Wilhelm Schepmann

Wilhelm Schepmann
Birth date	17 June 1894(1894-06-17)
Place of birth	Baak near Hattingen, Province of Westphalia, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Death date	26 July 1970 (aged 76)
Place of death	Gifhorn, Lower Saxony, West Germany
Allegiance	German Empire (to 1918) Weimar Republic (to 1933) National Socialist Germany
Service/branch	Imperial German Army Sturmabteilung Heer
Years of service	1914–1945
Rank	Hauptmann d. R. SA-Obergruppenführer
Commands held	SA Group X SA-Gruppe Sachsen SA-Obergruppe Westfalen-Niederrhein Der Stabschef der SA. Inspekteur für die Schießausbildung des Deutschen Volkssturms
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Iron Cross War Merit Cross
Relations	∞ Gertrude Schumann

Friedrich Wilhelm "Willi" Schepmann (other sources claim Wilhelm Hans; 17 June 1894 – 26 July 1970) was a German teacher, officer, politician (member of the Reichstag), Chief of Staff of the SA and Inspector for the shooting training of the German Volkssturm in WWII.

Life

SA-Oberführer Schepmann and SS-Gruppenführer Curt Wittje (Leader of the SS-Abschnitt IX) inspect an SA unit in 1932

Schepmann as leader of the SA Group Saxony

SA-Gruppenführer Schepmann

SA-Obergruppenführer Schepmann

Letter, 1941

SA-Stabschef Schepmann with Generals

Schepmann receives Knight's Cross recipients in 1945

„Stabschef der SA“ and „Inspekteur für die Schießausbildung des deutschen Volkssturms“ Schepmann (standing in front) during „Wehrschießen“ (defense shooting) of the Volkssturm

• 1894 Born in Baak/Ruhr (today a part or Ortsteil of Hattingen in Nordrhein-Westfalen)
• 1900 to 1904 Elementary school (Volksschule)
• 1904 to 1909 Under Gymnasium or prep school (Progymnasium)
• 1909 to 1912 Preparatory school for teachers (Präparandenanstalt für Lehrer) in Soest (vocational Gymnasium)
• 1912 to 1914 Teacher seminar (Lehrerseminar) in Hattingen
• 1914 to November 1918 War service with 7. Westfälischen Jäger-Bataillon (“Bückeburger Jäger”) and Infanterie-Regiment "Vogel von Falckenstein" (7. Westfälisches) Nr. 56.
  • After commissioning in January 1915, assigned successively as Bataillonsadjutant of 7. Jäger-Bataillon (in which assignment he was lightly wounded in September 1917 and on two later occasions severely wounded), then as Gerichts- und Unterrichtsoffizier, Zugführer, and Führer (Leader) of 4. Kompanie.
  • After the war, he would become a member of the Kameradschaftskreis des Jäger-Bataillons Nr. 7
• September 1919 to November 1930 Entered the Volksschuldienst (public school service) and assigned as a Volksschule teacher in Winz and Hattingen
• c. 1920 to 1922 Member of the Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund (English: German Nationalist Protection and Defiance Federation)
• 1922 Joined the NSDAP/Ortsgruppe Hattingen
  • Propagandaleiter of the Ortsgruppe Hattingen der NSDAP
• 1923 to 4 February 1928 Führer of the SA-Sturm Hattingen
• 9 May 1924 Arrested and mistreated by French occupation troops
• 24 October 1925 Participated in the “Gautagung der NSDAP” in Dortmund
• December 1925 Reenrolled in the NSDAP/Ortsgruppe Hattingen, which had been banned after the March to the Feldherrnhalle
  • Vorsitzender (chairman) of the Gau-Uschla des Gaues Ruhr der NSDAP (a Uschla or USchlA, short for Untersuchungs- und Schlichtungsausschuß, was a committee of inquiry and arbitration)
• 1927 to 1 February 1929 Führer of the SA-Standarte “Ruhr”, then Führer of the SA-Brigade II (SA-Bezirksführer der Groβbezirk Essen)
• 1928 Appointed as a Parteiredner der NSDAP (party speaker of the NSDAP)
• 20 May 1928 Unsuccessful candidate of the NSDAP for election to the Preußischer Landtag and German Reichstag
• 22 January 1929 At his own request, relieved of his SA position by the Gausturmführer Ruhr, Viktor Lutze
  • Schepmann's resignation led to massive criticism within the Hattingen SA. Schepmann’s official statement on the matter related that he was “forced for professional reasons to resign from the SA leadership of the Groβbezirk Essen after years of fighting against my authority. This fact was used by W. [Albert Wallwey, Führer of the SA-Standarte Hattingen] to make an attempt to intrigue against me by rather dubious means ...”
• 1 August 1929 to 4 August 1929 Participated in the “4. Reichsparteitag der NSDAP” in Nürnberg
• 17 November 1929 to 1933 Stadtverordneter in Hattingen and member of the Kreistag for Eppene-Ruhr-Kreis
• January 1930 to 1933 Fraktionsführer (parliamentary group leader) of the NSDAP-Stadtratfraktion in Hattingen and the NSDAP-Fraktion in the Kreistag of Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis
• 1930 Gausturmführer of Gausturm Essen (Bochum)
• 1930 to 1931 Gauorganisationsleiter (district organization leader) of Organisationen I und II in the Gauleitung Westfalen-Süd der NSDAP
• 1930 to 1931 Gaupropagandaleiter und Gaufachberater für Kommunalpolitik of the Gauleitung Westfalen-Süd der NSDAP (Gau propaganda leader and Gaufachberater for local politics of the Gauleitung Westfalen-Süd of the NSDAP)
• 8 November 1930 Suspended from the public school service with loss of pension rights due to his NSDAP activities
• 19 March 1931 Following an NSDAP event in Dortmund the prior day, which ended in pandemonium, Schepmann was taken away by the police. The city’s Polizeipräsdent, socialist politician Karl Friedrich Zörgiebe, then issued an order against Schepmann and Gauleiter Josef Wagner (Gau Westfalen-Süd) appearing in public meetings, whether as a speaker or meeting coordinator, in Dortmund. (“Redeverbot für die Nationalsozialisten Wagner, Schepmann und Marschner”, in Hördener Volksblatt, 20.03.1931)
• 31 March 1931 In a complaint to SA-Stabschef Ernst Röhm, Gauleiter Dr. Alfred Meyer (Gau Westfalen-Nord) objected to the appointment of Werner von Fichte as OSAF-Stellvertreter West, as this impeded his desire to see Schepmann apponted as SA-Führer for the Gaue Westfalen-Nord and -Süd.
• 28 April 1931 In a letter to Reichsorganisationsleiter Gregor Strasser, Gauleiter Dr. Meyer complained about “the current SA conditions in my Gau”. He added that he had “no confindence in Herrn v. Fichte” and asked that “Pg. Schepmann be entrusted with leadership of the SA in Westfalen.” (SA-Disziplinarakte Werner von Fichte)
• 29 April 1931 Now writing directly to Hitler, Dr. Meyer pleaded that the Führer “arrange for the appointment of Pg. Schepmann as Oberführer over the SA in the whole of Westfalen.” (SA-Disziplinarakte Werner von Fichte)
• May 1931 Dismissed from the public school service without entitlement to pension by the Disziplinargericht (disciplinary court) of the Regierungsbezirk Arnsberg due to his National-Socialist political activities.
• 1931 Appointed as a hauptamtlicher SA-Führer (full-time SA leader)
• 1931 to 13 April 1932 Führer of the SA-Untergruppe Westfalen-Süd
• 13 September 1932 Participated in the “Gautag der NSDAP Westfalen-Süd” in Bochum
• 13 April 1932 to 14 June 1932 SA banned by the government of Reichskanzler Heinrich Brüning
• 24 April 1932 to 14 October 1933 Voted member of the Preußische Landtag (Wahlkreis 18, Westfalen-Süd)
• 24 June 1932 In a well-received speech to the Westfälische Landtag, Schepmann painted a picture of an impending civil war in the Ruhrgebiet. He described the police as an incompetent organization infiltrated by communists. If his SA were given police power for only 48 hours, he claimed, the danger of civil war would be immediately averted.
• 1932 Preliminary proceedings against the teacher a. D. Wilhelm Schepmann, NSDAP member of the state parliament, in Hattingen for insulting socialist politician Carl Wilhelm Severing (1875–1952) at a NSDAP meeting in Bochum
• 1 July to 31 October 1932 Führer of the SA-Untergruppe Westfalen-Süd (resumed command following the lifting of the ban on the SA).
• 1 November 1932 to 14 March 1934 Führer of the SA-Gruppe Westfalen (Westfalen-Nord und -Süd, Lippe, Schaumburg-Lippe)
  • Dortmund; initially m. d. F. b. or acting, then permanent. Succeeded Werner von Fichte. (Der Oberste SA-Führer, Führerbefehl Nr. 11, 25. Januar 1933)
• 15/16 February 1933 Polizeipräsident (Chief of Police) in Dortmund
  • He assumed the post on 17 February 1933. On 27 February 1933, he held a press conference in which he announced that, as Polizeipräsident, he would “put the idea of the Führerprinzip [Führer Principle] in the foreground in all my actions.” He added that he wished to “clean up the administrative apparatus where it is necessary… so that Dortmund will once again be the stronghold of cleanliness, order, and a sense of honor.” [der Hort der Sauberkeit, der Ordnung und des Ehrgefühls wird] (Dortmunder Zeitung, 28.02.1933). Immediately after taking office, he initiated a wave of purges within the Dortmund police apparatus. Among other things, the so-called “Schepmann-Liste”, which had presumably been drawn up in November 1932 and contained the names and brief assessments of 51 police officers and officer candidates, was sent to the Prussian Ministry of the Interior under Hermann Göring on 17 March 1933. Five days before his press conference, on 22 February 1933, he had already proposed the first ten police officers for dismissal. On 25 March 1933, he had several socialist police officers suspended and disciplinary proceedings initiated with the aim of dismissing them without pension rights.
  • 10 November 1934 Resigned at his own request and succeeded by SA-Gruppenführer Otto Schramme
• March 1933 Appointed as Präsident of the Kreistag in Hattingen
• 3 April 1933 Delivered the eulogy at the funeral of SA-Standartenführer Hermann Pantföder, Führer of the SA-Standarte 174 (b. 24 November 1896 in Rogätz/Kreis Wolmirstedt [Magdeburg]; d. 31 March 1933 in the area of Milse between Bielefeld and Herford [auto accident]) in the Rathaus of Herford. Some 5,000 SA men were in attendance. (“Grabgeleit des Standartenführers Pantföder”, in Westfälische Neueste Nachrichten/Bielefelder General-Anzeiger, 04.04.1933)
• 20 April 1933 In response to the Dortmunder General-Anzeiger printing an unauthorized portrait of Hitler - drawn by Emil Stumpp and which “maliciously [gave his] facial expression a distorted and mean-spirited appearance” - Schepmann had the editorial office and printing plant occupied by SA-Hilfspolizei that afternoon (incidentally, also the Führer’s birthday). A large portion of the circulation was confiscated and the editor-in-chief, Westhoff, taken into “Schutzhaft” (protective custody). In his place, the editor-in-chief of the NS-newspaper Rote Erde took over the management and continuation of the newspaper for the time being. The headline of the next day’s edition proclaimed that the paper was now “im Dienst der nationatsoziatistischen Revolution” (in the service of the National Socialist revolution) (“Polizeiaktion gegen den Dortmunder General-Anzeiger”, in Dortmunder Zeitung, 21.04.1933)
• 30 May 1933 Played a role in organizing and carrying out the “Bücherverbrennung” (Book Burning) in Dortmund’s Hansaplatz, described in the following passage by Christina Witte (“10. Mai 1933 - Die ‘Aktion wider den undeutschen Geist’ -Nationalsozialistische Bücherverbrennungen”):

In Dortmund, the book burning seemed to have been organized and carried out by the SA, SS, the Hitler Youth and the Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM), led by the NS-Lehrerbund (NSLB). In the run-up to the cremation ceremony, a library examination committee of the Dortmund NSDAP headed by NSLB member and teacher Dr. Hans Woelbing the book inventory of the local libraries. 4,000 to 5,000 books and volumes of journals were collected, most of which came from the library holdings of the trade union building, which SA men had already occupied on 18 April 1933. Since the city and state library in Dortmund was considered a scientific library, no books were removed from it. The literature classified as 'un-German', in particular scientific Marxist writings, were locked away with one copy each. On the evening of 30 May 1933, at 9 p.m., the above-mentioned NS mass organizations marched on the centrally located Hansaplatz. The great sympathy of the citizens of Dortmund led to an estimated 50,000 people gathering around the fire. In imitation of the student book burnings, several fire speeches were held on the evening of this non-student action, which resembled those of the students and university teachers or university rectors in their rhetoric and symbolism. In addition to Woelbing and a few other speakers, the Dortmund Polizeipräsident and SA-Gruppenführer Wilhelm Schepmann gave the main speech. Finally, the writings carted onto Hansaplatz by truck were burned. In Dortmund mostly Marxist and socialist leaflets and fewer books were burned.

Polizeipräsident SA-Gruppenführer Schepmann’s speech:

German men, German women and German youth! Holy German flame devour un-German spirit! We know no half-measures, and history does not know half-measures. The men of today's government have to make history because they act consistently with their whole personality and are consistent, means to be German. It is not acceptable that licentiousness is freedom. Licence is bondage and un-German. But we fight with all our might against every un-German spirit… The renewal of the German spirit is not yet complete. In the spirit of National Socialism, we will carry out the renewal of the people according to the German spirit and make the German spirit and German freedom valid all over the world and thus also reach out to the last man of our people. The symbolic renewal at this sacred fire will shine in families, libraries, and in the last human being who was still a stranger to us today. In this sense, too, the flame should completely destroy everything that is not German. Only he who is related by blood is German. Everything else is un-German and cowardly. Just as the sacrificial death of German men in the World War was heroic and sacred, so the post-war period was cowardly and un-German, and in remembrance of the sacrificial death of our fellow Germans we must carry out the renewal of every German person. Everyone who is related to us by blood, who feels and thinks German is German. If we have heard the names of the authors who were burned here, or at least their writings, we need not say: You shall recognize them by their names. We swept them away in the new Germany because they were not of our blood, but had the blood of cowardice and not the heroic German blood in them. But the future will not be shaped by cowardice, but by the ability of men who are genuinely German in style and loyalty. Everyone is welcome who wants to go with us from this point of view. If we want to see action and men, let's look only at our government today. It is not the individual who makes history there, but the whole. You have awakened us from the time of deepest shame and a leader has arisen for us, who we stand behind today with all our strength and who will lead Germany on a new path, as heaven has prescribed. If we look at our role models of German men, we know that they will lead us in the right direction with their whole German spirit and with their whole personality and energy. The voice of her blood has bound her to us, and the people are chained to them by the voice of blood to the last man. Battle-hardened and determined, they will lead us to the blessing of our Homeland and Fatherland and will be an example to us for all the battles that they first took on years ago. (“Undeutscher Geist ging in Flammen auf. Eindrucksvolle Kundgebung auf dem Hansaplatz / Begeisterte Beteiligung der Dortmunder Bevölkerung / Ansprachen der Pgg. Goldmann, Dr. Woelbing, Kaiser, Polizeipräsident Schepmann, Eilers und des Hitlerjugendführers Sürenhagen”, in Dortmunder General-Anzeiger, 31.05.1933)

• 7 July 1933 Participated in the “Gau-Parteitag 1933 des Gaues Westfalen-Süd der NSDAP”
• 9 July 1933 “Aufmarsch der SA-Gruppe Westfalen” in Dortmund (marching up of the SA Group Westphalia; also known as the “Westfalen-Treffen der SA”)
  • During the event, Schepmann, as Leiter (head) of the "meetng", marched at the head of 60,000 SA men, 5,000 SS men, and 15,000 HJ boys. He also accompanied Hitler and Röhm as they inspected the troops.
• August 1933 Appointed as a member of the future Provinzialrat der Provinz Westfalen (Provincial Council of the Province of Westphalia)
• 31 August to 3 September 1933 Participated in the “5. Reichsparteitag der NSDAP” in Nürnberg
• 16 September 1933 Participated in and spoke at the “Westfalentag” in Münster (with 200,000 attendees)
• 12 November 1933 to 8 May 1945 Member of the Reichstag (Wahlkreis 18, Westfalen-Süd; after 29 March 1936, Wahlkreis 28, Dresden-Bautzen)
• 23 October 1933 to 10 July 1934 Sonderbevollmächtigter des Obersten SA-Führers für die Provinz Westfalen
• 27 November 1933 to 10 July 1934 Sonderbevollmächtigter des Obersten SA-Führers für den Freistaat Lippe-Detmold (Special Plenipotentiary of the Supreme SA Leader for the Free State Lippe-Detmold)
• 27 November 1933 to 10 July 1934 Sonderbevollmächtigter des Obersten SA-Führers für den Freistaat Schaumburg-Lippe with headquarters in Bückeburg (Special Plenipotentiary of the Supreme SA Leader for the Free State Schaumburg-Lippe)
• 20 to 23 January 1934 Participated in an “SA-Führertagung” convened by Ernst Röhm in Friedrichroda. It concluded in Berlin with Hitler present, and brought together the Führer of the SA-Obergruppen and -Gruppen, the high leadership of the SA-Reserve, and the Amtschefs (office heads) of the individual Abteilungen (departments) of the Oberste SA-Führung (Völkischer Beobachter, 21/22 January 1934)
• 25 January 1934 to 15 February 1934 Vorsitzender of an SA-Ehrenhof (chairman of a court of honor) to investigate and clarify allegations of corruption by SA-Brigadeführer Willi Veller (Polizeipräsident of Wuppertal)
• 24 to 25 February 1934 Participated in the “Gauparteitages 1934 des Gaues Westfalen-Nord der NSDAP” in Münster
• 15 March to 30 June 1934 Führer (leader) of the SA-Obergruppe X (comprising SA-Gruppen Westfalen and Niederrhein; HQ: Dortmund)
  • m. d. F. b. or acting until 4 April 1934, then permanent
• 10 July 1934 to August 1943 Führer (leader) of the SA-Gruppe Sachsen in Dresden (m. d. F. b. or acting until 15.09.1935, then permanent).
  • He actually assumed the post on 17 July .1934, succeeding Hans Hayn (who had been murdered in the purge of the SA leadership)
• 23 July 1934 Ordered the arrest of one of the most senior SA leaders in Sachsen, SA-Gruppenführer Arthur Heß (Führer of the SA-Brigade 36 in Plauen), probably on orders of Martin Mutschmann (Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter of Sachsen), for alleged involvement in the “Röhm-Revolte”. Heß later told the Obersten Parteigericht that Mutschmann had ordered his leave of absence because he had been angry that he, Heß, had become the Landeshandwerksführer für den Treuhänderbezirk Sachsen (State Crafts Leader for the Trustee District Sachsen) and not Mutschmann's brother (Andreas Wagner: “Machtergreifung” in Sachsen, p. 320). Ultimately, on 25 September 1934, Heß was acquitted by the SA-Sondergericht of the Obersten SA-Führung of any suspicion of involvement in the “Röhm-Revolte” (“No accusations of any kind can be made against Gruppenführer Heß that connect him with the intentions of the former Chief of Staff, or that were directed against the P.O. or, for that matter, against the Führer.”). Although the II. Kammer of the Obersten Parteigericht, on 8 February 1935, concluded that Heß was “guilty of a violation of Section 4, Paragraph 2 b of the statutes,” but also acquitted him of the accusation that he had obtained the post of Landeshandwerksführer by fraud. His career within the SA in Sachsen was finished, however. On 9 January 1935, he was appointed Reichsinnungsmeister der Reichsinnungsverband des Schuhmacherhandwerks (Reich Guild Master at the Reich Guild Association of the Shoemaker's Craft).
• 30 July 1934 Indicted by the Obersten Parteigericht der NSDAP in connection with the so-called “Röhm-Affäre”, charged with violation of § 4 Abs. 2 b of the Satzung der NSDAP [Statute], at the initiative of Gauleiter Josef Wagner. Also charged was his subordinate, SA-Brigadeführer Paul Giesler (Führer of the SA-Gruppe Westfalen). They were specifically accused of planning an armed SA rebellion on 30 June 1934 and of acting against the authority of Gauleiter Wagner and the SS. Wagner accused Schepmann of, among other things, failing to inform Hitler that Gauleiter Julius Streicher had engaged in acts endangering the state with Westphalian industrialists in 1932; of defending Röhm's refusal to shoot himself on 1 July 1934; and of agitating within the SA against the NSDAP, the NSBO (Nationalsozialistische Betriebszellenorganisation), and Wagner. Proceedings against Schepmann were opened before the OPG (Supreme Party Court) on 8 August 1934 but vacated on 24 October 1934.
• 4 to 10 September 1934 Participated in the “6. Reichsparteitag der NSDAP” in Nürnberg
• 31 October to 1 November 1934 Participated in a “Tagung der Gruppenführer der SA” (conference of SA-Gruppenführer), chaired by SA-Stabschef Lutze and with the Oberster SA-Führer (Hitler) present, at the Reich Propaganda Ministry, Berlin. During this meeting, the Führer announced guidelines for the future organization and employment of the SA.
• 6 November 1934 In a 19-page statement, Schepmann rejected accusations made against him by the Oberstes Parteigericht and asked “for the speedy restoration of my National-Socialist honor in the movement and in public” (“um die baldige Wiederherstellung meiner national-sozialistischen Ehre in der Bewegung und in der Öffentlichkeit”).
• 22 January 1935 Participated in a second “Tagung der Gruppenführer der SA” in the Reichspropagandaministerium (Reich Propaganda Ministry), Berlin
• 10 April 1935 Together with Paul Giesler and Paul Fischer, fully exonerated and acquitted by the II. Kammer of the Oberstes Parteigericht (OPG; Haus Karolinenplatz 4, München) under the chairmanship of Reichsleiter Wilhelm Grimm.
• 1935 Member of the Ehrenausschuß (honors committee) for the “2. Sächsische Sängerfest” in Leipzig (28.-30 June 1935)
• 10 to 16 September 1935 Participated in the “7. Reichsparteitag der NSDAP” in Nürnberg
• 30 March 1936 to 1 January 1939 Kreishauptmann of the Kreishauptmannschaft Dresden-Bautzen (“kommissarisch mit der Verwaltung beauftragt” or commissioned with administration until 1 June 1936, then permanent)
• 8 to 14 September 1936 Participated in the “8. Reichsparteitag der NSDAP” in Nürnberg
• 6 to 13 September 1937 Participated in the “9. Reichsparteitag der NSDAP” in Nürnberg. In the course of this event, Schepmann found himself in an argument with SA-Gruppenführer Kurt Arno Lasch (1886–1977) regarding the bad treatment of old Saxon SA leaders by Gauleiter Martin Mutschmann, which culminated in Lasch calling Schepmann a “minion of Röhm” (“Günstling Röhms”) and the matter having to be arbitrated by the Ehrenhof der Obersten SA-Führung (Court of Honor of the Supreme SA Leadership).
• 21 September 1938 Accompanied the Führer of the Sudetendeutschen Partei (SdP), Konrad Henlein, on his “Besichtigungsfahrt durch sächsische Flüchtlingslager“ (inspection tour through Saxon refugee camps) of the SdP
• 1 January 1939 to August .1943 Regierungspräsident (District President) in Dresden-Bautzen (with effect from 22 March 1936)
• 11 to 13 August 1939 Participated in the “Marinebundestag” of the NS-Deutscher Marine-Bund (a component of the NS.-Reichskriegerbund) in Dresden
• 18 to 20 August 1939 Visit to Trieste to attend the Swimming Championship of the Italian Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale (better known as the Blackshirts, the Italian Fascist paramilitary groups). He had been invited to the event by the Chief of Staff of the M.V.S.N., Lieutenant General Luigi Russo.
• 1939 to 1940 Army service with successive assignment as Kompanieführer (Company Leader), Ordonnanzoffizier, and Regimentsadjutant in an Infanterie-Regiment, taking part in the Battle of France
• 26 March 1943 In a conversation with Reichshauptamtsleiter Helmuth Friedrichs of the Parteikanzlei, regarding a successor to the Reichssportführer SA-Obergruppenführer Hans von Tschammer und Osten, who had died the day before, Goebbels suggested Schepmann as a possible candidate. The post ultimately went to von Tschammer und Osten’s former deputy, SA-Oberführer (from 20 April 1944 SA-Brigadeführer) Arnold „Arno“ Breitmeyer.
• 16 August 1943 to 8 May 1945 Stabschef der SA (acting until 09.11.1943, then permanent).
  • Succeeded Max Jüttner, who attended to the duties of Stabschef in the months following the death of Viktor Lutze.
• 20 August 1943 First visit with Hitler following his appointment as Stabschef. In his diary, Goebbels wrote: “Schepmann has shown his best side during this discussion.”
• 20 August 1943 First meeting with Himmler in his new fuction, during which they discovered the settlement of disagreements between the SA and SS
• 25 August 1943 First meeting as newly appointed SA-Stabschef with the SA-Gruppenführer in Berlin. On the same day, he made his inaugural visit to Goebbels.
• 27 August 1943 Inaugural visit with Reichsleiter Franz Xaver Schwarz, Reich Treasurer of the NSDAP
• 1 September 1943 Delivered his first major public address to the SA
• 5 September 1943 Inaugural visit as SA-Stabschef to Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring in the latter’s headquarters
• 6 October 1943 Participant and speaker (“on the ideological task of the SA” – “über die weltanschauliche Aufgabe der SA”) at the meeting of Reichsleiter, Gauleiter, and Verbandsführer der NSDAP (under the leadership of Reichsleiter Martin Bormann in Posen).
• 7 October 1943 Participated in a “Tagung der Reichs- und Gauleiter” at Führerhauptquartier “Wolfsschanze” in Rastenburg/Ostpreußen; That evening, at 1700 hours, he conferred with the Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler in the latter’s Feldkommandostelle Hochwald (also Schwarzschanze) in Großgarten (Kommandostab „RFSS“), only about 20 km east of the Wolfsschanze headquarters.
• 15 October 1943 Led an “Appell des SA-Gruppenführerkorps“ (rollcall of SA-Gruppenführer Corps) in Hamburg
• 31 October 1943 Delivered a speech to the Führerkorps of SA-Gruppe Oder in Frankfurt/Oder
• 3 November 1943 Delivered a speech to SA men during the Reichsfeier “Der Toten Tatenruhm” in the Stadtsaal (town hall) of Speyer
• 8 November 1943 Participated in a “Reichs- und Gauleitertagung” in München, followed by a meeting of the Party’s “Alte Garde” (Old Guard) with Hitler in the Löwenbräukeller
• 11 November 1943 Accompanied by Gauleiter Dr. Gustav Adolf Scheel and SA-Gruppenführer Wilhelm Dittler, inspected SA-Gruppe Alpenland in Salzburg. During a visit to the Festung Hohensalzburg, he was introduced to Oberbürgermeister SA-Standartenführer Anton Giger, who greeted him on behalf of the city. In the afternoon, he addressed local SA leaders in the ranks of Sturmführer and above during a Führerappell in the Großen Saal (Grand/Great Hall) of the Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg, and in the evening, he stayed with the SA leaders in the Mirabellkasino.
• 13 November 1943 Inspected SA-Gruppe Donau in Wien, delivering a speech to 2,500 SA leaders
• 15 to 16 November 1943 Inspection of SA-Gruppe Südmark in Graz. On the 15th he delivered a speech to the officers (Führer) of the SA-Gruppe. The next day, together with Generaloberst Eduard Dietl (de), he spoke at a public assembly of the NSDAP in the DAF-Sälen (halls of the Deutsche Arbeitsfront).
• 21 November 1943 During a rollcall of the Führerkorps of SA-Gruppe Pommern in Krössinsee announced the institution of the SA-Wehrabzeichen für Kriegsversehrte (SA Military Badge for War Invalids)
• 1 December 1943 Oversaw an Arbeitstagung (working conference) of the entire SA-Gruppenführerkorps in Breslau
• 28 February 1944 Keynote speaker at the “Abschlußkundgebung der SA-Winterwehrkämpfe” (Closing Rally of the SA Winter Military Competitions) in the Großer Stadtsaal (Great Town Hall), Innsbruck
• 4 to 6 March 1944 Lecturer on “Die Reichsidee als politischer Auftrag” (The Reich Idea as a Political Mission) at the “2. Arbeitstagung der Dienststelle Berlin der Obersten SA-Führung” (2nd Working Conference of the Berlin Office of the Supreme SA Leadership) in Posen
• 30 March 1944 Delivered a speech to 500 frontline officers in Berlin
• April 1944 Delivered a speech at a meeting of all SA-Verwaltungsführer (administrative leaders) in the Reich
• 10 May 1944 Accompanied Goebbels during a reception in Berlin for a delegation of soldiers from Panzer-Grenadier-Division “Feldherrnhalle” (then deployed to the Eastern Front)
• 12 May 1944 Delivered a speech during a Gruppenführerlehrgang (group leader course) at the Reichsschule des Reichsarbeitsdienstes, Berlin
• 17 to 19 May 1944 Participated in a large Arbeitstagung of higher-ranking SA-Führer in Salzburg
• 3 June 1944 Speech to officers of a Panzertruppenschule (Panzer Troops School)
• 21 June 1944 Delivered the memorial address at the funeral of the Regierender Bürgermeister of Bremen, SA-Obergruppenführer Johann Heinrich Böhmcker
• 11 to 13 July 1944 Oversaw an Arbeitstagung for the Führer of all the SA-Gruppen and the Hauptamtschefs of the Oberste SA-Führung (OSAF)
• 12 July 1944 Awarded the SA-Wehrabzeichen für Kriegsversehrte to 100 wounded soldiers
• September 1944 Charged by the Chef des Generalstabes des Heeres with the formation of a Landsturm, a reserve militia, in Ostpreußen. This plan was discontinued with the foundation of the Volkssturm later in the month.
• 26 September 1944 to May 1945 Inspekteur für die Schieβausbildung (Inspector for Shooting / Marksmanship Training) of the German Volkssturm.
• 3 October 1944 Participated in the official memorial service for Gauleiter Josef Bürckel (d. 28 September 1944) in Saarbrücken
• October 1944 Delivered a speech to 2,000 Fahnenjunker (officer candidates) of the German Army (Heer)
• 18 October 1944 Participated in the state funeral for Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel in Ulm
• 19 October 1944 In the following Tagesbefehl (Order of the Day), declared:

SA-Men! The Führer has called the working homeland to arms. The strength of the whole nation will be provided in the German Volkssturm. It is necessary at this critical moment of the war, to secure victory in our favor. The Volkssturm will fight at the burning borders of the Reich. It will defend its beloved homeland to the last breath. The SA will employ all the strength and experience of its National Socialist and military education in the Volkssturm. In this grave hour it renews its profession of action and loyalty to the Führer. Wherever the SA man stands in the Volkssturm, he is to fulfill his duty with a passionate heart, National Socialist thoroughness and the ever-practiced selfless devotion. I expect the SA Führer in particular to be a pioneer and an example in terms of performance and commitment to the National Socialist idea. Hail to the Führer! Wilhelm Schepmann, Stabschef der SA (Neues Wiener Tagblatt, 20 October 1944, p. 1)

• 13 November 1944 Delivered a speech during the swearing-in of Volkssturm troops in Danzig, during which he declared “Better to go down with honor than to be broken by the inhuman slavery of the enemy.” (Kleine Wiener
• 6 March 1945 Visited SA men and Panzergrenadiere of the Kampfgruppe “Feldherrnhalle” in Marienburg “In

recognation of the outstanding part [they] ha[d] played in the defense of [the city].” (Kleine Wiener Kriegszeitung, 7 March 1945, p. 3)

• 16 March 1945 In Düsseldorf to inspect units of the Volkssturm, SA, and SA-Standarte „Feldherrnhalle“ in action on the

Western Front. In a speech to these men, he declared:

In a few days, you too will fight the enemy who is devastating your homeland and has inflicted untol suffering on so many of our countrymen. Go to meet him in this decisive hour with the hatred he has awakened in in us, and with the hardness which your bleeing homeland expects of you [...] As men of the SA we have unconditionally bound ourselves to serve in the struggle for freedom of the Reich. Therefore the SA man must fight in the foremost lines. Live and act as SA men according to the old German watchword, “It is better to fight and die honorably than to lose one’s freedom and soul.”

• Following the inspection, he met with the Gauleiters of Düsseldorf and Essen (Friedrich Karl Florian and SS-Obergruppenführer Georg Friedrich „Fritz“ Schleßmann), as well as the leaders of the SA-Gruppen in those areas.

Task and Role of the SA

Schepmann’s essay "Task and Role of the SA", published in "Der Politische Soldat", Nr. 12, October 1944:

As Stabschef responsible to the Führer for the SA, I consider it right that I should once more define explicitly the task and role of the SA within the Party and the Reich, in order to clear up once and for all any obscurity concerning the task of the SA. During the early years of the movement it was the SA which, in accordance with the will of the Führer, as part of the Party brought together the activist forces as the sword-arm of the National-Socialist movement. For the National-Socialist who was ready for action, membership in the SA was a matter of course. It was just as much a matter of course that the SA man became a party member and considered himself first and always a National-Socialist. As an SA man, it was his pride and his honor always to be in the forefront of the fight. Where propagandists, collaborators within the inner circle of the Party, dare-devils, helpers for Party members in trouble, everywhere where men ready for action were needed, the SA was there and naturally the SA was called upon. In his calling the SA man was at all times a fanatical representative of the National-Socialist Weltanschauung. The Party was unimaginable without the SA, just as the SA was never an independent power outside the Party, but exclusively a part and an organ of the movement. From this role of the SA as the organization of the activist men of the Party, from its indispensability for the carrying out of National-Socialist activities, and not from the training of the SA or any other branch of their self-education, is derived the justified self-confidence of the SA man. From this role resulted also the esteem of the SA within the whole movement. Tested SA men, capable as political leaders, were continually transferred to the political directorate of the Party, to advance there to leading positions. Almost every one of the old men in authority [Hoheitsträger] in the Party was also an SA man in the years of struggle. Prerequisite to this success of the SA in the party struggle was its construction according to military principles, was the SA man’s unconditional duty to obey, his education in discipline, was above all the constant schooling of the SA man to become a conscious and fanatical political soldier of the Führer.

In the narrow sense this is the goal which the work of the SA served. Just as, however, the peace-time training of a soldier does not have significance except as future or at least possible action is in view for the actual defense of the life of the nation, so work within the SA was only a means to an end. The end was the completion of the manifold tasks of the SA in support of the Party’s struggle in the field of internal politics, was the victory of the National-Socialist movement. After Hitler came to power the SA was at first in danger of developing into a defense organization with a military foundation, as a result of a misconception of the order given by the Führer from the beginning that it should educate all German men to have a military, National-Socialist attitude. This led to a loosening of its spiritual ties to the Party and thus necessarily to serious setbacks. Open and veiled alienation between political leaders and SA leaders was the inevitable consequence. The result was unsatisfactory for both sides and disadvantageous to the Party. Many a Party endeavor would have attained easier success if the right use had been made of the largest and strongest formation of the Party, the SA—tightly organized and disciplined down to the last detail, and comprising millions of zealous men from all classes of the people. By and large, however, the SA got stuck in its own field of service. SA work in the narrow sense, the training of units in the evening and on Sundays, became too exclusively the sum and substance of SA activities in general. Above all, this work determined, to too great an extent, the conception of the present task of the SA which was held by the German people, by the Party, and finally even by many SA men.

To be sure, the Führer himself again and again provided fresh impetus, for example, by his order for the military education of German manhood by means of SA training for the Wehrabzeichen and by other assignments. These assignments, however, because they were often not approached in the right way, did not come to fruition. Partly in the Party, partly in the SA Itself, they were regarded too much as independent individual tasks of secondary importance and top little as important constituents of the entire Party's work of educating and leading the whole German people. Thus for a long time the position of the SA and the self-confidence of the SA men remained shaken, they remained so, even though the SA, in this time of outward stagnation and self-imposed limitation achieved results of which they are fully entitled to be proud. One could not judge as well in peacetime, and even the SA man himself was often never aware, what a great work of education had been done. Especially in the psychologically difficult conditions in which he had to lead his men, the SA leader gained almost unequalled experience in the field of human leadership. In a wide measure, as well; he gained organizational knowledge in the course of the numerous SA internal undertakings. The entire SA, however, became a body of men who had learned how to be strict with themselves and to stand by the Führer and Party in the most difficult circumstances. Now, during the war, it has been shown how valuable this work of the SA was in itself. The SA men in the units on the fighting front have stood the test, like all real National-Socialists, and have proved to be the backbone of the forces. The SA leaders who remained at home, however, put their knowledge and experience at the disposal of the Party and justified, by their achievements, the Führer's order to instill the spirit of National-Socialism in the German men eligible for military service. Thus we have every reason to do away with the old inhibitions. It is the will of the Führer and my task as Stabschef of the SA to clear up these questions conclusively. Every SA man and every Party member, no matter what his position, must come to realize: As in the period of struggle, it remains the task of the SA to stand to the fore in all matters in which the Party needs an active representation among the people of its will and its measures. The SA man must be the most active propagandist of the Party, the most courageous warrior of the Party in the air war, the most active collaborator with the political leaders in war-time welfare work, the most active National-Socialist in the Wehrmacht, and also, if must be, again the most active fighter against grumblers and defeatists.

The SA is nothing outside the Party’s field of duty, and the Party cannot deny itself the use of an army, millions strong, of staunch National-Socialists, comprising the best men of all classes of our people. The National-Socialist leadership of the Wehrmacht knows that the SA men in its units with the other men of the National-Socialist Party represent a nucleus of determined warriors. It cannot refuse to call upon these men—these political soldiers, in the best sense, educated to display unswerving zeal even in difficult situations it cannot fail to call upon them for leadership, education, and spiritual strengthening of the troops. The SA man himself must know, however, that he is always committed, wherever he may be, as an SA man, as the most active champion of the will of the Party. It makes no difference whether he does SA service in his unit in continuation of his peace-time work, whether he helps with the pre-military training of untrained citizens, whether he conducts military sports contests or military shooting contests, whether in groups or alone, in uniform or mufti, he works in the air war, in the auxiliary police, in the NSV relief work, or in one of the thousand other fields of war service: he is always committed, first of all, as an SA man, as a warrior of the Party, and performs definite tasks in this capacity. To a special degree all those SA men who have been called up as soldiers today must consider themselves as SA men at work—they more than the rest of the SA. It does not matter whether they are used as generals or staff officers, as leaders of military units or National-Socialist guidance officers, as non-commissioned officers or common soldiers. They all have, along with their military tasks, the political assignment of being examples of the National-Socialist will-to-fight, of sternness and comradeship, the embodiment of the will of the movement. They all have to carry out this assignment as part of their SA service. Thus every SA man, down to the last one, gains the self-confidence which he absolutely must have to perform his great and wonderful, timeless task. The SA man will, then, always be judged by all other members of the Party and by the whole German nation in the way which the SA and he himself deserve and must claim. The heart of the matter is end remains: The work of the SA can only be understood correctly as an integral part of the Party's task of leading the German people and infusing into them the National-Socialist ideology. In this it is not if a number of subordinate auxiliary tasks which is involved, but the utilization of the units of the Party in all fields of the Party's work. The SA man is everywhere and always on duty as an SA man.

I demand this attitude of every SA man, no matter whether he be a general (SA) or a private, no matter whether active or not, no matter whether honorary or paid. But I also ask all other National-Socialists, from Reichsleiter and Gauleiter down to Blockleiter and even to inactive Party members, from National-Socialist guidance officer to unit leader, to make this attitude the basis of their co-operation with the SA. This will only be of benefit to the National-Socialist movement. Nothing of this will change after the war, for what is involved is the lasting task of the SA within the framework of the Party. In our work one task will come to the fore: the SA will be charged with the extra-military National-Socialist education for defense. It will have to bring together the mass of men capable of bearing arms after their discharge from the Wehrmacht, for the preservation and education of their National-Socialist readiness for defense and for the preservation and training of their valiant capacity for action. Naturally special consideration will be given psychologically to the soldiers returning from the front. The service in the reserve corps of ex-service men will be so arranged that it can be performed by everybody. This assignment, too, has to be regarded in the first instance as an essential part of the National-Socialist educational duty of the Party to the German nation. The aim of making every German man into a resolute warrior for the National-Socialist Reich, into a thoroughly convinced and loyal follower of the Führer, is our first and most important aim. The means to this end is training in defense. Detached from the political goal, however, this training would be only a job half-done. That is how we SA men regard our task, that is how we value it, and that is how we wish, thereby, to serve the Party, our people, and our beloved Führer. In order that cowardice and treachery may never again be able to creep into the German nation and that our children and grandchildren may be able in the future to lay the final stone of the mighty, storm-defying edifice of the National-Socialist Greater German Reich of Adolf Hitler!

Post-war

• May 1945 to August 1947 In the final days of the war, fled by car with his wife to Budweis in Böhmen. It was during this journey that Schepmann learned of Germany’s surrender. He responded by burning his SA uniform and all his papers,

then had the Wehrmacht issue him new papers in the name of “Hauptmann Willy Schuhmacher”. After a brief internment under this name, presumably by the U.S. Army, he made his way to Gifhorn where he again registered under the name “Willy Schuhmacher” and found employment as an unskilled worker in an enamel factory near Hannover. He grew a beard, which he later shaved off, and lived quiet and withdrawn with his wife. He was a member of the SPD during this period.

• August 1947 to 28 April 1949 Material administrator (Materialverwalter) in the Kreiskrankenhaus (district hospital) Gifhorn
• 28 April 1949 Arrested by British security forces, then handed over to German authorities
• 1949 Joined the Bund der Heimatvertriebenen und Entrechteten (BHE, Union of the Homeless and Deprived)
• 16 May 1949 Sentenced by a Lüneburg court to 2 months imprisonment for violation of identification regulations
• 23 february 1950 Charged by the Staatsanwaltschaft (public prosecutor’s office) in Dortmund
• 14 June 1950 Beginning of trial before the Schwurgericht (court with full-time judges and lay judges) in Dortmund. Schepmann was accused of having known about or tolerated 48 instances of crimes against humanity while serving as Polizeipräsident of Dortmund from 17 February 1933 to 10 November 1934.
• 1 July 1950 Sentenced by the Dortmund Schwurgericht to 9 months imprisonment, due to coercion in office (in the case of the liquidation of the newspaper Dortmunder Generalanzeiger, when his SA men occupied its offices on 20 April 1933 in retaliation for their publishing a caricature of Hitler), but this sentence was later annulled.
• 14 November 1952 The 4. Strafsenat der Bundesgerichtshof (4th Criminal Senate of the Federal Court of Justice) overturned one point of Schepmann’s indictment at the request of the public prosecutor’s office and returned it to the

Strafkammer (criminal chamber) of the Landgericht Dortmund for a new trial, at the same time dismissing Schepmann’s appeal against his sentence of 9 months on another charge (coercion in office).

• In a de-Nazification proceeding, initially placed in Gruppe III (“Minderbelastete”, minor offenders).
  • He was later reclassified as an “unbelastete Person” (unincriminated person).
• April 1952 In further de-Nazification proceeding, placed in Gruppe V, but without a specific indication of grounds
• November 1952 Elected as a member (representing the Bund der Heimatvertriebenen und Entrechteten) of the Kreistag in Gifhorn. The following article appeared in the 17.11.1952 issue of Time magazine:

In Lower Saxony, an old friend of Hitler's emerged from a wooden hut where he is living, unemployed, on a dole of $6.90 a week, to win a seat on both the town and county councils of Gifhorn. He was Brownshirt Wilhelm Schepmann, 58, last chief of staff of Hitler's Storm Troopers. Schepmann won easily, without even bothering to campaign. In other local elections in Lower Saxony the neo-Nazis campaigned on the slogan: “Stand fast. Remain German… We shall return.” The Refugee Party, which had the Nazis' support, won 17 % of the total vote.

• 28 November 1952 to 9 June 1951 Member of the Stadtrat in Gifhorn
• 28 November 1952 Became a Beigeordneter (delegate) to the Verwaltungsausschuß (administrative council) of Gifhorn
• 1954 Acquitted on appeal on the charge of coercion in office
• 1954 Appointed to serve as a teacher at a Volksschule in Gifhorn, however the Kultusministerium of Niedersachsen prohibited him from teaching.
• 26 May 1954 The Education Ministry granted him a one-time payment of 3,177 DM in addition to his monthly retirement benefits of 395,35 DM.
• 9 November 1956 to 17 May 1961 Erster Beigeordneter (i.e., stellvertretender Bürgermeister [deputy mayor]) of Gifhorn.
  • He was reelected on 18 April 1961 but amid public protests, he resigned from office and declared:

“So that the world can continue to turn in peace, I renounce my office the next month, on 17 May 1961” (“Damit die Welt sich wieder in Ruhe weiterdrehen kann, verzichte ich auf mein Amt”).

Family

Wilhelm was the son of Richard Schepmann, a mining engineer, and his wife, Caroline Wilhelmine, née König.

Marriage

Schepmann was married to Gertrud(e), née Schumann (1898–1959). Their son, Richard Wilhelm Schepmann, was to become owner of the patriotic publishing house "Teut-Verlag", based in Wetter/Ruhr, and described by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke as “specializ[ing] in reprints from the Nordland-Verlag of the Ahnenerbe and dossiers on Third Reich UFOs”. In 1983, Schepmann, a promoter of the Germanic New Medicine (Germanische Neue Medizin), was convicted of Volksverhetzung ("incitement to hatred"; a unique FRG law to suppress patriotic opinions), receiving a 6-month suspended jail sentence and a considerable fine.

Promotions

• January 1915 Leutnant d. R. (Lieutenant of the Reserves)
• 1927 SA-Staffelführer
• 1931 SA-Oberführer
• 1 November 1932 SA-Gruppenführer (Der Oberste SA-Führer, Führerbefehl Nr. 11, 25.1.1933)
• 15/16 February 1933 to 10 November 1934 Polizeipräsident (Chief of Police)
• 9 November 1936 SA-Obergruppenführer (Der Oberste SA-Führer, Führerbefehl Nr. 45, 9.11.1936)
• ca. 1940 Hauptmann d. R. (Captain of the Reserves) of the Wehrmacht
• 16/18 August to 9 November 1943 acting Stabschef, charged with managing the affairs of the Chief of Staff (mit der Führung der Geschäfte des Stabschefs der SA beauftragt)
  • I find the first one very interesting as it has been stated in many sources that Schepmann was not appointed Stabschef der SA until November 9, 1943 when we clearly see here that on August 20th he already held this title. Schepmann had been "acting" Stabschef since Lutze's death in May and the first mention of him being the "Stabschef" occurs in early August 1943. Up until August he was always referred to as "Acting Stabschef". Another interesting aspect of Schepmann's promotion is that from June to November 1943 Schepmann wore what is now called the "Acting Stabschef" collar tabs. These were the same style that Adolf Hühnlein wore as Korpsführer NSKK before his promotion to Reichsleiter. I find it interesting that AFTER Schepmann's official announcement as Stabschef in November 1943, he started wearing collar tabs that resembled those worn by Himmler, Lutze, Hühnlein (de) and Axmann (de) as Reichsleiters. Schepmann nor Axmann for that matter were ever officially appointed Reichsleiter as far as we can ascertain but they were both sometimes referred to as Reichsleiters and certainly were held in the same regard as their counterparts. The fact that both Hühnlein tabs changed with his promotion to Reichsleiter may be an indication that Schepmann too was changing his tabs to mirror his new status. We may never know for sure, but it is an interesting speculation based on the insignias and their time of wear.
• 9 November 1943 to 8 May 1945 Stabschef der SA

Awards, decorations and honours

• Iron Cross (1914), 2nd Class
• Cross for Faithful Service (Fürstlich Schaumburg-Lippisches Kreuz für treue Dienste 1914; SLK) on 31 May 1917
• Wound Badge (Verwundetenabzeichen 1918) in Black
• Nuremberg Party Day Badge, 1929 (Nürnberger Parteitagsabzeichen 1929)
• Abzeichen vom SA-Treffen in Braunschweig 1931
• Battle Rune (Kampfrune) of the Reichsführerschulen der NSDAP
• Nuremberg Party Day Badge, September 1933
• Gau Honour Badge for the Old Guard (members) since 1923 (Ehrenzeichen der Alten Garde) in 1933
• SA Sports Badge (SA-Sportabzeichen) in Bronze
• Golden Party Badge (1933/34)
• SA-Ehrendolch (Honor Dagger of the SA)
• SA-Ehrenstreifen (Honor Stripes of the SA)
• Honour Chevron for the Old Guard (Ehrenwinkel der Alten Kämpfer), February 1934
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 (1934)
• Bulgarian War Commemorative Medal 1915–1918 (Kriegserinnerungsmedaille 1915/1918) with Swords
• Hungarian World War Commemorative Medal (Ungarische Kriegs-Erinnerungs-Medaille) with Swords
• Anschluss Medal (Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 13. März 1938)
• Sudetenland Medal (Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1. Oktober 1938)
• NSDAP Long Service Award (Dienstauszeichnung der NSDAP in Bronze, Silver and Gold)
• Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939), 2nd Class
• Iron Cross (1939), 1st Class in 1940 for his actions during the break-through of the Maginot Line (Battle of France)
• Civil Service Faithful Service Medal in Silver (Treudienst-Ehrenzeichen)
• Gau-Ehrenzeichen Sudetenland, 1943 (Gau Honour Badge)
• War Merit Cross (1939), 2nd and 1st Class without Swords

Honours

• Honorary citizenship of the city of Hattingen on 24 December 1933
• Entered in the Goldene Buch der Stadt Bremen on 10 February 1944
• Reichsmark (RM) 100,000 Dotation from the Führer on 17 June 1944 (on the occasion of Schepmann's 50th birthday)

Main sources

• Friedrich Alfred Beck: Kampf und Sieg. Geschichte der Nationalsozialistischen Deutschen Arbeiterpartei im Gau Westfalen-Süd von den Anfängen bis zur Machtübernahme, Westfalen-Verlag, 1938
• Michael D. Miller / Andreas Schulz: Leaders of the Storm Troops Volume I, Oberster SA-Führer & SA-Stabschef and SA-Obergruppenführer (B – G), 2022

External links

• Wir sind Hattinger: Wilhelm Schepmann