Early Career
After finishing his studies at the Gymnasium in Munich, Weiss began a career as a soldier.
By 1911 he was an ensign (Fahnenjunker) and by 1913 a lieutenant. In 1915 – the First World War was already under way – Weiss was transferred to the Airmen's Squad (Fliegertruppe). On one of his battle deployments, he was shot down, as a result of which he lost his left leg. Nonetheless, in 1917, he was promoted to Oberleutnant before being transferred to the Bavarian War Ministry in 1918, shortly before the war ended. In 1920, when it turned out that the Reichswehr, which was busy reconstituting itself, could no longer find a job for him, he was discharged with the rank of Captain.
Already by 1919, Weiss had been busying himself as a member of the state leadership of the Bavarian Inhabitants' Defence (Einwohnerwehr), through which he was appointed editor of the magazine Heimatland (Homeland), a publication with strongly Nazi leanings.
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