Wilhelm Frick

Wilhelm Frick
Wilhelm Frick, c. 1940-45
Reichsminister of the Interior
In office 30 January 1933 – 20 August 1943
President	Paul von Hindenburg (1933–1934) Adolf Hitler (1934–1943; as Führer)
Chancellor	Adolf Hitler
Preceded by	Franz Bracht
Succeeded by	Heinrich Himmler
General Plenipotentiary for Administration of the Reich
In office 4 September 1938[1] – 20 August 1943
Appointed by	Adolf Hitler
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Heinrich Himmler[2]
Protector of Bohemia and Moravia
In office 24 August 1943 – 8 May 1945
Appointed by	Adolf Hitler
Preceded by	Konstantin von Neurath (de jure) Kurt Daluege (de facto)
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Reichsminister without Portfolio
In office 24 August 1943 – 30 April 1945
Additional positions
1939–1945	Member of the Council of Ministers for the Defense of the Reich
1934—1945	Member of the Prussian State Council
1933—1945	Reichsleiter
1933–1945	Member of the Reichstag (Nazi Germany)
1924—1933	Member of the Reichstag (Weimar Republic)
Personal details
Born	(1877-03-12)12 March 1877 Alsenz, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire
Died	16 October 1946(1946-10-16) (aged 69) Nuremberg Prison, Nuremberg, Bavaria, Allied-occupied Germany
Cause of death	Execution by hanging
Political party	Nazi Party
Spouses	Elisabetha Emilie Nagel ​ ​ (m. 1910; div. 1934)​ Margarete Schultze-Naumburg ​ ​ (m. 1934)​
Children	5
Alma mater	University of Munich University of Göttingen University of Berlin University of Heidelberg
Occupation	Attorney
Signature
Criminal conviction
Criminal status	Executed
Conviction(s)	Crimes of aggression War crimes Crimes against humanity
Trial	Nuremberg trials
Criminal penalty	Death

Wilhelm Frick (12 March 1877 – 16 October 1946) was a convicted war criminal and prominent German politician of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as Minister of the Interior in Adolf Hitler's cabinet from 1933 to 1943^[3] and as the last governor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

As the head of the Kriminalpolizei (criminal police) in Munich, Frick took part in Hitler's failed Beer Hall Putsch of 1923, for which he was convicted of high treason. He managed to avoid imprisonment and soon afterwards became a leading figure of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in the Reichstag. After Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Frick joined the new government and was named Minister of the Interior. Additionally, on 21 May 1935, Frick was named Generalbevollmächtigter für die Reichsverwaltung (General Plenipotentiary for the Administration of the Reich).^[4] He was instrumental in formulating laws that consolidated the Nazi regime (Gleichschaltung), as well as laws that defined the Nazi racial policy, most notoriously the Nuremberg Laws. On 30 August 1939, immediately prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, Frick was appointed by Hitler to the six-person Council of Ministers for Defense of the Reich which operated as a war cabinet.^[5] Following the rise of the SS, Frick gradually lost favour within the party, and in 1943 he was replaced by Heinrich Himmler as interior minister. Frick remained in the cabinet as a minister without portfolio until Hitler's death in 1945.

After World War II, Frick was tried and convicted of war crimes at the Nuremberg trials and executed by hanging.