German Leadership

Reich Minister DrJur. Wilhelm Frick

Wilhelm Frick was 46 years old, a highly-qualified lawyer and a high official in the Munich Kriminalpolizei (Kripo) when he took part in the Hitler's 1923 "Beer Hall Putch", an act which resulted in his arrest and dismissal from the police force. He subsequently joined the "resurrrected" National Socialist Party and secured election as a Deputy to the Reichstag, serving a period as parliamentary party leader for the Nazis in that Assembly. On Hitler's assumption of the Chancellorship, Frick was appointed Minister of the Interior. In this post he played a vital role in drawing up the legal construct through which (on the Legal Positivist principles well established in the Germany of that time) the power of Hitler's regime was at least in theory exercised, and in the unification of the German police forces. However, he proved less effective as a Nazi politician. By 1936, he had already effectively lost his power struggle with his (theoretical) subordinate, Heinrich Himmler; with the effective unification of the German police, and Himmler's appointment as Reich Police President (with Reinhard Heydrich as Head of Security), Frick to all intents and purposes lost control of the policing and security system. He had, it would seem, failed to appreciate the significance of the fact that Himmler, as Reichfuhrer-SS, was ultimately responsible to the Fuhrer, and not to the Minister for the Interior. Frick continued the unavailing struggle against Himmler until his final removal as Interior Minister in 1943, when he was replaced by Himmler. As a "consolation prize" it would seem, he was then appointed as Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. In this post he took his full share of blame for the increasingly harsh regime of German rule that succeeded the assasination of Heydrich - although, to a very large extent, the real power in his Protectorate by now lay with SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Karl Hermann Frank, Higher SS and Police Leader. Frick was arrested and tried before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg for war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was convicted and sentenced to death, a sentence executed by hanging on 16 October, 1946. In this 'photo, Frick wears a paramilitary-style tunic. Apart from the Swastika armband, the he is wearing the National Socialist Party Badge in Gold and - rather flamboyantly arranged on his right breast - the rosette and medal of the Blood Order, awarded in respect of his participation in the 1923 Putsch. Best regards, JR.