Karl Hermann Frank(1898-1946)
Nazi official Karl Hermann Frank was an ethnic German born in Karlsbad,
Austria-Hungary, on January 24, 1896. His father was an ardent German
nationalist and Karl was brought up steeped in the German nationalist
movement. He joined the Austro-Hungarian army near the end of World War
I. After the war he opened a bookstore and involved himself in
ultra-right-wing political groups and secret societies. He joined the
Nazi party in 1919 and operated a Nazi bookstore, from which he
distributed propaganda throughout Czechoslovakia (as the country was
now known) and helped form the Sudetenland branch of the Nazi party.
The Czech government banned that organization in 1933, but Frank formed
a new Nazi party, renamed the Sudeten German Party (SDP), in 1935. That
same year he was elected to the Czech parliament. In 1938 Germany
invaded and annexed the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, and Frank was
given the title of Deputy Gauleiter of the Sudetenland--which gave him
virtually absolute power--and his work impressed SS leader
Heinrich Himmler so much that Himmler
made him an SS-Brigadefuhrer that same year.
In 1939 Himmler promoted him to SS-Gruppenfuhrer and appointed him Secretary of State of the Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, second in power only to Reich Protector Konstantin von Neurath. Frank was also placed in charge of the protectorate's police and SS forces. He used that power to hunt down and eliminate any trace of Czech resistance to the German occupation of the area. However, his boss von Neurath believed in taking a more conciliatory approach to the problem. Frank chafed at this "softer" approach, and determined to undermine von Neurath and take over his position. In September of 1941 German leader Adolf Hitler dismissed von Neurath from all of his duties except that of Reich Protector. Though Frank worked hard to be appointed Deputy Protector, that job was given to the notorious Reinhard Heydrich. However, Frank and Heydrich found that they worked well together, and soon began a ruthless campaign to rid the "protectorate" of dissidents, political opponents and Jews, arresting and killing dozens of political opponents and rounding up ever larger numbers of Jews and shipping them to concentration camps.
In May of 1942 Heydrich was assassinated by Czech partisans near the villages of Lidce and Lazaky. Heydrich was replaced by Kurt Daluege, and he and Frank devised the idea of the liquidation of the two villages; all adult males were shot, the women and children were shipped off to concentration camps and the two villages and the two villages were totally destroyed, and all traces of them were wiped off the face of the earth. In 1943 Frank was appointed Reich Minister for Bohemia and Moravia, and later that year Himmler promoted him SS-Obergruppenfurer and General of Police in Prague. He was also made a Waffen-SS General.
In May of 1945 the Germans received information about a possible uprising in Prague. Frank made a radio address in which he proclaimed that he would crush any uprising and leave "a sea of blood". As Allied forces fought their way closer to the city and appeared to be on the brink of taking it, the Czech people poured into the streets to welcome them. Frank ordered his soldiers and police to open fire on any groups of people that gathered in the streets, and they did.
Eventually American troops did take Prague and Frank fled to the Czech city of Pilsen, but on May 9, 1945, he surrendered to US forces there. The newly reconstituted Czech government requested his extradition to Prague to be tried for the crimes he committed there. His trial took place in late March and early April of 1946. He was convicted of war crimes--including the destruction of Lidice--and sentenced to death.
On May 22, 1946, he was hanged in the courtyard of Pankrac Prison in Prague before a crowd of more than 5000.
In 1939 Himmler promoted him to SS-Gruppenfuhrer and appointed him Secretary of State of the Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, second in power only to Reich Protector Konstantin von Neurath. Frank was also placed in charge of the protectorate's police and SS forces. He used that power to hunt down and eliminate any trace of Czech resistance to the German occupation of the area. However, his boss von Neurath believed in taking a more conciliatory approach to the problem. Frank chafed at this "softer" approach, and determined to undermine von Neurath and take over his position. In September of 1941 German leader Adolf Hitler dismissed von Neurath from all of his duties except that of Reich Protector. Though Frank worked hard to be appointed Deputy Protector, that job was given to the notorious Reinhard Heydrich. However, Frank and Heydrich found that they worked well together, and soon began a ruthless campaign to rid the "protectorate" of dissidents, political opponents and Jews, arresting and killing dozens of political opponents and rounding up ever larger numbers of Jews and shipping them to concentration camps.
In May of 1942 Heydrich was assassinated by Czech partisans near the villages of Lidce and Lazaky. Heydrich was replaced by Kurt Daluege, and he and Frank devised the idea of the liquidation of the two villages; all adult males were shot, the women and children were shipped off to concentration camps and the two villages and the two villages were totally destroyed, and all traces of them were wiped off the face of the earth. In 1943 Frank was appointed Reich Minister for Bohemia and Moravia, and later that year Himmler promoted him SS-Obergruppenfurer and General of Police in Prague. He was also made a Waffen-SS General.
In May of 1945 the Germans received information about a possible uprising in Prague. Frank made a radio address in which he proclaimed that he would crush any uprising and leave "a sea of blood". As Allied forces fought their way closer to the city and appeared to be on the brink of taking it, the Czech people poured into the streets to welcome them. Frank ordered his soldiers and police to open fire on any groups of people that gathered in the streets, and they did.
Eventually American troops did take Prague and Frank fled to the Czech city of Pilsen, but on May 9, 1945, he surrendered to US forces there. The newly reconstituted Czech government requested his extradition to Prague to be tried for the crimes he committed there. His trial took place in late March and early April of 1946. He was convicted of war crimes--including the destruction of Lidice--and sentenced to death.
On May 22, 1946, he was hanged in the courtyard of Pankrac Prison in Prague before a crowd of more than 5000.