Gustav Simon (2 August 1900– 18 December 1945) was a Nazi Party official who served as Gauleiter of Gau Moselland from 1931 to 1945 and, from 1940 until 1942, as Chief of Civil Administration in occupied Luxembourg.

He then decided to work towards obtaining his abitur, and meanwhile he was employed as a railway assistant in Hermeskeil and as a customs broker from 1920 to 1922.

He passed his abitur, and studied economics and law at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main from 1922 to 1925, planning to become a teacher.

Before a year was even out, though, he left the school and began working full-time for the Nazi Party at the invitation of Robert Ley, then the Gauleiter of the southern Rhineland.

After the Nazi seizure of power, he was appointed the President of the Rhineland Landtag on 10 April 1933 and became a member of the Prussian State Council in July 1933.

[7] Unlike most other Gauleiters, Simon did not belong to the SA or the SS; however, he was a member of the National Socialist Motor Corps (Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrerkorps, NSKK) being promoted to NSKK-Gruppenführer on 9 November 1935 and NSKK-Obergruppenführer on 30 January 1939.

[2] At the start of the Second World War, Simon was made a member of the Defense Committee for Wehrkreis (Military District) XII that included his Gau, which was renamed Moselland on 24 January 1941.

"[9] After the German invasion and conquest on 10 May 1940, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg first fell under the Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France, commanded by General der Infanterie, Alexander von Falkenhausen.

The military occupation status ended on 2 August 1940, when Simon was appointed Chief of Civil Administration (Chef der Zivilverwaltung, CdZ) by a decree from the Führer (Führererlass).

His representative in this function was the Regierungspräsident (Government District President) of Trier, Heinrich Christian Siekmeier [de].

Finally, on 30 August 1942, Luxembourg was formally annexed to the Greater German Reich, becoming part of Gau Moselland.

In protest, a general strike broke out the next day and was ruthlessly suppressed by Simon who declared martial law.

[11] In addition to the political assimilation, Simon pursued a harsh and unrelenting policy of cultural Germanization.

[13] There were estimated to be about 3,500 Jews in Luxembourg at the beginning of the Nazi occupation and Simon immediately began the process of attempting to make the area Judenfrei.

Having sworn an oath never to reveal what took place, Hanns was alleged to have covered up the murder, presenting the 'official version' at the press conference the next day in Luxembourg.

Even if such a feat was technically possible, how could the guard posted outside his door on suicide watch, for twenty-four hours a day, not have noticed what was taking place inside the cell?