Stroop Collection - Jürgen Stroop and other officers - Franz Konrad crop

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 ...

– 6 March 1952,

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

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

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

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

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (german: Warschauer Ghetto, officially , "Jewish Residential District in Warsaw"; pl, getto warszawskie) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the G ...

. 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; cutting, blasting ...

. After school, Konrad obtained a business degree. He worked with various export firms as bookkeeper. 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 he was also imprisoned for three months in 1932. 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 an SS-initiated, state-supported, 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 "hea ...

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

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

banned the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

party and Franz Konrad participated in the attempted coup in July 1934. Konrad was arrested and detained in Wöllersdorf-Steinabrückl. In July 1935 he fled to

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

SS-Verfügungstruppe ''SS-Verfügungstruppe'' (SS-VT or V-Truppe) (lit. "SS Dispositional Troops") 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 ''Ordnungspolizei'' ( ...

''. He returned to

following the ''

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germa ...

'' 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 1921. ...

''. In November 1939, after the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, 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, (german: 1. SS-Panzerdivision "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler") began as Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard unit, responsible for guarding ...

'', 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 her si ...

's cavalry and involved in

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named afte ...

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

Obersturmführer __NOTOC__ (, ; short: ''Ostuf'') was a Nazi Germany paramilitary rank that was used in several Nazi organisations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK. The rank of ''Obersturmführer'' was first created in 1932 as the result of an expa ...

''. 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 (''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 a NSDAP member in charge of a group of paramilitary units in a particular geographic ...

Ferdinand von Sammern-Frankenegg Ferdinand von Sammern-Frankenegg (17 March 1897 – 20 September 1944) was an Austrian SS functionary during the Nazi era. He was born in Grieskirchen. Von Sammern-Frankenegg served in World War I as a member of the Kaiserschützen, then of the ...

, 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 and Police Leader (''SS und Polizeiführer'') in

Lublin Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of ...

''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 an Austrian Nazi and a perpetrator of the Holocaust. He was an official of the Nazi Party and later a high-ranking leader of the SS. Globocnik had a leading role in Operation Re ...

and employed in the ''Ostindustrie GmbH''. From there, he returned to SS and Police Leader (''SS und Polizeiführer'') in Warschau ''SS-

in the Warsaw Ghetto. During the 1943

Warsaw Ghetto uprising The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; pl, powstanie w getcie warszawskim; german: link=no, Aufstand im Warschauer Ghetto was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany' ...

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

Włodawa Włodawa (; yi, וולאָדאַווע, Vlodave; ua, Володава, Volodava) 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 Voivode ...

which was transformed into a labor camp. In addition he was involved with the acquisition of valuables in the

Białystok Ghetto The Białystok Ghetto ( pl, getto w Białymstoku) was a Nazi ghetto set up by the German SS between July 26 and early August 1941 in the newly formed District of Bialystok within occupied Poland. About 50,000 Jews from the vicinity of Białyst ...

, 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 Konard 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. Located in the Kitzbühel Alps, the town is an important tourist destination due to its ski resorts and shoreline on Lake Zell. While Zell a ...

. 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'' (; 'Bank of the Reich, Bank of the Realm') was the central bank of the German Reich from 1876 until 1945. History until 1933 The Reichsbank was founded on 1 January 1876, shortly after the establishment of the German Empi ...

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 (), 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 Prussia into one orga ...

and SS officers in the vicinity to pay

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

soldiers their wages.

Postwar

After the war, Konrad was arrested and convicted in the trial of SS-Gruppenführer

Jürgen Stroop Jürgen Stroop (born Josef Stroop, 26 September 1895 – 6 March 1952) was a German SS commander during the Nazi era, who served as SS and Police Leader in occupied Poland and Greece. He led the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 19 ...

for participating in the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto. On 6 March 1952 Konrad was executed by hanging in Warsaw together with Stroop.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 People from Liesing SS-Hauptsturmführer 1906 births 1952 deaths Warsaw Ghetto Holocaust perpetrators in Poland Executed Austrian Nazis Nazis executed by Poland by hanging Executed military personnel Waffen-SS personnel Austrian people executed abroad Stroop Report Executed mass murderers