Letters from Vienna #173
Letter to Niklas Frank II
What is a Nazi? Is Dr. Bhakdi one too?
Dear Mr. Frank,
Philippe Sands stated something very interesting indeed: “As you know, I hope, I treat each person as an individual. There is no equation, in my mind, between one person or another. But individuals are connected, and draw inspiration – or not – from each other.”
For you your father was a Nazi and a mass murderer. To what extent, in your mind, do you connect the one with the other, or do the individual actions count more? Or, to put it another way: How much, to your mind, were the ideas (or even “ideals”) and how much were the men (especially their individual, private and public characters) responsible for these appalling crimes? As Philippe Sands rightly points out: people are connected and ideas as well as cultures (especially value structures) link one to the other.
You write of your father:
“My father Hans Frank, Hitler’s governor general in occupied Poland, appointed Otto Wächter governor of Galicia, which was newly integrated into the GG, after our attack on the Soviet Union. Like my father in Kraków, Otto Wächter was a mass murderer in Lemberg. Both were politically responsible for every bestial crime committed by the Germans and Austrians. In his speech in Lemberg on August 1, 1942, my father proved that they both acted consensually, addressing Otto Wächter personally:
“I have to say, party comrade Wächter: You did a great job; in a year you made people forget what a dump this place once was... I’m not talking about the Jews that we still have here; we’ll deal with these Jews too. By the way, I didn’t see any today. Why’s that? There are said to have been thousands and thousands of these Flatfoot Indians in this city once – there wasn’t one to be seen anymore. You haven’t mistreated them, have you?” (The transcript notes “laughter” in the audience).”
“At this point, Otto Wächter did not jump up indignant at my father’s disgusting speech, left the university auditorium and immediately wrote his resignation. No, he certainly showed cheerfulness and let the killing continue without pity! The Ukrainian SS regiment founded by Horst’s father also immediately distinguished itself by excessive war crimes.”
“And as is usual with oh so innocent people, after the end of the war Otto Wächter cowardly fled to the Alps, later to Rome, where the Austrian bishop Hudal took him under his Nazi wing...”
„Mein Vater Hans Frank, Hitlers Generalgouverneur im besetzten Polen, hatte nach unserem Überfall auf die Sowjetunion Otto Wächter zum Gouverneur des neu ins GG integrierte Galizien ernannt. Otto Wächter betätigte sich in Lemberg ebenso wie mein Vater in Krakau als Massenmörder. Beide waren politisch für jedes von Deutschen und Österreichern verübte viehische Verbrechen verantwortlich. Dass sie beide einvernehmlich handelten, bewies mein Vater in seiner Rede in Lemberg am 1. August 1942, wobei er Otto Wächter persönlich anredete:“
„Ich muss sagen, Parteigenosse Wächter: Das habt ihr fein gemacht; in einem Jahr habt ihr vergessen lassen, was das für ein Drecksnest war... Ich spreche hier nicht von den Juden, die wir hier noch haben; mit diesen Juden werden wir auch fertig. Übrigens habe ich heute gar nichts mehr davon gesehen. Was ist denn das? Es soll doch in dieser Stadt einmal Tausende und Abertausende von diesen Plattfußindianern gegeben haben - es war keiner mehr zu sehen. Ihr werdet doch am Ende mit denen nicht böse umgegangen sein?“ (Das Protokoll notiert „Heiterkeit“ bei den Zuhörern)“
„Otto Wächter ist an dieser Stelle von meines Vaters widerwärtigen Rede nicht empört aufgesprungen, hat die Universitätsaula verlassen und umgehend sein Rücktrittsgesuch verfasst. Nein, er hat sicher auch Heiterkeit gezeigt und mitleidslos weiter morden lassen! Auch das von Horsts Vater gegründete ukrainische SS Regiment zeichnete sich umgehend durch maßlose Kriegsverbrechen aus.“
„Und wie das bei ach so unschuldigen Menschen üblich ist, floh Otto Wächter nach Kriegsende feig in die Alpen, später nach Rom, wo ihn der österreichische Bischof Hudal unter seine Nazi-Fittiche nahm...“
One needs to distinguish words from deeds. Was this the worst crime you accuse Otto von Wächter of or are there others you have failed to mention? To what extent did he “let the killing continue without pity”? Please elaborate on this statement; I would sincerely like to know more.
Horst cites in his father’s defense the following document:
The Higher SS and Police Leader East, Kraków 24.II:1942
To the
Governor of the District of Galicia
SS Brigade leader Dr.Wächter
Lemberg
Mr. Governor!
I received the letter of 20.2.1942, the content of which I found extremely disconcerting...
For me, as a senior SS and police leader, there was no need to express myself immediately after your introductory words, since only those who had to report on the ins and outs of the matter had to speak. I also gave expression to this sentiment. If I took the floor at the request of the State Secretary, I only did so in response to your words, since I had to establish from the outset that the reasoning you gave had a bias. I immediately wrote down your words that “a German colonization of the eastern region during the war would bring about the collapse of production”. In doing so, you clearly laid down your fundamental position in front of this body, without there being any need to do so or without this point even being raised. It was a matter of course for me, as the representative of the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationality, that I would strongly oppose your attitude. ...
The Reichsführer SS (Himmler) placed me as a higher and police leader here in this area as his representative. I carry out all my actions and measures as a member of the SS. You are here in the Government General as a high-ranking official and high official of the party and carry out your duties as a politician. Although you wear the uniform of an SS Brigadeführer, you have never allowed yourself to be guided by the fact that you are a member of the SS when carrying out the tasks assigned to you as a politician...
KRÜGER e.h.
SS Obergruppenführer
He also states:
“The first mass murder, the first “Jewish evacuation” from Lemberg, took place from March 15 to April 1, 1942 and cost the lives of 15,000 people. “Katzmann was one of the most brutal SS and police leaders in Poland. The first deportation of Jews from Lemberg in March 1942 was headed by police director Dr. Ullrich, who reported to the governor. In Katzmann’s eyes, this action was taking place much too slowly. In the course of this, too few Jews were deported to the Belzec extermination camp. Therefore, on the third day of the resettlement, SS Brigadefuhrer Katzmann released Police Director Dr. Ullrich from continuing the operation and took over the management of the operation himself.”[1]; As a consequence, the Police Director of Lwiw Dr. Albert Ullrich under the jurisdiction of my father was never charged after the war. In 1950 he started to work for the regional government in Styria in Graz.”
According to one text I researched:
“Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 21 June 1941, the Soviet-occupied eastern part of the former Austrian province of Galicia was attached to the General Gouvernment as the District of Galicia. Its capital city variously known as L’viv (Ukrainian), L’wow (Polish) and Lemberg (German) had been – after Vienna, Budapest and Prague – the largest in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where Poles, Ukrainians and Jews had lived together for centuries. The first German governor was Karl Lasch, an intimate friend of Frank, who was later arrested and shot for extensive black-market activities on orders of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler. Wächter was chosen by Hitler “as the best man on the spot” and inserted as Governor on 22 January 1943. His first official visit was to the Greek Catholic Metropolit Andrij Aleksander Szeptycki (Sheptytsky), a very influential and widely respected personality. With his assistance Wächter endeavored to promote a greater degree of co-operation among the occupying Germans and the various ethnic elements in the district of Galicia. Consequently, he immediately found himself in conflict with SS-Obergruppenführer Friedrich Wilhelm Krüger, the Reichsführer’s representative in the Generalgovernment and executor of his planned large-scale resettlement programs. At the government meeting in Kraków on 17 February, Wächter publicly opposed plans to “germanize” the city of Lemberg, which would have resulted in the expulsion of its entire population stating: “A German colonization of the East during the war would bring about the collapse of production.” Wächter’s continued opposition to Krüger’s policies led to a number of open confrontations. To avoid further altercations, Himmler offered Wächter the chance to relocate to Vienna, which he declined. As Governor of Galicia, while he remained a firm believer in the principle “Germany first”, his administration often went further to accommodate the wishes of the population than it was required to. He was frequently obliged to use his influence and connections by first circumventing General Governor Hans Frank and by exploiting the strained relations between Frank and Himmler to pursue his own policies. Wächter consciously selected men with liberal views for the key posts in his administration, notably his department heads Otto Bauer and Dr. Ludwig Losacker, with whom he consulted before deciding all important issues. In late 1942 Wächter visited the “Reichskommissariat Ukraine” (eastern Ukraine) to witness first-hand the effect of the implementation of the Nazi “Untermensch” (subhuman) philosophy by Gauleiter Erich Koch and his policies of repression and subjugation. On his return in December 1942 he sent a secret ten-page letter to Martin Bormann in the Führerhauptquartier (Führer Headquarters) in Berlin, criticizing the serious mistakes made in the handling of the Ukrainians and their far-reaching ramifications with regard the overall conduct of the German policy in the east during the war against the Soviet Union.”
“Whilst Governor of Galicia, he established a Waffen-SS Division recruited from the Ukrainian population of Galicia, under German supervision, to fight against the hated Bolsheviks. The formation of the unit was approved by Himmler after the disastrous German defeat at Stalingrad. Wächter submitted the proposal to Himmler on 1 March 1943 and on 28 April 28 the SS Division “Galicia” was publicly inaugurated.”[2]
Yet I am too far removed from my original question, which is: what constitutes a Nazi and is Dr. Bhakdi, who will be charged in court tomorrow, one too?
Best,
Michael
[1] “Institution of Documentation in Israel for the investigation of Nazi War Crimes”, Haifa 2002, ed. T. Friedman