David Frankfurter
|
|
David Frankfurter (July 91909 - July 191982) is best known for assassinating Swiss Nazi leader Wilhelm Gustloff in 1936.
Born in Daruvar, former Austria-Hungary, today's Croatia, Frankfurter was the son of the town's rabbi Moshe (Moritz) Frankfurter and the mother Rebekka, (née Pagel). After completing his basic education he began a study of medicine, for which he traveled to Vienna, Leipzig and Frankfurt. The rise of Nazi power in Germany compelled him to relocate to Switzerland to continue his studies, and he settled in Bern in 1934.
Having become convinced of the danger posed by the Nazis, Frankfurter kept an eye on Gustloff, head of the Foreign Section of the Nazi party in Switzerland, (NSDAP) who ordered the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to be published in Switzerland. This culminated in the assassination which occurred in Davos on February 4 1936. Frankfurter was put on trial for the assassination in Chur on December 9 of that year.
Although the assassination was not unfavorably received by the largely anti-Nazi population of the country, the Swiss government prosecuted the case strictly, owing to concerns about its status of neutrality. Frankfurter was convicted of the killing and sentenced to an eighteen-year prison term.
As World War II came to a conclusion, Frankfurter applied for a pardon on February 27, 1945 which was granted on June 1, with the stipulation that he leave the country, and pay restitution and court costs. After his release he traveled to and settled in Tel Aviv in Israel where he served in the Ministry of Defence.
Frankfurter published his memoirs in 1950. The Swiss government rescinded the order of exile in September, 1969.
External links
- "Simon Wiesenthal Center" about David Frankfurter (http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/text/x07/xm0773.html)
- "Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz" about David Frankfurter (http://www.lexhist.ch/externe/protect/textes/d/D27979.html) (German)
- David Frankfurter (http://www.regmeister.net/verbrecher/chapter9.htm) (NOTE - link to text of anti-Semitic book published in Nazi Germany, "The Jew as Criminal", with a preface by Julius Streicher)
Further reading
- Novel of Günter Grass, where Frankfurter is mentioned: Crabwalk, English 2003, ISBN 0151007640de:David Frankfurter