World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbasePaul Giesler was born in Siegen, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. He studied to become an architect, but in the early 1920s became involved in politics as a member of right-wing political organizations. By 1924, he was a prominent local leader of the Nazi Party. He was nearly purged during the Night of the Long Knives.

ww2dbaseAs Germany entered WW2, Geisler served as a member of the Germany military in the invasions of Poland and France. In Aug 1941, he returned to politics as he was named the Gauleiter of Westphalia-South. In Apr 1942, he served as the acting Gauleiter of Gau Munich-Upper Bavaria. He was known to be an opponent of higher education for women, one of his many positions that that mirrored Nazi philosophies. On 2 Nov 1942, he was named the Premier (Ministerpräsident) of Bavaria upon the death of the predecessor Ludwig Siebert on the previous day. In 1943, he was a key figure in the Nazi Party's successful capture and subsequent execution of leaders of the White Rose student resistance movement against the Nazi regime. In Apr 1945, he was appointed the Reich Defense Commissar-South. This position gave him dictatorial powers, answering only to Berlin; with this power he immediately cracked down, with brutal force, on the Munich-based Freiheitsaktion Bayern organization which was planning a coup d'état in Bavaria in order to surrender to the Allies.

ww2dbaseIn Adolf Hitler's will of 29 Apr 1945, Giesler was named the Reich Minister for the Interior, but Giesler never assumed this position as Germany surrendered shortly after Hitler's suicide. On the date of the German surrender, he and his wife committed suicide at Berchtesgaden, Bavaria.

Photographs

Paul Giesler Timeline