Nikolaus Gross was a German Catholic layman, journalist, and trade unionist who lived from 1898 to 1945. Originally a coal miner, he transitioned into labor leadership and journalism, eventually serving as the general editor for a publication critical of the Nazi party. During the Third Reich, he actively resisted the regime through underground publishing and participation in the Cologne Circle. Following an arrest linked to an assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler, he was sentenced to death and executed at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin.