Karl Hermann Frank | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Frank, (c. 1941) | |
| Minister of State for Bohemia and Moravia | |
| In office 20 August 1943 – 8 May 1945 | |
| Leader | Adolf Hitler (asFührer) |
| Secretary of State for Bohemia and Moravia | |
| In office 19 March 1939 – 20 August 1943 | |
| Leader | Adolf Hitler (as Führer) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1898-01-24)24 January 1898 |
| Died | 22 May 1946(1946-05-22) (aged 48) |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Resting place | Ďáblice Cemetery,Prague,Czechoslovakia |
| Party | DNSAP (1919–1923) SdP (1933–1938) NSDAP (1938–1945) |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 5 |
| Known for | Lidice massacre |
| Criminal status | Deceased |
| Conviction(s) | War crimes |
| Criminal penalty | Death byhanging |
| Military service | |
| Rank | SS-Obergruppenführer |
| Commands | Higher SS and Police Leader forProtectorate of Bohemia and Moravia |
| Awards | War Merit Cross with Swords, 2nd and 1st Class[1] |
Karl Hermann Frank (24 January 1898 – 22 May 1946) was aSudeten GermanNazi official in theProtectorate of Bohemia and Moravia prior to and duringWorld War II. Attaining the rank ofObergruppenführer, he was in command of the Nazi police apparatus in the protectorate, including theGestapo, theSD, and theKripo. After the war, he was tried, convicted and executed byhanging for his role in organizing themassacres of the people of the Czech villages of Lidice and Ležáky.
Born inKarlsbad,Bohemia, inAustria-Hungary (present-dayKarlovy Vary,Czech Republic), Frank was taught by his father (a proponent ofGeorg Ritter von Schönerer's policies) about nationalist agitation. Frank attempted to enlist in theAustro-Hungarian Army inWorld War I, but he was rejected due to blindness in his right eye.[2] He spent a year at the law school of theGerman language Charles University in Prague and worked as a tutor to make money.[2]
An advocate of the incorporation of theSudetenland into Germany, Frank joined theGerman National Socialist Workers' Party (DNSAP) by 1923 and was involved in setting up several DNSAP chapters in northern Bohemia and Silesia.[2] In 1925, Frank opened a book store which specialized in Nazi literature. Frank joined and helped organize the Sudeten-German Homeland Front (SdH) in 1933, which officially became theSudeten German Party (SdP) in 1935. He then worked in the SdP public relations and propaganda department.[3]
In 1935, Frank became deputy leader of the SdP and was elected a member of the Czechoslovak Parliament. Coming to represent the most radical Nazis in the SdP, Frank was made DeputyGauleiter of the Sudetenland when it became part of Germany in October 1938.[4] Frank officially joined theNazi Party (NSDAP) and theSchutzstaffel (SS) on 1 November 1938. On 4 December, he was elected as a deputy to theReichstag representing the new Sudetenland constituency. He retained this seat until the fall of the Nazi regime in May 1945.[5]
In 1939, Frank was promoted to SS-Gruppenführer and appointed Secretary of State of the ReichProtectorate of Bohemia and Moravia under Reich ProtectorKonstantin von Neurath.[4] Himmler also named him the protectorate'sHigher SS and Police Leader, making him its ranking SS officer. Although nominally under Neurath, Frank wielded great power in the protectorate.[6] He controlled the Nazi police apparatus in the Protectorate, including theGestapo, theSD, and theKripo.[7]
As Secretary of State and chief of police, Frank pursued a policy of harsh suppression of dissident Czechs and pushed for the arrest of Bohemia and Moravia's Prime Minister,Alois Eliáš. These actions by Frank were countered by Neurath's "soft approach" to the Czechs thereby encouraging anti-German resistance by strikes and sabotage.[8] This frustrated Frank and led to him secretly working to discredit Neurath.[8]
Hitler's decision to adopt a more radical approach in Bohemia and Moravia should have worked in Frank's favor. Hitler relieved Neurath of his active duties on 23 September 1941, though he still remained Reich Protector on paper. Frank hoped to be appointed as Deputy Protector and day-to-day head of the protectorate. Instead, Hitler choseReinhard Heydrich, and gave him a mandate to enforce policy, fight resistance to the Nazi regime, and keep up production quotas of Czech motors and arms that were "extremely important to the German war effort".[8] The working relationship between Frank and Heydrich was a good one as they both were ambitious and brutal.[9] They launched a reign of terror in the protectorate, arresting and killing opponents and ramping up the deportation of Jews to concentration camps. According to Heydrich, between 4,000 and 5,000 people were arrested and between 400 and 500 were executed by February 1942.[10]Adolf Eichmann described Frank as a Jew-hater of the "Streicher kind" who carried out oppression with exceptional brutality.[11]
When Heydrich wasassassinated in 1942, Frank was once again passed over for promotion to Deputy Protector;Kurt Daluege was chosen instead. Daluege and Frank were instrumental in initiating the destruction of the Czech villages ofLidice andLežáky in order to take revenge on the Czech populace for Heydrich's death. When it came to the population of Lidice, Frank orderedHorst Böhme, the SiPo and SD chief in Prague, to shoot all the men, send all the women to concentration camps, and place those few children considered worthy of "Germanization" in the care of SS families in Germany, with the rest being murdered.[12]
In June 1943, Frank was promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer and General of Police in Prague. Frank was also made a General of theWaffen-SS.[13] Under Daluege, Frank continued to consolidate his power, and by the timeWilhelm Frick was appointed Reich Protector in August 1943, Frank was the most powerful official in Bohemia and Moravia.[14] In August 1943, he was madeMinister of State for Bohemia and Moravia and was grantedcabinet rank and status, but without the formal title ofReichsminister.[15]
In 1944, he personally conductedanti-partisan warfare inMoravia aimed at destroying theJan Žižka partisan brigade. Despite the deployment of 13,000 soldiers andsummary executions of civilians suspected of supporting the partisans, the Germans were unable to destroy the partisan brigade and falsely concluded that the threat had been eliminated.[16]
Frank was arrested byU.S. Army troops in the area ofRokycany on 9 May 1945. He was extradited to the People's Court in Prague and tried in 1946. After being convicted ofwar crimes and the destruction of Lidice and Ležáky, Frank wassentenced to death. He washanged using the pole hanging method on 22 May 1946 in the courtyard of thePankrác Prison in Prague, in front of 5,000 onlookers.[1] He was buried in an anonymous pit at Prague'sĎáblice Cemetery.[17]
Frank was married twice. On 21 January 1925 he married Anna Müller (born 5 January 1899 inKarlsbad). The couple had two sons Harald, born 20 January 1926, and Gerhard, born 22 April 1931. They divorced on 17 February 1940 and later that year, Müller married Frank's successor as deputyGauleiter ofSudetenland,SA-Brigadeführer Fritz Köllner.
On 14 April 1940 Frank married a physician, Karola Blaschek (born 13 August 1913 inBrüx). The couple had three children together, two daughters Edda, (born 16 August 1941) and Holle-Sigrid (born 8 March 1944), and a son Wolf-Dietrich (born 20 August 1942).[18]
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