Franz Maierhofer

Franz Maierhofer (21 December 1897 – 22 August 1943) was a Gauleiter of the Nazi Party for the Upper Palatinate and Lower Bavaria. He was also a member of the Schutzstaffel (SS) and the Wehrmacht. He was killed in action on the eastern front in World War II.

Franz Maierhofer
Deputy Gauleiter of Upper Palatinate
In office 1 November 1929 – 15 November 1930
Gauleiter of Upper Palatinate
In office 15 November 1930 – 17 August 1932
Preceded by	Edmund Heines
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Gauleiter of Lower Bavaria
In office 1 April 1932 – 17 August 1932
Preceded by	Otto Erbersdobler
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Gauleiter of Lower Bavaria-Upper Palatinate
In office 17 August 1932 – 13 January 1933
Preceded by	Position created
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Personal details
Born	(1897-12-21)21 December 1897 Rosenheim, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire
Died	22 August 1943(1943-08-22) (aged 45) Kharkov, Soviet Union
Cause of death	Killed in action
Nationality	German
Political party	Nazi Party
Occupation	Teacher
Military service
Allegiance	German Empire Nazi Germany
Branch/service	Royal Bavarian Army German Army
Years of service	1914–1920 1937–1943
Rank	Major
Battles/wars	World War I World War II • Fourth Battle of Kharkov †
Awards	Iron Cross, 1st and 2nd class

Early years

The tenth child of a locomotive operator, he grew up in Regensburg. After high school, at the outbreak of World War I in 1914 he enlisted as a volunteer with the 11th Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment. He attended officer training classes and was promoted to Leutnant in August 1916. In April 1917, he was wounded and taken prisoner by the French. He was awarded the Iron Cross, first and second class. He returned to Germany in April 1920, and was discharged from the service with a 20 percent disability. He resumed his education, training as an elementary school teacher in Amberg from 1920 to 1922. He passed his teaching examinations in December 1922. In 1923 he became an assistant teacher and in 1925 he was employed as a teacher. In 1930 he took up a teaching position in Auerbach in the Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz). He was eventually dismissed from public school service on 1 November 1932 due to his political activities.^[1]

Nazi career

On 16 April 1927, Maierhofer joined the Nazi Party (membership number 59,524). He served as Bezirksleiter (District Leader) in Auerbach from 1927. He was named Deputy Gauleiter of the Upper Palatinate in November 1929 when Gauleiter Adolf Wagner was transferred to Greater Munich. As such, he administered the Gau until June 1930 when Edmund Heines came in as Acting Gauleiter. When Heines left to take up a staff position in the Sturmabteilung (SA) high command, Maierhofer was named Gauleiter of the Upper Palatinate on 15 November 1930. In September 1930, he was elected to the Reichstag from electoral constituency 25 (Lower Bavaria–Upper Palatinate) and served only one term until the next election in July 1932. In April 1931, he became the editor of a Nazi daily newspaper named Schaffendes Volk.^[2]

On the resignation of Otto Erbersdobler of the neighboring Gau of Lower Bavaria (Niederbayern) on 1 April 1932, Maierhofer was assigned the leadership of that jurisdiction in addition to his own. On 17 August the Gaue of Upper Palatinate and Lower Bavaria were formally merged and Maierhofer became Gauleiter of the newly named Gau Lower Bavaria-Upper Palatinate (Niederbayern-Oberpfalz). However just several months later, the SA leadership of the Gau filed a complaint alleging that Maierhofer had not properly allocated money due to the SA. He was relieved of his office on 13 January 1933. On 19 January, his Gau was merged with Upper Franconia into Gau Bavarian-East March (Bayerische Ostmark) under the leadership of Hans Schemm, the Upper Franconian Gauleiter.^[1]

In November 1933, Maierhofer joined the Schutzstaffel (SS) and held several staff positions between 1935 and 1937, including in the office of the Reichsführer-SS. On 20 April 1936 he attained the rank of SS-Obersturmbannführer. In 1937 he secured a position with the Bavarian State government as an advisor in the Ministry of Education and Culture.^[3]

In 1937, Maierhofer reentered military service as a Leutnant of the reserves. At the outbreak of World War II, he served on active duty with Infantry Regiment 50 of the 3rd Infantry Division. After 1941, he saw action on the Eastern Front, advancing to the rank of Hauptmann in July 1942. In February 1943, he was promoted to Major as commander of Grenadier Regiment 315 of the 167th Infantry Division, but was killed in action at the Fourth Battle of Kharkov on 22 August 1943.^[4]