Paul giesler

Paul Giesler ( Siegen , Westphalia , 15 as June as 1895 - Bischofswiesen , Berchtesgadener Land , 8 as maypole as 1945 ) was a member of the Nazi Party . From 1941 he was Gauleiter of Westphalia -Sur ( Westfalen-Süd ), between 1942 and 1945 he served as Minister-President of Bavaria , and in the last days of the war briefly served as Minister of the Interior .

Biography

Born in a Protestant family, Giesler participated in World War I and would eventually become an architect, like his father.

Later Giesler would say that in 1922 he had joined the German National Socialist Workers’ Party (NSDAP), although formally he did not until 1928 as member number 72,741. Giesler was one of the most violent militants in the regional section of the NSDAP in Siegen and one of the local chiefs ( Ortsgruppenleiter ) until before 1932. ¹ As a member of the Sturmabteilung (SA), in 1934, during the Night of the Long knives , narrowly avoided being arrested and executed.

From August 1941 he began to play an important role within the party, partly thanks to the intrigues of Martin Bormann . At that time he became Gauleiter of Westphalia-South and from 1942 he became Adolf Wagner’s successor as Gauleiter of Munich-Upper Bavaria. After the death of Ludwig Siebert , also assumed the position of Ministerpräsident of Bavaria. He was in fact an unconditional follower of Hitler who during the last years of the race ruled Bavaria with ruthless efficiency and with almost unlimited power. ² As the war progressed, Giesler was gaining more and more power. On 30 January 1943 he was promoted to the rank of SA-Obergruppenführer , and from 25 September 1944 Giesler was the organizer and leader of the Volkssturm in his district. In January 1945, he approved the publication of a slogan in the military courier of Munich: “Hate must have a free way. Our feelings of hatred should be imposed on our opponents as ardent embers.” ³

On April 20, 1945, by the intrigues of Martin Bormann and with the complicity of Heinrich Himmler , Giesler dismissed the SS-Obergruppenführer Karl von Eberstein as head of the police forces of Munich and Bavaria under the charge of “defeatism.” ⁴ Coinciding with the last days of the Third Reich, between the 28 and 29 of April directed the execution or hanging of 16 inhabitants in the Bavarian locality of Penzberg , in what would be known like Penzberger Mordnacht (“The mortal night of Penzberger”). ⁵

On April 29, 1945 Hitler, in his political will , appointed Paul Giesler as successor to Himmler as Minister of the Interior , although in practice the appointment was of little importance, given the chaotic situation in Germany. Giesler died on May 8, 1945, ⁶ after attempting to commit suicide at first.

Family

His brother, Hermann Giesler , was also a well-known architect and unconditional Nazi activist until the day of his death.

References