Wilhelm Friedrich Loeper (13 October 1883 – 23 October 1935) was a German Nazi politician. He served as the Gauleiter in the Gau of Magdeburg-Anhalt and was the Reichsstatthalter of the Free States of Anhalt and Brunswick Military career First, Loeper became an Officer Candidate (Fahnenjunker) in Pioneer Battalion 2 in Spandau and then completed training at the Neiße Military School. Already in 1904 he was made a leutnant, and after various other commands, eventually an oberleutnant in 1912. Then came his transfer to the Magdeburg Pioneer Battalion 4, where he took over command of a searchlight platoon. After the First World War broke out, Loeper was then deployed between 1914 and 1918 at the Western Front as a hauptmann and company chief of Pioneer Battalion 19. He was wounded several times. For the service in the World War I, he was decorated with both classes of the Iron Cross, both classes of the Mecklenburg-Schwerin Military Merit Cross, Frederickscross, Prussian Service Cross and Wound Badge in Black. After the war ended, Loeper became leader of a Freikorps that saw deployment both in the Baltic States and the Ruhr area. In this capacity, he was involved in quelling the Spartakus uprising. With the founding of the Reichswehr, Loeper became company chief of Pioneer Battalion 2. In 1923, he worked as an Instructor at the Pionierschule in Munich, and got to know Adolf Hitler. Loeper took part in the Beer Hall Putsch of 9 November 1923 and aimed at getting the Pionierschule to fall in and follow Hitler's orders. After the putsch failed, Loeper was discharged from the Reichswehr in 1924 for his participation. Nazi career Loeper joined the NSDAP (Nazi Party) in 1925. He moved to Dessau in Gau Anhalt and became the Ortsgruppenleiter (Local Group Leader) there. In the same year he became the Gau's Deputy Business Manager. In September 1926 he advanced to Organization Leader, Propaganda Leader and Deputy Gauleiter. Finally, on 1 April 1927, he became Gauleiter of the now enlarged Gau Anhalt-Provinz Sachsen-Nord, succeeding Gustav Hermann Schmischke. The Gau was renamed Gau Magdeburg-Anhalt on 1 October 1928. Loeper gave himself over to building the Party up in his Gau, and fought against the Bauhaus, which was located in Dessau at that time. In a letter in 1930 he wrote "as the Bauhaus belongs to Jerusalem and not to Dessau". Loeper later had a decisive part in stripping