Karl Frank (politician, 1900)

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Karl Ludwig Frank (born August 9, 1900 in Heidelberg ; † May 3, 1974 in Ludwigsburg-Hoheneck ) was a German lawyer , manager and politician ( NSDAP , later FDP / DVP ).

Life and work

He was the son of the merchant Robert Frank. After graduation Frank began studying law and political science, which he awarded the degree of Dr. jur. completed. He was admitted to the bar, entered the Baden judicial and administrative service in 1923 and worked in the Reich Ministry of the Interior in 1926/27 . From 1948 he worked as a lawyer in Ludwigsburg . From 1960 to 1967 he was chairman of the board of Energie -versorgung Schwaben AG and from 1968 to 1974 chairman of the supervisory board of the Bausparkasse der Gemeinschaft der Freunde Wüstenrot (GdF). At the same time, he was a member of the supervisory boards of numerous banks, industrial companies and investment companies. He was also president of the Württemberg Administration and Business Academy (VWA) from 1952 to 1972 .

politics

Karl Frank served as mayor of the city ​​of Eberbach from 1927 to 1931 and as lord mayor of the city of Ludwigsburg from 1931 to 1945 . He was elected to the office of upper citizen in Ludwigsburg with the votes of the SPD, DKP and other left-wing groups. He was able to assert himself against the National Socialist candidate. Due to his great qualifications for his office, he was allowed to remain in office even after the NSDAP came to power.

As in previous years, he was now increasingly urged to become a member of the NSDAP and joined the party on July 15, 1937.

The denazification occurred in two instances. In the first instance he had been convicted by the Ludwigsburg Chamber of Rulers as "minor burdened", against which the public prosecutor had appealed in order to obtain a more severe sentence.

On March 11, 1948, however, the Appeals Chamber in Stuttgart only classified him in the second lowest level, as a "follower".

  1. Main culprits
  2. Incriminated ( activistsmilitarists  and  beneficiaries )
  3. Less burdened
  4. Fellow travelers
  5. Relieved.

Karl Frank was given special credit for the fact that he had not taken advantage of his party membership in the NSDAP.

He adhered strictly to the legislation and thus achieved that National Socialist projects that were not covered by law were not tolerated by him and thus by the city of Ludwigsburg. He mitigated those that were covered by NS laws to the greatest possible extent or delayed implementation for as long as possible by asking various agencies several times. Often, unfortunately not always, the measures were ultimately dropped.

Outwardly, he appeared as a loyal National Socialist and was thus able to maintain the management of the city of Ludwigsburg. Especially towards the end of the war, he managed to avert even greater suffering from his city. He achieved that Ludwigsburg was classified as a hospital town. Thus Ludwigsburg could be taken out of the defense line of the Wehrmacht and handed over to the advancing French and later the American troops without a fight without further senseless human sacrifice.

After the Second World War he rejoined the Democratic People's Party (DVP), which merged with other liberal associations to form the FDP / DVP in 1948 and has been the state association of the FDP in Baden-Württemberg since 1952 . Since 1953 he was chairman of the FDP finance committee. Frank was on 11 January 1951 as Finance Minister in the Prime Minister Reinhold Maier led government of the state of Baden Wuerttemberg- appointed and after the foundation of "Southwest State" of Baden-Wuerttemberg on 25 April 1952 as finance minister included in his government. He also remained in the office of finance minister in the subsequent state governments of Prime Ministers Gebhard Müller and Kurt Georg Kiesinger . On June 23, 1960, he was replaced in this position by Hermann Müller . From 1952 to 1964 he was a member of the Baden-Württemberg state parliament . The state parliament elected him a member of the third federal assembly , which in 1959 elected Heinrich Lübke as federal president .

Other engagement

From 1961 to 1974 he was a member of the Advisory Board of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation . From 1967 to 1969 Frank was chairman of the Society for Freedom - Friends and Supporters of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation .

Honors

See also

Web links

Commons : Karl Frank (FDP)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Frank, Karl, Dr. In: Martin Schumacher (Ed.): MdB - The People's Representation 1946–1972. - [Faber to Fyrnys] (=  KGParl online publications ). Commission for the History of Parliamentarism and Political Parties e. V., Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-00-020703-7 , pp. 317 , urn : nbn: de: 101: 1-2014070812574 ( kgparl.de [PDF; 253 kB ; accessed on June 19, 2017]).