Arrested by the Gestapo in 1944 died in May 1945 under unclear circumstances.[5] Giesler, a well connected member of the top-hierarchy of Nazi Germany, held a number of high offices during the era, last of those as the German Minister of the Interior in the final days of the war. He was involved in the repression of the German resistance and, after a suicide attempt, was shot by his adjutant on 8 May 1945.[6] Hoffmann, the last Gauleiter of Westphalia-South, initially went into hiding after the war.