1946: Karl Hermann Frank
May 22nd, 2009 Headsman
On this date in 1946, the Sudeten German whose fifth column had paved the way for the Nazi conquest of Czechoslovakia expiated his war crimes at Prague’s Pankrac Prison.
Karl Hermann Frank (English Wikipedia page | German) had been a prewar mover and shaker in the Sudeten German Party, increasingly the Reich’s stalking-horse as it bluffed European rivals into acceding to Czechoslovakia’s dismemberment.
The onetime Czechoslovakian MP did well by the Anschluss, gaining the rank of Obergruppenführer and becoming one Bohemia and Moravia’s top evildoers.
Notably, he helped orchestrate (though the orders for it came from above) the notorious massacre of Lidice in revenge for the assassination of Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich.
The Lidice operation formed a war crimes charge against Herr Frank after the war, and Frank’s own lasting badge of infamy: the systematic destruction of the entire male population of an arbitrarily chosen village remains the emblematic crime of the Nazi occupation to this day.
Thousands of spectators came to see the former “Protector of Bohemia and Moravia” executed in Prague’s Pankrac Prison by the Austro-Hungarian “pole hanging” method, as depicted in the film above.
Those of Lidice’s widows who were able to come — and widows of some of the 30,000 other Czechs for whose executions Frank had been adjudged indirectly responsible — occupied the second row of seats. …
Not the slightest gleam of compassion could be seen in that long row of unforgiving eyes as Frank, garbed in a ragged Nazi Elite Guard uniform, walked quietly between two guards. …
As the noose was adjusted about his neck, Frank muttered: “Deutschland wird leben auch wenn wir nicht leben” (”Germany will live even if we do not live.”)
The spectators, admitted by special cards, watched quietly in the bright sunshine. (New York Times)
Also On This Date
Possibly Related Executions
- 1948: Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war criminals
- 1946: The Nuremberg Trial War Criminals
- 1941: Masha Bruskina, Kiril Trus, and Volodia Shcherbatsevich, partisans
Entry Filed under: 20th Century, Capital Punishment, Czechoslovakia, Death Penalty, Execution, Hanged, History, Infamous, Mature Content, Occupation and Colonialism, Politicians, Public Executions, Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Soldiers, War Crimes
Tags: 1940s, 1946, karl hermann frank, lidice, lidice massacre, may 22, nationalism, pankrac prison, pole hanging, prague, reinhard heydrich, sudeten german party, world war ii
10 Comments Add your own
1. Kevin M. Sullivan | May 22nd, 2009 at 10:00 am
The free world can’t help but love the story of the killing of Reinhard Heydrich. But oh, what a price was paid for it!
2. ExecutedToday.com »&hellip | June 10th, 2009 at 2:05 am
[...] alive: Heydrich’s right-hand man Karl Hermann Frank, who was hanged in Prague after the war for engineering this monstrous crime. Those survivors of [...]
3. José Antonio | September 28th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Se lo merecia el aseseno de Lidice
4. ExecutedToday.com »&hellip | October 31st, 2009 at 1:42 pm
[...] princess June 2009: The village of Lidice, for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich May 2009: Karl Hermann Frank, who helped engineer the aforementioned Lidice operation April 2009: Rwandan Queen Dowager Rosalie [...]
5. ExecutedToday.com »&hellip | November 30th, 2009 at 10:04 am
[...] villainy one naturally thinks of when reckoning the Third Reich’s war criminals — the Reichsprotekotors and concentration camp commandants; the Adolf Eichmanns and the Beast of [...]
6. Konrad Moller | February 12th, 2010 at 10:34 am
He went to his death like a true SS man.Stone cold ,fearless and without a whimper. Long live the spirit of the SS.
7. Kevin M. Sullivan | February 12th, 2010 at 11:31 am
Konrad–
I find it depressing that, between the Russians, Americans, and the British, we were unable to kill every last member of the SS before the war ended!
8. William Boyd | February 15th, 2010 at 10:37 am
Not all members of the SS were war criminals, a large part of the SS were like our SAS very well trained soldiers. However I must say that the second world war and the rise of Hitler would not have happened if America, GB and France had acted sooner, only an idiot would not have known what Hitler was up to when his party started on the Jews long before the war, and his build up of the military, airforce and navy. The second world war could have been prevented.
9. Stanley Gamero | February 19th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
That Frank faced death stone cold? fearless? without a whimper?. Look again! The guy was catatonic; in stupor; expressionless; frozen at the proximity of his hanging!
10. Mircea | March 14th, 2010 at 3:45 am
He died like a proud SS officer. We will never forget you Hermann.
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed