ERASING GERMAN GUILT

Chronicle (Levin), 20 April 1946, Page 5

ERASING GERMAN GUILT

Press Assn.-Copyfight

Will Take A Thousand Years nazi leader with a conscience

By Telegrdph

Eeceived Friday, 7 p.m. ' NUlifiMSEEG, April 18.' flans Frank, former Nazi Goverhor-ti-erieral of Poland, entered tbe witiiesdbox at the War Crimes Tribunal today, to give his own defeiice. Frank, whb has attelripted suifcide three times diiring iihpriSonmfeiit, appeared dalhl and Cdnfident. He asserted that his work foi: the Na2i cailse Was c'eiitrgd around his pdfsbnal efforte to ensiite the compietd iiideperidenhe df the judidiary iii the Third Eeihh, as a safeguard against the leadership of the State becoihing a full dictatorship. Hi3 effbrts, however, ehded iii failUfe. Frank, hanging his head,' told the uourt iii hubdufed tones: "1 feei a teffible guilt within me over the atrbcities. ' ' He adihitted that he took part in the aestruetiort of Jews, and added: "A thbusafid yfeafs will pass and this guilt on Germany Will still not be erased." Refer'ring to a recent deelaration of Rudolph Hoess, commandaht of the AhschWitz camp, regarding the murder of 2,000,000 Jews, Frank said: "I can- j not allow it on my conscience that re- ; spOnsibility for all this should be hana- j ed over to these shiail people -alone. ij myself never install-ed an extermination | camp. for Jews or ordered that they; should be iiistalied, bltt if Hitler per- j sonally has turiied that dreadful re- I sponsihility over to these people, then ' it must be mine too. We've fought j against Jewry i'or years and we've' allowdd ourselves to make utterances ' which are terrible." Frahk denied that he ever ordered ! the shooting Of hostages and said he j had tried to resign because of the con- ' ditions in Poland, but every complainti he addressed to Hitler was dropped ! into the wastepaper basket. rrank told tne Tribunal Hitler order- j ed. the massacre of the entire popula- j tion of Warsaw after the rismg in i Poland. ' ' It took a struggle of three i weeks, in which I was victorious, iii ! order to avert that insanity. ' ' iTanx repeatedly denied knowledge of concentration camps for Jews ih POland: He heard rumours but unsuc- ; cessfully att-empted to secure informa- ' tion. He contrived to visit A'uschwitz 1 but whs only shown a group of workers. i Later he toid Hitler he had ' smelled J something which could Only hhve been burning bodies, but Hitler toid him to accept Himmler's word and Himmler ! had denied the existence of extermina- i tion camps. j Fraiik's cross-examination, which was the shortest of the deiendants so far, i concluded with this statem-ent.