Franz Ritter von Epp | |
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Reichsstatthalter of Bavaria | |
In office 10 April 1933 – 29 April 1945 |
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Reichskommissar of Bavaria | |
In office 10 March 1933 – 10 April 1933 |
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Member of the Reichstag | |
In office 20 May 1928 – 23 May 1945 |
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Personal details | |
Born |
Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria |
16 October 1868
Died | 31 January 1947 Munich, Germany |
(aged 78)
Resting place | Munich Waldfriedhof |
Nationality | German |
Political party | BVP, from 1928 NSDAP |
Franz Xaver Ritter von Epp, from 1916 Ritter von Epp, (16 October 1868 – 31 January 1947) was a German general and politician, who had started his military career in the Bavarian Army. Succeeded and merited military service during war brought him a knighthood in 1916. After the armistice of Germany and dissolution of Empire, von Epp was a commanding officer in Freikorps and Reichswehr. He was member of Bavarian People's Party before joining with Nazi Party in 1928, when he got elected as a member of German parliament, Reichstag, to the position he held until the end of Third Reich. He acted as Reichskommissar, later Reichsstatthalter, for Bavaria in 1933.
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 and after this joined the military academy in Munich. He served as a volunteer in East Asia during the Boxer rebellion in 1900–01 and then became a company commander in the colony of German South-West Africa (now Namibia), where he took part in the bloody Herero and Namaqua Genocide. During the First World War, he served as the commanding officer of the Royal Bavarian Infantry Lifeguards Regiment in France, Serbia, Romania, and at the Isonzo front.
For his war service, Epp received a large number of medals, of which the Pour le Mérite (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 (23 June 1916).