SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei Friedrich Hermann Franz

SOME OF THE PRISONERS HELD AT
SPECIAL CAMP 11

Photo Courtesy of
Max Williams

A special thanks to Phil Nix for kindly sharing his excellent research work on this officer.

NAME: SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei Friedrich Hermann Franz

PW NO:         560407
RANK:           SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei
CAPTURED:  Norway
DATE:            25 September 1945

PERSONAL
DATE OF BIRTH:      16 August 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH:    Leipzig-Stötteritz/Saxony
DATE OF DEATH:    18 February 1960
PLACE OF DEATH:
NATIONALITY:        German
RELIGION:                 “gottgläubig” (“believer in God”)
OCCUPATION:        Police Officer
HEIGHT:                     5’ 10.5”
WEIGHT:                   180 lbs.
HAIR COLOUR:        Grey
EYE COLOUR:          Brown
NSDAP-NUMBER:    824,526 (Joined 1 December 1931)
SS-NUMBER:            361,279 (Joined 1 August 1940)
NEXT OF KIN:          Frida Franz, Bad Wiessee (U.S. Zone)

Wife: Married Frida Schneider on 18 December 1917 – no children.

Promotions:

Unteroffizier: 27 January 1911
Vizefeldwebel: 1915
Leutnant der Schutzpolizei: 1 December 1920
Oberleutnant der Schutzpolizei: 1 December 1923
Hauptmann der Schutzpolizei: 1 June 1933
Major der Schutzpolizei: 1 December 1933
Oberstleutnant der Schutzpolizei: 20 April 1938
Oberst der Schutzpolizei: 1 August 1940
SS-Obersturmbannführer: 1 August 1940 (entered the SS at this rank)
SS-Standartenführer: 1 April 1941
SS-Oberführer: 21 December 1943
Generalmajor der Polizei: 14 September 1944 – with seniority from 21 June 1943
SS-Brigadeführer: 9 November 1944 – with seniority from 14 September 1944

Commands & Assignments:

1897-1905: Attended Bürgerschule (Civic School) in Leipzig and Dresden.
1905-1 April 1909: Attended the Unteroffiziervorschule (Non-Commissioned Officer Preparatory School) in Struppen.
1 April 1909-31 March 1911: Attended the Unteroffiziervorschule in Marienburg.
31 March 1911-Spring 1919: Upon graduation, entered the Army as an Unteroffizier in the Royal Saxon 9. Infanterie-Regiment Nr.133. During World War I, Franz served with his regiment on the Western Front from 9 August 1914-November 1918.
Spring 1919-8 January 1920: Assigned to the staff of the Archive Command in Zwickau and Branch of the War Archive in Dresden.
8 January 1920: Separated from the Army and joined the Saxon Landespolizei [State Police].
8 January 1920-1 December 1920: Attended the First Officer Course of the Schutzpolizei [Protection Police] in Dresden.
1 December 1920-November 1921: Member of the Schutzpolizei in Plauen.
November 1921-1 January 1923: Training Consultant in the Police Office of Zwickau.
1 January 1923-16 April 1923: Leader of the Schutzpolizei Command Post in Plauen.
16 April 1923-7 July 1923: Attended the Officer Advanced Training Course in Leipzig.
7 July 1923-25 March 1925: Leader of Weapons and Physical Training at the Plauen Police School.
25 March 1925-January 1926: Course attendance at the Higher Police School in Eiche at Potsdam.
January 1926-8 March 1933: Adjutant of the Commander of the Frontier Customs Service in Dresden.
8 March 1933-1 June 1933: Temporary Police Director of Plauen in Vogtland.
1 June 1933-16 May 1938: Police Director of Plauen in Vogtland.
1 May 1933-1 August 1940: Served in the Hitler Youth as a Bannführer and Oberbannführer.
1 September 1938-6 December 1938: Commander of the Police Training District in Dresden at Hellerau.
20 October 1938-15 December 1939: Transferred to the Ordnungspolizei (Orpo) [Order Police] Main Office in Berlin.
6 September 1939-20 October 1939: At the same time, Staff Officer for Ordnungspolizei (Orpo) with the 8th Army in Poland.
15 December 1939-July 1941: Commander of the Police Training Battalion in Dresden at Hellerau.
1 August 1940: Left the Hitler Youth and joined the SS with the rank of SS-Obersturmbannführer.
1 August 1940-1 January 1941: Leader in Stammabteilung Bezirk 46 of the SS-Oberabschnitt [Main District] “Elbe.”
1 January 1941-15 March 1941: Leader in Stammabteilung Bezirk 1 of the SS-Oberabschnitt “Süd.”
15 March 1941-8 May 1945: Leader on the Staff of the SS Personnel Office.
July 1941-9 July 1942: Commander of Polizei-Regiment “Süd” on the Eastern Front. [Composed of Police Battalions 45, 303 and 314 plus two armored car and two antitank platoons, the regiment operated in the rear area of Army Group South following the launch of Operation “Barbarossa” on 22 June 1941. The Ordungspolizei, including Polizei-Regiment “Süd,” assigned to pacify the occupied areas in the wake of the German field armies were involved in the mass murder of Russian Jews and political functionaries from virtually the outset of the campaign. In his book Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland, author Christopher R. Browning cites daily reports submitted by SS‑Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei Friedrich Jeckeln, the Higher SS and Police Leader “Russia South,” that catalogued the killing of over 11,000 Jews at the hands of Polizei-Regiment “Süd” during the period of 19 August-12 September 1941 alone. Additionally, elements of the regiment assisted Sonderkommando 4a of Einsatzgruppe C perpetrate the mass shooting of 33,771 Jews from Kiev in the Babi Yar ravine, 29-30 September 1941.]
9 July 1942-August 1943: Commander of Polizei-Regiment 18; redesignated SS-Polizei-Regiment 18 on 24 February 1943; redesignated SS-Polizei-Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 18 on 23 May 1943. [After anti-partisan duty in Slovenia, the regiment (three police battalions and a police mountain artillery battalion with 75mm pieces) transferred to Finland in December 1942 where it served under General der Infanterie (later General der Gebirgstruppe) Franz Böhme’s XVIII Mountain Army Corps. In July 1943, the regiment returned to Germany and transferred to Greece the following month. Members of the regiment wore the distinctive Edelweiss badge of the German mountain troops on their lower left sleeve, the only Police regiment allowed this distinction.]
November 1943-7 February 1945: Commander of the Ordnungspolizei (Orpo) in Greece (headquarters in Athens).
24 September 1944-18 November 1944: Delegated with the post of Higher SS and Police Leader “Greece” as a substitute for SS-Standartenführer und Oberst der Polizei Walter Blume, the Commander of the Security Police and Security Service (SD) in Greece.
7 February 1945-8 May 1945: Commander of the Ordnungspolizei (Orpo) in Norway (headquarters in Oslo).
25 September 1945-Circa 1947: Prisoner of war in British captivity.
- 9 January 1946: Transferred to Island Farm Special Camp 11 from Camp 1.
- 25 November 1947: Transferred to the Civil Internment Camp (CIC) Adelheide.
1963: Posthumous publication of the regimental history Gebirgsjäger der Polizei: Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 18 und Polizei-Gebirgs-Artellerieabteilungen 1942-1945.

Decorations & Awards:

Iron Cross, 1st Class (1939)
Prussian Iron Cross, 2nd Class (1914) with 1939 Clasp
War Merit Cross, 1st Class with Swords
War Merit Cross, 2nd Class with Swords
Medal for the Winter Campaign in Russia 1941/1942 (“East Medal”)
Saxon Honor Cross with Swords
Saxon Friedrich August Medal in Silver
Cross of Honor for Combatants 1914-1918
Lifesaving Medal on Ribbon
Police Long Service Award, 2nd Class (18-year Service Cross): 26 September 1938.
Commemorative Medal of 1 October 1938: 5 July 1939.
Hungarian War Commemorative Medal with Swords
Wound Badge in Black – World War I award
German National Sports Badge in Gold
SA Sports Badge in Bronze
Totenkopf [Death’s Head] Ring of the SS

Additional Sources:

Angolia, John R. & Taylor, Hugh Page. Uniforms, Organization & History of the German Police, Volume 1. R. James Bender Publishing, San Jose, California, 2004 (1st Edition).
Browning, Christopher R. Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland. HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., New York, New York, 1992.
Klee, Ernst; Dressen, Willi; Riess, Volker (editors). “The Good Old Days”: The Holocaust as Seen by Its Perpetrators and Bystanders. Deborah Burnstone, translator. Konecky & Konecky, New York, New York, 1991.

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