162-619: The General Government ( German : Generalgouvernement ; Polish : Generalne Gubernatorstwo ; Ukrainian : Генеральна губернія ), formally the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (German: Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete ), was a German zone of occupation established after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany , Slovakia and the Soviet Union in 1939 at
324-465: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it
486-402: A second language , and 75–100 million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220 million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90 million people, or 16% of
648-477: A " blackmail letter" had been received from Hitler's nephew, William Patrick Hitler , who allegedly threatened to reveal embarrassing facts about his uncle's ancestry. Frank said that the investigation uncovered evidence that Maria Schicklgruber , Hitler's paternal grandmother, had been working as a cook in the household of a Jewish man named Leopold Frankenberger before she gave birth to Hitler's father, Alois , out of wedlock. Frank claimed that he had obtained from
810-612: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become
972-576: A German-dominated Europe. According to the Nazi government the Polish state had effectively ceased to exist, in spite of the existence of a Polish government-in-exile . The General Government had the character of a type of colonial state . It was not a Polish puppet government , as there were no Polish representatives above the local administration. The government seat of the General Government
1134-723: A divorce in 1942, after meeting and falling in love with a former childhood acquaintance who was looking for her son, a soldier who had gone missing in the Eastern Front. Brigitte made great efforts to save their marriage in order to remain the "First Lady in the General Government". One of her most famous comments was "I'd rather be widowed than divorced from a Reichsminister!" Frank answered: "So you are my deadly enemy!" Besides making her children intercede for her with their father, she would go on to contact Himmler and Mrs. Goebbels , who would get Hitler to personally forbid Frank from divorcing his wife. Contrary to Hans' later stance on
1296-559: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from
1458-762: A journalist for the Time magazine in Germany, would also participate in the early printing of Schindler's List . In 1987, Niklas Frank wrote a book about his father, Der Vater: Eine Abrechnung ("The Father: A Settling of Accounts"), which was published in English in 1991 as In the Shadow of the Reich . The book, first of a trilogy about his family's experiences, was serialized in the magazine Stern , and caused controversy in Germany, and even in some sectors of Poland, because of
1620-608: A member of the Sturmabteilung (SA), where he would eventually attain the rank of SA- Obergruppenführer in November 1937. In October 1923, he officially joined the NSDAP. In November of the same year, Frank took part in the " Beer Hall Putsch ", the failed coup attempt intended to parallel Mussolini 's March on Rome . In the aftermath of the attempted putsch, Frank fled to Austria , returning to Munich only in 1924, after
1782-402: A memoir called In the Shadow of the Reich ) depicts his father as a craven coward and weakling, but one not without a kind of animal cunning, an instinct for lying, insinuation, self-aggrandizement. For this Hans Frank, disgraced and facing death on the gallows for following Hitler, fabricating such a story might be a cunning way of ensuring his place in history as the one man who gave the world
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#17327731621341944-458: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained
2106-455: A parallel German court-system was established. The German system was given priority in cases of overlapping jurisdiction. New laws were passed, discriminating against ethnic Poles and, in particular, the Jews. In 1941 a new criminal law was introduced, introducing many new crimes, and making the death penalty very common. The death penalty was introduced for, among other things: The police in
2268-696: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In
2430-878: A power struggle with Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger , the State Secretary for Security – head of the SS and the police in the General Government. Krüger himself was ultimately replaced by Wilhelm Koppe . On 16 December 1941, Frank spelt out to his senior officials the approaching annihilation of the Jews: A great Jewish migration will begin in any case. But what should we do with the Jews? Do you think they will be settled in Ostland, in villages? We were told in Berlin, 'Why all this bother? We can do nothing with them either in Ostland or in
2592-561: A relative of Hitler's by marriage a collection of letters between Maria Schicklgruber and a member of the Frankenberger family that discussed a stipend for her after she left the family's employ. According to Frank, Hitler told him that the letters did not prove that the Frankenberger son was his father but rather his grandmother had merely extorted money from Frankenberger by threatening to claim his paternity of her illegitimate child. Frank accepted this explanation, but added that it
2754-483: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it
2916-461: A small number would be "Germanized", and young Poles of desirable qualities would be kidnapped and raised in Germany . In the General Government, all secondary education was abolished and all Polish cultural institutions closed. In 1943, the government selected the Zamojskie area for further Germanization on account of its fertile black soil, and German colonial settlements were planned. Zamość
3078-822: A sympathetic view of the Nazi movement as a consequence. In October 1928, Frank founded the National Socialist German Jurists Association and became its leader. He was also elected to the Reichstag from electoral constituency 8, Leignitz, in October 1930. On 10 March 1933, when the Nazis seized control of the Bavarian state government, Frank was made the Staatskommissar (State Commissioner) in charge of justice, and also
3240-569: A w Berlinie Der Bevollmächtige des Generalgouverneurs in Berlin . Thousands of anti-Semitic posters were distributed in Warsaw. Germans wanted Poles to obey orders. German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It
3402-577: Is a Polish reservation, a great Polish labor camp. — Note of Martin Bormann from the meeting of Dr. Hans Frank with Adolf Hitler , Berlin, 2 October 1940. German bureaucrats drew up various plans regarding the future of the original population. One called for the deportation of about 20 million Poles to western Siberia , and the Germanisation of 4 to 5 million; although deportation in reality meant many Poles were to be put to death,
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#17327731621343564-601: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as
3726-520: Is administered centrally. In the French and Dutch original, the 'General' in the name is a reference to the Estates-General , the central assembly which was given an authority to directly rule the territory. The Nazi designation of Generalgouvernement also gave a nod to the once existing Generalgouvernement Warschau , a civil entity created in the invaded Russian Empire territory by
3888-612: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German
4050-558: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic
4212-708: Is anticipated for Poland, but a complete German administration. (...) Leadership layer of the population in Poland should be as far as possible, disposed of. The other lower layers of the population will receive no special schools, but are to be oppressed in some form. — Excerpt from the minutes of the first conference of Heads of the main police officers and commanders of operational groups led by Heydrich's deputy, SS- Brigadefuhrer Dr. Werner Best , Berlin 7 September 1939 The General Government had no international recognition . The territories it administered were never either in whole or part intended as any future Polish state within
4374-478: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German
4536-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25 million speak it as
4698-535: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in
4860-611: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as
5022-565: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are
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5184-501: Is no evidence outside of Frank's statements for the existence of a "Leopold Frankenberger" living in Graz in the 1830s, and Frank's story is inaccurate on several points such as the claim that Maria Schicklgruber came from "Leonding near Linz", when in fact she came from the hamlet of Strones near the village of Döllersheim . Some suggest that Frank (who turned against Nazism in his defence after 1945 but remained an anti-Semitic fanatic) made
5346-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and
5508-597: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as
5670-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German
5832-525: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c. 1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period
5994-776: Is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and the Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ),
6156-578: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish
6318-485: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers
6480-689: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to
6642-677: The Ordnungspolizei . The Polish educational system was similarly retained, but most higher institutions were closed. The Polish local administration was kept, subordinated to new German bosses. The Polish fiscal system, including the zloty currency, remained in use but with revenues going to the German state. A new bank was created; it issued new banknotes. The Germans sought to play Ukrainians and Poles off against each other. Within ethnic Ukrainian areas annexed by Germany, beginning in October 1939, Ukrainian Committees were established with
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6804-625: The Sonderdienst , based on similar SS formations called Selbstschutz operating in the Warthegau district of German-annexed western part of Poland since 1939. Sonderdienst were made up of ethnic German Volksdeutsche who lived in Poland before the attack and joined the invading force thereafter. However, after the 1941 Operation Barbarossa they included also the Soviet prisoners of war who volunteered for special training, such as
6966-639: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as
7128-559: The Allies , believing his struggles against other Nazi officials would be enough to secure his defense, and which were then used against him as evidence of his guilt. Frank confessed to some of the charges, and testified in response to questions from his defense attorney: after having heard the testimony of the witness Rudolf Höss , my conscience does not allow me to throw the responsibility solely on these minor people. I myself have never installed an extermination camp for Jews, or promoted
7290-633: The Blue Police and became subordinated to the local Ordnungspolizei . Some 3,000 men served with the Sonderdienst in the General Government, formally assigned to the head of the civil administration. The existence of Sonderdienst constituted a grave danger for the non-Jewish Poles who attempted to help ghettoised Jews in the cities, as in the Mińsk Mazowiecki Ghetto among numerous others, because Christian Poles were executed under
7452-568: The Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German
7614-537: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share
7776-417: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language
7938-821: The Generalgouvernement roughly corresponded with the Austrian part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth after the Third Partition of Poland in 1795. The basis for the formation of the General Government was the "Annexation Decree on the Administration of the Occupied Polish Territories". Announced by Hitler on October 8, 1939, it claimed that the Polish government had totally collapsed. This rationale
8100-432: The German Army fighting in World War I , but did not serve time at the front. After the war, Frank studied law and economics, from 1919 to the summer semester of 1921 at the University of Munich , between 1921 and 1922 at the University of Kiel , and back from the winter semester 1922 to 1923 at Munich. On 21 July 1923, he passed the final exam there, obtaining his Dr. jur. degree in 1924. Between 1919 and 1920, he
8262-467: The German Empire during World War I. This district existed from 1914 to 1918 together with an Austro-Hungarian -controlled Military Government of Lublin alongside the short-lived Kingdom of Poland of 1916–1918 , a similar rump state formed out of the then- Russian-controlled parts of Poland . The General Government area was also known colloquially as the Restpolen ('Remainder of Poland'). After Germany's attack on Poland , all areas occupied by
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#17327731621348424-414: The German army including the Free City of Danzig initially came under military rule . This area extended from the 1939 eastern border of Germany proper and of East Prussia up to the Bug River where the German armies had halted their advance and linked up with the Soviet Red Army in accordance with their secret pact against Poland. The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact signed on 23 August 1939 had promised
8586-455: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout
8748-554: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in
8910-439: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c. 765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in
9072-436: The Polish Secret State on 29/30 January 1944 (the night preceding the 11th anniversary of Hitler's appointment as Chancellor of Germany ) in Szarów near Kraków failed. A special train with Frank travelling to Lemberg/Lvov/Lviv was derailed after an explosive device discharged but no one was killed. Around 100 Polish hostages from Montelupich prison were executed as a punishment for the act. Hans Frank participated in
9234-417: The Rhineland ." By 1942 Hitler and Frank had agreed that the Kraków ("with its purely German capital") and Lublin districts would be the first areas for German colonists to re-populate. Hitler stated: "When these two weak points have been strengthened, it should be possible to slowly drive back the Poles." Peculiar about these statements is the circumstance that there were not enough German settlers to even make
9396-410: The SS , and he — Frank — was unaware of the extermination camps in the General Government until early 1944, an assertion found to be untrue by the Nuremberg tribunal . During his testimony at Nuremberg, Frank claimed he submitted resignation requests to Hitler on 14 occasions, but Hitler would not allow him to resign. Frank fled the General Government in January 1945, as the Red Army advanced. Frank
9558-427: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung
9720-422: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit. ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this
9882-400: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German
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#173277316213410044-447: The Vandals ) in a speech he gave on 16 December 1941. When Frank unsuccessfully attempted to resign his position on 24 August 1942, Nazi Party Secretary Martin Bormann tried to advance a project to dissolve the General Government altogether and to partition its territory into a number of Reichsgaue , arguing that only this method could guarantee the territory's Germanization, while also claiming that Germany could economically exploit
10206-464: The Wartheland "as German as the Rhineland". According to notes from Martin Bormann German policy envisaged reducing lower-class Poles to the status of serfs , while deporting or otherwise eliminating the middle and upper classes and eventually replacing them with German colonists of the " master race ". The General Government is our work force reservoir for lowgrade work (brick plants, road building, etc.) ... Unconditionally, attention should be paid to
10368-408: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from
10530-436: The racial community , to eliminate dangerous elements, to prosecute all acts harmful to the community, and to arbitrate in disagreements between members of the community. The Nazi ideology , especially as expressed in the Party programme and in the speeches of our Leader , is the basis for interpreting legal sources. On 7 April 1938, Frank addressed some 10,000 Nazis at the Passau Nibelungenhalle . In September 1939, Frank
10692-433: The " Trawniki men " (German: Trawnikimänner ) deployed at all major killing sites of the " Final Solution ". A lot of those men did not know German and required translation by their native commanders. Ukrainian Auxiliary Police was formed in Distrikt Galizien in 1941, many policemen deserted in 1943 joining UPA. The former Polish policemen, with no high-ranking Polish officers (who were arrested or demoted), were drafted to
10854-452: The "line Memel - Odessa ". In this context Zvanetti's study proposed a re-ordering of the "Eastern Gaue" into three geopolitical blocs: The General Government was administered by a General-Governor ( German : Generalgouverneur ) aided by the Office of the General-Governor ( German : Amt des Generalgouverneurs ; changed on December 9, 1940 to the Government of the General Government, German : Regierung des Generalgouvernements ). For
11016-425: The 1860s, scholars such as Ian Kershaw and Brigitte Hamann dismiss as baseless the " Frankenberger hypothesis ", which before had only Frank's speculation to support it. More recent scholarship by Leonard Sax points out that many Jews lived in places without official sanction and demonstrated the existence of a settled Jewish community in Graz before the law formally permitted their residence. Nevertheless, there
11178-473: The 187,000 km Germany had gained). Frank oversaw the segregation of the Jews into ghettos . From the outset, Jews were discriminated against savagely and the rations given to them were slender. He oversaw the Warsaw ghetto and the use of Polish civilians as forced labour . In 1942, he lost his positions of authority outside the General Government after annoying Hitler with a series of speeches in Berlin , Vienna, Heidelberg , and Munich and as part of
11340-614: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In
11502-414: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of
11664-522: The General Government was composed entirely of German officials, with the intent that the area was to be colonized by Germanic settlers who would reduce the local Polish population to the level of serfs before their eventual genocide . The Nazi German rulers of the Generalgouvernement had no intention of sharing power with the locals throughout the war, regardless of their ethnicity and political orientation. The authorities rarely mentioned
11826-577: The General Government was divided into: The most numerous OrPo battalions focused on traditional security roles as an occupying force. Some of them were directly involved in the pacification operations . In the immediate aftermath of World War II, this latter role was obscured both by the lack of court evidence and by deliberate obfuscation, while most of the focus was on the better-known Einsatzgruppen ("Operational groups") who reported to RSHA led by Reinhard Heydrich . On 6 May 1940 Gauleiter Hans Frank, stationed in occupied Kraków , established
11988-469: The General Government. German authorities made a sharp contrast between the new Reich territory and a supposedly occupied rump state that could serve as a bargaining chip with the Western powers. The Germans established a closed border between the two German zones to heighten the difficulty of cross-frontier communication between the different segments of the Polish population. The official name chosen for
12150-508: The German invasion of Poland in 1939, Frank was appointed Governor-General of the occupied Polish territories. During his tenure, he instituted a reign of terror against the civilian population and became directly involved in the mass murder of Jews. He engaged in the use of forced labour and oversaw four of the extermination camps . Frank remained head of the General Government until its collapse in early 1945. During that time, over 4 million people were murdered under his jurisdiction. After
12312-483: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of
12474-451: The German states; the invention of the printing press c. 1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of
12636-479: The German zone, in order to increase the Reich's Lebensraum . Germany organized most of these areas as two new Reichsgaue : Danzig-West Prussia and Wartheland . The remaining three regions, the so-called areas of Zichenau, Eastern Upper Silesia and the Suwałki triangle, became attached to adjacent Gaue of Germany. Draconian measures were introduced by both RKF and HTO, to facilitate the immediate Germanization of
12798-635: The German-Polish conflict (although they were unable to help Soviet POWs of Ukrainian ethnicity). After the war, the Polish Supreme National Tribunal declared that the government of the General Government was a criminal institution. Other than summary German military tribunals, no courts operated in Poland between the German invasion and early 1940. At that time, the Polish court system was reinstated and made decisions in cases not concerning German interests, for which
12960-681: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by
13122-533: The Germans' quarries. Through the occupation Germany diverted a significant number of its military forces to keep control over Polish territories. (includes German forces only) The propaganda was directed by the Fachabteilung für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda (FAVuP), since Spring 1941 Hauptabteilung Propaganda (HAP). Prasą kierował Dienststelle der Pressechef der Regierung des Generalgouvernements ,
13284-655: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are
13446-518: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c. thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c. 1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy
13608-544: The Polish government reopened. By March 1941, there were 808 Ukrainian educational societies with 46,000 members. A Ukrainian publishing house and periodical press was set up in Cracow, which – despite having to struggle with German censors and paper shortages – succeeded in publishing school textbooks, classics of Ukrainian literature , and the works of dissident Ukrainian writers from the Soviet Union. Krakivs'ki Visti
13770-536: The Polish underground killed a German, 50–100 Poles were executed by German police as a punishment and as a warning to other Poles. Most of the Jews, perhaps as many as two million, had also been rounded up and murdered. Germans destroyed Warsaw after the Warsaw Uprising . As the Soviets advanced through Poland in late 1944 the General Government collapsed. American troops captured Hans Frank , who had governed
13932-553: The Prussian Minister of Justice Hanns Kerrl and his Ministerial Director Roland Freisler , to promote Nazi propaganda. Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss declared their presence in Austria undesirable, and had them deported. In response, Hitler imposed the thousand-mark ban to weaken the Austrian economy, which was heavily dependent on tourism, and Austrian Nazis launched a wave of terrorist attacks, which ultimately led to
14094-621: The Reichskommissariat. So liquidate them yourselves.' Gentlemen, I must ask you to rid yourself of all feelings of pity. We must annihilate the Jews wherever we find them and whenever it is possible. When this was read to him at the Nuremberg trials he said: One has to take the diary as a whole. You cannot go through 43 volumes and pick out single sentences and separate them from their context. I would like to say here that I do not want to argue or quibble about individual phrases. It
14256-590: The Soviet Union in June 1941 ( Operation Barbarossa ), the area of the General Government was enlarged by the inclusion of the Polish regions previously annexed to the USSR. Within days East Galicia was overrun and incorporated into the District of Galicia . Until 1945, the General Government comprised much of central, southern, and southeastern Poland within its prewar borders (and of modern-day Western Ukraine ), including
14418-481: The annexed territory, typically resulting in mass expulsions , especially in the Warthegau. The remaining parts of the former Poland were to become a German Nebenland ( March , borderland) as a frontier post of German rule in the east. A Führer's decree of October 12, 1939 established the General Government; the decree came into force on October 26, 1939. Hans Frank was appointed as the governor-general of
14580-541: The area more effectively, particularly as a source of food. He suggested separating the "more restful" population of the formerly Austrian territories (because this part of Poland had been under German-Austrian rule for a long period of time it was deemed more racially acceptable) from the rest of the Poles, and cordoning off the city of Warsaw as the center of "criminality" and underground resistance activity . Ludwig Fischer (governor of Warsaw from 1939 to 1945) opposed
14742-522: The area to the west of Kraków to the San river in the east. At this time Germany had not yet directly annexed the Łódź area, and Łódź (rather than Kraków) served as the capital of the General Government. In November 1940, Gauleiter Arthur Greiser of Reichsgau Wartheland argued that the counties of Tomaschow Mazowiecki and Petrikau should be transferred from the General Government's Radom district to his Gau. Hitler agreed, but since Frank refused to surrender
14904-506: The ashes were scattered in the river Isar . While awaiting execution, he wrote his memoirs, Im Angesicht des Galgens (In the Face of the Gallows), later published by his widow. In the capacity as his attorney, Frank was privy to personal details of Hitler's life. In his memoirs, Frank made the sensational claim that Hitler had commissioned him to investigate Hitler's family in 1930 after
15066-572: The banning of the Nazi Party in Austria on 19 June 1933. Frank objected to extrajudicial killings as it weakened the power of the legal system (of which he himself was a prominent member), both at the Dachau concentration camp and during the " Night of the Long Knives ". Frank's view of what the judicial process required was that: [The judge's] role is to safeguard the concrete order of
15228-862: The charge of aiding Jews. A Forest Protection Service also existed, responsible for policing wooded areas in the General Government. A Bahnpolizei policed railroads. The Germans used pre-war Polish prisons and organised new ones, like in Jan Chrystian Schuch Avenue police quarter in Warsaw and Under the Clock torture centre in Lublin . German administration constructed a terror system to control Polish people enforcing reports of any illegal activities, e.g. hiding Roma, POWs, guerilla fighters, Jews. Germans designated hostages, terrorised local leaders, applied collective responsibility. German police used sting operations to find and kill rescuers of
15390-567: The claim that Hitler had Jewish ancestry as a way of proving that Hitler was really a "Jew" and not an "Aryan", and in this way "proved" that the Third Reich's crimes were the work of the "Jewish" Hitler. The full anti-Semitic implications of Frank's story were borne out in a letter entitled "Was Hitler a Jew?", written to the editor of a Saudi newspaper in 1982 by a German man living in Saudi Arabia. The writer accepted Frank's story as
15552-488: The compulsed riders to the ground. Niklas would also be told that a sad prisoner was a "witch", but one whom he did not have to worry about, since she would "dead very soon". At another point, a Polish servant soiled bed sheets with soot, and his mother screamed he would be sent to the camps. Niklas, who had befriended the Pole, heard this and began to cry, which made his mother stop scolding the man and start comforting her son. In
15714-403: The concentration camps and ghettos, the children were not isolated from them, despite them not being a topic their parents discussed directly with them. The youngest, Niklas, was often taken to a concentration camp by Hilde, their nanny. On one occasion, for Niklas and his brother Norman's enjoyment, the guards made undernourished prisoners sit on a donkey, which would then be made to jump and throw
15876-646: The counties, the resolution of the border question was postponed until after the final victory. Upon hearing of the German plans to create a " Gau of the Goths " ( Gotengau ) in the Crimea and the Southern Ukraine after the start (June 1941) of Operation Barbarossa , Frank himself expressed his intention to turn the district under his control into a German province called the Vandalengau (Gau of
16038-588: The couple honeymooned in Venetia . Hans and Brigitte Frank had five children: Brigitte Herbst had a reputation for having a more dominant personality than her husband: after 1939 she called herself "a queen of Poland" (" Königin von Polen "), which began as a jest from her husband at the time of his nomination. The marriage was unhappy and became colder from year to year, with Brigitte having many affairs, which weren't unknown amongst her children, including resulting rumours on there being different fathers . Frank sought
16200-570: The criminal courts will end in the criminal courts!" In September–October 1930, Frank served as the defence lawyer at the court-martial in Leipzig of Lieutenants Richard Scheringer, Hans Friedrich Wendt and Hanns Ludin , three Reichswehr officers charged with membership in the NSDAP. The trial was a media sensation. Hitler himself testified and the defence successfully put the Weimar Republic itself on trial. Many Army officers developed
16362-430: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with
16524-456: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in
16686-519: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of
16848-605: The end, she let the matter go, and after the war the man and his wife would credit Niklas with saving their lives. All but Niklas would grieve their father at the time of his execution, feeling he was "innocent". Niklas Frank had been shunned early on by his parental figure, because of his father's belief he was instead the son a former family friend, Karl Lasch , and so he instead bonded closer to Hilde, their nanny, and also felt closer to his mother than his father. According to Niklas, his siblings' "brains" had been "poisoned" by their father. Niklas, who in his early adult years became
17010-583: The entire period of the General Government's existence there was only one General-Governor: Dr. Hans Frank. The NSDAP structure in General Government was Arbeitsbereich Generalgouvernement led by Frank. The Office was headed by Chief of the Government ( German : Regierung , lit. 'government'), Josef Bühler , who was also the State Secretary ( German : Staatssekretär ). From October 1939 to May 1940, Arthur Seyss-Inquart
17172-585: The existence of such camps; but if Adolf Hitler personally has laid that dreadful responsibility on his people, then it is mine too, for we have fought against Jewry for years; and we have indulged in the most horrible utterances. During his captivity, he penned a series of letters in which he also left his last thoughts. To his son Norman, he wrote that he preferred to die and join the "brave soldiers, who were (...) killed in this war" than "be dealt in revenge from [migrants], traitors", from those such as Willy Brandt . During their trials, he and Albert Speer were
17334-456: The fact his sister had cancer, but which the doctors claimed she could have survived about five to seven years. According to Niklas, she had written in her 16 year old diary she didn’t want to became older than their father, and made it so it happened. She took her own life by overdosing whilst sleeping with her 8 year old son, Hans' grandson. Despite as a young woman, in 1945, being worried that they wouldn't be forgiven for "what we have done for
17496-421: The fact that there can be no "Polish masters"; where there are Polish masters, and I do not care how hard this sounds, they must be killed. (...) The Führer must emphasize once again that for Poles there is only one master and he is a German, there can be no two masters beside each other and there is no consent to such, hence all representatives of the Polish intelligentsia are to be killed ... The General Government
17658-423: The following year, at which time Lublin was to be declared a German city and given a German mayor. Nazi planners never definitively resolved the question of the exact territorial reorganization of the Polish provinces in the event of German victory in the east. Germany had already annexed large parts of western pre-war Poland (8 October 1939) before the establishment of the General Government (26 October 1939), and
17820-443: The growth of the politics leading to genocide in Poland. Under his guidance, mass murder became a deliberate policy. The General Government was the location of four out of six extermination camps , namely: Bełżec , Treblinka , Majdanek and Sobibór ; Chełmno and Birkenau fell just outside the borders of the General Government. Frank later claimed that the extermination of Jews was entirely controlled by Heinrich Himmler and
17982-516: The hidden key to the mystery of Hitler's psyche. While at the same time, revenging himself on his former master for having led him to this end by foisting a sordid and humiliating explanation of Hitler on him for all posterity. In any case, it was one Frank knew the victors would find seductive. On 2 April 1925 Frank married 29-year-old secretary Brigitte Herbst (29 December 1895 – 9 March 1959) from Forst (Lausitz) . The wedding took place in Munich and
18144-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,
18306-481: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of
18468-441: The jews", worried then of deadly retaliations, Sigrid remained a committed Nazi who emigrated to South Africa during the apartheid regime and, having developed an addiction for tranquilizers, died there. Niklas is the sole living child of Hans and Brigitte Frank. Despite severe differences, specially when it came to Hans Frank's memory, Hans' family would remain close all throughout their lives, not letting their differences destroy
18630-626: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Hans Frank Hans Michael Frank (23 May 1900 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician, war criminal , and lawyer who served as head of the General Government in German-occupied Poland during the Second World War . Frank
18792-466: The major Polish cities of Warsaw , Kraków , Lwów (now Lviv , renamed Lemberg ), Lublin (see Lublin Reservation ), Tarnopol (see history of Tarnopol Ghetto ), Stanisławów (now Ivano-Frankivsk , renamed Stanislau ; see Stanisławów Ghetto ), Drohobycz , and Sambor (see Drohobycz and Sambor Ghettos ) and others. Geographical locations were renamed in German. The administration of
18954-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted
19116-533: The name Poland in legal correspondence. The only exception to this was the General Government's Bank of Issue in Poland ( Polish : Bank Emisyjny w Polsce , German : Emissionbank in Polen ). The full title of the regime in Germany until July 1940 was the Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete , a name that is usually translated as "General Government for the Occupied Polish Territories". Governor Hans Frank , on Hitler's authority, shortened
19278-480: The name on 31 July 1940 to just Generalgouvernement . An accurate English translation of Generalgouvernement , which is a borrowing from French , is 'General Governorate', cognate with the Dutch Generaliteitslanden . A more accurate English translation of the French term gouvernement in this context is not 'government', but " governorate ", which is a type of a territory that
19440-549: The new entity was the Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete (General Government for the Occupied Polish Territories), then changed to the Generalgouvernement (General Government) by Frank's decree of July 31, 1940. However, this name did not imply anything about the actual nature of the administration. The German authorities never regarded these Polish lands (apart from
19602-653: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from
19764-542: The only defendants to show any degree of remorse for their crimes, though, according to his son Niklas, he portrayed himself as a "man of the law", and was not personally acknowledging guilt, rather shifting it to the "German people" as a whole. At the same time, he accused the Allies, especially the Soviets , of their own wartime atrocities. Frank was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity on 1 October 1946 and
19926-473: The onset of World War II . The newly occupied Second Polish Republic was split into three zones: the General Government in its centre, Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany in the west, and Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union in the east. The territory was expanded substantially in 1941, after the German Invasion of the Soviet Union , to include the new District of Galicia . The area of
20088-665: The party's legal affairs department. On 26 June 1933, Frank founded the Academy for German Law . At its inaugural meeting on 2 October 1933, he was named its Leader (renamed President on 9 August 1934) and would continue in this capacity until 20 August 1942 when he also left his positions as Reichsleiter and head of the Jurists Association. Frank also served as the Chairman of the Academy's Legal Philosophy Committee and
20250-438: The pending legal proceedings were stayed. Frank rose to become Adolf Hitler 's personal legal adviser. As the Nazis rose to power, Frank also served as the party's lawyer. He represented it in over 2,400 cases and spent over $ 10,000. This sometimes brought him into conflict with other lawyers. Once, a former teacher appealed to him: "I beg you to leave these people alone! No good will come of it! Political movements that begin in
20412-400: The point his wife would struggle to save some for their children, and which go on to cause severe obesity and in consequence organ failure. Norman, whose last words from his father was that Norman should be silent (which would lead to tensions between him and Niklas, whose work was often about documenting insights into his family), would also become addicted, to alcohol. Though he recognized and
20574-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation
20736-516: The proposed administrative streamlining resulting from these discussions. Fischer prepared his own project in his Main Office for Spatial Ordering ( Hauptamt für Raumordnung ) located in Warsaw. He suggested the establishment of the three provinces Beskiden , Weichselland (" Vistula Land"), and Galizien ( Galicia and Chełm ) by dividing the Radom and Lublin districts between them. Weichselland
20898-473: The purpose of representing the Ukrainian community to the German authorities and assisting the approximately 30,000 Ukrainian refugees who fled from Soviet-controlled territories. These committees also undertook cultural and economic activities that had been banned by the previous Polish government. Schools, choirs, reading societies and theaters were opened, and twenty Ukrainian churches that had been closed by
21060-613: The region, in May 1945; he became one of the defendants at the Nuremberg Trials . During his trial he resumed his childhood practice of Catholicism and expressed repentance. Frank surrendered forty volumes of his diaries to the Tribunal; much evidence against him and others was gathered from them. He was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity . On October 1, 1946, he was sentenced to death by hanging . The sentence
21222-492: The remaining region was also intended to be directly incorporated into the German Reich at some future date. The Nazi leadership discussed numerous initiatives with this aim. The earliest such proposal (October/November 1939) called for the establishment of a separate Reichsgau Beskidenland which would encompass several southern sections of the Polish territories conquered in 1939 (around 18,000 km), stretching from
21384-540: The scathing way in which the younger Frank depicted his father: Niklas referred to him as "a slime-hole of a Hitler fanatic" and questioned his remorse before his execution. In his work, Niklas also created a compilation of nazi era films of the Frank family. The scars of having Hans as a parent would seemingly carry on not quite healed. Michael, the closest to Niklas in their youth, though an ardent defender of their father's innocence, would develop an addiction for milk, to
21546-458: The short period of military administration during the actual invasion of Poland ) as an occupied territory . The Nazis considered the Polish state to have effectively ceased to exist with its defeat in the September campaign. Overall, 4 million of the 1939 population of the General Government area had lost their lives by the time the Soviet armed forces entered the area in late 1944. If
21708-546: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,
21870-500: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in
22032-453: The truth, and added since Hitler was a Jew, "the Jews should pay Germans reparations for the War, because one of theirs caused the destruction of Germany". But Jewish-American author Ron Rosenbaum suggested another reason for Frank's story: On the other hand, a different version of Frank emerges in the brilliantly vicious, utterly unforgiving portrait of him by his son, Niklas Frank, who (in
22194-458: The vast territory between the Vistula and Bug rivers to the Soviet "sphere of influence" in divided Poland, while the two powers would have jointly ruled Warsaw. To settle the deviation from the original agreement, the German and Soviet representatives met again on September 28 to delineate a permanent border between the two countries. Under this revised version of the pact the territory concerned
22356-532: The war, Frank was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg trials . He was sentenced to death and executed by hanging in October 1946. Frank, the middle child of three, was born in Karlsruhe to Karl, a lawyer, and his wife, Magdalena (née Buchmaier), a daughter of a prosperous baker. He graduated from high school at Maximilians gymnasium in Munich . At seventeen he joined
22518-555: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during
22680-600: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching
22842-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of
23004-775: Was a member of the Thule Völkisch society. He served also in the Freikorps under Franz Ritter von Epp 's command, taking part in the crackdown of the Münchner Räterepublik . In 1919, as did other members of the Thule Society , he joined the German Workers' Party (DAP) at its beginning. Although the DAP evolved quite soon into NSDAP ( Nazi Party ), Frank waited until September 1923 to become
23166-399: Was a wild and stormy period filled with terrible passions, and when a whole country is on fire and a life and death struggle is going on, such words may easily be used... Some of the words are terrible. I myself must admit that I was shocked at many of the words which I had used... A thousand years will pass and still this guilt of Germany will not have been erased. An assassination attempt by
23328-547: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially
23490-491: Was an early member of the German Workers' Party (DAP), the precursor of the Nazi Party (NSDAP). He took part in the failed Beer Hall Putsch , and later became Adolf Hitler 's personal legal adviser as well as the lawyer of the NSDAP. In June 1933, he was named as a Reichsleiter (Reich Leader) of the party. In December 1934, Frank joined the Hitler Cabinet as a Reichsminister without portfolio . After
23652-421: Was appointed one of the state's representatives to the Reichsrat until its abolition on 14 February 1934. In April 1933, he was appointed Minister of Justice for Bavaria , serving until December 1934 when he was named a Reichsminister without portfolio in the Reich government. On 2 June 1933, he was made a Reichsleiter , the second highest political rank in the Nazi Party, in his capacity as head of
23814-405: Was assigned as Chief of Administration to Gerd von Rundstedt in the German military administration in occupied Poland . Beginning on 26 October 1939, following the completion of the invasion of Poland , Frank served as Governor-General of the occupied Polish territories, overseeing the General Government , the area of Poland not directly incorporated into Germany (roughly 90,000 km out of
23976-478: Was captured by American troops on 4 May 1945, at Tegernsee in southern Bavaria . He attempted suicide twice. He was indicted for war crimes and tried before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg from 20 November 1945 to 1 October 1946. During the trial he converted, guided by Fr Sixtus O'Connor OFM , to Roman Catholicism, and claimed to have had a series of religious experiences. Frank voluntarily surrendered 43 volumes of his personal diaries to
24138-485: Was carried out on October 16. The conversion of Warsaw into a "model city" was planned in 1940 and later, in similar ways like the conversion of Berlin was planned. In March 1941 Hans Frank informed his subordinates that Hitler had made the decision to "turn this region into a purely German area within 15–20 years". He explained: "Where 12 million Poles now live, is to be populated by 4 to 5 million Germans . The Generalgouvernement must become as German as
24300-457: Was converted to Roman Catholicism after his arrest, gave the appearance of being relieved at the prospect of atoning for his evil deeds. He answered to his name quietly and when asked for any last statement, he replied "I am thankful for the kind treatment during my captivity and I ask God to accept me with mercy." His body and those of the other nine executed prisoners and the corpse of Hermann Göring were cremated at Ostfriedhof (Munich) and
24462-492: Was critical of his father's political work and nazi rhetoric of his recorded speeches, Norman followed his father's advice on silence and so was critical of Niklas' work though he later privately confessed being proud of his brother. Michael and Norman died in 1990 and 2009, respectively. Brigitte committed suicide in 1981, at 46 years old; and Niklas would claim the motivation was "because she didn't want to become older" than their father. Niklas would come to believe this despite
24624-538: Was editor of its several publications. In January 1934, Frank was named as one of the three judges on the Supreme Party Court . In March 1933, in a speech on the Bavarian radio, Frank issued "a greeting to his oppressed comrades in Austria" and threatened that, if necessary, the Nazi Party would "take over the safeguarding of the freedom of the German comrades in Austria". The Austrian government officially protested in Berlin, but Hitler denied responsibility for Frank's words. In May 1933, Frank went to Vienna, accompanied by
24786-427: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which
24948-401: Was exchanged for the inclusion in the Soviet sphere of Lithuania , which had originally fallen within the ambit of Germany. With the new agreement the entire central part of Poland, including the core ethnic area of the Poles, came under exclusively German control. Hitler decreed the direct annexation to the German Reich of large parts of the occupied Polish territory in the western half of
25110-420: Was headed by Frank until the end of World War II and had as editor Michael Chomiak . It was "the leading legal newspaper" of the General Government and "attracted more (and better) contributors among whom were the most prominent Ukrainian cultural figures of the (early) 20th century." Ukrainian organizations within the General Government were able to negotiate the release of 85,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war from
25272-407: Was initially renamed by the government to Himmlerstadt ( Himmler City), which was later changed to Pflugstadt ( Plough City), both names were not implemented. Most of the Polish population was expelled by the Nazi occupation authorities with documented brutality. Himmler intended the city of Lublin to have a German population of 20% to 25% by the beginning of 1944, and of 30% to 40% by
25434-443: Was located in Kraków (German: Krakau ; English: Cracow ) rather than in Warsaw for security reasons. The official state language was German, although Polish continued in use by local government. Useful institutions of the old Polish state were retained for ease of administration. The Polish police, with no high-ranking Polish officers (they were arrested or demoted), was reorganised as the Blue Police and became subordinated to
25596-409: Was sentenced to death by hanging . The death sentence was carried out at Nuremberg Prison on 16 October by US Army Master Sergeant John C. Woods . Journalist Joseph Kingsbury-Smith wrote of the execution: Hans Frank was next in the parade of death. He was the only one of the condemned to enter the chamber with a smile on his countenance. And, although nervous and swallowing frequently, this man, who
25758-412: Was still just possible that Hitler had some Jewish ancestry. But he thought it unlikely because, "from his entire demeanor, the fact that Adolf Hitler had no Jewish blood coursing through his veins seems so clearly evident that nothing more need be said on this." Given that all Jews had been expelled from the province of Styria (which includes Graz) in the 15th century and were not allowed to return until
25920-426: Was the Deputy General-Governor. After his departure, Bühler served as Frank's deputy through January 1945. Several other individuals had powers to issue legislative decrees in addition to the General-Governor, most notably the Higher SS and Police Leader of the General Government (SS- Obergruppenführer Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger ; from October 1943: SS- Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Koppe ). No government protectorate
26082-444: Was to have a "Polish character", Galizien a "Ukrainian" one, and the Beskiden -province to provide a German "admixture" (i.e. colonial settlement). Further territorial planning carried out by this Warsaw-based organization under Major Dr. Ernst Zvanetti in a May 1943 study to demarcate the eastern border of " Central Europe " (i.e. the Greater German Reich) with the " Eastern European landmass" proposed an eastern German border along
26244-411: Was utilized by the German Supreme Court to reassign the identity of all Polish nationals as stateless subjects , with the exception of the ethnic Germans of interwar Poland—who, disregarding international law, were named the only rightful citizens of Nazi Germany . The General Government was run by Germany as a separate administrative unit for logistical purposes. When the Wehrmacht forces invaded
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