Jews in Kazimierz in 1940 before the establishment of the ghetto

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. On April 2, 1925, Hans Frank married Brigitte Herbst (December 25, 1895-March 9, 1959). They had five children: Sigrid Frank (March 13, 1927-1973 by suicide); Norman Frank (June 3, 1928- 2010); Brigitte Frank (January 13,1935-1981); Michael Frank (February 15, 1937-1990); and Niklas Frank (March 9, 1939- ). In color, inside Kazimierz (the Jewish neighborhood of Krakow), Jews wear armbands with the Star of David. Men peer at camera from a shop entrance in BG. Pan of public announcement poster in Polish signed by Schmid (Bekanntmachung LXII was published on May 10, 1940). [Schmid served as Stadthauptmann of Krakow from February 21, 1940 to March 31, 1941; the ghetto was formed on March 3, 1941.] Red Cross YMCA poster. Good CUs of children, one barefoot. Tram, bookstore, and other shops show street activity. Horse and buggy. Street scenes with pedestrians and shuttered shops. 01:18:05 A Jewish man looks at the camera from his storefront labeled with "Jewish store" sign. More shops, including Samuel Pluczenik's textile store [see letters written by the shop's proprietor about a Jewish employee in the USHMM Archive under RG-15.098M]. Street scenes with Jewish children and adults.