East West Street by Philippe Sands

Author:Philippe Sands
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2016-05-24T04:00:00+00:00

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FOUR YEARS LATER, as Germany marched into Poland and divided the country with the Soviet Union, Rudolf Hess summoned Frank to Silesia for a personal meeting with Hitler. Following a ten-minute conversation, Frank was appointed governor-general of German-occupied Poland, the führer’s personal representative in an area known as the General Government for the Occupied Polish Territories, a population of 11.5 million people in a territory that encompassed Warsaw in the north and Kraków in the west. He took up the post on October 25, 1939: Hitler’s decree stated that Frank reported personally to the führer—a point noted by Lemkin—and ordered that the entire administration “be directed by the Governor General.” Frank was now personally in charge; his wife, Brigitte, became queen.

In an early interview, Frank explained that Poland was now a “colony,” its inhabitants the “slaves of the Greater German World Empire” (lawyers in Berlin sought to ensure that the international laws that governed occupied territories did not apply—the General Government was effectively treated as an annexed part of the Reich, so German law applied, supposedly unconstrained by international law). In a singular humiliation for Poland, Frank installed himself and his government at the Wawel Castle in Kraków, the former home of Polish kings. Brigitte and their five children joined him, including the youngest, Niklas, born a few months earlier in Munich. Otto von Wächter, fresh from Vienna, was appointed governor of Kraków, one of Frank’s five deputies.

Frank acted like a sovereign, the Polish people being told they were fully subject to his power: this was not a “constitutional state” in which people had rights, and there was to be no protection for minority groups. Warsaw was badly damaged in the short war, but Frank decided not to rebuild. Instead, he signed a raft of decrees, many of which would make their way into the luggage that Lemkin would cart around the world. Frank’s writ covered a large territory and many subjects, from wildlife (protected) to Jews (not protected). From December 1, all Jews more than ten years old were required to wear a white stripe at least ten centimeters wide on the right sleeve, with a Star of David on it, on indoor and outdoor clothing. To save public funds, the Jews were required to produce their own armbands.

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