Karl Hermann Frank was a prominent Sudeten German Nazi official in the protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia before and during World War II. He commanded the Nazi police apparatus in the protectorate. After the war, Frank was convicted and executed for his participation in organizing the massacres of residents of Czech villages.
Early years and education
Frank was born in Carlsbad, Bohemia in Austria-Hungary. His father (a supporter of the politics of Georg Ritter von Schonerer) taught him nationalist agitation. Karl Frank tried to enroll in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I, but was refused due to blindness in his right eye. He spent a year at the German language law school in Prague and worked as a tutor to make money.
Party career
An outspoken proponent of Germany's inclusion of the Sudetenland, Frank joined the German National Socialist Labor Party (DNSAP) in 1923 and helped found several DNSAP chapters in North Bohemia and Silesia. In 1925, Frank opened a bookstore specializing in socialist literature. In 1933, Karl joined the Sudeten German National Front (SDF), which officially became the Sudeten German Party (SDP) in 1935. Then he worked in the department of public relations and propaganda of the SDP.
In 1935, Frank became deputy head of the SDP and was elected a member of the Czechoslovak parliament. Karl officially joined the Nazi Party and the SS on November 1, 1938.
The Second World War
In 1939, Karl Frank was promoted to SS-Gruppenführer and appointed Secretary of State of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia under the Protector Constantin von Neurath. Himmler also named him the Supreme SS and Police Leader of the Protectorate, making him a senior SS officer. Although nominally under the rule of Neurath, Frank wielded tremendous power in the protectorate. He had the ability to control the Nazi police apparatus in the protectorate, including the Gestapo, SD and Kripo.
As Secretary of State and Chief of Police, Frank pursued a policy of brutal suppression of dissenting Czechs and sought the arrest of the Prime Minister of Moravia, Alois Elias. Karl's actions were opposed by Neurath's "soft approach" to the Czechs, which encouraged anti-German resistance with strikes and sabotage. This angered Frank and led him to secretly work to discredit Neurath.
Hitler's decision to take a more radical approach in Bohemia and Moravia should have worked in Frank's favor. Hitler relieved Neurath of his duties on 23 September 1941, although he was still Reich Chancellor. Frank hoped that he would be appointed head of the protectorate, but he was bypassed in favor of Reinhard Heydrich. Heydrich was recruited to pursue politics, contribute to the fight against the Nazi regime and maintain quotas for the production of Czech engines and weapons, which were extremely important to the German war effort. The working relationship between Frank and Heydrich was good, as they were both ambitious and violent. They launched terror in the protectorate, arresting and killing opponents and intensifying the deportation of Jews to concentration camps. According to Heydrich, by February 1942, between 4,000 and 5,000 people had been arrested and between 300 and 500 killed.
Trial and execution
Frank was arrested by the US Army in the Rokitsani area on May 10, 1945. He was extradited to the Prague People's Court and tried in 1946. After being convicted of war crimes, Frank was sentenced to death. He was hanged on May 22, 1946 in the courtyard of the famous Prague prison Pankrac. Karl was buried in Dyablice (a cemetery in Prague). His family was also convicted.
