NSDAP. (2354-PS; USA 430).... End of VIII

8. HANS FRANK

A. FRANK HELD A POSITION OF LEADERSHIP IN THE NATIONALSOZIALISTISCHE DEUTSCHE ARBEITERPARTEI (NSDAP) AND IN THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT.

Frank held the following positions in the NSDAP and the German Government:

(1) Member of NSDAP, 1928–1945.

(2) Member of the Reichstag, 1930-1945.

(3) Reich Minister Without Portfolio, 1934–1945.

(4) Reich Commissar for the Coordination of the State Administration of Justice and for Reformation of the Law (Reichskommisar fuer die Gleichschaltung der Justiz in der Landern und fuer Erneuerung der Rechsordnung), April 1933-December 1934, in the Ministry of Justice.

(5) President, International Chamber of Law, 1941–42. (6) President, Academy of German Law (Praesident der Akademie fuer Deutsches Recht), 1933–1942.

(7) Governor-General of the Occupied Polish Territories (General Gouverneur fuer die besetzten polnischen Gebiete), October 1939-1945.

(8) Bavarian State Minister of Justice, March 1933-December 1934.

(9) Reichsleiter of NSDAP, 1933–1942.

(10) Leader of the National Socialist Lawyers League (Bund Nationalsozialistischer deutscher Juristen), 1933-1942.

(11) Editor or author of the following between 1930 and 1942: (a) “Deutsches Recht"

(Magazine of National Socialist Jurist League)

(b) Magazine of the Academy of German Law.

(c) National Socialist Handbook for Law and Legislation. (2979-PS)

B. FRANK PROMOTED THE SEIZURE OF POWER BY THE NAZI CONSPIRATORS. AS THE LEADING NAZI JURIST, HE FURTHERED THE REALIZATION OF THE CONSPIRATORS' PROGRAM IN THE FIELD OF LAW.

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Frank himself described his role in the Nazi struggle for power in the following words in August 1942: "I have since 1920 continually dedicated my work to the NSDAP. * As National Socialist I was a participant in the events of November 1923, for which I received the Blutorden. After the resurrection of the movement in the year 1925, my real greater activity in the movement began, which made me, first gradually, later almost exclusively, the legal advisor of the Fuehrer and of the Reich leadership of the NSDAP. I thus was the representative of legal interests of the growing Third Reich in a legal ideological as well as practical legal way. The culmination of this work I see in the big Leipzig Army Trial in which I succeeded in having the Fuehrer admitted to the famous oath of legality, a circumstance which gave the Movement the legal grounds to expand generously. The Fuehrer indeed recognized this achievement and in 1926 made me leader of the National Socialist Lawyers League; in 1929 Reich Leader of the Reich Legal Office of the NSDAP; in 1933 Bavarian Minister of Justice; in the same year Reich Commissioner of Justice; in 1934 President of the Academy of German Law founded by me; in December 1934 Reich Minister Without Portfolio; and in 1939 I was finally appointed to Governor General for the occupied Polish territories. "So I was, am and will remain the representative jurist of the struggle period of National Socialism. "I profess myself now, and always, as a National Socialist and a faithful follower of the Fuehrer Adolf Hitler, whom I have now served since 1919." (2233-X-PS)

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Frank's Diary, from which this quotation is taken, to which frequent reference is made in this section, is the official journal, kept at Frank's direction, of his administration in the General Government. It consists of 38 volumes in which are recorded the official texts of speeches, transcripts of conferences, minutes of cabinet sessions, etc. The volumes are divided into several concurrent series (Tagebuch, Abteilungsleitersitzungen etc.) which cover the several aspects of the official business of the administration.

As the "representative jurist of the struggle period of National Socialism" and in the various juridical capacities listed in the preceding section, Frank was between 1933 and 1939 the most prominent policy-maker in the field of German legal theory.

In 1934 Frank founded the Academy of German Law, of which he was president until 1942. The statute defining the functions of the Academy conferred on it wide power to coordinate juridical policies:

"It is the task of the Academy for German Law to further the rejuvenation of the Law in Germany. Closely connected with the agencies competent for legislation, it shall further the realization of the National Socialist Program in the realm of Law. This task shall be carried out through well-fixed scientific methods.

"The Academy's task shall cover primarily:

"1. The composition, the initiation, judging and preparing of drafts of law.

"2. The collaboration in rejuvenating and unifying the training in jurisprudence and political science.

"3. The editing and supporting of scientific publications.

"4. The financial assistance for research and work in specific fields of Law and Political Economy.

"5. The organization of scientific meetings and the organization of courses.

"6. The cultivation of connections to similar institutions in foreign countries". (1391-PS)

What Frank as policy-maker in the field of law conceived as his task he explained in a radio address on 20 March 1934:

"The first task was that of establishing a unified German State. It was an outstanding historical and juristic-political accomplishment on the part of our Fuehrer that he reached boldly into the development of history and thereby eliminated the sovereignty of the various German states.... "The second fundamental law of the Hitler Reich is racial legislation. The National Socialists were the first ones in the entire history of human law to elevate the concept of race to the status of a legal term. The German nation, unified racially and nationally, will in the future be legally protected