August Frank memorandum
Encyclopedia
The August Frank memorandum of September 26 1942 was a directive from SS Lieutenant General (Obergruppenführer
) August Frank
, a higher official of the SS concentration camp administration department
. The memorandum provides a measure of the detailed involvement planning that Frank and other Nazis put into the carrying out of the Holocaust.
For example, it includes instructions as to the disposition of postage stamp collections and underwear of the murdered Jews. It also contains an instruction that the yellow stars
that the Nazis forced the Jews to wear on their clothing were to be removed before the clothing was redistributed to ethnic Germans whom the Nazis were resettling into occupied Poland. This memorandum, when it came to light after the war, played a key role in refuting Frank's claims that he had no knowledge that Jews were being murdered en masse in the extermination camps of Operation Reinhard
. The memorandum is also notable as an example of the use of the Nazi euphemism "evacuation" of the Jews, which meant their systematic murder.
Obergruppenführer
Obergruppenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the SA and until 1942 it was the highest SS rank inferior only to Reichsführer-SS...
) August Frank
August Frank
August Frank was an official of the Main Economic Administration Office of the Nazi SS generally known by its initials WVHA. WVHA was, among other things, responsible for the administration of the Nazi concentration camps...
, a higher official of the SS concentration camp administration department
SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt
The SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt was responsible for managing the finances, supply systems and business projects for the Allgemeine-SS...
. The memorandum provides a measure of the detailed involvement planning that Frank and other Nazis put into the carrying out of the Holocaust.
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
For example, it includes instructions as to the disposition of postage stamp collections and underwear of the murdered Jews. It also contains an instruction that the yellow stars
Yellow badge
The yellow badge , also referred to as a Jewish badge, was a cloth patch that Jews were ordered to sew on their outer garments in order to mark them as Jews in public. It is intended to be a badge of shame associated with antisemitism...
that the Nazis forced the Jews to wear on their clothing were to be removed before the clothing was redistributed to ethnic Germans whom the Nazis were resettling into occupied Poland. This memorandum, when it came to light after the war, played a key role in refuting Frank's claims that he had no knowledge that Jews were being murdered en masse in the extermination camps of Operation Reinhard
Operation Reinhard
Operation Reinhard was the code name given to the Nazi plan to murder Polish Jews in the General Government, and marked the most deadly phase of the Holocaust, the use of extermination camps...
. The memorandum is also notable as an example of the use of the Nazi euphemism "evacuation" of the Jews, which meant their systematic murder.
Text of the memorandum