Georg Keppler - Inter-war Years

Inter-war Years

On January 31, 1920 following in the steps of Theodor Eicke and Sepp Dietrich, Keppler enlisted to the Schutzpolizei (uniformed police) in Hanover. In July 1926, he left Hanover and joined the Landespolizei Thüringen (state police) in the town of Hildburghausen. For the next eight years Keppler remained a police officer, commanding various Landespolizei and Schutzpolizei regiments in Jena, Gotha and in Munich. After 14 years as a police officer, Keppler decided to leave and returned to the German Army with Infantrie-Regiment 32. However he did not stay in the army for long and on October 10, 1935 entered the SS-Verfügungstruppe. SS-Sturmbannführer (Major) Keppler was given command of the I. Battalion of SS-Standarte 1, which later became SS.VT-Standarte Deutschland. Following the annexation of Austria into Greater Germany, Keppler moved to Vienna and received a new command – SS.VT-Standarte 3. In September 1938, this unit got an honor title Der Führer and was eventually redesignated as the SS-Regiment Der Führer. He led this unit throughout the pre-war period, during which the regiment served as a Wacht-Regiment of the Reichsprotektor (Governor) of Bohemia and Moravia Konstantin Freiherr von Neurath.