Frank, Hans

Frank, Hans, b 23 May 1900 in Karlsruhe, Germany, d 16 October 1946 in Nuremberg, Germany. German jurist and Nazi leader. In 1934 Frank was appointed German minister of justice. In 1939–45 he served in Cracow as governor-general of the German-occupied parts of Poland and Galicia, the Generalgouvernement, where he implemented discriminatory and repressive policies vis-à-vis Poles, Jews, and Ukrainians. He tolerated the restricted cultural and relief activities of the Ukrainian Central Committee and tried to maintain tensions between the Poles and Ukrainians. He promoted plans for the future Germanization of Galicia. At the Nuremberg trials of the chief Nazi war criminals Frank was sentenced to death by hanging. (See also Nazi war crimes in Ukraine.)

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]