The name of the man who stood at the origins of German Nazism is not known to many. He became the best friend of Adolf Hitler and one of the first members of the NSDAP. Who is it? Emile Maurice is a watchmaker of Jewish origin who was born into a we althy family. His father ran a fertilizer business, but things didn't go well for long. The factory eventually went bankrupt, and young Maurice had to get a profession that could support him.
Emile Maurice went to study as a watchmaker to one of the good masters. Then the First World War began, but while Emil's peers were dying on the battlefield, he managed to avoid being drafted. The young man got into the army only towards the end of hostilities, and while he was undergoing training, the war had already ended. Formally, Maurice was listed as part of the German armed formations, but in fact he did not have time to actually take part in the hostilities.
Troubled Times
BIn 1919, the mobilized Maurice returned to Munich. Germany at that time was shaken by important events: the collapse of the economy, the defeat in the war, the revolution. The problem of the lost generation appeared, because so many soldiers and officers who came from the war could not find a place for themselves. All this caused instability in the country. But Emile Maurice did not lose much after the revolution. His profession remained in demand, but the young man still responded quite vividly to social events.
Party meetings
He became a frequent guest at meetings held by the German Workers' Party, founded by A. Drexler. In fact, it was not an organized formation, but only a circle of like-minded people who discussed ways out of the crisis over a glass of beer and sometimes spoke to the proletarians who rested after work in the same pubs. Around the same time, a soldier Adolf Hitler began to attend gatherings. At first he went to business meetings, but over time he became imbued with the ideas of the circle.
Hitler's speech at the gatherings of the German Workers' Party was always incredibly expressive, which distinguished him from other meeting attendees. People began to deliberately come to listen to Adolf Hitler speak. In the autumn of 1919, the most vicious anti-Semite in the history of mankind, as it turns out in the future, joined the ranks of the party. The leaders of the gathering decided to give solidity to their undertaking, so party tickets were issued starting with the five hundredth issue. Adolf Hitler received ticket number 555, that is, he really became the 55thmember of the German Workers' Party. Emile Maurice soon joined the movement, receiving the 594th ticket.
Stormtrooper Chief
At the beginning of its existence, the party was insignificant, and the number of participants is so small that they knew each other personally. Adolf Hitler and Emil Maurice became close. It turned out that they live almost in the neighborhood, and even Maurice was quite actively engaged in boxing in his youth. This was an important fact, given that the party's rallies were often attacked by political opponents.
After several attacks during meetings, special security teams were formed. The Jew Emil Maurice controlled the groups. Thanks to the support of Rem, who served in the Reichswehr, the activists managed to get uniforms, clubs and some weapons from state warehouses. In order not to arouse suspicion from the authorities, the detachments were renamed gymnastic and sports, but among themselves they called each other attack aircraft. Thus, Emil Maurice became the first chief of the Sturmabteilung (abbreviated as SA) stormtroopers.
In early November 1921, a mass brawl took place in the Hofbräuhaus pub, which became an important page in the entire Nazi mythology. This event was called the "Battle in the Hall". During Hitler's speech, the Reds burst into the pub and began beating supporters of the German Workers' Party. A fight ensued. Fifty stormtroopers managed to fight off four hundred communists.
Suspicions of supporters
Soon Emile Maurice wasremoved from the post of head of the assault squads. The veterans who joined the party were dissatisfied with them. Maurice was not at the front and looked like a Jew. A swarthy brunette with curly hair could not be a purebred Aryan. The combination of these factors caused dissatisfaction among the supporters of the ideas of the Labor Party. Behind his back it was rumored that a Jew led people who shed blood for Germany.
Adolf Hitler and Emil Maurice were quite close by that time, but the future Reich Chancellor, being a consistent, ambitious and cautious politician, sacrificed friendship. Maurice left his position, but received much more in return. Hitler, who trusted him, made the watchmaker his bodyguard and created a headquarters guard. In it, Emile Maurice selected the most reliable people. At first there were twenty people in the detachment, but later their number increased to almost a hundred. Maurice was not the direct manager, but he was not the last one.
The failure of the Beer Putsch
Hitler's comrade-in-arms took an active part in the Beer Putsch. With weapons in hand, he stood next to the future Fuhrer, who proclaimed that the revolution had begun, and then seized the local editorial office of one of the red newspapers on behalf of Hitler. After the failure, Maurice was sent to prison, and all party structures were dissolved. The watchmaker was released a month later than Hitler, and the latter came personally to meet an old friend from prison.
Creating SS
After the liberation of the activists of the German Workers' Party had to start all over again. Hitler had doubts aboutthe loy alty of the storm troopers, who put themselves above the Fuhrer, so he decided to create a new organization. It was planned to assemble a personal guard, unquestioningly loyal to Adolf Hitler personally. People were recruited from the former headquarters guards and the shock detachment. Only eight people returned, who became the first members of the guard units. All over the world, these units are better known by the abbreviation SS. Emile Maurice became the second member of the SS.
Maurice's betrayal
Adolf Hitler persuaded his old comrade to marry, but out of millions of girls, Emile Maurice chose the one who could not be taken as a wife. Geli Raubal - the Fuhrer's own niece, whom he tyrannically took care of, could not stand it and laid hands on herself. Hitler would approve of any choice of a friend, but not the choice of his niece. Then Maurice left the SS and decided to take everything from the party that he was not paid extra through the courts.
When Emile Maurice actually sued the party, it was seen as a real betrayal. The judge decided the case in his favor, ordering the German Workers' Party to pay the activist the remuneration due to him. Then the Nazis faced serious financial problems, but were forced to pay. With this money, Emile Maurice, whose photo can be seen below, opened a watch shop and returned to his old profession.
Renewing Friendship
The old comrades did not communicate for four years after this unpleasant incident. Adolf Hitler was rapidly rising to power, and Emile Maurice worked as a watchmaker. When the Nazis finally took overpower, Maurice met with Hitler. He was reinstated and awarded an honorary party badge. Some historians believe that during the "Night of the Long Knives" Emile Maurice took part in the arrests of stormtroopers and several executions, but he himself denied this during post-war interrogations.
The biography of Emile Maurice was soon replenished with an important event. The watchmaker got married. Hitler promised to come to the wedding, but he never did, although he sent the newlyweds a significant sum of money as a gift. After returning to the party, Emil Maurice no longer held high posts and had little influence on state policy, but remained a close friend of the Fuhrer.
Question of origin
Known interesting fact - Emile Maurice became the best friend and active colleague of Adolf Hitler, being a Jew. Himmler, a terrible careerist, who always envied Hitler's old comrades-in-arms, who had known him from the very beginning of the movement, decided to open the Fuhrer's eyes. Himmler wrote a letter in which he noted that Maurice did not have documents confirming the Aryan origin. Hitler took it quite calmly and explained that he allowed Emil Maurice to remain in the SS.
Recent years
In May 1945, Emile Maurice was arrested in his own home by American troops. During interrogations, he did not admit to a long-term friendly relationship with Hitler, posing as an ordinary watchmaker who had nothing to do with party affairs. The Americans divided all the suspects into five groups according to the degree of guilt incrimes committed by the Nazis. Maurice was ranked second: defendants who had a certain significance, but were not connected with the main crimes.
It was known that Maurice stood at the beginning of the movement, could not find any evidence of his crimes. The sentence is four years in prison, but Emile Maurice filed an appeal, pointing out his Jewish origin. The decision was revised, and the former activist of the German Workers' Party was released.
After his release, Emile Maurice returned to his old profession as a watchmaker. He died in Munich in 1972 at the age of seventy-six. In recent years, he tried to be as inconspicuous as possible. In the house, Emil Maurice hung a portrait of his Jewish great-grandfather, who was an outstanding theatrical figure. There was no indication that this house was inhabited by a man who had once been a close friend of Adolf Hitler.
