80 years since the trial of K. H. Frank, one of the key figures of the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia
Eighty years ago, on March 22, 1946, the trial of Karl Hermann Frank began in Prague. One of the most powerful figures in the Nazi occupation administration in the Czech lands, Frank served as State Minister of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. He was responsible for harsh repression, mass executions and also for the destruction of the village of Lidice, which became a symbol of Nazi terror.
Frank came from the Sudeten German community and rose quickly in the Nazi hierarchy after Adolf Hitler came to power. Following the assassination of Acting Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich in 1942, he became one of the main executors of reprisals in the occupied Czech lands. He signed death sentences, directed police operations and personally oversaw actions against the resistance.
From flight to accountability
At the end of the war Frank attempted to escape into U.S. custody, but he was detained and handed over to Czechoslovak authorities. His trial before an Extraordinary People’s Court was among the most closely watched post-war trials in Central Europe. Czechoslovak Radio broadcast the proceedings live, which was highly unusual at the time.
Frank tried to question the impartiality of the court and argued in his defence that he had acted “in the interest of the Germans”. His claims were challenged by the testimony of survivors, particularly women from Lidice, who described the destruction of the village and their subsequent suffering in concentration camps.
The court found Frank guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to death. The execution was carried out in Prague on May 22, 1946, in front of thousands of people. The trial became a symbol of post-war reckoning with the Nazi occupation and one of the key moments of Czechoslovak justice.
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Czech Radio digitises full archive of trial with key figure in Lidice massacre
On the occasion of the anniversary of the Nazi occupation of Bohemia and Moravia, Czech Radio has published the digitised recordings of the trial with Karl Hermann Frank.
