Johann Appler
Johann Paulus Appler was a German soldier, civil servant and Nazi Party politician who served as a Reichstag deputy and the mayor of Gunzenhausen. He escaped from Germany after the end of the Second World War, but returned, was put on trial and briefly incarcerated.
Youth and military service
Born at Obernzenn in 1892, Appler attended the elementary and advanced training school at in Middle Franconia from 1898 to 1912. After graduating, he joined the Royal Bavarian 10th Infantry Regiment "King Ludwig" of the Bavarian Army and fought in the First World War from August 1914 to 1918, where he served as a Zugführer. He was seriously wounded in September 1914 and was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd class, the Bavarian Military Merit Cross, 2nd class with swords and the Wound Badge. At the end of the war, he remained in the military but he was discharged from the Reichswehr in 1920. From 1922 to 1928, he worked as a customs officer in the border service. In 1928, he was transferred to the revenue service, working in the German civil service as a Reich tax official in Gunzenhausen until 1935. Between 1920 and 1928, Appler was a supporter of the Völkisch-Social Bloc, a right-wing electoral alliance.Nazi Party career
On 1 August 1928, Appler joined the Nazi Party. As an early Party member, he later would be awarded the Golden Party Badge. He became the Ortsgruppenleiter in Gunzenhausen in Gau Franconia until 1930. He then advanced to Bezirksleiter of the Party's Gunzenhausen district and then to Kreisleiter until November 1940. In 1931, Appler founded the SS group in Gunzenhausen, which he led as an SS-Sturmführer. He was also a Gauredner for the Party and a member of the Sturmabteilung, eventually attaining the rank of SA-Sturmbannführer.On 21 January 1933, Appler was appointed to the Reichstag for electoral constituency 26 in the place of, who had left the parliament. He retained his mandate in the elections after the Nazis seized power in that year, and retained this seat as a Reichstag deputy until Germany's surrender in the Second World War. Appointed second mayor of Gunzenhausen on 28 April 1933, Appler became first mayor on 1 October 1935 and remained in that post until late April 1945 when the city was captured by American forces.