Karl Hermann Frank (January 24, 1898-May 22, 1946) was a prominent Nazi official in Czechoslovakia prior to and during World War II.

Born in Karlovy Vary, Frank was taught by his father (a proponent of Georg Ritter von Schönerer’s policies) at a young age to hate Czechoslovakians and Jews. After spending an unsuccessful year at the law school of the German University in Prague, Frank served in the Austrian Army at the end of World War I. After the war, Frank became a bookkeeper and joined various right wing groups and societies. An extreme advocate of the Sudetenland being incorporated into Germany, Frank eventually joined the Sudeten German National Socialist Party (DNSAP) and set up a bookshop out of which he distributed Nazi propaganda. When the party was suppressed by the Czech government, Frank helped organize the Sudeten-German Homeland Front in 1933, which officially became the Sudeten-German Party (SdP) in 1935. In 1935, Frank became deputy leader of the SdP and was elected a member of the Czech Parliament. Coming to represent the most radical National Socialists in the SdP, Frank was made Deputy Gauleiter of the Sudetenland when it became part of Germany in October of 1938. Frank’s radicalism gained him the favor of Heinrich Himmler, who made Frank an SS Brigadeführer in November of 1938.

In 1939, Frank was promoted to SS Gruppenführer and appointed Higher SS and Police Leader of and Secretary of State of the Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia under Reich Protector Konstantin von Neurath. Although nominally under Neurath, Frank wielded the real power in the protectorate due to his vast knowledge of Czech affairs and Himmler’s support. As Secretary of State and leader of the police, Frank pursued a policy of harsh suppression of dissident Czechs, pushed for the arrest of Bohemia and Moravia’s Prime Minister, Alois Elias , and secretly worked to discredit Neurath. When Neurath was dismissed from his post in September of 1941, Frank hoped to be appointed Reich Protector in his place but was passed over in favor of Reinhard Heydrich. Although the working relationship between Frank and Heydrich was initially tense, the two eventually put aside their differences and became an efficient and effective duo.

When Heydrich was assassinated in June of 1942, Frank was once again passed over for promotion when Kurt Daluege became the new Reich Protector. Daluege and Frank were instrumental in initiating the destruction of the Czech villages of Lidice and Ležáky in order to get revenge on the Czech populace for Heydrich’s death. Under Daluege, Frank continued to consolidate his power and by the time Wilhelm Frick was appointed Reich Protector in 1943, Frank was the most powerful official in Bohemia and Moravia. In August of 1942, he was made a Minister of State as Reich Minister for Bohemia and Moravia. In June of 1943, he was promoted to SS Obergruppenführer and General of Police and made a General in the Waffen SS. After surrendering to the American army in Pilsen on May 9, 1945, Frank was extradited to a People’s Court in Prague and tried between March and April of 1946. After being convicted of war crimes and the obliteration of Lidice, Frank was sentenced to death and executed (by hanging) in the courtyard of the Prankratz prison in Prague before 5,000 onlookers on May 22, 1946.