PRAGUE TRIAL

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21979, 25 March 1946, Page 3

PRAGUE TRIAL

FORMER S.S. CHIEF RAZING OF LIDICE ACCUSED IN THE DOCK (9 a.m.) PRAGUE, March 24. The S.S. officer, General Karl Hermann Frank, police chief of Bohemia and Moravia during the German occupation, entered the dock wearing a plain uniform with a red armlet, signifying that he was a prisoner of war, when his trial opened before the People’s Court. Frank was accused of responsibility for the razing of the Czech village of Lidice by the S.S. General, Daluege, who became “protector” after the murder of Heydrich in 1942. Giving evidence before the Allied Commission in Prague last year, Daluege also accused Frank of ordering mass executions even before the assassination of Heydrich. The defending counsel, Kamill Resler, contended that the court had no competence to try Frank, who was an elected member of the Czech Parliament and still had the right to immunity as a member of Parliament. Resler also contended that, as the whole Czech nation was affected by Frank's deeds, with relatives killed or imprisoned and sent to forced labour or financially hit, the judge, witnesses and even defending counsel were prejudiced. Resler said Frank wanted (o ,be returned to the American authorities and to be tried at Nuremberg under the inter-Allied agreement about war criminals.

Karl Hermann Frank should not be confused with Elans Frank, governorgeneral of occupied Poland, who is now being tried in Nuremberg.