Archive/File: imt/nca/nca-02/nca-02-16-responsibility-08-02
Last-Modified: 1997/03/27

   Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Volume Two, Chapter XVI

                                                  [Page 629]
                                                            
C. THROUGH USE OF HIS OFFICE AS GOVERNOR GENERAL, FRANK
PARTICIPATED IN THE CONSPIRACY To COMMIT WAR CRIMES AND
CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY IN THE TERRITORY OF THE GENERAL
GOVERNMENT OF POLAND.

Certain of the war crimes and crimes against humanity
committed by the Nazi conspirators, and in particular by
Frank in the General Government of Poland are discussed in
Chapter X on the Slave Labor Program, Chapter XI on
Concentration Camps, Chapter XII on Persecution of the Jews,
and 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

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 ***

                                                  [Page 630]
                                                            
     "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)

                                                  [Page 631]
                                                            
D. THE PROTOCOL UNDER WHICH THE PURPOSES OF FRANKS
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
     
                                                  [Page 632]
                                                            
     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 Gov-
     
                                                  [Page 633]
                                                            
     rnment 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 non-German 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

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:

                                                  [Page 634]

     "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 outdated 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.

                                                  [Page 635]
                                                            
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
     [Gnadenkommssion] 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 1.6 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)

                                                  [Page 636]
                                                            
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)

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