Franz-Josef Röder (22 July 1909 in Merzig – 26 June 1979 in Saarbrücken) was a German politician of the CDU and from 1959 to 1979 Minister President of Saarland.

He became a member of these militant organizations in 1933 and 1934, prior to the official Nazi takeover of the Saar region of Germany in 1935, when the Saarlanders made their decision to join with Hitler's terror regime, a decision in which Röder played an important part by luring his fellow Saarlanders to neglect any reticence against the abolition of human rights.

[2] This is further evident in an archived letter from his father dating to 1937, which described his personal and family merits in promoting Nazionalsozialismus in the Saar region.

Still, in 1944, he was decorated by Nazi authorities with the Kriegsverdienstkreuz ohne Schwerter for "special merits", an "honour" which he never explained.

During his years in power after 1955, he largely favoured the return of old NSDAP members in all government cultural and political functions of all levels and made sure that none of the group of the former opponents to Hitler could ever take an influential office again.