Wilhelm Schepmann

Wilhelm Schepmann (17 June 1894 – 26 July 1970) was an SA general in Nazi Germany and the last Stabschef (Chief of Staff) of the original Nazi paramilitary branch, the SA. Schepmann was an Obergruppenführer in the Nazi Party para-military branch known as the Sturmabteilung (SA) when he was appointed by Adolf Hitler to succeed Viktor Lutze as Stabschef (SA) in 1943. Lutze had died in May that year, after a serious car accident. However, by then the SA had been thoroughly marginalized as far as political power in Nazi Germany was concerned. Since January 1939, the role of the SA was officially mandated as a training school for the German armed forces with the establishment of the SA Wehrmannschaften (SA Military Units). Then with the September 1939 invasion of Poland, the SA lost most of its remaining members to military service in the Wehrmacht (armed forces). The SA officially ceased to exist in May 1945 when Nazi Germany was defeated and surrendered. The SA was banned by the Allied Control Council shortly after Germany's capitulation. In 1946, the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg formally judged the SA not to be a criminal organization. Early life Wilhelm Schepmann was born June 1894 in the German city of Hattingen. After attending the Gymnasium (secondary school), Wilhelm Schepmann completed the teacher’s seminar and then worked as a teacher in Hattingen. He served in the First World War from 1914 to 1918 as a soldier of the Westphalian Jägerbattalion No.7 and was deployed on both the western and eastern fronts. During the war, he was first company commander in the rank of lieutenant of the reserve, then battalion adjutant, and finally court officer. During the war he was wounded, receiving the Wound Badge (1918) in Black and Iron Cross 2nd class. Political career Schepmann joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) (No. 26.762) in 1925. Together with Viktor Lutze, he organized the formation of the SA in the Ruhr area and as early as 1928 he was a local Party leader. At the same time, he worked as an NSDAP city councillor and as an SA leader in Hattingen where he contributed significantly to making the city one of the strongholds of the Nazis in the Ruhr area. From 1932 to 1933 Schepmann was a member of the Prussian Landtag and from November 1933 a member of the Reichstag.