Overview
- Description
- A diary of Hans Frank (Hans Frank Tagebuch). a governor of occupied Poland during World War II. The diary entries relate to all aspect of Generalgouvernment (GG) administration from its seat in the royal Wawel castle in Krakau (Kraków). The journal is in typed in chronological order. The entries reflect careful, thoughtful consideration of administrative matters, rather than the spontaneous thoughts or feelings usually found in a diary.
- Alternate Title
- Selected records of the Generalgouverneur in Polen
- Date
-
inclusive:
1939-1945
- Collection Creator
- Hans Frank
- Biography
-
Hans Frank (1900-1946) was Governor-General of Poland and Hitler's personal attorney. Frank joined a Freikorps unit to fight the Communists, after serving just one year in World War I. In 1919 Frank joined the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, which was later absorbed into the NSDAP. In 1923 he participated in the Beer Hall Putsch as a stormtrooper. In 1926 he passed the bar exam and soon became a star lawyer for the NSDAP, successfully defending Hitler on more than one hundred occasions. He was rewarded with high positions such as Reich Minister of Justice, President of the Academy of German Law, and President of the International Chamber of Law. Frank also became head of the NSDAP legal office and took charge of the research to prove Hitler was not a Jew. In October 1939, soon after the outbreak of World War II, he was named Governor-General of occupied Poland. He was responsible for the exploitation of the civilian population, both Jews and non-Jews; the plundering of Polish cultural treasures for his personal benefit; and the deportation and execution of Jews. He was never included in Hitler's inner circle because Hitler mistrusted lawyers and rejected his middle-class background. In 1942, in a lecture to university students, Frank called for a return to constitutional law, a statement which led to his demise. He was stripped of all party honors and legal positions, except for Governor-General of Poland, because Hitler considered it the worst possible job. After the war Frank converted to Catholicism and confessed his guilt before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. He accused Hitler of deceiving the German people, but he was not spared from a death sentence on three counts of war crimes and four counts of crimes against humanity. He was executed on October 16, 1946.
- Reference
- RG-67.038M, Diary of Hans Frank (National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), RG-238)
Piotrowski, Stanislaw. Hans Frank's diary. Warszawa : Panstwowe Wydawn. Naukowe, 1961.
Physical Details
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- This material can only be accessed in a Museum reading room or other on-campus viewing stations. Researchers must complete and sign a User Declaration form before access is granted to materials from the Institute of National Remembrance (Instytut Pamięci Narodowej).
- Conditions on Use
- 1. Each researcher using the materials obtained from the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) or materials whose originals belong to the IPN must complete the registration procedure required by USHMM.
2. Publication or reproduction of documents (in the original language, in facsimile form or in the form of a translation of an excerpt or of the entire document) or making them available to a third party in any form requires the written consent of the Institute of National Remembrance (archiwumipn@ipn.gov.pl). The use of an excerpt defined as the fair use right to quote does not require obtaining consent.
3. Researchers assume all responsibility for the use of materials that belong to the Institute of National Remembrance.
4. References to documents that belong to the Institute of National Remembrance must cite the Institute of National Remembrance as the owner of the original documents and include the full reference citation of the Institute of National Remembrance in the citations. - Copyright Holder
- Instytut Pamięci Narodowej-Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- World War, 1939-1945--Destruction and pillage--Poland. World War, 1939-1945--Atrocities--Poland. War criminals--Germany--Biography. Nazis--Biography. Holocaust, Jewish--1939-1945.
- Geographic Name
- Berlin (Germany) Kraków (Poland)---History--Occupation, 1939-1945. Krynica (Poland) Krzeszowice (Poland) Lʹviv (Ukraine) Łódź (Poland)--History--Occupation, 1939-1945. Lublin (Poland)--German occupation, 1939-1945. Poland--History--Occupation--1939-1945. Radom (Poland) Tarnów (Poland) Zakopane (Poland)
- Personal Name
- Frank, Hans, 1900-1946.
- Corporate Name
- Nazi Party
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
Instytut Pamięci Narodowej-Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Source of acquisition is the Instytut Pamięci Narodowej-Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the filmed collection via the United States Holocaust Museum International Archives Project in Jan. 2020. This is a cooperative project based on the agreement between USHMM and Yad Vashem, Israel.
- Record last modified:
- 2023-06-01 09:14:43
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn713699
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