Emil Maurice
Emil Maurice (
January 19,
1897–
February 6,
1972) was an early member of the
Nazi Party. A watchmaker, he was a close associate of
Adolf Hitler with a personal friendship dating back to at least
1919. With the founding of the
Sturmabteilung in
1920, Maurice became the first
Oberster SA-Führer (Supreme SA Leader). In 1923, Maurice also became the SA commander of the newly established
Stabswache which was a special SA company tasked to guard Adolf Hitler at Nazi parties and rallies.
In
1925, two years after the failed
Beer Hall Putsch, Emil Maurice and Adolf Hitler refounded the Stabswache as the
Stosstrupp Adolf Hitler which was renamed, later that year, as the
Schutzstaffel (SS). At that time, Hitler became SS Member nr. 1 and Emil Maurice became SS Member nr. 2. Maurice became an
SS-Führer in the new organization, although the leadership of the SS was assumed by
Julius Schreck, the first
Reichsführer-SS.
He reportedly had a brief relationship with
Geli Raubal.
When the SS was reorganized and began to expand in
1932, Maurice became a senior SS officer and would eventually be promoted to the rank
SS-Oberführer. While Maurice never became a top commander of the SS his status as SS Member #2 effectively credited him as the actual founder of the organization.
Heinrich Himmler, who ultimately would become the most recognized leader of the SS, held SS Member #168.
Maurice's stagnant SS career, after Himmler had become
Reichsführer-SS, has lead historians to uncover evidence that Himmler suspected Maurice as being part
Jewish. Himmler had lobbied for Emil Maurice to be removed from the SS, although Hitler never approved this due to Maurice's early membership in the Schutzstaffel.
*
Article on Emil Maurice (Spartacus Educational)*
Extended book review "Hitler's Jewish Soldiers" by Jewish historian Brian Mark Rigg
