Ludwig Ruckdeschel was the Acting Nazi Gauleiter of Bayreuth during the final month of the Gau's existence before the collapse of Nazi Germany in 1945. Before this, from 1933, he served as the Deputy Gauleiter, first to Hans Schemm, and then to Fritz Wächtler, whom he had executed on orders by Martin Bormann. From 1933 to 1945 he was also a member of the German Parliament, the Reichstag.

Hans Schemm was an educator who became a prominent Nazi Party official. He served as Gauleiter of Gau Bayreuth and Bavarian State Minister for Education and Culture until his death in an airplane accident.