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NAZI leaders Wilhelm Frick Reich Minister of the Interior
Wilhelm Frick: Reich Minister of the Interior
Figure 1.--Hitler appointed Arthur Greiset Gauleier of part of occupied western Poland--Reichsgau Wartheland (initially Reichsgau Posen). Here he is being installed (November 4, 1939). Notice the Hitler Youth children in front attending the event. Greiset was involved in the Holocaust, driving Jews from his Gau into the General Government. They had to move on foot without food or other supplies and in all weather conditions. The Poles were treated a little diufferently. Some Poles were slloed to stay and be recognized as Aryan Germans. Interir Minister Frick is with Greiset. Frick would write the regulations for processing the Poles snd determining who could be accepted as Aryan Germns.
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When Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor (January 1933), he immediately appointed appointed Frick to the key post of Reich Minister of the Interior. And as Minister he played a central role in making the the horific NAZI atrocities possible. Frick's role was in the governmental administration. He has been described as the 'administrative brain' who organized the German state to implement the NAZI dictrine with which he was in full agreement. He also helped prepare the NAZI state for aggressive war. It was Frick who payed the key role of transforming NAZI ideology intp into actual political action. Which he did swiftly and efficiently. He was essentially the behind the scenes manager of the NAZI reign of terror. He was not one of the headline killers like Himmler, Göring. and Heydrich, but Hitler gave him broad discretion which he exercised fully, and was well aware of the criminal purpose of the acts committed by his cocorspirators. Frick played a leading role faciltating NAZI anti-Semitic measures, abolishing political parties, and sending political dissidents to concentration camps. Frick was one of the older NAZI leaders. In most of Europe, the Interior Ministry was responsible for the police and law enforcemrent. Because of Germany's federal system, this was not the case when Hitler was initially appointed Chancellor. Hermann Göring in Prussia and Himmler in Bavaria had more control over the police. This changed with the Enabling Act (March 1933) which Frick helped draft. Thus was a major step in establishjing Hitler's seizure of power and dictatorship -- Machtergreifung. The Enbbling Act was just thev begiunning. Frick in his first 2 years prepared and signing some 235 laws and decrees to place the NAZI dictatoershio firmly in power. Frick helped draft the Conscription Act, a key step in preparing for war (March, 1935). He also played an important role in drafting the Nuremberg Acts (September 1935) which defined NAZI racist policies and stripped Jews of their citzenship. This legalized the persecution of German Jews and initaited a more organized program of percecution. Frick became involved in a struggle with Heinrich Himmler and the Schutzstaffel (SS). There does not appear to be any major policy disagreemnents, but more of a personal struggles for power. Frick was gradually sidelined by Göring and Himmler who took effective contol of the German police and completed the centralization of law enforcement within the SS structure. Despite his anti-Semitism, Frick does not see to have been a major player in the killing phase of the Holocaust. It was Frick, howeverm that played an important role in setting up concentration camps and had full kmnowledge of them. It is bekieved that Frick ordered around 100,000 people to be sent to one of them. Here we are not talking about the death camps, but concentration camps. Hitler tranferred actual control over the police to Himmler (1936). Frick as Minister of the Interior was involved in a range of crimes in occupied countries, most promenently in Poland where Poles were deprived of their rights and property (figure 1). Many driven on forced marches east into the General Government (1939-40). As the War progressed. it was the SS that was essentially holding the NAZI dictatorship together and playing an increasingly important battlefield role. Thus Frick was no going to win any power struggle with Himmler. Hitler at Himmler's urging finally removed Frick as Minister of the Interior (1943).
Importance
One historial put Frick's role sucuntly. "Frick’s cold pragmatism and shrewd manipulation of the law would become hallmarks of his career in the Third Reich." [Kost, p. 86.]] When Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor (January 1933), he immediately appointed appointed Frick to the key post of Reich Minister of the Interior. And as Minister he played a central role in making the the horific NAZI atrocities possible. Frick's role was in the governmental administration. He has been described as the 'administrative brain' who organized the German state to implement the NAZI dictrine with which he was in full agreement. He also helped prepare the NAZI state for aggressive war. It was Frick who payed the key role of transforming NAZI ideology intp into actual political action. Which he did swiftly and efficiently. He was essentially the behind the scenes manager of the NAZI reign of terror.
Knowledge
Frick was not one of the headline killers like Himmler, Göring. and Heydrich, but Hitler gave him broad discretion which he exercised fully, and was well aware of the criminal purpose of the acts committed by his cocorspirators. Frick played a leading role faciltating NAZI anti-Semitic measures, abolishing political parties, and sending political dissidents to concentration camps. Frick was one of the older NAZI leaders.
Installing the Dictatorship (1933-34)
In most of Europe, the Interior Ministry was responsible for the police and law enforcemrent. Because of Germany's federal system, this was not the case when Hitler was initially appointed Chancellor. Hermann Göring in Prussia and Himmler in Bavaria had more control over the police. This changed with the Enabling Act (March 1933) which Frick helped draft. Thus was a major step in establishjing Hitler's seizure of power and dictatorship -- Machtergreifung. The Enbbling Act was just thev begiunning. Frick in his first 2 years prepared and signing some 235 laws and decrees to place the NAZI dictatoershio firmly in power.
Facilitaing Aggressive War
Frick helped draft the Conscription Act, a key step in preparing for war (March, 1935). Conscription was vital. It was necessary to have a large army. Only through conscription could Germany have a an army that could pose a threat. This was why conscription was prohibited in the Versailles Treaty and a cap placed on the size of the Aemy. With comscription, Hitler would have a sizeable army that could carry his NAZI program beyond the boundaries of the Reich. Which was his goal from the beginning which is claer from the most cursory reading of Mein Kampf
Facilitating the Holocaust
From the very beginning of the NAZI regime, decrees and lawas emerging from Frick's Ministry targeted Jews making it increasingly difficult to live in Germany. The most importamt of these kaws came in 1935 with the Nuremberg Laws. Frick polayed an important role in drafting the Nuremberg Laws (September 1935) which defined NAZI racist policies and stripped Jews of their citzenship. This legalized the persecution of German Jews and initaited a more organized program of percecution.
Cenr=tralized Police
Imperial Germany was composed by thge many kingdoms and ,edival princiopalities dating back tio the medieval era. Meaning the German police was a hidgepodge of local forces. And tghis system was comtinued in the Weimar Republic although the various monarchies were deposed. The NAZIs changes this and it was largely the work Frink. A a result, for the first time, Germany had uniform police system for the entire Reich. Frick was its creator and its first supreme head. He was obliged by Hitler to appoint the Gestapo chief, Heinrich Himmler, Chief of the German Police. Frick was nomily the highest controlling authority over concentration camps, although his actual control is unclear. He is known to have personally inspected these camps. The Ministry had a Medical Division. [Office, Vol. II, pp. 653-54.] Frick thus controlled the NAZI asylums and medical institutions in which forced sterilizations and murders of handicapped children weee carried out. Word lraked out about the T-4 program. It tought Hitler a lesson. Fuiture killing programs would be entrusted to the SS. .
Power Struggle
Frick became involved in a struggle with Heinrich Himmler and the Schutzstaffel (SS) which wassupported by Göring. There does not appear to be any major policy disagreemnents, but more of a personal struggles for power. Although extra judicual killing may have been an issue. Frick was a hard core anti-Semite, it is not clear if he favoired murder, but there is no evidence that he was particularly bothered by it. Frick was gradually sidelined by Göring and Himmler who took effective contol of the German police and completed the centralization of law enforcement within the SS structure. Frick lost because of his lack of political accumen. In the NAZI power struggles, what was important was to gain Hitler's favor. Frick understood this. What he did not understand was how to do this. He assumed that Hitler would turn to competence and logical arguments aboyt the most beneficial policies. Himmler, Heydrich, and Göring understood that the key to power was detrrmnining wehat Hiutler wanted and g=offer him to it. Frick's defenses attorney at Nuremberg gets into this in his funal argument. "..In his testimony the witness Gisevius refers to an additional memorandum which he himself drew up for Frick as a further attempt to restrain through severe criticism and by suggestions for legal control the arbitrary practices of the political police in the states. All of these attempts failed because Frick's political influence was too insignificant and he could not assert himself against Goering and Himmler, and because at the time Frick himself could not yet see that the practices of Goering and Himmler were essentially in harmony with what Hitler actually wanted himself. Thus the documents submitted by the Prosecution, taken in conjunction with the evidence offered by the Defense, show that in the domain of the political police and in ordering protective custody, Frick had a certain competency at a time when the police was still a service administered by the individual states. This evidence also shows that during that time Frick's jurisdiction was very limited and it further shows that Frick, acting within the bounds of his competency, took action solely in order to intervene against the terror and arbitrary actions of the Gestapo through general instructions and through repeated complaints in individual cases, so that the conclusion is not justified that Frick in any way actively participated in the Gestapo's measures of terror and violence..." [Pannenbecker]
Holocaust Role
Despite his anti-Semitism, Frick does not see to have been a major player in the killing phase of the Holocaust. It was Frick, howeverm that played an important role in setting up concentration camps and had full kmnowledge of them. It is bekieved that Frick ordered around 100,000 people to be sent to one of them. Here we are not talking about the death camps, but concentration camps.
Police Power
Hitler tranferred actual control over the police to Himmler (1936).
Occupation Policy
Frick as Minister of the Interior was involved in a range of crimes in occupied countries, most promenently in Poland where Poles were deprived of their rights and property (figure 1). Many driven on forced marches east into the General Government (1939-40).
Removal
As the War progressed. it was the SS that was essentially holding the NAZI dictatorship together and playing an increasingly important battlefield role. Thus Frick was no going to win any power struggle with Himmler. Hitler at Himmler's urging finally removed Frick as Minister of the Interior (1943). Actually this was something Frick wanted. In the NAZI system, however, ministers were not allowed to resign. Frick had lost any real power when Hitler transferred police power to Himmler (1936). We are not sure when Frick decided he wanted to reign, but it was sometime before he was actually removed.
Sources
Kost, Hannah. "A Devil of the Details: The Life and Crimes of Nazi Wilhelm Frick," Mount Royal Undergraduate Humanities Review Vol. 3. (2015), pp. 85-91.
Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. NAZI Conspiracy and Aggression (GPO: Washigon, 1946).
Pannenbecker, Otto. Closing argument in Wilhelm Fritz' s defense (July 11, 1946).
