Franz Hayler

Hayler was the son of a Munich doctor. He attended Volksschule and a humanistic Gymnasium. He joined the 3rd Royal Bavarian Foot Artillery Regiment in 1917 and fought in the First World War. He became involved in German nationalism early on, fighting with the Freikorps Oberland in 1919 against the Bavarian Soviet Republic, in the Ruhr area and Upper Silesia, and earning the Silesian Eagle, first class.[https://archive.org/details/DasDeutscheFhrerlexikon19341935OCR/page/n179/mode/2up Franz Hayler entry, p. 176] in [https://archive.org/details/DasDeutscheFhrerlexikon19341935OCR/mode/2up Das Deutsche Führerlexikon 1934-1935] He then studied political science in Munich, earning a doctorate and was a member of the Corps Bavaria Munich student association.Kösener Corpslisten 1996, 13, 1467. In November 1923, he was a participant in Adolf Hitler's failed Beer Hall Putsch, and would later be awarded the Blood Order.{{sfn|Klee|2007|p=234}}

Hayler, who had been a self-employed businessman since 1927, also held executive positions in several business associations, becoming the leader of the Association of German Merchants of Colonial Goods, Delicatessen and Food Retail in June 1933, the leader of the Wirtschaftsgruppe Einzelhandel (Retail Business Group) in May 1934, and leader of the Reichsgruppe Handel (Reich Trade Group) in May 1938. In 1941, he was made a member of the Reichsvereinigung Kohle (Reich Coal Association). He also sat on the supervisory boards of the Deutsche Industriebank in Berlin and the {{interlanguage link|Berlinische Lebens-Versicherungs Gesellschaft|de|lt=Berlinische Lebensversicherung}}, a large life insurance company.{{sfn|Klee|2007|p=234}}

In mid-1933, Hayler joined the SS (membership no. 64,697), being commissioned an SS-Untersturmführer on 4 April 1934.[https://www.dws-xip.com/reich/biografie/1937/1937.html SS Seniority List, 1 December 1937, pp. 52–53, #1003] Later assigned to the main office of the SD, the Nazi Party's intelligence service, he rose to SS-Oberführer on 10 September 1939.{{sfn|Schiffer Publishing Ltd.|2000|p=22}} He would later be promoted to SS-Brigadeführer and, finally, SS-Gruppenführer in 1943.{{sfn|Klee|2007|p=234}} On 17 August 1944, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the War Merit Cross.

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J30376, Franz Hayler und Walther Funk.jpg by Walther Funk (right)]]

On 1 December 1931, Hayler joined the Nazi Party (membership number 754,133). In the March 1936 Reichstag election, he stood for office but was not elected. However, on 11 September 1942, he was selected as a deputy to the Reichstag from electoral constituency 17 (Westphalia North) and continued to serve until the fall of the Nazi regime. Hayler entered the Reich Ministry of Economics in November 1943, succeeding Friedrich Landfried as State Secretary, the senior civil service position in the ministry. He also served as the deputy to Walther Funk, the Reichsminister of Economics. He was a member of the Freundeskreis der Wirtschaft (Circle of Friends of the Economy), a group of German industrialists whose aim was to strengthen the ties between the Nazi Party and business and industry. He also held the post of Wehrwirtschaftsführer (Military Economic Leader).{{sfn|Klee|2007|p=234}}

After Germany's defeat in the Second World War in 1945, Hayler was interned for several years. He appeared on 7 May 1946 at the Nuremberg Trials as a defense witness on Funk's behalf.[http://www.nizkor.com/hweb/imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-13/tgmwc-13-123-07.shtml Hayler's Nuremberg Trial Testimony] In the post-war period he worked as an entrepreneur and investor in Munich.

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book |last= Klee |first= Ernst |title= Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945 |publisher= Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag |location= Frankfurt-am-Main |year= 2007 |isbn= 978-3-596-16048-8}}
• {{cite book |editor-last=Schiffer Publishing Ltd. |title= SS Officers List: SS-Standartenführer to SS-Oberstgruppenführer (As of 30 January 1942) |publisher= Schiffer Military History Publishing |location= |year= 2000 |isbn= 0-7643-1061-5}}

{{Commons category|Franz Hayler}}

• {{PM20|FID=pe/007345}}
• {{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FIwRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=s-MDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6769,3612594&dq=franz-hayler&hl=en|title=Germany to get fish conscious|date=22 December 1936|work=The Spokesman-Review|accessdate=18 January 2013}}

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Category:1900 births

Category:1972 deaths

Category:20th-century Freikorps personnel

Category:20th-century German civil servants

Category:Corps students

Category:German Army personnel of World War I

Category:German business executives

Category:German prisoners and detainees

Category:Members of the Reichstag 1938–1945

Category:Military personnel of Bavaria

Category:Nazis who participated in the Beer Hall Putsch

Category:People from Schwandorf (district)

Category:Recipients of the Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross

Category:Reich Security Main Office personnel

Category:SS-Gruppenführer

Category:Witnesses to the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg