Franz Six
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Franz Alfred Six (12 August 1909 – 9 July 1975) was a
Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
official, promoter of the
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
and convicted war criminal. He was appointed by
Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( , ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a German high-ranking SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He held the rank of SS-. Many historians regard Heydrich ...
to head department Amt VII, Written Records of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). In 1940, he was appointed to direct state police operations in an occupied United Kingdom following invasion. In the post-war period, he worked as a public relations executive and a management consultant.


Academic career

Franz Six completed his classical high school in 1930, and proceeded to the
University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...
to study journalism, sociology and politics. His late graduation was due to the fact he had to drop out of school from time to time to earn the money needed to graduate. He graduated with a degree of doctor in philosophy in 1934. In 1936, Six earned the high degree of doctor, and became a professor of journalism at the University of Königsberg where he also took up the position of press director for the German Student's Association. By 1939, he had become chair for Foreign Political Science at the University of
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
and was its first dean of the faculty for foreign countries.


Nazi official

In 1930, Six joined 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 ...
as member number 245,670. In 1932 he became a member and student organizer for the ''
Sturmabteilung The (; SA; or 'Storm Troopers') was the original paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party of Germany. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and early 1930s. I ...
'' — or SA (Storm Troopers). In 1935 Six joined the SS (membership number 107,480) as an officer of the '' Sicherheitsdienst''— the SD, the intelligence agency of both the SS and Nazi Party. Impressed by his academic achievements and curriculum vitae, Reinhard Heydrich appointed Six head of Amt VII, Written Records of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), which dealt mainly with ideological issues and publications. Six's responsibilities included the creation of antisemitic, anti-Masonic propaganda, the sounding of public opinion, and the monitoring of Nazi indoctrination of the public. He held this post until 1943 when he was succeeded by Paul Dittel. On 17 September 1940, the same day on which
Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
indefinitely postponed the idea of an invasion of Great Britain, Heydrich charged Six to form death squads to eliminate anti-Nazi elements in Britain following a successful invasion by the
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
. Six was slated to become the SD-Commander in the country, with his headquarters to be located in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, and with regional task forces in
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
,
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
,
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
, and
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
.Rich, Norman (1974). Hitler's War Aims vol. II, p. 397 His immediate mission would have been to hunt down and arrest some 2,820 people listed in the ''Sonderfahndungsliste G.B.'' ("Special Search List Great Britain"). This document, which post-war became known as " The Black Book", was a secret list previously compiled by Walter Schellenberg, Chief of RSHA Amt VI, '' Ausland-SD'', that made up the foreign intelligence branch of the SD. The list contained the names of prominent British residents to be arrested immediately after a successful invasion. The list included British politicians and celebrities, such as
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
and other members of the Cabinet, Noel Coward,
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...
(even though he had died in September 1939), the
philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...
, members of exiled governments, financiers such as Bernard Baruch, and many others deemed anti-Nazi. A separate list named organizations which would have to be dismantled as well, namely the Freemasons, the
Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...
and even the Boy Scouts. Six would also have been responsible for handling the population of 300,000 British Jews.


Einsatzgruppen

After Hitler gave up on his attempts to invade Great Britain and Six's planned role never being realized, Six was on 20 June 1941 assigned as chief of '' Vorkommando Moskau'', a unit of '' Einsatzgruppe B'' in the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. During this command, Six's Kommando reported "liquidating" 144 persons. The report claimed "The Vorkommando Moscow was forced to execute another 46 persons, amongst them 38 intellectual Jews who had tried to create unrest and discontent in the newly established Ghetto of
Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...
." He was promoted by
Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...
on 9 November 1941 to 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 ...
'' for exceptional service in the ''Einsatz''. On 31 January 1945, he was again promoted to SS-'' Brigadeführer''. After the war, Six was tried as a war criminal in the '' Einsatzgruppen Trial'' at
Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...
in 1948. During his trial, he admitted that the executions of women and children was wrong, but the killing of male Jews was justified, since they could bear arms. Unable to link him directly to any atrocities committed by Vorkommando Moskau, the court instead found Six guilty on all counts for forming the organization, then sentenced him to 20 years' imprisonment. A clemency court commuted this sentence to 10 years, and he was released in October 1952. He served about 7.5 years from his arrest to his release. CIA files suggest Six joined the Gehlen Organization, the forerunner to the ''
Bundesnachrichtendienst The Federal Intelligence Service (, ; BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of Germany, directly subordinate to the Federal Chancellery of Germany, Chancellor's Office. The Headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service, BND headquarters is ...
'', in the 1950s. Six was also a member of the
Naumann Circle The Naumann Circle (), also sometimes referred to as the Circle or the Naumann Affair, was an organization of former German adherents of the Nazi Party that was formed in the German Federal Republic (West Germany) several years after the end o ...
, which aimed to infiltrate the Free Democratic Party and eventually restore Nazism in Germany.Historical Analysis of 20 Name Files from CIA Records
By Dr. Richard Breitman, Professor of History, American University, IWG Director of Historical Research, April 2001. Retrieved 19 February 2010.


Later years

Franz Six retired to Friedrichshafen in southern Germany. He worked as a publicity/advertising executive for Porsche. Six was called as one of four witnesses by defense attorney Robert Servatius in the 1961
trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...
in Israel of Adolf Eichmann, and gave his testimony by deposition in
West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
. Servatius had wanted to have Six appear in person, but Prosecutor Gideon Hausner stated that the former Nazi general would be subject to arrest, trial and execution as a
war criminal A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...
."Telling Points Are Scored in Adolf Eichmann Trial," '' Bridgeport Sunday Post'', 7 May 1961, pD-10 Franz Six died in 1975.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Six, Franz 1909 births 1975 deaths Academic staff of the University of Königsberg Einsatzgruppen personnel German people convicted of crimes against humanity Holocaust perpetrators in Russia Naumann Circle members German Nazi propagandists Nazis convicted of war crimes People convicted by the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals Reich Security Main Office personnel SS-Brigadeführer