Franz Leuninger (28 December 1898 – 1 March 1945) was a German trade unionist, politician and resistant against the Nazis' rise to power and regime.

[2] He was raised with a strong Christian background, laying the foundation for his belief in human rights such as dignity and freedom of conscience (Menschenwürde und Gewissensfreiheit).

[1][7] After being unemployed for a short time, he took over the management of a non-profit housing association (Siedlungsgesellschaft) called Deutsches Heim (German home),[2][8] for which he had already worked voluntarily.

[7] Back in Breslau, he agreed to be ready to take over the position of Ober-Präsident of Silesia in the Beck/Goerdeler shadow cabinet [de] in the democratic new beginning which the lotters hoped would follow a successful revolution.

[3] Hermann von Lüninck, who was in prison with him, wrote: "He lived the last days with admirable strength, which can only be explained by his deep Christian faith ... Franz Leuninger was a man who sacrificed his life for us and for his fatherland with great awareness and clear will."

("Mit bewundernswerter, nur aus seinem tief-christlichen Glauben erklärlichen Stärke hat er die letzten Tage gelebt ... Franz Leuninger war ein Mensch, der sein Leben ganz bewusst und klaren Willens für uns und für sein Vaterland geopfert hat.

")[1] The Catholic Church acknowledged Franz Leuninger as a witness of faith (Glaubenszeuge) in a semi-official work entitled the ''German Martyrology of the 20th Century'' [de].

Msgr Helmut Moll [de], commissioned by the German Bishops' Conference to produce the work, memorialized those who died for their Christian ideals as victims of violence (Gewaltopfer).

[13] Biographer Günter Buchstab gave a brief portrait of Leuninger as a deeply religious Catholic, who understood Christianity as an entailing an obligation to show solidarity with his fellow men.

According to Buchstab, as a trade unionist, Leuninger fought tenaciously and courageously for a more just social order, for the improvement of the situation of the construction workers he represented and their families and as a patriot and upright democrat, he was a determined opponent of political extremism.