Fritz Schäffer (12 May 1888, München – 29 March 1967, Berchtesgaden) was a German politician for the Bavarian People's Party (BVP) and the Christian Social Union (CSU). In 1945 he became the first Bavarian Minister-President after World War II. From 1949 to 1957 he was German Minister of Finance and from 1957 to 1961 Minister of Justice.
Schäffer started working for the Bavarian state government in 1917. He married Else Dyroff in September 1917.
He was imprisoned from 1933 until 1934, after which he worked as lawyer. He was imprisoned again in Dachau concentration camp after the July 20 Plot until the end of World War II, from August to October 1944.
In 1933, he found himself imprisoned for his actions against the Nazis.
In 1945 he was among the founders of the CSU. He was engaged in continuous strife with the party leader, Josef Müller over party politics. Müller wished to make the party multi-confessional, while Schäffer tried to move it torwards a revival of the catholic dominated BVP. He was made the first post-war prime minister of Bavaria by General George S. Patton in 1945 but was relieved of his post by General Dwight D. Eisenhower after a couple of months, when his anti-semitic past became known. Eisenhower, unlike Patton, also disliked the fact that Schäffer hired ex-Nazis for his administration. He was barred from politics by the US authorities until 1948, accused of being a Nazi sympathizer. He managed to clear himself of this charge and reentered politics afterwards.
From 1949 to 1961 he was a member of the Bundestag. He became Minister of Finance of the new Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 and held this post until 1957. In 1957, after elections, Konrad Adenauer, chancellor of Germany, attempted to remove Schäffer from his cabinet as his tight fiscal policies were felt as a hindrance to Germanys economic growth. After political negotiations, Schäffer was awarded the justice ministry instead.
During his time as German Minister of Finance, he became the second-most powerful man in federal politics. He was known for his tight fiscal policies, aimed at keeping the German currency stable. In this role, he strongly resisted any reparaiton claims to victims of the Nazi reign. After German rearmament, Schäffer was engaged in many arguments about defense spending, often irritating his NATO partners by his refusals to allocate more money to it.