Diary of Hans Frank, then Governor General of Occupied Poland. In a cabinet session on Tuesday, December 16, 1941, in the Government Building at Cracow, Frank made the following closing address.
"As far as the Jews are concerned, I want to tell
you quite frankly that they must be done away with in one way or. another.
The Führer said once: 'Should united Jewry again succeed in provoking a
world-war, the blood of not only the nations which have been forced into
the war by them, will be shed, but the Jew will have found his end in
Europe'. I know that many of the measures carried out against the Jews in
the Reich at present are being criticized. It is being tried intentionally,
as is obvious from the reports on the morale, to talk about cruelty,
harshness, etc. Before I continue, I want to beg you to agree with me on
the following formula: We will principally have pity on the German people
only, and nobody else in the whole world. The others, too, had no pity on
us. As an old National-Socialist, I must say: This war would only be a
partial success if the whole lot of Jewry would survive it, while we would
have shed our best blood in order to save Europe. My attitude towards the
Jews will, therefore, be based only on the expectation that they must
disappear. They must be done away with. I have entered negotiations to have
them deported to the East. A great discussion concerning that question will
take place in Berlin in January, to which I am going to delegate the State
Secretary Dr. Buehler. That discussion is to take place in the Reich
Security Main Office with SS-Lt. General Heydrich. A great Jewish migration
will begin, in any case.
"But what should be done with the Jews? Do you
think they will be settled down in the 'Ostland', in villages? This is what
we were told in Berlin: Why all this bother ? We can do nothing with them
either in the 'Ostland' nor in the 'Reich kommissariat'. So liquidate them
yourself.
"Gentlemen, I must ask you to rid yourself of all
feeling of pity. We must annihilate the Jews, wherever we find them and
wherever it is possible, in order to maintain there the structure of the
Reich as a whole. This will, naturally, be achieved by other methods than
those pointed out by Bureau Chief Dr. Hummel. Nor can the judges of the
Special Courts be made responsible for it, because of the limitations of
the framework of the legal procedure. Such outdated views cannot be applied
to such gigantic and unique events. We must find at any rate a way which
leads to the goal, and my thoughts are working in that direction.
"The Jews represent for us-also extraordinarily
malignant gluttons. We have now approximately 2,500,000 of them in the
General Government, perhaps with the Jewish mixtures and everything that
goes with it, 3,500,000 Jews. We cannot shoot or poison those 3,500,000
Jews, but we shall nevertheless be able to take measures, which will lead,
somehow, to their annihilation, and this in connection with the gigantic
measures to be determined in discussions from the Reich. The General
Government must become free of Jews, the same as the Reich. Where and how
this is to be achieved is a matter for the offices which we must appoint
and create here. Their activities will be brought to your attention in due
course."