Walter Schultz (Gauleiter)

In April 1925, after the ban on the Nazi Party had been lifted, Schultz organized the Party in the Prussian Province of Hesse-Nassau and was made Gauleiter with his capital in Kassel. On 22 May 1925, he was formally enrolled in the Party (membership number 5,767). In September 1925, he became a member of the National Socialist Working Association, a short-lived group of northern and western German Gauleiter, organized and led by Gregor Strasser, which unsuccessfully sought to amend the Party program. It was dissolved in 1926 following the Bamberg Conference.^[4]

At the end of 1925, Schultz's large Gau was divided into two parts. He retained the leadership of Gau Hesse-Nassau North, while Gau Hesse-Nassau South went to Anton Haselmayer, based in Frankfurt. However, when Haselmayer resigned for health reasons on 22 September 1926, Schultz temporarily became acting Gauleiter in Hesse-Nassau South.^[5] This was very short-lived, as a new permanent replacement, Karl Linder, was appointed on 1 October. Almost a year later, on 1 September 1927, Schultz relinquished active leadership of Gau Hesse-Nassau North and was placed on leave due to the demands of his academic work. He formally stepped down on 1 February 1928 and was succeeded by his Deputy Gauleiter, Karl Weinrich.^[4][6]

In April 1929, Schultz was promoted to Oberstudienrat (senior teacher). Over the next few years, he was twice prosecuted for Nazi political activity. From November 1929 to March 1933, he was the municipal delegate to Landkreis Kassel. In March 1933, he was elected as a deputy to the Kreistag (district council) of Landkreis Kassel, and was named first district deputy. From October 1934 until April 1937, he sat on the Provinzialrat (provincial council) for the Province of Hesse-Nassau.^[1] In addition, Schultz served in an executive capacity as the Landrat (district administrator) in Landkreis Kassel from July 1934 to April 1937,^[7] and in Landkreis Eschwege from April 1937 to May 1945.^[4]

In addition to his government posts, Schultz remained active in the Party organization, becoming the leader of the Municipal Politics Office in Gau Kurhessen in 1933; additionally, from 1938 he worked in the Main Office for Municipal Political Affairs in the Party's Reichsleitung (National Leadership). He served in both these posts until the end of the Nazi regime in May 1945.^[4]

• Höffkes, Karl (1986). Hitlers Politische Generale. Die Gauleiter des Dritten Reiches: ein biographisches Nachschlagewerk. Tübingen: Grabert-Verlag. ISBN 3-87847-163-7.
• Miller, Michael D.; Schulz, Andreas (2012). Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies, 1925-1945. Vol. 1 (Herbert Albrecht - H. Wilhelm Hüttmann). R. James Bender Publishing. ISBN 978-1-932970-21-0.
• Miller, Michael D.; Schulz, Andreas (2021). Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies. Vol. 3. Fonthill Media. ISBN 978-1-781-55826-3.
• Orlow, Dietrich (1969). The History of the Nazi Party: 1919-1933. University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0-8229-3183-4.