Admitting that he had participated in the extermination of Jews, Hans Frank, Nazi governor-general in Poland, said here today that it will take 1,000 years for Germany to rid itself of the guilt for these crimes.
The first of the 20 defendants to freely admit his role in murdering millions of European Jews, Frank, in reply to questions by his counsel, asserted that during the five months of testimony which has been presented here since the trial began he has become aware of all the atrocities committed by the Nazis, and “I feel terrible guilt within me.
“If Adolf Hitler drove the German people to this course, the evidence of which we have seen, then I, too, must accept responsibility,” he continued, adding that “I cannot allow that responsibility should be pushed on smaller men.” The man who became known as the “butcher of Poland,” denied he had been responsible for the establishment of concentration camps, but admitted he had ordered the creation of ghettos.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
