- Reinhold Frank
Reinhold Frank (
23 July 1896 –23 January 1945 ) was a Germanlawyer . He did work for the resistance toHitler 's rule inNazi Germany . He was sentenced todeath in connection with the failedJuly 20 Plot .Life
Reinhold Frank was born the youngest of seven children in Bachhaupten in the Sigmaringen district. After serving in the military in the
First World War , he studiedlaw inFreiburg . He was a member of the "Katholische Deutsche Studentenverbindung Arminia" ("Catholic German "Studentenverbindung " Arminia") in the "Cartellverband der katholischen deutschen Studentenverbindungen ". After his time as a junior lawyer, he went toKarlsruhe and there, together with Dr. Honold, he ran a law practice. Owing to hisChristian outlook, Naziideology did not sit well with Frank. He often found himself defending persecuted clients of all political and religious stripes, among themCatholic priest s, who often ended up before the courts during the time of theThird Reich for having uttered criticisms of the régime.Reinhold Frank belonged to the circle about the resistance group founded by Dr.
Carl Friedrich Goerdeler . He had already agreed to stand ready in Baden to take a leading rôle in Germany's reconstruction, should the plot to overthrowHitler actually succeed. It was therefore no wonder that, after the attempt on Hitler's life at theWolf's Lair inEast Prussia failed, Frank was arrested quite quickly, on21 July 1944, the day after the attempt. Frank was found guilty by the "Volksgerichtshof " ofhigh treason andtreason . On12 January 1945 , he was sentenced to death. He was hanged on23 January atPlötzensee Prison in Berlin.In his honour, a memorial stone has been placed at the "Hauptfriedhof" ("Main Cemetery") in Karlsruhe. The street in Karlsruhe where the lawyers' chambers may be found bears his name. The Research Centre for German Resistance against National Socialism in Southwestern Germany, together with the
University of Karlsruhe , the City of Karlsruhe, and the German "Bundesarchiv", honours Frank yearly in the time aroundJuly 20 with a memorial reading.Literature
*
Horst Rehberger "Reinhold Frank. Rechtsanwalt in Karlsruhe", in: Der Widerstand im deutschen Südwesten 1933-1945. pub. by Michael Bosch und Wolfgang Niess, Stuttgart, 1984
*Michael Kißener , "Der Widerstandskreis um den Karlsruher Rechtsanwalt Reinhold Frank", Speech on the occasion of the scientific symposium in the framework of the. European Culture Days, Karlsruhe 1994
* "Reinhold Frank zum fünfzigsten Todestag", pub. by the City of Karlsruhe/Stadtarchiv, Karlsruhe 1995
*Uwe Schellinger , "Dr. Reinhold Frank (1896-1945)", Witnesses for Christ, Twentieth Century German Martyrology, pub. by H. Moll i.A. der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz, Paderborn u.a. 1999, 226
*Detlev Fischer : "Anwälte im Widerstand gegen das NS-Regime", RuP 2002, 181See also
*
List of members of the July 20 Plot
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