Wilhelm Murr
| Wilhelm Murr | |
|---|---|
| Reichsstatthalter of Württemberg | |
|
In office 6 May 1933 – 19 April 1945 |
|
| Appointed by | Adolf Hitler |
| Preceded by | Post created |
| Succeeded by | Post abolished |
| Gauleiter of Württemberg-Hohenzollern | |
|
In office 1928–1945 |
|
| Appointed by | Adolf Hitler |
| Preceded by | Eugen Munder |
| Succeeded by | Post abolished |
| 6th State President of Württemberg | |
|
In office 1933–1933 |
|
| Preceded by | Eugen Bolz |
| Succeeded by | Christian Mergenthaler |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 16, 1888 Esslingen am Neckar, Kingdom of Württemberg |
| Died | May 14, 1945 (aged 56) Vorarlberg, Austria |
| Political party |
 NSDAP
|
Wilhelm Murr (16 December 1888 – 14 May 1945) was a Nazi German politician. From 1928 until his death he was Gauleiter of Württemberg-Hohenzollern, and from early 1933 held the offices of State President and Reichsstatthalter ("Reich Governor") of Württemberg. During World War II he also rose to the rank of SS-Obergruppenführer in addition to his Party posts. At war's end he committed suicide with poison while in French custody.
Murr was born in Esslingen am Neckar. He grew up in Esslingen in poverty and lost both parents at the age of 14. He attended the Volksschule up to the 7th class. After commercial training, he completed military service from 1908 to 1910 and then worked as a salesman at the Maschinenfabrik Esslingen. During the First World War he served on all fronts, advanced to the rank of Vize-Feldwebel (Staff Sergeant) and spent the end of the war in 1918 injured in a military hospital in Cottbus.
Murr became deeply involved in the Deutschnationaler Handlungsgehilfen-Verband ("German National Trade Assistants' Union"; DHV), a völkisch, rightwing, anti-Semitic employees' union that he had joined even before the war. There he came into contact with the anti-Semite Theodor Fritsch's writings and was greatly influenced by them. He joined the NSDAP in the summer of 1923, and after the Party was temporarily banned, he joined it again in August 1925. He eagerly recruited new members to the party at his workplace. A workers' newspaper criticized him in September 1927, saying that Murr's only job there was "to smuggle Hakenkreuzler ('crooked-cross devotees') into the works". It was also at this time that Murr got to know Richard Drauz, the later Nazi Kreisleiter of Heilbronn, whom Murr often patronized.
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