Eugen Munder (October 9, 1899 – † 1952) [1] was an early member of the Nazi Party and Gauleiter of Württemberg.
Life
Munder was born in Stuttgart, Württemberg, Germany in 1899. After attending elementary school, he attended military school in Jena, Germany. He participated in World War I in Infantry Regiment 14 Nürnberg of the 5th Royal Bavarian Division in 1916. From 1917-1918 he served in the Freikorps. Following Germany's defeat, Munder became an activist in the Deutschvölkischer Schutz und Trutzbund,[2] the largest, most active, and most influential anti-Semitic federation in Germany after the war.[3]
By 1921 Munder was already active on behalf of the Nazi Party in Stuttgart. On April 15, 1925 he joined the Party (Member No. 1835) when the ban on it was lifted. He was a very effective organizer and re-founded the party's Gau headquarters, becoming its branch leader. Adolf Hitler appointed him Gauleiter of Württemberg after a rally in Stuttgart on July 8, 1925. In 1927 Munder expressed criticism of Hitler's lifestyle and was dismissed as Gauleiter in 1928. He then resigned from the NSDAP on January 12, 1928. His successor was Wilhelm Murr.[4]
After the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, Munder again applied for party membership but was rejected. About the remainder of his life little is known.
Literature
- Karl Höffkes: Hitlers Politische Generale. Die Gauleiter des 3. Reiches; ein biographisches Nachschlagewerk. Grabert-Verlag, Tübingen 1997, ISBN 3-87847-163-7.
References
- ^ Handbuch der baden-württembergischen Geschichte (Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-608-91371-2) Volume V, p. 804.
- ^ Uwe Lohalm: Völkischer Radicalism - History of the Deutschvölkischen Schutz- und Trutz-Bund: 1919 to 1923 (Hamburg: Leibniz-Verlag, 1970, ISBN 3-87473-000-X) p. 314
- ^ "Letter to the Court: Evaluation of the Reich Commissioner for the Monitoring of Public Policy, 20 November 1922" in: Uwe Lohalm, 1970, p 11.
- ^ Detlef Mühlberger, "Organization & Development of the Nazi Party" in: Hitler's Voice: The Völkisher Beobachter, 1920-1933 (Bern: Peter Lang AG, 2004) p. 142