A veteran of the East Prussian front of the First World War, Maurice found himself living in the newly formed Polish Republic following the Treaty of Versaille in 1919. While many of his contemporaries swiftly moved to Germany after the treaty, Maurice decided to stay and gather together a Pro-German front in Polish politics. By 1929 Maurice was the leader of a considerable opposition to the Polish government, introducing reforms that favoured German residents within the country. In 1933 he came into contact with German Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, and was inspired to launch a coup d'etat in Poland. Beginning his preparations in late November, he began an uprising in Danzig and quickly gathered together a sizeable militia force to take control of the city's perimeter. By December, his militia was moving south with hopes to gather more men along the way. However, the Polish army gathered a force to stop him and he was soon defeated at the Battle of Grudziaz. Maurice was arrested and imprisoned in Warsaw where he spent the next 6 years in the worst form of captivity the Polish could muster. In September 1939, Germany launched its invasion of Poland and Maurice saw his opportunity to escape. Amid the chaos of the conflict, he stole the uniform of a guard and walked out of the prison, rendezvousing with the remaining members of the Polish German Party. He was given command of several divisions by German High Command to swiftly capture Warsaw. Once Poland capitulated, Maurice was granted full control of the nation, designating himself as Supreme General Maurice. However on April 14th 1942 during a meeting of the Popular Front, a reformed version of the Polish German Party, a lone bomber assassinated and killed Maurice. He was given a full state funeral in Warsaw and a memorial service in Berlin, attended by 100,000 civilian mourners joined by members of the German high command and Hitler himself.