Chapter XIII: on Germanization and Spoliation. This section will attempt

to trace Frank’s special responsibility, as Governor General, for the policies underlying the crimes committed in the General Government during the period of his administration.

Frank was appointed Governor General of the Occupied Polish Territories by a Hitler decree dated 12 October 1939. The scope of his executive power was defined as follows:

“Section 1. The territories occupied by German troops shall be
subject to the authority of the Governor General of the occupied
Polish territories, except insofar as they are incorporated
within the German Reich.

“Section 2. (1) I appoint Reich Minister Dr. Frank as Governor
General of the occupied Polish territories. (2) As Deputy
Governor General I appoint Reich Minister Dr. Seyss-Inquart.

“Section 3. (1) The Governor General shall be directly
responsible to me. (2) All branches of the administration shall
be directed by the Governor General * * *.”(_2537-PS_)

The jurisdiction and functions of Frank in the General Government are described by him in several passages of his diary. For example at a meeting of Department Heads of the General Government on 8 March 1940 in the _Bergakademie_, Frank clarified his status as follows:

“One thing is certain. The authority of General Government as
the representative of the Fuehrer and the will of the Reich in
this territory is certainly strong, and I have always emphasized
that I would not tolerate the misuse of this authority. I have
allowed this to be known anew at every office in Berlin,
especially after Herr Field Marshall Goering on 12.2.1940 from
Karin-hall had forbidden all Administrative Offices of the
Reich, including the Police and even the _Wehrmacht_, to
interfere in administrative matters of the General Government *
* *.

“There is no authority here in the General Government which is
higher as to rank, influence, and authority than that of the
Governor General. Even the _Wehrmacht_ has no governmental or
official functions of any kind in this connection; it has only
security functions and general military duties—it has no
political power whatsoever. The same applies here to the Police
and SS. There is here no state within a state but we are the
representatives of the Fuehrer and of the Reich. In final
conclusion, this applies also to the Party which has here no
far-reaching influence except for the fact that very old members
of the National Socialist Party and loyal veterans of the
Fuehrer take care of general matters.” (_2233-M-PS_)

At a conference of the District _Standartenfuehrer_ of the NSDAP in Cracow on 18 March 1942, Frank explained the relationship between his administration and Himmler:

“As you know I am a fanatic as to unity in administration. * * *
It is therefore clear that the Higher SS and Police Officer is
subordinated to me, that the Police is a component of the
government, that the SS and Police Officer in the district is
subordinated to the Governor, and that the _Kreis_ [district]
chief has the authority of command over the gendarmerie in his
_Kreis_ [district]. This the Reichsfuehrer SS has recognized; in
the written agreement all these points are mentioned word for
word and signed. It is also self-evident that we cannot set up a
closed shop here which can be treated in the traditional manner
of small states. It would, for instance, be ridiculous if we
would build up here a security policy of our own against our
Poles in the country, while knowing that the Polacks in West
Prussia, in Posen, in Wartheland and in Silesia have one and the
same movement of resistance. The Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of
the German Police thus must be able to carry out with the aid of
his agencies his police measures concerning the interests of the
Reich as a whole. This, however, will be done in such a way that
the measures to be adopted will first be submitted to me and
carried out only when I give my consent. In the General
Government, the Police is the Armed Forces. As a result of this,
the leader of the Police system will be called by me into the
government of the General Government; he is subordinate to me,
or to my deputy, as a State Secretary for the Security Systems.”
(_2233-R-PS_)

D. _THE PROTOCOL UNDER WHICH THE PURPOSES OF FRANK’S ADMINISTRATION OF
THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT WERE DEFINED CONSTITUTES IN ITSELF A CRIMINAL
PLAN OR CONSPIRACY._

The protocol of the conversation between Keitel and Hitler, which was dated 20 October 1939 and initialed by General Warlimont, regarding “The Future Shape of Polish Relations with Germany” provided in part as follows:

“(1) The Armed Forces will welcome it if they can dispose of
Administrative questions in Poland.

“On principle there cannot be two administrations.”

* * * * * *

“(3) It is not the task of the Administration to make Poland
into a model province or a model state of the German order or to
put her economically or financially on a sound basis.

“The Polish intelligentsia must be prevented from forming a
ruling class. The standard of living in the country is to remain
low; we only want to draw labor forces from there. Poles are
also to be used for the administration of the country. However
the forming of national political groups may not be allowed.

“(4) The administration has to work on its own responsibility
and must not be dependent on Berlin. We don’t want to do there
what we do in the Reich. The responsibility does not rest with
the Berlin Ministries since there is no German administrative
unit concerned.

“The accomplishment of this task will involve a hard racial
struggle [_Volkstumskampf_] which will not allow any legal
restrictions. The methods will be incompatible with the
principles otherwise adhered to by us.

“The Governor General is to give the Polish nation only bare
living conditions and is to maintain the basis for military
security.”

* * * * * *

“(6) * * * Any tendencies towards the consolidation of
conditions in Poland are to be suppressed. The ‘Polish muddle’
[_polnische Wirtschaft_] must be allowed to develop. The
government of the territory must make it possible for us to
purify the _Reich territory_ from Jews and Polacks, too.
Collaboration with new Reich provinces (Posen and West Prussia)
only for _resettlements_ (Compare Mission Himmler).

“_Purpose_: Shrewdness and severity must be the maxims in this
racial struggle in order to spare us from going to battle on
account of this country again.” (_864-PS_)

Frank’s own statements regarding the purposes of his administration in Poland should be considered in connection with the foregoing document. The economic and political responsibilities which had been conferred on Frank by Hitler, and according to which he “_intended to administer Poland_”, were explained by Frank as follows in an interview that took place on 3 October 1939:

“Poland can only be administered by utilizing the country
through means of ruthless exploitation, deportation of all
supplies, raw materials, machines, factory installations, etc.,
which are important for the German war economy, availability of
all workers for work within Germany, reduction of the entire
Polish economy to absolute minimum necessary for bare existence
of the population, closing of all educational institutions,
especially technical schools and colleges in order to prevent
the growth of the new Polish intelligentsia. ‘Poland shall be
treated as a colony; the Poles shall be the slaves of the
Greater German World Empire.’” (_EC-344-16 & 17_)

The Hitler-Keitel protocol should also be construed in the light of various passages in Frank’s diary relating to German policy in Poland. Illegality had been made in effect a canon of administration by the protocol, which provided that Frank’s task involved “a hard racial struggle which will not allow any legal restrictions.” Frank emphasized this point to his Department Heads at a conference on 19 December 1940:

“* * * In this country the force of a determined leadership must
rule. The Pole must feel here that we are not building him a
legal state, but that for him there is only one duty, namely, to
work and to behave himself. It is clear that this leads
sometimes to difficulties, but you must, in your own interest,
see that all measures are ruthlessly carried out in order to
become master of the situation. You can rely on me absolutely in
this.” (_2233-O-PS_)

It was the German purpose from the beginning to administer the General Government as colonial territory in total disregard of the duties imposed by International Law on an occupying power, and Frank’s administrative policies were shaped in accordance with this policy. At the first conference with Department Heads of the General Government on 2 December 1939, Frank stated:

“Decisive in the administrative activities of the General
Government is the will of the Fuehrer that this area shall be
the first colonial territory of the German nation.”
(_2233-K-PS_)

The “hard racial struggle” which Keitel and Hitler agreed could be solved only if attacked without “legal restrictions,” developed into the struggle which had as its ultimate purpose the Germanization of the General Government.

Frank’s adherence to the conspirators’ Germanization policy was clearly expressed by him at an official meeting of political leaders of the NSDAP in Cracow on 5 August 1942. Frank explained on that occasion:

“The situation in regard to Poland is unique insofar as on the
one hand—I speak quite openly—we must expand Germanism in such
a manner that the area of the General Government becomes pure
German colonized land at some decades to come; and, on the other
hand under the present war conditions we have to allow foreign
racial groups to perform here the work which must be carried out
in the service of Greater Germany.” (_2233-V-PS_)

Expediency, and expediency only, tempered Frank’s treatment of the nonGerman population of the General Government in the “hard racial struggle” he was charged with administering. The General Government was destined to become “pure German colonized land”, the valley of the Vistula to be as “German as the valley of the Rhine.” (_2233-H-PS_)

As for the Poles and Ukrainians, Frank’s attitude was clear. They were to be permitted to work for the German economy as long as the war emergency continued. Once the war was won, he told the District _Standortfuehrung_ and Political Leaders at a conference at Cracow on 14 January 1944:

“* * * then, for all I care, mincemeat [_Hackfleisch_] can be
made of the Poles and the Ukrainians and all the others who run
around here—it does not matter what happens.” (_2233-BB-PS_)

E. _FRANK ADVOCATED AND ADMINISTERED A PROGRAM OF EXTERMINATING JEWS OF
POLISH NATIONALITY WITHIN THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT._

Frank’s diary makes it clear that the complete annihilation of Jews, in accordance with the racial program of the Nazi conspirators, was one of the objectives of his administration as Governor General. In the fall of 1940 Frank urged German soldiers to reassure their families in Germany with regard to the hardships of life in the General Government:

“In all these weeks, they [i.e., your families] will be thinking
of you, saying to themselves: My God, there he sits in Poland
where there are so many lice and Jews, perhaps he is hungry and
cold, perhaps he is afraid to write. * * * It would not be a bad
idea then to send our dear ones back home a picture, and tell
them: well now, there are not so many lice and Jews any more,
and conditions here in the Government General have changed and
improved somewhat already. Of course, I could not eliminate all
lice and Jews in only one year’s time (public amused). But in
the course of time, and above all, if you help me, this end will
be attained. After all, it is not necessary for us to accomplish
everything within a year and right away, for what would
otherwise be left for those who follow us to do?” (_2233-C-PS_).

A year later at a Cabinet Session of 16 December 1941 Frank restated the official policy of his administration with respect to Jews:

“As far as the Jews are concerned, I want to tell you quite
frankly, that they must be done away with in one way or another.
The Fuehrer said once: should united Jewry again succeed in
provoking a world war, the blood of not only the nations which
have been forced into the war by them, will be shed, but the Jew
will have found his end in Europe * * *.

“Gentlemen, I must ask you to rid yourselves of all feeling of
pity. We must annihilate the Jews, wherever we find them and
wherever it is possible, in order to maintain here the structure
of the Reich as a whole. This will, naturally, be achieved by
other methods than those pointed out by Bureau Chief Dr. Hummel.
Nor can the judges of the Special Courts be made responsible for
it, because of the limitations of the framework of the legal
procedure. Such out-dated views cannot be applied to such
gigantic and unique events. We must find at any rate, a way
which leads to the goal, and my thoughts are working in that
direction.

“The Jews represent for us also extraordinarily malignant
gluttons. We have now approximately 2,500,000 of them in the
General Government, perhaps with the Jewish mixtures and
everything that goes with it, 3,500,000 Jews. We cannot shoot or
poison those 3,500,000 Jews, but we shall nevertheless be able
to take measures, which will lead, somehow, to their
annihilation, and this in connection with the gigantic measures
to be determined in discussions from the Reich. The General
Government must become free of Jews, the same as the Reich.
Where and how this is to be achieved is a matter for the offices
which we must appoint and create here. Their activities will be
brought to your attention in due course.” (_2233-D-PS_)

An earlier passage in the report of this session of the Cabinet explains the references to Dr. Hummel. Hummel had complained that legal formalities were obstructing the process of liquidation:

“In Warsaw, in spite of the setting up of a third court chamber,
we have been able to decree only 45 death sentences, only 8 of
which have been carried out, since in each individual case, the
Pardon Commission [_Gnadenkommission_] in Cracow has to make the
final decision. A further 600 sentences were demanded and are
under consideration. An effective isolation of the ghetto is not
possible by way of the Special Court Procedure. The procedure to
be followed up to the liquidation takes too much time; it is
burdened with too many formalities and must be simplified.”
(_2233-Q-PS_)

Frank himself ordered that every Jew seen outside the Ghetto should be executed:

“Severe measures must and will be adopted against Jews leaving
the Ghettos. Death sentences pending against Jews for this
reason must be carried out as quickly as possible. This order
according to which every Jew found outside the Ghetto is to be
executed, must be carried out without fail.” (_2233-Q-PS_)

When ways and means of meeting the food deficit in the General Government created by the increase in quotas to be requisitioned for export to Germany were discussed in August 1942, Frank approved a program which provided in part as follows:

“The feeding of a Jewish population, estimated heretofore at 1.5
million, drops off to an estimated total of 300,000 Jews, who
still work for German interests as craftsmen or otherwise. For
these the Jewish rations, including certain special allotments
which have proved necessary for the maintenance of working
capacity, will be retained. The other Jews, a total of 1.2
million, will no longer be provided with foodstuffs.”
(_2233-E-PS_)

Frank’s concurrence was expressed in the following terms:

“That we sentence 1.2 million Jews to die of hunger should be
noted only marginally. It is a matter of course that should the
Jews not starve it would, we hope, result in speeding up
anti-Jewish measures.” (_2233-E-PS_)

At an official meeting of the political leaders of the NSDAP on 5 August 1942, Frank made the following progress report:

“What a dirty people made up of Jews swaggered around here
before 1939! And where are the Jews today? You scarcely see
them. If you see them they are working.” (_2233-V-PS_)

In December 1941, Frank had pointed out that his administration could not shoot or poison all the three and a half million Jews in the General Government. He had promised, however, that he would be able to devise measures which would lead to their annihilation. Two years later, at a special press conference in January 1944, he was able to report that his mission was almost accomplished.

“At the present time we have still in the General Government
perhaps 100,000 Jews.” (_2233-F-PS_)

F. _FRANK IMPOSED UPON THE POPULATION OF THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT A REIGN
OF TERROR, OPPRESSION, IMPOVERISHMENT, AND STARVATION._

What had happened in the General Government in the first three and a half years of Frank’s administration was summarized by Frank in a report to Hitler on the situation in Poland, dated 19 June 1943:

“In the course of time, a series of measures or of consequences
of the German rule have led to a substantial _deterioration of
the attitude_ of the entire Polish people in the German
Government. These measures have affected either individual
professions or the entire population and frequently also—often
with crushing severity—the fate of individuals.

“Among these are in particular:

“1—The entirely insufficient nourishment of the population,
mainly of the working classes in the cities, whose majority is
working for German interests.

“Until the war of 1939, its food supplies, though not varied,
were sufficient and generally secure, due to the agrarian
surplus of the former Polish state and in spite of the
negligence on the part of their former political leadership.

“2—The confiscation of a great part of the Polish estates and
the expropriation without compensation and resettlement of
Polish peasants from manoeuvre areas and from German
settlements.

“3—Encroachments and confiscations in the industries, in
commerce and trade and in the field of private property.

“4—Mass arrests and mass shootings by the German police who
applied the system of collective responsibility.

“5—The rigorous methods of recruiting workers.

“6—The extensive paralyzation of cultural life.

“7—The closing of high schools, junior colleges, and
universities.

“8—The limitation, indeed the complete elimination of Polish
influence from all spheres of State administration.

“9—Curtailment of the influence of the Catholic Church,
limiting its extensive influence—an undoubtedly necessary
move—and, in addition, until quite recently, the closing and
confiscation of monasteries, schools and charitable
institutions.” (_437-PS_)

In order to illustrate how completely Frank as Governor General is identified with the criminal policies whose execution is reported in the foregoing document, and the extent to which they were the official policies of his administration, it is proposed to annotate several of the items with passages from Frank’s own diary.

(1) _Undernourishment of Polish population._ The extent of the undernourishment of the Polish population was reported to Frank in September 1941 by _Obermedizinalrat_ Dr. Walbaum:

“_Obermedizinalrat_ Dr. Walbaum expresses his opinion of the
_health condition_ of the Polish population. Investigations
which were carried out by his department proved that the
majority of Poles eat only about 600 calories, whereas the
normal requirement for a human being is 2,200 calories. The
Polish population was enfeebled to such an extent that it would
fall an easy prey to _spotted fever_. The number of diseased
Poles amounted today already to 40%. During the last week alone
1000 new spotted fever cases have been officially recorded. * *
* If the food rations were to be diminished again, an enormous
increase of the number of illnesses could be predicted.”
(_2233-P-PS_)

It was clear from this report that starvation was prevalent in the General Government. Nevertheless, in August 1942, Frank approved a new plan which called for much larger contributions of foodstuffs to Germany at the expense of the nonGerman population of the General Government. Methods of meeting the new quotas out of the already grossly inadequate rations of the General Government, and the impact of the new quotas on the economy of the country were discussed at a Cabinet meeting of the General Government, on 18 August 1942 in terms which leave no doubt that not only was the proposed requisition far beyond the resources of the country, but its impact was to be distributed on a discriminatory basis.

Frank’s opening remarks at this meeting defined the scope of the problem and its solution:

“Before the German people are to experience starvation, the
occupied territories and their people shall be exposed to
starvation. In this moment therefore we here in the General
Government must also have the iron determination to help the
Great German people, our Fatherland. . . . The General
Government therefore must do the following: The General
Government has taken on the obligation to send 500,000 tons
bread grains to the Fatherland in addition to the foodstuffs
already being delivered for the relief of Germany or consumed
here by troops of the armed forces, Police or SS. If you compare
this with our contributions of last year you can see that this
means a six fold increase over that of last year’s contribution
of the General Government. The new demand will be fulfilled
exclusively at _the expense of the foreign population_. It must
be done cold-bloodedly and without pity; * * *” (_2233-E-PS_).

President of the Main Department for Food and Agriculture Naumann (apparently an official of the General Government) then described how the reduced quantity of food available for feeding the population of the General Government should be distributed:

“The feeding of a _Jewish population_, estimated heretofore at
1.5 million, drops off to an estimated total of 300,000 Jews,
who still work for German interests as craftsmen or otherwise.
For these the Jewish rations, including certain special
allotments which have proved necessary for the maintenance of
working capacity, will be retained. The other Jews, a total of
1.2 million, will no longer be provided with foodstuffs.

“_Non-German normal consumers_ will receive, from 1 January 1943
to 1 March 1943, instead of 4.2 kg. bread per month, 2.8 kg;
from 1 March 1943 to 30 July 1943 the total bread ration for
these non-German normal consumers will be cancelled.

“_Those entitled to be supplied_ [_Versorgungsberechtigten_] are
composed as follows. We estimate that 3 million persons come
into consideration as war workers, the A- and B-card holders and
their kin, and that somewhat more than 3 million persons are
non-German normal consumers, who do not work directly or
indirectly in the interests of Germany. The war workers, A- and
B-card holders and their families, about 3 million persons, will
however continue to be supplied, up to the harvest of 1943, at
the prevailing rates.” (_2233-E-PS_)

Naumann goes on to discuss the difficulties that may be encountered in the process of requisition:

“_The securing of all depots and food processing plants_, as
well as their transport facilities must be assured, as otherwise
irreplaceable losses result which mean a further burdening of
the food budget. I have had maps made of all districts
[_Kreise_] on which the depots have all been drawn in. I request
that the necessary measures be taken on the part of the police
and these depots, which are in the eye of the hungering masses,
above all at times when the restrictions are carried out, should
be strictly guarded, so that the meager supplies which we have
until the new harvest should not be destroyed by sabotage or
arson. . . . Finally it must be determined at the beginning of
November whether the _martial law for the harvest period_, which
has been proclaimed up to 30 November, must be extended to 30
December. Martial law for the harvest period has been extended
to all products which are to be seized. The planned quota
increase and reduction of ration quantities must be kept secret
under all circumstances and may be published only at that time
which the Main Department for Food and Agriculture considers
proper. Should the reduction of ration quantities and the
increase of quotas become known earlier, extremely noticeable
disturbances in the seizure would take place. The mass of the
Polish population would then go to the land and would become a
supplementary competitor of our requisitioning agencies.”
(_2233-E-PS_)

Frank’s concluding remarks summarized the position as follows:

“I must point out that some sectors of the administration will
feel this very keenly. In the first place the _police_ will feel
this, for it will have to deal, if I may say so, with an
increased activity of the black market and a neglect of food
customs. I will gladly give the police extraordinary powers so
that they can overcome these difficulties.

“The economy will feel it. The decrease of work rendered will
become felt in all sectors, branches and regions. I also assume
that our _transport system_ will feel it too. In view of the
worsening living conditions an extraordinary hardship will set
in for railroad workers and other categories; as the previous
quantities of food were already not enough. The monopolies will
feel it through a decrease of their incomes, as the amounts of
potatoes available for the production of vodka will be less.

“The _Germans_ in this area shall not feel it. We wish in spite
of this new plan to see to it that the supplies for Germans will
be maintained. Also the _Wehrmacht_ and other encamped units in
this area shall not feel it. We hope that it will be possible
for us to keep up the whole quotas here.

“To help in this necessity there is a corresponding measure,
namely that the supervision of persons traveling from the
General Government to the Reich, above all of military
personnel, in order to see whether they are _taking food out_ of
the General Government, should be suspended. This means that in
addition to all that which we must now extract from the land
economically, there must take place a complete removal of
control over that which is dragged out of the land by thousands
upon thousands—doubtless illegally and against our government
measures.” (_2233-E-PS_)

The extent of the General Government’s food contribution to the Reich, and its significance in terms of rations within Germany were described by Frank at a meeting of political leaders of the NSDAP in December 1942 at Cracow:

“I will endeavor to get out of the reservoir of this territory
everything that is yet to be got out of it. When you consider
that it was possible for me to deliver to the Reich 600,000 tons
of bread grain, and in addition 180,000 tons to the Armed Forces
stationed here; further an abundance amounting to many thousands
of tons of other commodities such as seed, fats, vegetables,
besides the delivery to the Reich of 300 million eggs, etc.—you
can estimate the significance of the consignment from the
General Government of 600,000 tons of bread grain; you are
referred to the fact that the General Government by this
achievement alone covers the raising of the bread ration in the
Greater German Reich by two-thirds during the present rationing
period. This enormous achievement can rightfully be claimed by
us.” (_2233-Z-PS_)

(2) _Resettlement projects._ Although Himmler was given general authority in connection with the conspirators’ program to resettle various districts in the conquered Eastern territories with racial Germans, projects relating to resettling districts in the General Government were submitted to and approved by Frank. On 4 August 1942, for example, the plan to resettle Zamosc and Lublin was reported to him by State Secretary Krueger:

“State Secretary Krueger then continues, saying that the Reichsfuehrer’s next immediate plan until the end of the following year would be to settle the following German racial groups in the two districts (Zamosc and Lublin): 1000 peasant settlements (1 settlement per family of about 6) for Bosnian Germans; 1200 other kinds of settlements; 1000 settlements for Bessarabian Germans; 200 for Serbian Germans; 2000 for Leningrad Germans; 4000 for Baltic Germans; 500 for Wolhynia Germans; and 200 settlements for Flemish, Danish and Dutch Germans: in all 10,000 settlements for 50,000 persons” (_2233-T-PS_). Frank directed that:

“* * * the resettlement plan is to be discussed cooperatively by
the competent authorities and declared his willingness to
approve the final plan by the end of September after
satisfactory arrangements had been made concerning all the
questions appertaining thereto (in particular the guaranteeing
of peace and order) so that by the middle of November, as the
most favorable time, the resettlement can begin.” (_2233-T-PS_)

The way in which the resettlement at Zamosc was carried out was described to Frank at a meeting at Warsaw on 25 January 1943 by State Secretary Krueger:

“When we settled about the first 4000 in Kreis Zamosc shortly
before Christmas I had an opportunity to speak to these people.
* * * It is understandable that in resettling this area . . . we
did not make friends of the Poles. * * * In colonizing this
territory with racial Germans, we are forced to chase out the
Poles. * * * We are removing those who constitute a burden in
this new colonization territory. Actually, they are the asocial
and inferior elements. They are being deported, first brought to
a concentration camp, and then sent as labor to the Reich. From
a Polish propaganda standpoint this entire first action has had
an unfavorable effect. For the Poles say: After the Jews have
been destroyed then they will employ the same methods to get the
Poles out of this territory and liquidate them just like the
Jews.” (_2233-AA-PS_)

Although the illegality of this dispossession of Poles to make room for German settlers was clear, and although the fact that the Poles were not only being dispossessed but taken off to concentration camps was drawn to Frank’s attention at this time, he merely directed that individual cases of resettlement should in future be discussed in the same manner as in the case of Zamosc. (_2233-AA-PS_)

(3) _Encroachments and confiscations in the industries and in the field of private property._

Frank explained his policy in respect to Polish property to his Department Heads in the following terms in December 1939:

“Principally it can be said regarding the administration of the
General Government: This territory in its entirety is booty of
the German Reich, and it thus cannot be permitted that this
territory shall be exploited in its individual parts but that
the territory in its entirety shall be economically used and its
entire economic worth redound to the benefit of the German
people.” (_2233-K-PS_)

Whatever encroachments there were on private property rights in the General Government fell squarely within the policy which Frank in an interview on 3 October 1939 stated he intended to administer as General Governor:

“Poland can only be administered by utilizing the country
through means of ruthless exploitation, deportation of all
supplies, raw materials, machines, factory installations etc.
which are important for the German war economy. * * * [It was
Frank’s opinion] that the war would be a short one and that it
was most important now to make available as soon as possible raw
materials, machines and workers to the German industry, which
was short in all of these. Most important, however, in Frank’s
opinion, was the fact that by destroying Polish industry, its
subsequent reconstruction after the war would become more
difficult, if not impossible, so that Poland would be reduced to
its proper position as an agrarian country which would have to
depend upon Germany for importation of industrial products.”
(_EC-344-16 & 17_)

The basic decree under which property in the General Government was sequestered was promulgated by Frank on 24 January 1940. This decree authorized sequestration in connection with the “performance of tasks serving the public interest,” the seizure of “abandoned property,” and the liquidation of “antisocial or financially unremunerative property.” It permitted the Higher S.S. and Police Chief to order sequestrations “with the object of increasing the striking power of the units of the uniformed police and armed S.S.” No legal recourse was granted for losses arising from the enforcement of the decree, compensation being solely in the discretion of an official of the General Government. It is clear that the undefined criteria of this decree empowered Nazi officials in the General Government to engage in wholesale seizure of property. (_2540-PS_)

(4) _Principle of collective responsibility._ It was no part of Frank’s policy in administering the General Government that reprisals should be commensurate with the gravity of the offense. Frank was, on the contrary, an advocate of drastic measures in dealing with the Polish people. At a conference of Department Heads of the General Government on 19 January 1940, he explained:

“My relationship with the Poles is like the relationship between
ant and plant louse. When I treat the Poles in a helpful way, so
to speak tickle them in a friendly manner, then I do it in the
expectation that their work performance redounds to my benefit.
This is not a political but a purely tactical-technical problem.
* * * In cases where in spite of all these measures the
performance does not increase, or where the slightest act gives
me occasion to step in, I would not even hesitate to take the
most draconic action.” (_2233-L-PS_)

At a subsequent meeting of Department Heads on 8 March 1940 Frank became even more explicit:

“Whenever there is the least-attempt by the Poles to start
anything, an enormous campaign of destruction will follow. Then
I would not mind starting a regime of terror, or fear its
consequences.” (_2233-M-PS_)

At a conference of District Standartenfuehrer at Cracow on 18 March 1942 Frank reiterated his policy:

“Incidentally, the struggle for the achievement of our aims will
be pursued cold bloodedly. You see how the state agencies work.
You see that we do not hesitate before anything, and stand whole
dozens of people up against the wall. This is necessary because
here simple consideration says that it cannot be our task at
this period when the best German blood is being sacrificed, to
show regard for the blood of another race. For out of this one
of the greatest dangers may arise. One already hears today in
Germany that prisoners-of-war, for instance with us in Bavaria
or in Thuringia, are administering large estates entirely
independently, while all the men in a village fit for service
are at the front. If this state of affairs continues then a
gradual retrogression of Germanism will show itself. One should
not underestimate this danger. Therefore, everything revealing
itself as a Polish power of leadership must be destroyed again
and again with ruthless energy. This does not have to be shouted
abroad, it will happen silently.” (_2233-R-PS_)

And on 15 January 1944 Frank assured the political leaders of the NSDAP at Cracow:

“I have not been hesitant in declaring that when a German is
shot, up to 100 Poles shall be shot too.” (_2233-BB-PS_)

(5) _Rigorous methods of recruiting workers._ Force, violence, and economic duress were all advocated by Frank as means for recruiting laborers for deportation to slave labor in Germany. Deportation of Polish laborers to Germany was an integral part of the program announced by Frank for his administration of the General Government (See _EC-344-16 & 17_), and as Governor General he authorized whatever degree of force was required for the execution of his program.

Voluntary methods of recruitment soon proved inadequate. In the spring of 1940 the question of utilizing force came up, and the following discussion took place in the presence of Seyss-Inquart:

“The Governor-General stated that the fact that all means in
form of proclamations etc. did not bring success, leads to the
conclusion that the Poles out of malevolence, and guided by the
intention of harming Germany by not putting themselves at its
disposal, refuse to enlist for working duty. Therefore, he asks
Dr. Frauendorfer, if there are any other measures, not as yet
employed, to win the Poles on a voluntary basis.

“_Reichshauptamtsleiter_ Dr. Frauendorfer answered this question
negatively.

“The General Governor emphasized the fact that he now will be
asked to take a definite attitude toward this question.
Therefore the question will arise whether any form of _coercive
measures_ should now be employed.

“The question put by the General Governor to SS Lieutenant
General [_Obergruppenfuehrer_] Krueger: does he see
possibilities of calling Polish workers by coercive means, is
answered in the affirmative by SS Lieutenant General _Krueger_.”
(_2233-N-PS_)

At the same conference Frank declared that he was willing to agree to any practical measures, and decreed that unemployment compensation should be discontinued on 1 May 1940 as a means of recruiting labor for Germany.

“The General Governor is willing to agree to any practical
measure; however, he wishes to be informed personally about the
measures to be taken. One measure, which no doubt would be
successful, would be the _discontinuance of unemployment
compensation_ for unemployed workers and their _transfer to
public welfare_. Therefore, he decrees that, beginning _1 May_,
claim for unemployment compensation will cease to exist and only
public welfare may be granted. For the time being only men are
to report and above those men living in cities. There might be a
possibility of combining the moving of the 120,000 Poles from
the Warthe district with this measure.” (_2233-N-PS_)

In March 1940 Frank assured the authorities in Berlin that he was prepared to have villages surrounded and the people dragged forcibly out. He reported that, in the course of his negotiations in Berlin regarding the urgent demand for larger numbers of Polish farm workers, he had stated:

“* * * if it is demanded from him, [he] could naturally exercise
force in such a manner, that he has the police surround a
village and get the men and women in question out by force, and
then send them to Germany. But one can also work differently,
besides these police measures, by retaining the unemployment
compensation of these workers in question.” (_2233-B-PS_)

At a conference of Department Heads of the General Government on 10 May 1940 Frank laid down the following principles for dealing with the problem of conscription labor:

“Upon the demands from the Reich it has now been decreed that
compulsion may be exercised in view of the fact that sufficient
manpower was not voluntarily available for service inside the
German Reich. This compulsion means the possibility of arrest of
male and female Poles. . . . The arrest of young Poles when
leaving church services or the cinema would bring about an
ever-increasing nervousness of the Poles. Generally speaking, he
had no objection at all if the rubbish, capable of work yet
often loitering about, would be snatched from the streets. The
best method for this, however, would be the organization of a
raid, and it would be absolutely justifiable to stop a Pole in
the street and to question him what he was doing, where he was
working, etc.” (_2233-A-PS_)

Frank utilized starvation as a method of recruitment. At a conference on 20 November 1942 the following plan was agreed:

“Starting 1 February 1942 the food ration cards should not be
issued to the individual Pole or Ukrainian by the Nutrition
Office [_Ernaehrungsamt_], but to the establishments working for
the German interest. 2,000,000 people would thus be eliminated
from the non-German, normal ration-consuming contingent. Now, if
those ration cards are only distributed by the factories, part
of those people will naturally rush into the factories. Labor
could then be either procured for Germany from them or they
could be used for the most important work in the factories of
the General Government.” (_2233-Y-PS_)

On 18 August 1942 Frank informed Sauckel that the General Government had already supplied 800,000 laborers to Germany, and that a further 140,000 would be supplied by the end of the year. Regarding the quota for the next year he promised:

“* * * you can, however, next year reckon upon a higher number
of workers from the General Government, for we shall employ the
Police to conscript them.” (_2233-W-PS_)

Six months after Frank promised Sauckel to resort to police action to round up labor for deportation to Germany, the Chairman of the Ukrainian Main Committee reported to Frank that the program was being carried out as follows:

“The wild and ruthless man-hunt carried on everywhere in towns
and country, in streets, squares, stations, even in churches, at
night in houses, has badly shaken the feeling of security of the
inhabitants. Everybody is exposed to the danger of being seized
anywhere and at any time by members of the police, suddenly and
unexpectedly, and being brought into an assembly camp. None of
his relatives knows what has happened to him, only weeks or
months later, one or the other gives news of his fate by a
postcard.” (_1526-PS_)

(6) _Closing of schools._ The program outlined by Frank on 3 October 1939 as the program he intended to administer as Governor General included:

“closing of all educational institutions, especially technical
schools and colleges in order to prevent the growth of the new
Polish intelligentsia.” (_EC-344-16 & 17_)

This decision was taken by Frank before it was determined what schools, if any, might be closed because of failure of instructors to refrain from reference to politics, or refusal to submit to inspection by the occupying authorities. Moreover, the policy was determined, as indicated, in furtherance of the purpose of preventing the rise of an educated class in Poland.

(7) _Other crimes._ There were other grounds for uneasiness in Poland which Frank does not mention in his report to Hitler. He does not mention the Concentration Camps—perhaps because, as the “representative jurist” of National Socialism, Frank had himself defended the system in Germany. As Governor General Frank is responsible for all concentration camps within the boundaries of the General Government. As indicated above, he knew and approved that Poles were taken to concentration camps in connection with the resettlement projects. He had certain jurisdiction, as well, in relation to the notorious extermination camp Auschwitz, to which Poles from the General Government were committed by his administration, although the camp itself lay outside the boundaries of the General Government. In February 1944, Ambassador Counsellor Dr. Schumberg suggested a possible amnesty of Poles who had been taken to Auschwitz for trivial offenses and kept for several months. The report of the conference continues:

“The Governor General will take under consideration an amnesty
probably for 1 May of this year. Nevertheless, one must not lose
sight of the fact that the German leadership of the General
Government must not now show any signs of weakness.”
(_2233-BB-PS_)

G. _CONCLUSION._

As legal adviser of Hitler and the leadership corps of the NSDAP, Frank promoted the conspirators’ rise to power. In his various juridical capacities, both in the NSDAP and in the German government, Frank advocated and promoted the political monopoly of the NSDAP, the racial program of the conspirators, and the terror system of the concentration camp and of arrest without warrant. His role in the common plan was to realize “the National Socialist Program in the realm of law”, and to give the outward form of legality to this program of terror, persecution and oppression, which had as its ultimate purpose mobilization for aggressive war.

As a loyal adherent of Hitler and the NSDAP, Frank was appointed Governor General in October 1939 of that area of Poland known as the General Government, which became the testing ground for the conspirators’ program of “_Lebensraum_.” Frank had defined justice in the field of German law as that which benefited the German nation. His five year administration of the General Government illustrates the same principles applied in the field of International Law.

Frank took the office of Governor General under a program which constituted in itself a criminal plan or conspiracy, as Frank well knew and approved, to exploit the territory ruthlessly for the benefit of Nazi Germany, to conscript its nationals for labor in Germany, to close its schools and colleges to prevent the rise of a Polish intelligentsia, and to administer the territory as a colonial possession of the Third Reich in total disregard of the duties of an occupying power toward the inhabitants of occupied territory. Under Frank’s administration this criminal plan was consummated. But the execution went even beyond the plan. Food contributions to Germany increased to the point where the bare subsistence reserved for the General Government under the plan was reduced to the level of mass starvation; a savage program of exterminating Jews was relentlessly executed; resettlement projects were carried out with reckless disregard of the rights of the local population; the terror of the concentration camp followed in the wake of the Nazi invaders.

It has been shown that all of these crimes were committed in accordance with the official policies established and advocated by Frank.

This summary of evidence has been compiled almost entirely from statements by Frank himself, from the admissions found in his diaries, official reports, records of his conferences with his colleagues and subordinates, and his speeches. It is therefore appropriate that a final passage from his diary should be quoted in conclusion. In January 1943, Frank told his colleagues in the General Government that their task would grow more difficult. Hitler, he said, could only help them as a kind of “administrative pillbox”. They must depend on themselves.

“We are now duty bound to hold together [he continued] * * * We
must remember that we who are gathered together here figure on
Mr. Roosevelt’s list of war criminals. I have the honor of being
Number One. We have, so to speak, become accomplices in the
world historic sense.” (_2233-AA-PS_)

* * * * *

LEGAL REFERENCES AND LIST OF DOCUMENTS RELATING TO HANS FRANK

│ │ │
Document │ Description │ Vol. │ Page
│ │ │
│Charter of the International Military │ │
│ Tribunal, Article 6. │ I │ 5
│International Military Tribunal, │ │
│ Indictment Number 1, Section IV (H);│ │
│ Appendix A. │ I │ 29, 60
│ ———— │ │
│Note: A single asterisk (*) before a │ │
│document indicates that the document │ │
│was received in evidence at the │ │
│Nurnberg trial. A double asterisk (**)│ │
│before a document number indicates │ │
│that the document was referred to │ │
│during the trial but was not formally │ │
│received in evidence, for the reason │ │
│given in parentheses following the │ │
│description of the document. The USA │ │
│series number, given in parentheses │ │
│following the description of the │ │
│document, is the official exhibit │ │
│number assigned by the court. │ │
│ ———— │ │
*437-PS │Extract from report, 19 June 1943, by │ │
│Frank to Hitler, concerning situation │ │
│in Poland. (USA 610) │ III │ 396
│ │ │
*864-PS │Top Secret Note, 20 October 1939, on │ │
│conference between Hitler and Chief │ │
│OKW concerning future relations of │ │
│Poland to Germany, 17 October 1939. │ │
│(USA 609) │ III │ 619
│ │ │
1391-PS │Statute of the Academy for German Law,│ │
│2 July 1934. 1934 Reichsgesetzblatt, │ │
│pp. 605-607. │ III │ 970
│ │ │
*1526-PS │Letter from Ukrainian Main Committee │ │
│to Frank, February 1943. (USA 178) │ IV │ 79
│ │ │
2233-A-PS │Frank Diary. │ │
│Abteilungsleitersitzungen, 1939-1940. │ │
│Minutes of conferences, December and │ │
│May 1940. (USA 173) │ IV │ 883
│ │ │
*2233-B-PS │Frank Diary. Tagebuch. 1940. Part I. │ │
│January-March. (USA 174) │ IV │ 885
│ │ │
*2233-C-PS │Frank Diary. Tagebuch. 1940. Part IV. │ │
│October-December. (USA 271) │ IV │ 890
│ │ │
*2233-D-PS │Frank Diary. Regierungsitzungen. 1941.│ │
│October-December. Entry of 16 December│ │
│1941 at pp. 76-77. (USA 281) │ IV │ 891
│ │ │
*2233-E-PS │Frank Diary. │ │
│Regierungs-Hauptabteilungsleiter-Sitzu│ │
│ngen. 1942. Entry of 24 August 1942. │ │
│(USA 283) │ IV │ 893
│ │ │
*2233-F-PS │Frank Diary. Tagebuch. 1 January │ │
│1944-28 February 1944. Entry of 25 │ │
│January 1944 at p. 5. (USA 295) │ IV │ 902
│ │ │
*2233-H-PS │Frank Diary. Tagebuch. 1941. Part II. │ │
│Entry of 19 April 1941. (USA 311) │ IV │ 904
│ │ │
*2233-K-PS │Frank Diary. │ │
│Abteilungsleitersitzungen. 1939-1940. │ │
│Entry of 2 December 1939. (USA 173) │ IV │ 905
│ │ │
2233-L-PS │Frank Diary. │ │
│Abteilungsleitersitzungen. 1939-1940. │ │
│Entry of 19 January 1940 at pp. 11-12.│ IV │ 906
│ │ │
*2233-M-PS │Frank Diary. │ │
│Abteilungsleitersitzungen. 1939-1940. │ │
│Entry of 8 March 1940. (USA 173) │ IV │ 906
│ │ │
*2233-N-PS │Frank Diary. Tagebuch. 1940. Part II. │ │
│April to June. (USA 614) │ IV │ 907
│ │ │
*2233-O-PS │Frank Diary. │ │
│Abteilungsleitersitzungen. 1939-1940. │ │
│Entry of 19 December 1940 at pp. │ │
│12-13. (USA 173) │ IV │ 909
│ │ │
2233-P-PS │Frank Diary. Tagebuch. 1941. Part III.│ │
│Entry of 9 September 1941 at p. 830. │ │
│(USA 611) │ IV │ 909
│ │ │
2233-Q-PS │Frank Diary. Regierungssitzungen. │ │
│October-December 1941. Entry of 16 │ │
│December 1941 at pp. 35, 66. │ IV │ 909
│ │ │
*2233-R-PS │Frank Diary. Tagebuch. 1942. Part I. │ │
│Entry of 18 March 1942 at pp. 185, │ │
│186, 195-196. (USA 608) │ IV │ 910
│ │ │
*2233-S-PS │Frank Diary. Tagebuch. 1942. Part III.│ │
│Entry of 1 August 1942 at p. 798. (USA│ │
│607) │ IV │ 911
│ │ │
*2233-T-PS │Frank Diary. Tagebuch. 1942. Part III.│ │
│Entry of 4 August 1942 at pp. 830-832.│ │
│(USA 607) │ IV │ 911
│ │ │
2233-V-PS │Frank Diary. Tagebuch. 1942. Part III.│ │
│Entry of 5 August 1942 at pp. 866, │ │
│896. │ IV │ 912
│ │ │
*2233-W-PS │Frank Diary. Tagebuch. 1942. Part III.│ │
│Entry of 18 August 1942 at pp. 918, │ │
│920. (USA 607) │ IV │ 912
│ │ │
*2233-X-PS │Frank Diary. Tagebuch. 1942. Part III.│ │
│Entry of 28 August 1942 at pp. │ │
│968-969, 983. (USA 607) │ IV │ 913
│ │ │
2233-Y-PS │Frank Diary. Tagebuch. 1942. Part IV. │ │
│Entry of 20 November 1942 at pp. │ │
│1212-1213. │ IV │ 914
│ │ │
*2233-Z-PS │Frank Diary. Tagebuch. 1942. Part IV. │ │
│Entry of 14 December 1942 at pp. │ │
│1329-1331. (USA 612) │ IV │ 915
│ │ │
*2233-AA-PS │Frank Diary. Arbeitssitzungen. 1943. │ │
│Entry of 25 January 1943 at pp. 16, │ │
│17, 19, 53. (USA 613) │ IV │ 916
│ │ │
*2233-BB-PS │Frank Diary. Tagebuch. 1 January │ │
│1944-28 February 1944. Entry of 14 │ │
│January, 15 January, 8 February 1944. │ │
│(USA 295) │ IV │ 917
│ │ │
2533-PS │Extract from article “Legislation and │ │
│Judiciary in Third Reich”, from │ │
│Journal of the Academy for German Law,│ │
│1936, pp. 141-142. │ V │ 277
│ │ │
2536-PS │Speech by Dr. Frank on “The Jews in │ │
│Jurisprudence” and Radio Speech, │ │
│published in Documents of German │ │
│Politics, Vol. II. │ V │ 277
│ │ │
2537-PS │Decree of the Fuehrer and Reich │ │
│Chancellor concerning Administration │ │
│of Occupied Polish Territories, │ │
│October 1939. 1939 Reichsgesetzblatt, │ │
│Part I, p. 2077. │ V │ 279
│ │ │
2540-PS │Decree concerning sequestration of │ │
│private property in the General │ │
│Government, 24 January 1940, published│ │
│in Verordnungsblatt fuer das │ │
│Generalgouverneurs, No. 6, 27 January │ │
│1940, p. 23. │ V │ 280
│ │ │
*2979-PS │Affidavit by Hans Frank, 15 November │ │
│1945, concerning positions held. (USA │ │
│7) │ V │ 684
│ │ │
3445-PS │Speech by Hans Frank, reported in │ │
│German Law, 1939, Vol. 2. │ VI │ 153
│ │ │
3814-PS │Correspondence between Hans Frank, │ │
│Lammers and various witnesses to the │ │
│conduct of Frank, February 1945. │ VI │ 739
│ │ │
3815-PS │Report of the SS, 25 April 1942, │ │
│concerning the activities of Hans │ │
│Frank in Poland. │ VI │ 745
│ │ │
*EC-344 16 and 17 │Thomas report, 20 August 1940, │ │
│summarizing experience with German │ │
│Armament Industry in Poland 1939-40 │ │
│and extract from report by Captain Dr.│ │
│Varain on same subject. (USA 297) │ VII │ 419
│ │ │
Chart No. 1 │National Socialist German Workers’ │ │
│Party. (2903-PS; USA 2) │ VIII │ 770

9. WILHELM FRICK

A. _FRICK’S POLITICAL CAREER._

Frick’s important contribution to the Nazi conspiracy was in the field of government administration. He was the administrative brain who organized the German state for Nazism and who geared the machinery of the state for aggressive war. It was Frick who transformed the plans and programs of his fellow conspirators into political action. He was the manager of the Nazi conspiracy. He was entrusted with broad discretion, exercised great power, and knew the criminal purpose of the acts he committed.

The conspiratorial activities of Frick cover a period of 25 years, beginning as early as 1920 (_3086-PS_).

A brief summary of Frick’s activities will show how extensive was his contribution to the Nazi conspiracy. He took part in Hitler’s Munich Beer Hall Putsch of November 1923, and was sentenced for his participation. He helped Hitler become a German citizen. To maintain the Nazi regime in the first 2 years of its existence and to achieve some of its most important immediate purposes, Frick signed 235 laws and decrees during that period, most of which are published in the _Reichsgesetzblatt_.

For the first time in German history a uniform police system for the whole German Reich was created. Frick was its creator and its supreme head. He appointed the Gestapo chief, Heinrich Himmler, Chief of the German Police. Frick was the highest controlling authority over concentration camps. He personally inspected these camps. His Ministry of the Interior made the necessary legal arrangements for acquiring land for the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Through his Medical Division, Frick controlled the Nazi asylums and so-called medical institutions in which forced sterilizations and murders of thousands of Germans and of foreign laborers were carried out. The racial legislation, including the Nurnberg Laws, was drafted by Frick and administered under his jurisdiction. Frick introduced the Yellow Star as a sign of stigmatization of the Jews.

In the course of his active participation in the Nazi conspiracy, Frick occupied a number of important positions. Among his Nazi Party positions are the following: member of the Nazi Party from 1925 to 1945; Reich Leader of the Nazi Party from 1933 to 1945; floor leader of the Nazi Party in the Reichstag from 1928 to 1945. His governmental positions were: chief of a division of the Munich Police Department from 1917 to 10 November 1923, 2 days after Hitler’s Putsch; Nazi Minister of the Interior and of Education in the German State of Thuringia from January 1930 to April 1931; Reichsministerof the Interior from 30 January 1933 to 20 August 1943; member of the Reich Defense Council as General Plenipotentiary for the Administration of the Reich from 21 May 1935 to 20 August 1943. On 20 August 1943, Frick was appointed Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, and he held this last position until 1945. (_2978-PS_)

B. _FRICK’S PARTICIPATION IN PROMOTING THE NAZI CONSPIRATORS’ ACCESSION
TO POWER._

Frick has admitted that he was one of the men who helped Hitler to power (_3043-PS_).

(1) _Frick’s activities in early days of conspiracy._ In the very beginning of the Nazi Party and its conspiracy, Frick misused his various governmental positions in order to hold a “protecting hand over the National-Socialist Party and Hitler.” This he stated solemnly in his speech before the Munich People’s Court during the Putsch trial (_3119-PS_; see “The Hitler Trial Before the People’s Court in Munich” (_Der Hitler Prozess vor dem Volksgericht in Muenchen_), published by Knorr & Hirth, G.M.B.H., Muenchen, 1924.)

When Hitler was arrested during those early revolutionary days, Frick used his position in the Munich Police Department to release him under his own authority (_3124-PS_).

Frick participated in the Nazi Beer Hall Putsch of 8-9 November 1923, and was tried with Hitler on a charge of complicity in treason. He was convicted and received a suspended sentence of one year and three months in a fortress (_3132-PS_).

Hitler’s appreciation of Frick’s assistance during those years is demonstrated by the fact that Hitler honored Frick by mentioning his name in _Mein Kampf_, the Nazi bible. Only two other defendants in this proceeding, Hess and Streicher, share that honor. In this reference Hitler said of Frick:

“He [Munich Police President Poehner] and his coworker Dr. Frick
are in my estimation the only men in government positions, who
have the right to collaborate in the establishment of a Bavarian
Nation.” (_3125-PS_)

(2) _Frick’s activities as member of Reichstag._ Having been elected to the Reichstag on 4 May 1924, Frick stated that it was his task not to “support, but to undermine the parliamentary system” (_2742-PS_).

In the Reichstag Frick immediately proposed those discriminatory measures against the Jews which were enacted after he and the other Nazi conspirators had come into power in 1933. On 25 August 1924 Frick demanded in the Reichstag that all Jews be removed from public office (_3128-PS_). Two days later he returned with a motion calling for “special legislation for all members of the Jewish race” (_3119-PS_).

In 1930, a significant investigative report was prepared by the Prussian Ministry of the Interior (_2513-PS_). This official report analyzed the criminal activities of Hitler, Frick, and other Nazis. It stated that Frick had to be regarded as the most influential leader of the NSDAP next to Hitler. This document reported that at the 1927 Party Congress in Nurnberg, Frick said that the Nazi Party would first infiltrate into parliament and misuse its privileges, then abolish it and thus open the way for racial dictatorship. The document also reported that Frick stated in a speech in 1929 at Pyritz that this fateful struggle would first be taken up with the ballot, but that this could not continue indefinitely, for history had taught that in a battle “blood must be shed and iron broken.” As early as 1929, according to this same report, Frick announced that a Special Peoples’ Court would be created, in which the enemies of the Nazi Party would be called to account for their political acts (_2513-PS_).

(3) _Frick’s activities as Minister of Interior and Education in Thuringia._ Frick’s prominent role in helping to bring the Nazis to power was recognized when on 23 January 1930 he was appointed Minister of the Interior and Education in the German State of Thuringia, the first ministerial appointment controlled by the National Socialists (_3119-PS_).

It was in this capacity that Frick began his manipulation to provide Adolf Hitler with German citizenship, an essential step toward the realization of the Nazi conspiracy. It must be remembered that Hitler at that time was not a German citizen and was regarded by the Prussian police administration as an undesirable alien. This lack of German citizenship was most damaging to the cause of the Nazi Party because, as an alien, Hitler could not become a candidate for the Reich Presidency in Germany.

In the beginning, Frick was unsuccessful when he tried to grant Hitler German citizenship by appointing Hitler as police officer in Thuringia, thus conferring German citizenship automatically. Later he succeeded with a similar maneuver. This was expressly confirmed by Otto Meissner, former State Secretary and Chief of Hitler’s Presidential Chancellery, in an affidavit which reads in part as follows:

“Frick also, in collaboration with Klagges, Minister of
Brunswick, succeeded in naturalizing Hitler as a German citizen
in 1932 by having him appointed a Brunswick government official
(Counsellor of Government). This was done in order to make it
possible for Hitler to run as a candidate for the office of
President of the Reich.” (_3564-PS_)

During his tenure as State Minister in Thuringia, Frick again misused his official authority in order to advance the Nazi conspiracy through measures designed to establish Nazi control over the police, and over the administration and curriculum of universities and schools. Three of his measures are specially noteworthy:

(_a_) Appointment of the Nazi race theoretician, Dr. Guenther, as Professor at the University of Jena, against the wishes of the faculty.

(_b_) Compulsory introduction in the schools of Nazi prayers whose nationalistic, militaristic, and blasphemous character was such that three out of five were declared unconstitutional by the German Constitutional Court on 11 July 1930.

(_c_) Infiltration of Nazis in the Police, which twice provoked a rupture in the administrative relations between the State of Thuringia and the Reich Ministry of the Interior, and resulted in the withdrawal of the important police subsidy payment of the Reich to the State. (_3132-PS; 3128-PS_)

C. _FRICK’S PARTICIPATION IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF TOTALITARIAN CONTROL
OVER GERMANY._

Frick’s appointment as Reichsministerof the Interior in the first Hitler Cabinet of 30 January 1933 gave him the task of “strengthening the power of the government and to secure the New Regime” (_3128-PS_).

(1) _Powers of Frick as Minister of Interior._ To this task his Ministry was perfectly suited. As Minister of the Interior Frick became responsible for the realization of a large part of the conspirators’ program, through both legislation and administration. His Ministry was charged especially with the following tasks:

(_a_) Internal Administration (State and local governments; State and Local Civil Service).

(_b_) Relations between Nazi Party and State.

(_c_) Elections.

(_d_) Citizenship.

(_e_) Racial Law and Policy (Jewish Question, Eugenics), National Health.

(_f_) Armed Forces and Reich Defense (Conscription).

(_g_) Establishment of the New Order in occupied and annexed territories.

(_h_) Legislation, Constitutional Law (civil liberties).

(_i_) Police Forces (including Gestapo, protective custody, concentration camps). (_3303-PS_; _3475-PS_)

The names of the men who, according to (_3475-PS_), worked under Frick’s supervision are significant. Among the subordinates of Frick were “Reich Health Leader, Dr. Conti,” “Reich Fuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police, Heinrich Himmler,” and “Reich Labor Service Leader, Konstantin Hierl.” Frick was, therefore, supreme commander of three important pillars of the Nazi state: The Nazi Public Health Service, the Police System, and the Labor Service.

The wide variety of the activities of Frick as Reich Minister of the Interior can be judged from the following catalogue of his functions: He had final authority on constitutional questions, drafted legislation, had jurisdiction over governmental administration and civil defense, and was final arbiter of questions concerning race and citizenship. The Manual for Administrative Officials also lists sections of his ministry concerned with administrative problems for the occupied territories, including annexed territories, the New Order in the South East, the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and the New Order in the East (_3475-PS_).

The Ministry of the Interior also had considerable authority over the civil service, including such matters as appointment, tenure, promotion, and discharge. The Manual for Administrative Officials (_3475-PS_) states that Frick’s functions included supervision of the general law of civil servants, civil servants’ policies, civil service aspirants, education and training of civil servants and political and other officials. Frick’s Ministry also had extensive jurisdiction over the German civil servants detailed to the administration of the occupied countries. This fact was admitted by Wilhelm Stuckart, former Under Secretary of Frick’s Ministry of the Interior, who stated in an interrogation:

“As far as I know, the officials for the new territories were
selected by the Personnel Office [of the Ministry of the
Interior] according to their qualifications, their physical
condition and maybe also their knowledge of the language.”
(_3570-PS_)

In the full use of these broad powers, Frick made his essential contribution to the advancement of the conspiracy.

(2) _Nazi seizure of power of German States._ His first act after the Conspirators’ accession to power was to install Nazi governments and administrations in all German States where they were not already in power. The State governments which refused to hand over their constitutional authority to the Nazi successors designated by Frick were removed on Frick’s orders. This was the case in Bavaria, Hamburg, Bremen, Luebeck, Hesse, Baden, Wuerttemberg, and Saxony.

The manner and purpose of this program was clearly stated in the book, “Dr. Frick and his Ministry,” which was published by his Under-Secretary Wilhelm Pfundner for Frick’s 60th birthday in order to establish the full scope of his contribution to the creation of the Nazis’ “Thousand-Year Reich”:

“While Marxism in Prussia was crushed by the hard fist of the
Prussian Prime Minister, Hermann Goering, and a gigantic wave of
propaganda was initiated for the Reichstag elections of 5 March
1933, Dr. Frick prepared the complete seizure of power in all
states of the Reich. All at once the political opposition
disappeared. All at once the Main [River] line was eliminated.
From this time on only one will and one leadership reigned in
the German Reich.” (_3119-PS_; _3132-PS_)

(3) _Abolition of political opposition._ Frick then proceeded to destroy all opposition parties in order to establish the political monopoly of the Nazi Party over Germany. Here again he acted by legislative fiat against all parties which did not dissolve voluntarily. Among the laws which he initiated for this purpose were the law of 26 May 1933 confiscating Communists’ property (_1396-PS_); the law of 14 July 1933 confiscating property inimical to nation and state (_1388-PS_); the law of 7 July 1933 voiding the mandates of all Social Democrat candidates elected to Reich state and local diets (_2058-PS_); and the law of 14 July 1933 outlawing all political parties other than the Nazi Party (_1388-A-PS_; see _2403-PS_).

Frick drafted and administered the laws which assured the control of the Nazi Party over the State and “placed the government machinery * * * at the disposal of the Party.” Chief among these enactments were the Law to Secure the Unity of Party and State, of 1 December 1933, which provided that all government agencies should “lend legal and administrative aid to the Party agencies” (_1395-PS_), and the law of 1 August 1934 consolidating the positions of Chief of State and Leader of the Party (_2003-PS_; see _3119-PS_).

The success of this series of measures was accurately described by Frick himself in the following terms:

“In National Socialist Germany, leadership is in the hands of an
organized community, the National Socialist Party; and as the
latter represents the will of the nation, the policy adopted by
it in harmony with the vital interests of the nation is, at the
same time, the policy adopted by the country * * *.” (_3258-PS_)

(4) _Consolidation of power in Reich Cabinet._ Frick’s next task was to consolidate the executive and legislative control thus achieved. First he drafted the law of 24 March 1933, which gave the Reich Cabinet the power to legislate by decree. This law marked the end of parliamentary government in Germany (_2001-PS_).

As a further step in the same direction, Frick prepared a series of laws which destroyed all autonomous State and local government. Through these laws, all governmental power in Germany was consolidated in the Reich Cabinet. Administration of these laws was placed in the hands of Frick. These enactments include the Temporary Law for the Coordination of the States with the Reich, of 31 March 1933 (_2004-PS_); the Law for the Coordination of the States with the Reich, of 7 April 1933 (_2005-PS_); the law of 30 January 1934 transferring the sovereignty of the states to the Reich; the first ordinance under the law of 30 January 1934 subjecting state legislation to Reich approval, 2 February 1934; the second Reich Governor Law of 30 January 1935; the German Municipality Act of 30 January 1935 (_2008-PS_); and the law of 14 February 1934 abolishing the Reichsrat. (see _3119-PS_; _2380-PS_).

Frick drafted the laws which abolished the independence of the civil service, including functionaries of the Reich and the States, judges, and university teachers. As Reichsminister of the Interior, he was charged with the administration of these laws. Among these laws was the Civil Service Act of 7 April 1933, paragraphs 3 and 4 of which provided for the elimination of civil servants on the basis of religious or political beliefs (_1397-PS_; see _3119-PS_).

This complete subjection of the civil servants to the Nazi-controlled Ministry of Interior was well illustrated by an order of Frick demanding a report on civil servants who had failed to vote in the Reichstag elections of 29 March 1936 (_D-43_).

(5) _Establishment of the Police State._ Having thus taken possession of the entire government machinery, Frick organized a huge Reich police in order to maintain the conspirators’ power against all opposition.

It should be emphasized that before this time there was no unified Reich police system; each individual German State had a police force of its own. Even then, Frick had complete control over the police forces, through the Reich Governor Act which subjected the State governments to the authority of the Reich government, in the person of the Reich Minister of the Interior (_2005-PS_; _L-82_).

The decisive change-over to centralized totalitarianism was effected by the Act of 17 June 1936 (RGBl, 1936, Part I, p. 487), which was signed by Frick and Hitler (_2073-PS_). Section 1 of this decree reads as follows:

“For the unification of police duties in the Reich, a Chief of
German Police is instituted in the German Ministry of the
Interior, to whom is assigned the direction and conduct of all
police affairs.” (_2073-PS_)