Otto Wilhelm Heinrich Wagener (29 April 1888 – 9 August 1971) was a German professional military officer and Nazi Party official.

A factory owner's son, Wagener was born in Durlach, was educated in the local Gymnasium and earned his Abitur in July 1906.

He briefly assumed leadership of the Legion between November and December 1919 after its leader, Paul Siewert [de], was killed in action.

[2] Wagener briefly was a member of the Sturmabteilung (SA) in 1923 before it was banned after Adolf Hitler's failed Beer Hall Putsch.

[Note 1] In October 1930, Wagener expressed the expectation that the SA would form the manpower pool for the future national army following the envisioned Nazi takeover of the government.

A member of the Party's Reichsleitung (national leadership) since October 1929, he was appointed the leader of its Economic Policy Department on 1 January 1931.

On 18 December 1931, he was among the first group of officers to be promoted to the new rank of SA-Gruppenführer, and he joined Hitler's personal staff as his economic advisor on 4 September 1932.

All disputes over wages and working conditions would be settled within the "family" of the individual company in the National Socialist state of the future.

[8] Wagener became embroiled in disputes with leaders of industry during the process of Gleichschaltung (coordination), even forcibly occupying the RDI headquarters with the intention of shutting it down.

Keppler was a long-term intermediary between the Party and leading industrialists who, unlike Wagener, enjoyed the trust of both sides.

[9] Further internal conflicts led to legal proceedings against Wagener in a case brought before the USCHLA (Supreme Party Court) and, on 13 July 1933, he was relieved of all his offices.

[10] Following the Night of the Long Knives at the end of June 1934, when Röhm and much of the SA hierarchy was murdered, Wagener was arrested and detained for a short time, narrowly avoiding execution.

[11] During the Second World War, Wagener rejoined the military on 1 April 1940 with his former rank of Hauptmann, serving as an orderly officer at the 6th Army headquarters.

[12] Briefly placed into the Führerreserve, Wagener was reassigned on 20 July 1944 as the Commandant of the Eastern Aegean and the Military Governor of the Italian Dodecanese Islands, headquartered in Rhodes, and was promoted to Generalmajor on 1 December.

He was put on trial by Italy (Rome Territorial Military Tribunal) and was defended by the fascist lawyer Arconovaldo Bonaccorsi.

Due to the intercession of German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and Austrian Bishop Alois Hudal, his sentence was commuted and he was released from prison on 4 June 1951.