Franz Konrad (1 March 1906,

Liesing Liesing () is the 23rd district of Vienna. It is on the southwest edge of Vienna, Austria. It was formed after Austria's ''Anschluss'' with Germany, when Vienna expanded from 21 districts to 26. Fifteen Lower Austrian districts, especially the o ...

– 6 March 1952,

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

) was an Austrian mid-level commander in the SS of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

who was an administrative official responsible for the ''Werteerfassung'' or "recording of valuables" in the

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (, officially , ; ) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the Nazi Germany, German authorities within the new General Government territory of Occupat ...

. He earned the nickname "the King of the Warsaw Ghetto". In March 1952, Konrad was executed by hanging in Warsaw.

Career

Franz Konrad was a son of a

miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face (mining), face; cutt ...

. After school, Konrad obtained a business degree. He worked with various export firms as bookkeeper. In 1932, he soon "demonstrated his proclivity for criminal action when he was caught stealing money from his employer. Not only did he lose his job, but Konrad was prosecuted for theft and spent three months in prison. Out of jail and out of work, Konrad drifted for a few weeks until his former defense lawyer helped him join the (then) illegal Austrian SS (number 46,204) in January 1933". Thereafter, he joined the Nazi Party with membership number: 1,085,499. Konrad, a member of the

Lebensborn ''Lebensborn e.V.'' (literally: "Fount of Life") was a secret, SS-initiated, state-registered association in Nazi Germany with the stated goal of increasing the number of children born who met the Nazi standards of "racially pure" and "heal ...

, was married in 1931 and subsequently became the father of three children. After 19 June 1933,

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

banned the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

. Franz Konrad participated in the

July Putsch The July Putsch () was a failed coup d'état in Austria against the Fatherland Front government of Engelbert Dollfuss by Austrian Nazis from 25 to 30 July 1934. The Austrian Legion and Austrian '' Schutzstaffel'' soldiers with support from ...

the following year. He was arrested and detained in Wöllersdorf-Steinabrückl. He was released in December 1934. In July 1935, Konrad fled to

and entered the SS camp in Weisshenfeld for military training as a member of the ''

SS-Verfügungstruppe (SS-VT, ) was formed in 1934 as combat troops for the Nazi Party (NSDAP). On 17 August 1938 Adolf Hitler decreed that the SS-VT was neither a part of the (order police) nor the , but military-trained men at the disposal of the . In time of wa ...

''. He returned to

following the ''

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

'' in April 1938 as a full-time SS leader and administrative officer of the SS-section XXXV, Sturmbann III/94 (SS''-Führer und Verwaltungsführer des SS-Abschnitts XXXV, Sturmbann III/94''). In January 1939, Konrad was appointed ''SS-

Untersturmführer (, ; short: ''Ustuf'') was a paramilitary rank of the German ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) first created in July 1934. The rank can trace its origins to the older SA rank of '' Sturmführer'', which had existed since the founding of the SA in 192 ...

''. In November 1939, after the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Franz Konrad was convened as a full-time administrative officer of the SS and ''SS-

Oberscharführer __NOTOC__ ''Oberscharführer'' (, ) was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that existed between 1932 and 1945. ''Oberscharführer'' was first used as a rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and was created due to an expansion of the enlisted positions ...

der Waffen SS'' in

. In a further development in the management school at the ''

1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler The 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler or SS Division Leibstandarte, abbreviated as LSSAH (), began as Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard unit, responsible for guarding the Führer's person, offices, and residences. Initially th ...

'', Konrad was responsible for the construction and establishment of accommodation for troops and also the acquisition of goods for these troops in

. In June 1941, Franz Konrad was attached to

Hermann Fegelein Hans Otto Georg Hermann Fegelein (30 October 1906 – 28 April 1945) was a high-ranking commander in the ''Waffen-SS'' of Nazi Germany. He was a member of Adolf Hitler's entourage and brother-in-law to Eva Braun through his marriage to ...

's cavalry and involved in

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

. In July 1941, he was promoted to the rank of ''SS-

Obersturmführer __NOTOC__ (, ; short: ''Ostuf'') was a Nazi Germany paramilitary ranks, Nazi Germany paramilitary rank that was used in several Nazi organisations, such as the Sturmabteilung, SA, Schutzstaffel, SS, National Socialist Motor Corps, NSKK and the ...

''. In July 1942 he returned to Warsaw and became an administrative manager for the acquisition of Jewish property and chattels in the

where he earned the nickname "the King of the Warsaw Ghetto". This was under the direct supervision of

SS and Police Leader The title of SS and Police Leader (') designated a senior Nazi Party official who commanded various components of the SS and the German uniformed police (''Ordnungspolizei''), before and during World War II in the German Reich proper and in the o ...

(''SS und Polizeiführer'') in Warschau ''SS-

Oberführer __NOTOC__ ''Oberführer'' (short: ''Oberf'', , ) was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) dating back to 1921. An ''Oberführer'' was typically an NSDAP member in charge of a group of paramilitary units in a particular geograph ...

'' Ferdinand von Sammern-Frankenegg, who was responsible for the requisition, sorting and routing of Jewish assets, funds, equipment and machinery. In Warsaw he is "alleged to have kept the Polish aristocrat Countess Barbara Kalewska as his personal mistress." On 1 April 1943 Konrad was reassigned to the

(''SS und Polizeiführer'') in

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

''SS-

Gruppenführer __NOTOC__ ''Gruppenführer'' (, ) was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party (NSDAP), first created in 1925 as a senior rank of the SA. Since then, the term ''Gruppenführer'' is also used for leaders of groups/teams of the police, fire d ...

Odilo Globocnik Odilo Lothar Ludwig Globocnik (21 April 1904 – 31 May 1945) was a Nazi Party official from Austria and a perpetrator of the Holocaust. A high-ranking member of the SS, Globocnik was the leader of Operation Reinhard, the organized murder of ar ...

and employed in the ''Ostindustrie GmbH''. From there, he returned to

(''SS und Polizeiführer'') in Warschau ''SS-

'' Ferdinand von Sammern-Frankenegg in the Warsaw Ghetto. During the 1943

Warsaw Ghetto uprising The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany's final effort to transport the remaining ghetto population to the gas chambers of the ...

Konrad took part in the crackdown. In the rest of 1943 Konrad was busy with the review of the

POW POW is "prisoner of war", a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. POW or pow may also refer to: Music * P.O.W (Bullet for My Valentine song), "P.O.W" (Bull ...

camp at

Włodawa Włodawa () is a town in eastern Poland on the Bug River, close to the borders with Belarus and Ukraine. It is the seat of Włodawa County, situated in the Lublin Voivodeship. it has a population of 13,500. Geography The town lies along the borde ...

which was transformed into a labor camp. In addition he was involved with the acquisition of valuables in the Białystok Ghetto, and also the relocation of the machinery in the rest of the Warsaw Ghetto. At the end of 1943 Konrad finished his work for ''Ostindustrie GmbH'' and from 3 January 1944 onwards Franz Konrad was employed as administrative head of the SS office in ''Schloss Fischhorn'' near

Zell am See Zell am See is the administrative capital of the Zell am See District in the Austrian state of Salzburg (state), Salzburg. Located in the Kitzbühel Alps, the town is an important tourist destination due to its Ski resort, ski resorts and shorel ...

. In February 1944 he was promoted to ''SS-

Hauptsturmführer __NOTOC__ (, ; short: ''Hstuf'') was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in several Nazi organizations such as the SS, NSKK and the NSFK. The rank of ''Hauptsturmführer'' was a mid-level commander and had equivalent seniority to a ...

''. He is alleged to have maintained Martha von Broskowitz as both personal secretary and mistress there. On 5 May 1945 Spacil met up with ''SS

'' Franz Konrad at the village of Mittensill near Taxenbach and gave him a substantial sum of

Reichsbank The ''Reichsbank'' (; ) was the central bank of the German Empire from 1876 until the end of Nazi Germany in 1945. Background The monetary institutions in Germany had been unsuited for its economic development for several decades before unifica ...

currency. This was mostly money from the Berlin

intended for some use after the war while some of the cash was apparently distributed loosely to senior

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

and SS officers in the vicinity to pay

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

soldiers their wages.

Postwar

After the war, Konrad was arrested and convicted in a joint trial with SS-Gruppenführer Jürgen Stroop for participating in the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto. During his trial, Konrad claimed to have taken photographs during the uprising only so that he could complain about Stroop's brutality to Hitler. The court did not accept this claim. Convicted of personally murdering seven Jews and deporting 1,000 others to death camps, Konrad was sentenced to death. He was executed by hanging in Warsaw together with Stroop on 6 March 1952.Kenneth A. Alford & Theodore P. Savas. ''Nazi Millionaires: The Allied Search for Hidden SS Gold'', p. 302.

Dates of rank

* January 1939: ''SS-

'' * November 1940: ''SS-

der Waffen SS'' * July 1941: ''SS-

'' * February 1944: ''SS-

References

Literature

* Joachim Jahns. ''Der Warschauer Ghettokönig''. Dingsda-Verlag, Leipzig, 2009, . * Ernst Klee. ''Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich: Wer war was vor und nach 1945''. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 2007, . * Josef Wulf. ''Das Dritte Reich und seine Vollstrecker – Die Liquidation von 500.000 Juden im Ghetto Warschau''. Arani-Verlags GmbH, Berlin, 1961. * Ian Sayer & Douglas Botting. ''Nazi Gold'', Granada Publishing, 1984. * Höhne, Heinz. ''Der Orden unter dem Totenkopf'', (English translation entitled The Order of the Death's Head, The Story of Hitler's SS) London: Pan Books Ltd. 1969. * Koehl, Robert Lewis. ''The Black Corps'' University of Wisconsin Press, 1983. * Reitlinger, Gerald. ''The SS: Alibi of a Nation 1922–1945''. Viking (Da Capo reprint), New York. 1957. * Kenneth A. Alford & Theodore P. Savas. ''Nazi Millionaires: The Allied Search for Hidden SS Gold''. Casemate, 2002. {{DEFAULTSORT:Konrad, Franz 1906 births 1952 deaths Austrian Nazis executed for war crimes Austrian people executed abroad Austrian Waffen-SS personnel Executed Austrian mass murderers Executed military personnel Holocaust perpetrators in Poland Nazis executed by Poland by hanging Nazis who participated in the July Putsch People from Liesing People convicted of theft Prisoners and detainees of Austria SS-Hauptsturmführer Stroop Report Warsaw Ghetto