Karl Herman Frank is 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 participating in the organization of mass killings of residents of Czech villages.
Early years and education
Frank was born in Carlsbad, Bohemia in Austria-Hungary. His father (a supporter of the policy of George Ritter von Schenerer) taught him nationalist agitation. Karl Frank tried to enlist in the Austro-Hungarian army during the First World War, but he was refused because of the blindness of his right eye. He spent a year at a German law school in Prague and worked as a tutor to make money.
Party career
An extreme supporter of the inclusion of the Sudetenland in Germany, Frank joined the German National Socialist Workers Party (DNSAP) in 1923 and participated in the creation of several DNSAP offices 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 PSD.
In 1935, Frank became deputy head of the Social Democratic Party 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 for the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia under Protector Konstantin von Neurath. Himmler also called him the High Chief of the SS and Protectorate Police, making him a senior SS officer. Although nominally Frank was under the rule of Neurath, he possessed tremendous power in the protectorate. He had the opportunity to control the Nazi police apparatus in the protectorate, including the Gestapo, SD and Kripo.
As secretary of state and police chief, Frank pursued a policy of tough suppression of dissenting Czechs and sought the arrest of Moravian Prime Minister Alois Elias. These actions were opposed by Karl "soft approach" of Neurath to the Czechs, encouraging anti-German resistance to strikes and sabotage. This angered Frank and led him to secretly work on discrediting Neurath.
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 duties on September 23, 1941, although he still remained Chancellor. Frank hoped that he would be appointed head of the protectorate, but he was circumvented in favor of Reinhard Heydrich. Heydrich was involved in pursuing politics, contributing to the fight against resistance to the Nazi regime and maintaining quotas for the production of Czech engines and weapons, which were extremely important for the German military efforts. The working relationship between Frank and Heydrich was good, as both were ambitious and cruel. They began terror in the protectorate, arresting and killing opponents and intensifying the deportation of Jews to concentration camps. According to Heydrich, by February 1942, 4, 000 to 5, 000 people were arrested and 300 to 500 were killed.
