“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)
“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)
“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 gradualretrogression 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)
“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 gradualretrogression 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)
“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 (SeeEC-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.“ReichshauptamtsleiterDr. 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 ofcoercive measuresshould 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 GeneralKrueger.” (2233-N-PS)
“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.
“ReichshauptamtsleiterDr. 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 ofcoercive measuresshould 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 GeneralKrueger.” (2233-N-PS)
At the same conference Frank declared that he was willing to agree to any practical measures, and decreed that unemploymentcompensation 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 thediscontinuance of unemployment compensationfor unemployed workers and theirtransfer to public welfare. Therefore, he decrees that, beginning1 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)
“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 thediscontinuance of unemployment compensationfor unemployed workers and theirtransfer to public welfare. Therefore, he decrees that, beginning1 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)
“* * * 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)
“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)
“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)
“* * * 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)
“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)
“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 wasdetermined, 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)
“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)
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 benefitedthe 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)
“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)
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 theReichsgesetzblatt.
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 institutionsin 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)
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 mentioninghis name inMein 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)
“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 steptoward 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)
“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)
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 civilservants 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)
“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)
“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 voidingthe 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; see2403-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; see3119-PS).
The success of this series of measures was accurately described by Frick himself in the following terms: