

''Reichskommissar'' and ''Reichsstatthalter'' of Bavaria

Epp's final notable historical action occurred on 9 March 1933, two weeks before the Reichstag passed the

Enabling Act An enabling act is a piece of legislation by which a legislative body grants an entity which depends on it (for authorization or legitimacy) for the delegation of the legislative body's power to take certain actions. For example, enabling act ...

, which granted Hitler dictatorial powers. On the orders of Hitler and

Wilhelm Frick Wilhelm Frick (12 March 1877 – 16 October 1946) was a German prominent politician of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) and convicted war criminal who served as Minister of the Interior in Adolf Hitler's cabinet from 1933 to 1943 and as the last governor ...

, he abolished the Government of

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

and set up a Nazi regime, with himself as ''

Reichskommissar (, rendered as "Commissioner of the Empire", "Reich Commissioner" or "Imperial Commissioner"), in German history, was an official governatorial title used for various public offices during the period of the German Empire and Nazi Germany. Ger ...

''. On 10 April Hitler appointed him ''

Reichsstatthalter The ''Reichsstatthalter'' (, ''Reich lieutenant'') was a title used in the German Empire and later in Nazi Germany. ''Statthalter des Reiches'' (1879–1918) The office of ''Statthalter des Reiches'' (otherwise known as ''Reichsstatthalter'' ...

'' for Bavaria. In this position he often clashed with Bavaria's Nazi Minister-President

Ludwig Siebert Ludwig Siebert (17 October 1874 – 1 November 1942) was a German lawyer and Nazi Party politician who served as the Minister President of Bavaria in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1942. Early life Siebert was born in Ludwigshafen in the Palat ...

. Epp's attempt to limit the influence of the central government on Bavarian politics failed. He, however, retained his post as ''Reichsstatthalter'' until the end of the war, although by then he was politically insignificant. On 8 May 1933, Epp's Dornier Do X flying boat crashed at the

Passau Passau (; ) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the ("City of Three Rivers"), as the river Danube is joined by the Inn (river), Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's population is about 50,000, of whom ...

Kachlet. The city named one of its streets ''Ritter-von-Epp-Straße''.

Arrest and death

Epp was arrested on Paul Giesler's orders in April 1945, for being associated with the '' Freiheitsaktion Bayern'', an anti-Nazi group led by Rupprecht Gerngroß. However, Epp had not wanted to be directly involved with the group, as he considered their goal—surrender to the Allies—a form of backstabbing of the German Army. The plan ultimately failed, with the resistance movement being crushed and over 40 of them being executed just hours before the liberation of the city. Suffering from a heart condition, he was hospitalised at

Bad Nauheim Bad Nauheim () is a town in the Wetteraukreis district of Hesse state of Germany. As of 2020, Bad Nauheim has a population of 32,493. The town is approximately north of Frankfurt am Main, on the east edge of the Taunus mountain range. It is a w ...

at the end of the war. On 9 May 1945, a clerk at the hospital alerted agents from the US Counterintelligence Corps that Epp was a patient there, and he was arrested and sent to a prison camp in Munich to await trial at Nuremberg. He died in detention on 31 January 1947, at the age of 78.

Decorations and awards

Order of the Red Eagle The Order of the Red Eagle () was an order of chivalry of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was awarded to both military personnel and civilians, to recognize valor in combat, excellence in military leadership, long and faithful service to the kingdom, o ...

, 4th class (German Empire) * Order of the Crown, 4th class with swords (Prussia) * Military Merit Order, 3rd and 4th class with Swords (Bavaria) * 1914

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...

2nd Class, 1914 * 1914

1st Class, 1915 * Knights Cross of the Military Order of Max Joseph (Kingdom of Bavaria), 1917 * Pour le Mérite, 1918 * Knight of the Princely

House Order of Hohenzollern The House Order of Hohenzollern ( or ') was a dynastic order of knighthood of the House of Hohenzollern awarded to military commissioned officers and civilians of comparable status. Associated with the various versions of the order were crosses an ...

with swords (Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen) * Knight 2nd class of the

House and Merit Order of Peter Frederick Louis The House and Merit Order of Duke Peter Frederick Louis (German: ''Haus und Verdienstorden von Herzog Peter Friedrich Ludwig'') or proper German Oldenburg House and Merit Order of Duke Peter Frederick Louis (German: ''Oldenburgischer Haus- und Verd ...

(Oldenburg) * Knight of the

Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg) The Bailiwick of Brandenburg of the Chivalric Order of Saint John of the Hospital at Jerusalem (), commonly known as the Order of Saint John or the Johanniter Order (German: ''Johanniterorden''), is the Germans, German Protestantism, Protestant b ...

Honour Chevron for the Old Guard The Honour Chevron for the Old Guard () was a Nazi Party decoration worn by members of the SS. The silver chevron, which was worn on the upper sleeve on the right arm, was authorised by Adolf Hitler in February 1934. All members of the SS who h ...

, February 1934 *

Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 The Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 (), commonly referred to as the Hindenburg Cross or the German WWI Service Cross, was established by Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, President of the German Weimar Republic, by an order dated 13 July ...

, 1934 *

Golden Party Badge __NOTOC__ The Golden Party Badge () was an award authorised by Adolf Hitler in a decree in October 1933. It was a special award given to all Nazi Party members who had, as of 9 November 1933, registered numbers from 1 to 100,000 (issued on 1 Oc ...

Sudetenland Medal The 1 October 1938 Commemorative Medal () was commonly known as the Sudetenland Medal. It was a decoration of Nazi Germany awarded during the interwar period, and the second in a series of Occupation Medals. Description Instituted on 18 October ...

, 1938 * Anschluss Medal, 1939 *

War Merit Cross The War Merit Cross () was a state decoration of Nazi Germany during World War II. By the end of the conflict it was issued in four degrees and had an equivalent civil award. A " de-Nazified" version of the War Merit Cross was reissued in 1957 ...

2nd Class and 1st Class with Swords *Knights Cross of the

with Swords, 1943 * Military Merit Cross, 2nd class (

Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin The Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin () was a territory in Northern Germany held by the House of Mecklenburg residing at Schwerin. It was a sovereign member state of the German Confederation and became a federated state of the North German C ...

) *

Nazi Party Long Service Award The Nazi Party Long Service Award (''Die Dienstauszeichnung der NSDAP''), a/k/a the NSDAP Long Service Award, was a political award in the form of a badge of the Nazi Party. History The award was given in three grades of ten years, fifteen y ...

(10 and 15 years) *

Order of the Iron Crown The Order of the Iron Crown () was an order of merit that was established on 5 June 1805 in the Kingdom of Italy by Napoleon Bonaparte under his title of Napoleon I, King of Italy. The order took its name from the ancient Iron Crown of Lombard ...

, 3rd class (Austria) * On 18 May 1933, the city of Passau decided to make Epp a Citizen of Honor.Anna Rosmus: Hitlers Nibelungen, Samples Grafenau 2015, p. 62f

Notes

References

Sources

Biography of Franz Ritter von Epp

�� Record of his military career *

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Epp, Franz Ritter von 1868 births 1947 deaths 20th-century Freikorps personnel 20th-century German nobility Bavarian generals Bavarian People's Party politicians Bavarian Soviet Republic Burials at Munich Waldfriedhof Generals of Infantry (Wehrmacht) German Army personnel of World War I German hunters German knights German military personnel of the Boxer Rebellion Herero and Nama genocide perpetrators Holocaust perpetrators in Germany Knights of the Military Order of Max Joseph Lieutenant generals of the Reichswehr Members of the Academy for German Law Members of the Reichstag 1928–1930 Members of the Reichstag 1930–1932 Members of the Reichstag 1932 Members of the Reichstag 1932–1933 Members of the Reichstag 1933 Members of the Reichstag 1933–1936 Members of the Reichstag 1936–1938 Members of the Reichstag 1938–1945 Military personnel from Munich Military personnel from the Kingdom of Bavaria Nazis who died in prison custody Nobility in the Nazi Party Politicians from the Kingdom of Bavaria Politicide perpetrators Prisoners and detainees of Germany Prisoners who died in United States military detention Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 1st class Recipients of the Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (military class) Reichsleiters Romani genocide perpetrators SA-Obergruppenführer Schutztruppe personnel