- Josef Wagner (Gauleiter)
Josef Wagner (
12 January 1899 –22 April or2 May 1945 ) was from 1928 the NaziGauleiter of the Gau ofWestphalia -South, and as of January 1935 also of the Gau ofSilesia .Early life and First World War
Josef Wagner was born in Algringen,
Alsace-Lorraine , to miner Nikolaus Wagner. Beginning in the summer of 1913 he went to the teachers' seminary inWittlich , and as of June 1917 he was a soldier at the Western Front during theFirst World War . There he ended up as aprisoner of war of the French, but managed to escape in 1918. In 1919 he returned toGermany by way ofSwitzerland . He ended his training as a "Volksschule " teacher and first worked as a finance official inFulda , and by 1921 at the "Bochumer Verein".Joining the Nazis
Wagner joined the
Nazi Party quite early on, in 1922, and founded the NSDAP local ("Ortsgruppe") inBochum . In 1927, he was a "Volksschule" teacher at the "Volksschule Horst-Emscher" – and by 1928 at theGelsenkirchen branch – from which he was fired for political reasons. In 1928, he was appointed Gauleiter of the Gau of Westphalia, and after the Gau was split in two in 1931, he was given the office of Gauleiter of Westphalia-South, whose seat was in Bochum. From 1928 to 1930, Wagner was among the NSDAP's first twelve members of the Reichstag in Berlin.Career in the time of the Third Reich
Beginning in 1934, Wagner – who had been a
Prussia n State Councillor since 1933 – also led the Gau of Silesia in Breslau (nowadaysWrocław ,Poland ), where the state offices befitting such a man were transferred to him: He was appointed High President ("Oberpräsident") of the Prussianprovince of Lower Silesia in Breslau, and furthermore administered the Upper Silesian High President's business. After Silesia was reunited into one province, Wagner became its High President in 1938, until the province was split again in January 1941.On
29 October 1936 , Wagner was appointed "Reichskommissar" for Pricing. From the outbreak of theSecond World War on1 September 1939 he was also Reich Defence Commissar for Silesia (Defence District VIII).The end
On
9 November 1941 ,Adolf Hitler stripped Wagner of all offices. This stemmed from a letter from Wagner's wife to their daughter which had come to official attention, and in which she disapproved of her daughter's planned marriage to an irreligious SS man on religious grounds. On12 October 1942 Wagner was kicked out of the Nazi Party for good. His successor as NSDAP Gauleiter wasFritz Bracht .First, Wagner moved back to Bochum and lived there. Josef Wagner was then arrested by the
Gestapo after the attempt on Hitler's life at theWolf's Lair inEast Prussia on20 July 1944 . The circumstances of his death in 1945 are unclear. Either he was put to death by the SS inBerlin , or he was shot by a Soviet soldier.elected Works
* "Leitfaden der Hochschule für Politik der NSDAP", Munich 1933, published by the Hochschule für Politik der NSDAP (editor)
* "Die Reichsindexziffer der Lebenshaltungskosten. Ein Beitrag zu ihrer Reform" (diss. rer. pol. Munich 1935), Würzburg 1935
* "Die Preispolitik im Vierjahresplan" (Kiel discourses 51), Jena 1938
* "Gesunde Preispolitik", Dortmund 1938External links
* [http://www.historisches-centrum.de/index.php?id=282 Brief biography and photo] (in German)
* [http://www.lwl.org/westfaelische-geschichte/portal/Internet/ku.php?tab=per&ID=354 Online-Biography of Josef Wagner]
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