Arthur Greiser came from Hohen Salza (now Poland) and was the son of a bailiff. He graduated from high school in 1917. He spoke fluent Polish. He was in the navy during the First World War. In 1928, he failed as a sales representative for the Stettiner Öl-Werke. He then became skipper of a passenger boat in the Bay of Gdansk. Greiser was married twice and had a total of five children.
He joined the NSDAP in 1929, became a member of the SA in 1931 and later the SS. He quickly made a career for himself in the party. On 8 September 1939, Arthur Greiser became head of the civil administration of the Posen military district. He became Gauleiter of the Reichsgau Posen, which was renamed »Warthegau« in 1940. He developed the Warthegau into a model region and was involved in many crimes against humanity. He maintained close contact with Adolf Hitler. In 1945, he fled to Upper Bavaria and was imprisoned. He was tried in Poznan and sentenced to death. He was publicly executed on 21 July 1946.
