Franz Xaver Schönhuber (born 1923) gained wide notoriety as leader of the right-wing political party, the Republicans, in what was then West Germany.

Franz Schönhuber was born on January 19, 1923, in the Bavarian town of Trostberg an der Alz. His father, a Catholic butcher, joined the Nazi Party in 1931. Young Schönhuber attended Catholic boarding school in Bavaria but finished his secondary education in Dresden and Munich, as his family moved to those cities.

In 1942, at age 19, Schönhuber volunteered for service in the elite military wing of the Nazi SS (Schutzstaffel), the Waffen-SS. He was posted to France, Corsica, Italy, and Yugoslavia. In 1943 he was decorated with the Iron Cross, Second Class. After the war he was interned by the British military forces and served the occupation authorities as an interpreter.

Returning to Bavaria, Schönhuber worked for a time as an...