Emil Maurice

Emil Maurice (1897-1972), a watchmaker who joined the Nazi movement in 1919 was a close associate, bodyguard and chauffeur of Adolf Hitler. He participated in the Beer Hall Putsch and was imprisoned with him in Landsberg Prison, and was a founding SA and SS member.

Hitler's chauffeurs, Julius Schreck, Maurice, and Erich Kempka, were far closer to him than the position might suggest. He loved fast cars, and, in the early Nazi days, traveled extensively by car. His entourage, indeed, was known as the "chauffeureska".

As part of the daily inner circle, he knew much of Hitler's personal life. In 1928, he sued Hitler for arrears of salary; he said Hitler had dismissed him "because of a personal dispute", which may have involved Mimi Ritter, Geli Raubal, or both. Raubal was reported to have told Otto Strassner that Hitler had threatened to throw him out of the house, but Maurice had responded "If you throw me out, I'll go and tell everything to the Frankfurter Zeitung!" While Maurice did not leave the party, he no longer had a close relationship to Hitler.

Geli Rabaul; picture inscribed 1929 to Maurice

Raubal, Hitler's half-niece and, by all accounts, his one true love, had also fallen in love with Maurice. She wrote to "dear Emil" on Christmas 1927, saying

The postman has already brought me three letters from you, but never have I been so happy as I was over the last. Perhaps that's the reason we've had such bad experiences over the last few days. Uncle Adolf is insisting that we should wait two years. Think of it, Emil, two whole years of only being able to kiss each other now and then and always having Uncle Adolf in charge. I can only give you my love and be unconditionally faithful to you. I love you so infinitely much. Uncle Adolf insists that I should go on with my studies.

She gave Maurice, for Christmas 1929, an autographed picture, inscribed "For Emil, in memory, from your Geli", signaling the end of the affair.

Eighteen month after Geli Raubal's suicide in September 1931, Maurice reentered Nazi service, and was among the earliest members of both the Sturmabteilung (SA) and Schutzstaffel SS. He was made a Munic city councilor, and was part of the Night of the Long Knives purge in 1934, personally killing several of Hitler's enemies including Bernhard Stempfle, who had been talking about Geli.

Maurice was to marry in 1935, and Hitler was most cordial. As an SS officer, he had been required to provide genealogical information, and Himmler's staff discovered a distant Jewish ancestor. Hitler ordered Hitler to make Maurice and his brothers "honorary Aryans" for their service to the early Nazi movement.