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                          Judgment
                           of the
               International Military Tribunal
                           For The
             Trial of German Major War Criminals

                           London
               His Majesty's Stationery Office
                            1951
                                                            
                                                   [Page 96]

                            Frank
                                                            
Frank is indicted under Counts One, Three, and Four. Frank
joined the Nazi Party in 1927. He became a member of the
Reichstag in 1930, the Bavarian State Minister of Justice in
March, 1933, and when this position was incorporated into
the Reich Government in 1934, Reich Minister without
Portfolio. He was made a Reichsleiter of the Nazi Party in
charge of Legal Affairs in 1933, and in the same year
President of the Academy of German Law. Frank was also given
the honorary rank of Obergruppenfuehrer in the SA. In 1942
Frank became involved in a temporary dispute with Himmler as
to the type of legal system which should be in effect in
Germany. During the same year he was dismissed as
Reichsleiter of the Nazi Party and as President of the
Academy of German Law.

Crimes against Peace

The evidence has not satisfied the Tribunal that Frank was
sufficiently connected with the common plan to wage
aggressive war to allow the Tribunal to convict him on Count
One.

War Crimes and Crimes against humanity

Frank was appointed Chief Civil Administration Officer for
occupied Polish territory and, on 12th October, 1939, was
made Governor General of the occupied Polish territory. On
3rd October, 1939, he described the policy

                                                   [Page 97]
                                                            
which he intended to put into effect by stating: "Poland
shall be treated like a colony; the Poles will become the
slaves of the Greater German World Empire." The evidence
establishes that this occupation policy was based on the
complete destruction of Poland as a national entity, and a
ruthless exploitation of its human and economic resources
for the German war effort. All opposition was crushed with
the utmost harshness. A reign of terror was instituted,
backed by summary police courts which ordered such actions
as the public shootings of groups of twenty to two hundred
Poles, and the widespread shootings of hostages. The
concentration camp system was introduced in the General
Government by the establishment of the notorious Treblinka
and Maidaneck camps. As early as 6th February, 1940, Frank
gave an indication of the extent of this reign of terror by
his cynical comment to a newspaper reporter on Von Neurath's
poster announcing the execution of the Czech students: "If I
wished to order that one should hang up posters about every
seven Poles shot, there would not be enough forests in
Poland with which to make the paper for these posters." On
30 May, 1940, Frank told a police conference that he was
taking advantage of the offensive in the West which diverted
the attention of the world from Poland to liquidate
thousands of Poles who would be likely to resist German
domination of Poland, including "the leading representatives
of the Polish intelligentsia." Pursuant to these
instructions the brutal A.B. action was begun under which
the Security Police and SD carried out these exterminations
which were only partially subjected to the restraints of
legal procedure. On 2nd October, 1943, Frank issued a decree
under which any non-Germans hindering German construction in
the General Government were to be tried by summary courts of
the Security Police and SD and sentenced to death.

The economic demands made on the General Government were far
in excess of the needs of the army of occupation, and were
out of all proportion to the resources of the country. The
food raised in Poland was shipped to Germany on such a wide
scale that the rations of the population of the occupied
territories were reduced to the starvation level, and
epidemics were widespread. Some steps were taken to provide
for the feeding of the agricultural workers who were used to
raise the crops, but the requirements of the rest of the
population were disregarded. It is undoubtedly true, as
argued by counsel for the Defense, that some suffering in
the General Government was inevitable as a result of the
ravages of war and the economic confusion resulting
therefrom. But the suffering was increased by a planned
policy of economic exploitation.

Frank introduced the deportation of slave laborers to
Germany in the very early stages of his administration. On
25th January, 1940, he indicated his intention of deporting
one million laborers to Germany, suggesting on 10th May,
1940, the use of police raids to meet this quota. On 18th
August, 1942, Frank reported that he had already supplied
800,000 workers for the Reich, and expected to be able to
supply 140,000 more before the end of the year.

The persecution of the Jews was immediately begun in the
General Government. The area originally contained from
2,500,000 to 3,500,000 Jews. They were forced into ghettos,
subjected to discriminatory laws, deprived of the food
necessary to avoid starvation, and finally systematically
and brutally exterminated. On 16th December, 1941, Frank
told the Cabinet of the Governor General: "We must
annihilate the Jews, wherever we find them and wherever it
is possible, in order to maintain there the structure of the
Reich as a whole." By 25th January, 1944, Frank estimated
that there were only 100,000 Jews left.

                                                   [Page 98]
                                                            
At the beginning of his testimony, Frank stated that he had
a feeling of "terrible guilt" for the atrocities committed
in the occupied territories. But his defense was largely
devoted to an attempt to prove that he was not in fact
responsible; that he ordered only the necessary pacification
measures; that the excesses were due to the activities of
the police which were not under his control; and that he
never even knew of the activities of the concentration
camps. It had also been argued that the starvation was due
to the aftermath of the war and policies carried out under
the Four Year Plan; that the forced labor program was under
the direction of Sauckel; and that the extermination of the
Jews was by the police and SS under direct orders from
Himmler.

It is undoubtedly true that most of the criminal program
charged against Frank was put into effect through the
police, that Frank had jurisdictional difficulties with
Himmler over the control of the police, and that Hitler
resolved many of these disputes in favor of Himmler. It
therefore may well be true that some of the crimes committed
in the General Government were committed without the
knowledge of Frank, and even occasionally despite his
opposition. It may also be true that some of the criminal
policies put into effect in the General Government did not
originate with Frank but were carried out pursuant to orders
from Germany. But it is also true that Frank was a willing
and knowing participant in the use of terrorism in Poland;
in the economic exploitation of Poland in a way which led to
the death by starvation of a large number of people; in the
deportation to Germany as slave laborers of over a million
Poles; and in a program involving the murder of at least 3
million Jews.

Conclusion: The Tribunal finds that Frank is not guilty on
Count One but guilty under Counts Three and Four.


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