Franz Maierhofer (21 December 1897 – 22 August 1943) was a Gauleiter of the Nazi Party for the Upper Palatinate and Lower Bavaria.

After high school, at the outbreak of World War I in 1914 he enlisted as a volunteer with the 11th Royal Bavarian Infantry Regiment.

When Heines left to take up a staff position in the Sturmabteilung (SA) high command, Maierhofer was named Gauleiter of the Upper Palatinate on 15 November 1930.

[2] On the resignation of Otto Erbersdobler of the neighboring Gau of Lower Bavaria (Niederbayern) on 1 April 1932, Maierhofer was assigned the leadership of that jurisdiction in addition to his own.

[1] In November 1933 Maierhofer joined the Schutzstaffel (SS) and held several staff positions between 1935 and 1937, including in the office of the Reichsführer-SS.

In February 1943 he was promoted to Major as commander of Grenadier Regiment 315 of the 167th Infantry Division, but was killed in action at the Fourth Battle of Kharkov on 22 August 1943.