Karl Theodor Vahlen (30 June 1869 – 16 November 1945) was an Austrian-born mathematician and professor who was a member of the Nazi Party. He served as the first Gauleiter of Pomerania and was a member of both the SA and SS. Early years Theodore Vahlen was born in Vienna, the son of a German classical philologist Johannes Vahlen (1830–1911). He went to volksschule and gymnasium in Berlin before studying mathematics at the University of Berlin and receiving his doctorate there in 1893. From 1893, Vahlen was a Privatdozent in mathematics at the Königsberg Albertina University. In 1904, he began teaching at the University of Greifswald, and in 1911 he became an ordinarius professor there. He entered military service at the beginning of World War I with the rank of Hauptmann in the 68th (6th Royal Saxon) Field Artillery Regiment. He was an artillery battery commander on the western front (1914-1915) and the eastern front (1916-1917). Wounded in action on three occasions, he earned the Iron Cross, first and second class. He left the service on 30 September 1918 with the rank of Major of the reserves. He returned to teaching at the University of Greifswald. Political career Vahlen in 1919 initially became a member of the German National People's Party (DNVP). He co-founded a völkische group in Pomerania in 1922. In November 1923, he and his wife joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP) just before it was outlawed as a result of the Beer Hall Putsch. He then joined the National Socialist Freedom Party, a Nazi front organization, becoming its Gauleiter in Pomerania on 4 April 1924. In May 1924, under its auspices, he was elected to the Reichstag for electoral constituency 6 (Pomerania). From mid-1924 through September 1926, he was the co-publisher of the daily newspaper Norddeutscher Beobachter (North German Observer). When the ban on the Nazi Party was lifted, Gregor Strasser, Hitler's authorized representative for northern Germany, selected him to be the first Party Gauleiter for Gau Pomerania on 22 March 1925 and Hitler confirmed this appointment. Vahlen formally rejoined the Party on 11 May (membership number 3,961). In December 1925, Vahlen joined the National Socialist Working Association, a group of north and northwest German Gauleiters closely associated with Strasser. On 1 March 1926, Vahlen joined Strasser and his brother Otto Strasser in founding the publishing house Kampf-Verlag in Berlin. By 1927, Adolf Hitler was replacing many early