Wilhelm Frick Biography

Wilhelm Frick was a German legislative leader of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party in the 1920s and 1930s. A close ally of Nazi leader Adolph Hitler, Frick went on to become the minister of the interior after Hitler took power in 1933. In that position, Frick drafted laws that severely restricted the civil rights of German Jews. Frick's actions led to his indictment and conviction by the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at Nuremberg after World War II.

Frick was born on March 12, 1877, in Alsenz, Germany. After World War I, he became attracted to the ideas espoused by the Nazi Party. Employed as an official in the Munich police department, Frick participated in Hitler's 1923 failed attempt to take power by force in what came to be called the Beer Hall Putsch. Hitler's attempted revolution ended with his arrest, along with Frick and other party faithful. Hitler was convicted for his treasonous action and sent to prison. For whatever reason, Frick, who also was convicted of high treason, avoided imprisonment. Despite the failed revolution, Frick remained a faithful supporter of Hitler at a time when few considered Hitler a political threat to democracy.

Frick was elected to the Reichstag, the German legislature, in 1924. By 1928, enough Nazis had been elected to the parliament that Frick became the leader of the group. In 1931, Frick left the Reichstag to become minister of the interior in the state government of Thuringia. As the first Nazi to hold a ministerial position in any part of German government, Frick assumed a leadership position in the party that carried him into the national spotlight when Hitler assumed power in 1933.

Hitler took office with limited powers, as the Reichstag retained is legislative authority. Though many politicians believed Hitler had no chance of consolidating power, Frick worked to this end. As Hitler's national minister of the interior, Frick used his legislative experience to draft a law that allowed the government to bypass the Reichstag and govern by decree. After the law was passed, Hitler concocted an emergency that triggered the use of the act, thereby establishing complete control over the German state.

Once Hitler's power was secure, Frick began to implement the Nazis' racist and anti-Semitic policies. He secured the passage of the Nuremberg laws in 1935 that severely restricted the rights and freedoms of Jews. These and other policies that Frick administered led to the establishment of the first concentration camps.

Despite his loyalty to Hitler, Frick's ministry of the interior became less of a factor in maintaining internal control as the SS (Schutzstaffel) became Germany's primary internal security force. This shift in power was formalized in 1934 when Hitler replaced Frick with SS chief Heinrich Himmler. Frick was shuffled off to serve as the protector for Bohemia and Moravia until the end of World War II. He was indicted by the IMT in 1945 for crimes against humanity, which included deportation, extermination, and deportation. He was convicted in October of 1946 and sentenced to death. He was hanged on October 16, 1946, in Nuremberg.