You do not have permission to edit this page, for the following reasons:

This IP address has been blocked from editing Wikipedia.
This does not affect your ability to read Wikipedia pages.
Most people who see this message have done nothing wrong. Some kinds of blocks restrict editing from specific service providers or telecom companies in response to recent abuse or vandalism, and can sometimes affect other users who are unrelated to that abuse. Review the information below for assistance if you do not believe that you have done anything wrong.

The IP address or range 54.163.0.0/16 has been blocked (disabled) by ‪Blablubbs‬ for the following reason(s):

The IP address that you are currently using has been blocked because it is believed to be a web host provider or colocation provider. To prevent abuse, web hosts and colocation providers may be blocked from editing Wikipedia.
You will not be able to edit Wikipedia using a web host or colocation provider because it hides your IP address, much like a proxy or VPN.
We recommend that you attempt to use another connection to edit. For example, if you use a proxy or VPN to connect to the internet, turn it off when editing Wikipedia. If you edit using a mobile connection, try using a Wi-Fi connection, and vice versa. If you are using a corporate internet connection, switch to a different Wi-Fi network. If you have a Wikipedia account, please log in.
If you do not have any other way to edit Wikipedia, you will need to request an IP block exemption.

How to appeal if you are confident that your connection does not use a colocation provider's IP address:
If you are confident that you are not using a web host, you may appeal this block by adding the following text on your talk page: ((unblock|reason=Caught by a colocation web host block but this host or IP is not a web host. My IP address is _______. Place any further information here. ~~~~)). You must fill in the blank with your IP address for this block to be investigated. Your IP address can be determined here. Alternatively, if you wish to keep your IP address private you can use the unblock ticket request system. There are several reasons you might be editing using the IP address of a web host or colocation provider (such as if you are using VPN software or a business network); please use this method of appeal only if you think your IP address is in fact not a web host or colocation provider.

Administrators: The IP block exemption user right should only be applied to allow users to edit using web host in exceptional circumstances, and requests should usually be directed to the functionaries team via email. If you intend to give the IPBE user right, a CheckUser needs to take a look at the account. This can be requested most easily at SPI Quick Checkuser Requests. Unblocking an IP or IP range with this template is highly discouraged without at least contacting the blocking administrator.

This block will expire on 17:28, 10 March 2024.

Even when blocked, you will usually still be able to edit your user talk page, as well as email administrators and other editors.

For information on how to proceed, please read the FAQ for blocked users and the guideline on block appeals. The guide to appealing blocks may also be helpful.

Other useful links: Blocking policy · Help:I have been blocked
Your IP address is in a range that has been blocked on all Wikimedia Foundation wikis. The block was made by ‪Jon Kolbert‬. The reason given is Open proxy/Webhost: See the help page if you are affected .
- Start of block: 18:27, 12 November 2023
- Expiry of block: 18:27, 12 November 2028
Your current IP address is 54.163.179.242. The blocked range is 54.163.0.0/16. Please include all above details in any queries you make. If you believe you were blocked by mistake, you can find additional information and instructions in the No open proxies global policy. Otherwise, to discuss the block please post a request for review on Meta-Wiki. You could also send an email to the stewards VRT queue at stewards@wikimedia.org including all above details.

You can view and copy the source of this page:

((Multiple issues|
((refimprove|date=December 2015))
((no footnotes|date=December 2015))
))
((Short description|German Nazi, Gauleiter, SS-Obergruppenführer))
((Infobox officeholder
|name                = Wilhelm Murr
|image               = Gierłoż. Gauleiters at Adolf Hitler's headquarters (Wilhelm Murr).jpg
|imagesize           =  
|caption             = (1943)
|order               = ''[[Gauleiter]]'' of [[Gau Württemberg-Hohenzollern]]
|term_start          = 1 February 1928
|term_end            = 8 May 1945
|appointed           = [[Adolf Hitler]]
|predecessor         = [[Eugen Munder]]
|successor           = Post abolished
|order2              = ''[[Reichsstatthalter]]'' of [[Free People's State of Württemberg|Württemberg]]
|term_start2         = 6 May 1933
|term_end2           = 19 April 1945
|appointed2          = [[Adolf Hitler]]
|president2          = 
|order3              = 6th [[List of Presidents of Württemberg|State President of Württemberg]]
|term_start3         = 15 March 1933
|term_end3           = 12 May 1933
|predecessor3        = [[Eugen Bolz]]
|successor3          = [[Christian Mergenthaler]]
|birth_date          = ((Birth date|1888|12|16|df=y))
|birth_place         = [[Esslingen am Neckar]], [[Kingdom of Württemberg]]
|death_date          = ((Death date and age|1945|05|14|1888|12|16|df=y))
|death_place         = [[Vorarlberg]], [[Austria]]
 | death_cause     = Suicide
|party               = [[Nazi Party]]
|spouse              = 
|children            = 
|profession          = 
|religion            = 
|signature           = 
<!--Military service-->
 | nickname        = 
 | allegiance      = ((flag|German Empire))
 | branch          = [[Imperial German Army]]
 | serviceyears    = 1914-1919
 | rank            =''Vize-[[Feldwebel]]''<br>SS–''[[Obergruppenführer]]''
 | unit            = 
 | commands        = 
 | battles         = [[World War I]]
 | mawards         =  [[Iron Cross]], 2nd class<br />Knights Cross of the [[War Merit Cross]]
 | footnotes       = 
))

'''Wilhelm Murr''' (16 December 1888 – 14 May 1945) was a [[NSDAP|Nazi]] [[Nazi Germany|German]] politician. From 1928 until his death he was ''[[Gauleiter]]'' of [[Gau 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 [[France|French]] custody.

== Early life ==
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]]'' ([[Sergeant 1st Class]]), was wounded in action and received the [[Iron Cross]], 2nd class. He spent the end of the war in 1918 injured in a [[military hospital]] in [[Cottbus]] and was discharged in March 1919.((sfn|Miller|Schulz|2017|p=317))

Murr became deeply involved in the ''Deutschnationaler Handlungsgehilfen-Verband'' ("German National Trade Assistants' Union"; DHV), a ''[[völkisch]]'', rightwing, [[Anti-Semitism|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. Around this time he also joined the ''[[Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund]]'', the largest, most active and most influential anti-Semitic organization in the [[Weimar Republic]]. He then 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'' ('[[Swastika|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.

== Rise to power ==
After fierce intra-party fighting, the local Esslingen leader Murr, who attracted attention for his ruthless and unscrupulous methods, was able to oust the incumbent NSDAP Gauleiter [[Eugen Munder]] from power. On 1 February 1928, [[Adolf Hitler]] appointed Murr to NSDAP Gauleiter in [[Gau Württemberg-Hohenzollern|Württemberg-Hohenzollern]].((sfn|Höffkes|1986|p=239)) Another of his rivals he managed to bypass for promotion was [[Christian Mergenthaler]]. Murr was able to consolidate his position in Württemberg through strict subordination to Hitler and the Party.

In October 1930, he gave up his job at the machine factory and began working full-time for the Party. The NSDAP's membership numbers and financial situation in Württemberg improved. Early in 1931 Murr introduced his own [[propaganda]] newspaper, the ''NS-Kurier'', in which he published numerous editorials which, if not intellectually brilliant, faithfully gave the official party line right up until 1945.

In the general elections of autumn 1930, Murr was elected a member of the ''[[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]]'' for the NSDAP in electoral district 31 (Württemberg). After the [[Machtergreifung|Nazis seized power]] and under Nazi pressure, the Württemberg ''[[Landtag]]'' chose Murr as Württemberg's new State President, thereby leading him to succeed his other political foe, [[Eugen Bolz]]. Murr also took over the Interior and Economic Affairs Ministries at the same time.

On 6 May 1933, Murr was appointed to the newly created position of  ''[[Reichsstatthalter]]'' (Reich Governor) in Württemberg; the office of Württemberg State President was abolished and the ''Landtag'' deprived of any function. His rival Mergenthaler, since early 1932 already ''Landtag'' president, became Murr's Prime Minister as well as Culture and Justice Minister. Murr's obvious intellectual shortcomings were touted as "[[populism|populist]]" and he was described in Nazi propaganda as a "Man of the People". [[Joseph Goebbels]], however, described Murr in a diary entry from 31 July 1933 as a "[[nouveau riche]] social climber." On 4 September 1935, Murr was named to [[Hans Frank]]'s [[Academy for German Law]].((sfn|Miller|Schulz|2017|p=321))

Murr's governance was notable for its petty ruthlessness. When Murr found out in 1938 that the Bishop of [[Rottenburg am Neckar|Rottenburg]], [[Johannes Baptista Sproll]], had not participated in the compulsory referendum on [[Austria]]'s [[Anschluss|union with Germany]], he initiated a campaign of newspaper articles and organized demonstrations which forced the bishop out of the province to [[Bavaria]].

== World War II ==
When [[Second World War|war]] began in September 1939, Murr was appointed [[Reich Defense Commissioner]] of ''[[Wehrkreis]]'' (Military  District) V, which included not only his Gau, but neighboring [[Gau Baden]]. This brought him enormous power, as important sectors of [[military]] and civil administration were now directly or at least ''de facto'' subject to his direct control. Virtually nothing could happen in Württemberg without the consent of Murr or his agents. A member of the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] since 1934, he was promoted to SS-''[[Obergruppenführer]]'' on 30 January 1942.((sfn|Höffkes|1986|p=240)) The [[Holocaust]] carried out against Jews and the [[Mental illness|mentally ill]] went ahead smoothly in Württemberg thanks to Murr carrying out the Führer's and the Party's orders unconditionally.

On 16 November 1942, the jurisdiction of the Reich Defense Commissioners was changed from the ''Wehrkreis'' to the Gau level, and Murr remained Commissioner for only his Gau.((sfn|Höffkes|1986|p=240)) After the increasing severity of [[Bombing of Stuttgart in World War II|air raids]] on [[Stuttgart]] in 1943, Murr had the first inkling of a nasty end. He secretly prepared evacuation measures for Stuttgart, but remained a faithful spokesman for Hitler and Goebbels in public. Even when late in January 1944 Murr's only son Winfried, deployed with the [[Waffen-SS]] in [[Belgium]], shot himself at the age of 21 to forestall [[Court martial|court-martial]] proceedings for [[rape]], Murr did not bring his loyalty to Hitler into question, going so far as to assure the Führer on 1 March that he would continue in his service.

== The war's end and afterwards ==
When Murr’s nascent evacuation plans for Stuttgart became known in December 1944, which called for the city to be destroyed and the population led on 20-kilometer-per-day marches to the southeast, grumbling ensued and Murr gave up the plan by March 1945. On 10 April he called for the city to be defended to the utmost and forbade destruction of tank traps or the raising of white flags under threat of execution and ''[[Sippenhaft]]'' ([[Kin punishment|detention of an offender's family]]). However, Murr himself fled Stuttgart on 19 April under a false name together with his wife and other companions. By way of [[Schelklingen]], [[Kißlegg]], [[Wangen im Allgäu]], [[Kressbronn am Bodensee]] and further stops, the refugee convoy finally arrived in the Great Walser Valley in the [[Austria]]n province of [[Vorarlberg]].

Murr, his wife and two aides stayed at the ''Biberacher Hütte'' in the Alps until 12 May, then moved into an alpine cabin overlooking [[Schröcken]]. There, on 13 May, they were arrested by French troops, to whom Murr identified himself as "Walter Müller". The arrestees were first taken to [[Schoppernau]], then to [[Egg, Austria|Egg]], in Vorarlberg, where Murr and his wife committed suicide using poison capsules they had carried with them. Both were buried in the graveyard at Egg.

The [[United States|American]] occupiers had put Murr on their ''List of Potential War Criminals under Proposed US Policy Directives'' and were searching for him. The Americans and the French soon came to suspect that Murr might be dead, and with the Württemberg police found evidence that led them to Egg. On 16 April 1946, the grave of "Walter Müller" and his wife was opened. His former dentist uniquely identified Murr on the basis of his teeth.

==See also==
*[[Register of SS-Leaders in general’s rank#List of SS-Obergruppenführer|List of SS-Obergruppenführer]]

== References ==
((reflist))

==Sources==
*((cite book |last= Höffkes  |first= Karl |title= Hitlers Politische Generale. Die Gauleiter des Dritten Reiches: ein biographisches Nachschlagewerk |publisher= Grabert-Verlag |location= Tübingen |year= 1986 |isbn=3-87847-163-7))

*((cite book |last1= Miller |first1=   Michael D. |last2= Schulz |first2= Andreas |title= Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies, 1925-1945 |volume= 2 (Georg Joel - Dr. Bernhard Rust) |publisher= R. James Bender Publishing |year= 2017 |isbn= 978-1-932-97032-6))

== Further reading ==
* Sauer, Paul: ''Wilhelm Murr. Hitlers Statthalter in Württemberg''. Silberburg-Verlag, Tübingen 1998, ((ISBN|3-87407-282-7))
* Scholtyseck, Joachim: ''„Der Mann aus dem Volk“ : Wilhelm Murr, Gauleiter und Reichsstatthalter in Württemberg-Hohenzollern''. In: ''Die Führer der Provinz: NS-Biographien aus Baden und Württemberg'', hrsg. von Michael Kissener und Joachim Scholtyseck. 2nd edition. Konstanz: [[UVK Verlagsgesellschaft|UVK, Univ.-Verl. Konstanz]], 1999, pp.&nbsp;477–502, 878, ((ISBN|3-87940-679-0))

== External links ==
* ((DNB portal|120681021|TYP=))
* ((ReichstagDB|120681021))

((Ministries of Württemberg))

((Authority control))

((DEFAULTSORT:Murr, Wilhelm))
[[Category:1888 births]]
[[Category:1945 suicides]]
[[Category:1945 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Esslingen am Neckar]]
[[Category:People from the Kingdom of Württemberg]]
[[Category:German Lutherans]]
[[Category:Nazi Party politicians]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1930–1932]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1933–1936]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1936–1938]]
[[Category:Interior Ministers of Württemberg]]
[[Category:Gauleiters]]
[[Category:SS-Obergruppenführer]]
[[Category:Members of the Academy for German Law]]
[[Category:German Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Holocaust perpetrators in Germany]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 2nd class]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross]]
[[Category:Nazis who committed suicide in Austria]]
[[Category:Nazis who died by suicide in prison custody]]
[[Category:Suicides by cyanide poisoning]]

Pages transcluded onto the current version of this page (help):

Wilhelm Murr (edit)
Template:Ambox (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Authority control (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Birth date (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Both (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Catalog lookup link (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Cite book (view source) (protected)
Template:Count (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Country2nationality (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Country data German Empire (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:DNB portal (view source) (extended confirmed protected)
Template:Death date and age (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Detect singular (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:En dash range (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Find country (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Find sources mainspace (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Flag (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Flag/core (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:German National Library portal (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Hlist/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Template:ISBN (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:ISO 3166 code (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Infobox officeholder (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Infobox officeholder/office (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:MONTHNAME (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:MONTHNUMBER (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Main other (view source) (protected)
Template:Ministries of Württemberg (edit)
Template:More citations needed (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Multiple issues (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Multiple issues/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Navbox (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Nbhyph (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:No footnotes (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Nobold (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Nobold/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Non breaking hyphen (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Nowrap (view source) (protected)
Template:Pagetype (view source) (protected)
Template:Plainlist/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Template:Refimprove (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Reflist (view source) (protected)
Template:Reflist/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Template:ReichstagDB (edit)
Template:SDcat (view source) (protected)
Template:Sfn (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Short description (view source) (protected)
Template:Short description/lowercasecheck (view source) (protected)
Template:Strfind short (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Yesno (view source) (protected)
Template:Yesno-no (view source) (template editor protected)
Template:Yesno-yes (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Age (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Arguments (view source) (protected)
Module:Authority control (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Authority control/auxiliary (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Authority control/config (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Catalog lookup link (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Category handler (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/blacklist (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/config (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/data (view source) (protected)
Module:Category handler/shared (view source) (protected)
Module:Check for unknown parameters (view source) (protected)
Module:Check isxn (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Citation/CS1 (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/COinS (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Date validation (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Utilities (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/Whitelist (view source) (protected)
Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Date (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Delink (view source) (protected)
Module:Detect singular (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Disambiguation/templates (view source) (protected)
Module:EditAtWikidata (view source) (protected)
Module:Find country (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Find sources (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Find sources/config (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Find sources/links (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Find sources/templates/Find sources mainspace (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Footnotes (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Footnotes/anchor id list (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Footnotes/anchor id list/data (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Footnotes/whitelist (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:ISO 3166 (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:ISO 3166/data/National (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Infobox (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Infobox/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:InfoboxImage (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:List (view source) (protected)
Module:Message box (view source) (protected)
Module:Message box/ambox.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Message box/configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Namespace detect/config (view source) (protected)
Module:Namespace detect/data (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbar (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbar/configuration (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbar/styles.css (view source) (protected)
Module:Navbox (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Navbox/configuration (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Navbox/styles.css (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Pagetype (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/config (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/disambiguation (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/setindex (view source) (protected)
Module:Pagetype/softredirect (view source) (protected)
Module:ParameterCount (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Plain text (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:SDcat (view source) (protected)
Module:Separated entries (view source) (protected)
Module:String (view source) (protected)
Module:TableTools (view source) (protected)
Module:Text (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Unsubst (view source) (protected)
Module:Wd (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Wd/i18n (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Wikitext Parsing (view source) (template editor protected)
Module:Yesno (view source) (protected)

Return to Wilhelm Murr.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Murr"