1868–1947
○ Died in custody
Commander of the Freikorps Epp that crushed the Munich Soviet Republic with massacres in 1919, later Nazi Reich governor of Bavaria
In 1919 he led the Freikorps Epp against the Munich Soviet Republic, a campaign marked by massacres.
Born in Munich, he joined the Bavarian Army in 1887 and took part in the Herero and Nama genocide in South West Africa. Commanding the Bavarian Infantry Lifeguards in the First World War, he was knighted (Ritter) in 1918. After the war he raised the Freikorps Epp, which helped crush the Munich Soviet Republic in 1919 and committed numerous massacres; Röhm was among its officers. As a Reichswehr general he helped fund the purchase of the Völkischer Beobachter, leaving the army in 1923. He joined the Nazi Party and entered the Reichstag in 1928. In 1933 he dissolved the Bavarian government, and as Reich governor until 1945 shared responsibility for persecuting Bavaria’s Jews and Roma. Arrested after the war, he died in custody in 1947 awaiting trial.
Activities and affiliations
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1887–1923
Germany state institutionsBavarian Army and Reichswehr officer
Military command -
1919
Freikorps (Germany, 1918–1923)Commander of the Freikorps EppMain
Military command -
1928–1945
Political and party leadership
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1928–1945
Germany state institutionsReichstag deputy
Legislature and state representation -
1933–1945
Germany state institutionsReich governor of Bavaria
Government and administration