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FRANZ RITTER VON EPP - A LIFE FOR GERMANY

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Franz Xaver Ritter von Epp, the fascinating subject of this 1942 Nazi hardcover book, served as a volunteer in China during the anti-imperialist Boxer Rebellion in 1900–01, then became a company commander in the colony of German South-West Africa (present day Namibia) where he participated in the bloody massacre of the Herero and Namaqua, was commanding officer of the Royal Bavarian Infantry Lifeguards Regiment in France, Serbia, Romania and at the Isonzo front during WWI, leader of the post-WWI Freikorps Epp, member of the Reichstag, leader of the Reichskolonialbund (Nazi Colonial League) and Reichsstatthalter of Bavaria.

Interspersed throughout the text are rare pictures of his parents, Franz Xaver Epp as a young boy, during WW1 and the liberation of the Ruhr, political rally posters featuring Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring and Von Epp’s name as speakers, pictures with Adolf Hitler, with R. Walther Darré, Das Freikorps Epp (members included Ernst Röhm, Rudolf Hess, Otto Strasser among others), collecting money for the WHW, Von Epp on the cover of the NSDAP newspaper Illustrierter Beobachter at election time, with Hitler at the 1929 Reichsparteitag, Von Epp in German Southwest Africa, Libya and Rome, at a rally with colonial troops, in Austria at the time of the Anschluß, etc. The very rare pictures are from the Rehse Collection in Munich and the archive of the Press Office of the Colonial Political Office of the NSDAP.

Franz Ritter von Epp, ein Leben für Deutschland (A Life for Germany) was written by Josef H. Krumbach in cooperation with Adolf Dresler, Georg Gilardone, Friedrich von Lossow and Fritz Maier-Hartmann.

It contains chapters on Ritter von Epp’s family and youth, his military career before and during World War I, the Weimar Republic years and combat against Communists, his reasons for joining the Nazi Party, his political life during the Third Reich, his time as a “colonial soldier” and Germany’s Colonial Policies.

Franz Ritter von Epp, ein Leben für Deutschland was published by Verlag Franz Eher Nachfolger, the Central Publishing House of the Nazi Party in Munich and this is a 3rd Edition dated 1942.

The 5-½ x 8-½ inch, 328 page blue linen hardcover book has gold blocking on the front cover and spine and was printed by R. Müller & Sohn of Munich. The 80+ year old German language book is in very nice condition and has no odor.

Above, a Nazi Party poster announcing General von Epp and "former leader of the Richthofen Squadron" Hauptmann Göring as speakers at a public rally on 17 May 1929 at the Löwenbräu beer hall in Munich.