Ernst Schlange (1 September 1888 – 28 February 1947) was a German Nazi Party official and politician who served as Gauleiter of Gross-Berlin and later of Gau Brandenburg.

Severely wounded in World War I, he became active in various anti-Semitic, far right political groups and eventually joined the National Socialist German Worker's Party.

However, in June 1922, he joined the Deutschsoziale Partei (DtSP) founded by Richard Kunze, another völkisch, anti-Semitic political group and early rival to the Nazi Party.

In November 1923, the Party was banned in the wake of the Beer Hall Putsch and Schlange joined the National Socialist Freedom Movement, a Nazi front organization.

He served as its Gauführer in Berlin but left in favor of rejoining the Nazi Party on 27 February 1925 when it regained legal status (membership number 4,837).

On 10 September 1925, Schlange joined the National Socialist Working Association, a group of northern and northwestern Gauleiters aligned with the left wing of the Party and headed by Strasser.

[7] Schlange was succeeded by his Deputy Gauleiter, Erich Schmiedicke, but the conflicts remained unresolved, and in October he, in turn, was replaced by Joseph Goebbels as the head of a new, enlarged Gau Berlin-Brandenburg.

[9] Schlange’s patron, Gregor Strasser, resigned from the leadership cadre of the Party on 8 December 1932 after a serious disagreement with Hitler over strategy for achieving power.

[11] Schlange lost political influence and held only minor posts after that: in 1934 he was elected President-General of the Prussian-South German Lottery, appointed President of the State Gazette in 1935, and Chairman of the Kösener Senioren-Convents-Verband (KSCV) in 1936.