European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 11, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Books Niklas Frank rips his father Hans while Wolf Rudiger Hess backs his father  drops bomb on nazi fathers wartime crime by Kevin Costelloe the associated press the children of Adolf Hitler s top aides have generally kept mute about their fathers deeds during the nazi Era or have recalled their parents in warm and Loving terms. Not so Niklas Frank. His father Hans Frank ruled occupied Poland with murderous Zeal and died on the Gallows at Nairn Borg in 1946 for his crimes. In the Book titled a the Shadow of the third Reich Niklas Frank said Hiis father deserved to be executed and he is glad that he was. The Book was first published in Germany four years ago and shocked Many germans. Quot a pah of your mind is always preoccupied with it from the Lime you re Young a said the 52-year-old Frank. In the Book which will be published in English this month in the United states Frank branded his father As a monster and a Coward condemned to hell for his crimes. Until the Hook was published in 1987, Many offspring of lop nazis had either shunned the Public Eye or expressed support for their fathers. One of them Wolf Riidiger Hess for years led a Campaign to free his father from Allied imprisonment in Berlin. Even today he claims murder not suicide took the life of Hitler Deputy Rudolf Hess in 1987 at age 93. A if that a so then its a crime a said the younger 1 less a 54-Ycar-old consulting Engineer. A the allies Are blocking All investigation into  perhaps the most influential voice urging germans to face the horrors of world War ii is president Richard von Wei sticker. At the same time von Wei sticker has strongly defended his own father who spent 18 months in prison for his conviction at one of the later Nairn Borg War crimes trials in 1949. In the presidents eyes Ernst von Wei sticker used his top ranking position in the nazis foreign ministry to try to head off world War ii. Edda Goring told author Gerald l. Posner she has Only Loving memories of her father Hermann Goring who directed the nazis air War. Quot i cannot see him any other  Frank on the other hand wrote that he was Quot exhilarated Quot in dragging the memory of his father through the mud. After the nazis overran Poland in 1939, Hitler sent 39-year-old Hans Frank to Krakow As governor general to finish crushing Poland into submission. Hitler s soldiers kept the jews penned up in ghettos forcing them to endure untold sufferings before sending them to death Camps. In april 1943, some 60,000 jews still left in the Warsaw ghetto rebelled against their nazi oppressors. The Battle lasted nearly a month. The fighting and reprisals killed at least 50.000 of the jews probably thousands More. The nazis murdered an estimated 3 million polish jews or about half the total number slaughtered across Europe. In Alt the third Reich tyranny claimed More than 6 million polish lives. At the time Niklas Frank was the privileged child of a nazi Boss. In the postwar Era he claims it was sometimes advantageous to be related to a War criminal. In the Shadow of the third Reich will be published in August by Alfred a. Knopf. The . Version will be a slightly different from the German original whose title translates As the father a a reckoning. On the first Page the author uttered a a thank god for the Hangman a noose Slung around Hans Franks neck by an american army sergeant on oct. 16,1946. The son Savoured a those terrifying final Days nights hours and seconds before the execution. A you deserved them if Only to experience a tiny bit of the appalling Fate that we germans inflicted on so Many Many millions of others a Frank in froth. His fathers statements against the poles and jews were so bloodcurdling that they formed a major part of the evidence against him in Nairn Borg. Hans Frank told fellow nazis in 1943 Quot there is no reason for us to be squeamish when we hear about 17,000 people being  the governor general bragged about being no. 1 on president Franklin a Roosevelt a roster of War criminals and promised to a obliterate jews wherever we find them a a half Century later that murderous legacy and the pictures of the nazi atrocities still haunt Niklas Frank the youngest of five siblings. A a it Sas if your whole life had a heavy Anchor on it Quot he said in an interview at the Hamburg Headquarters of the prestigious Stern Magazine where he is a foreign affairs correspondent. His 360-Page Book also documents his fathers corruption that stripped Poland of badly needed food Art treasures and other valuables. Quot the snapping of your neck spared me from having a totally screwed up life Quot Frank wrote addressing his father directly throughout the Book. A you certainly would have poisoned my brain with All your  Frank knows the graphic verbal attacks on his father and his greedy Mother violate a Quot taboo running right through  Quot you just done to do that even when millions of corpses Are lying around Quot the son said. A a you re supposed to stand by your  the same year Franks Book was published Irmgard Bormann another child of one of the nazi elite appeared on German television with a More sympathetic message. With her face obscured to avoid recognition the daughter of top Hitler aide Martin Bormann said softly that she had sought in vain for a a husband who would be just like my  Frank goes beyond lambasting his parents and their Naz it cronies. He wrote that germans themselves Are a a people of  he faced a torrent of criticism especially after parts of the Book were serialized in Stern Magazine. Of the More than 1,300 letters to the editor about 1,000 were critical of the Book. According to Frank German Public opinion was much More in favor of Rudolf Hess son and his efforts to get the ailing old Man out of prison. In Many ways the two sons symbolize the struggles still under Way to confront the nazi past. Frank said he was capable of sympathizing with the elder Hess spending his lonely years in Spandau prison. A then 1 just need to think of so Many old people sitting off somewhere with a crumpled picture of a son or daughter or husband whom we murdered a the author said a and my sympathy suddenly  Rolf Man Gale son of the sadistic Auschwitz doctor Josef Man Gale has taken Issue with Franks hatred of his father a hate is such a Strong word. Maybe he feels that Way but for me at least its a Little too much a Posner quoted the younger Mengele As saying in his Book Hitler s children. Yet even Rolf Mengele has said his fathers legacy disgusts him. He has changed his name to avoid the Glare of publicity. For All of Franks broadsides against his father the author insisted that ambition rather than anti semitism drove the nazis ruler in Poland to rant against the jews. Despite his lust for Power Hans Frank never reached the highest echelons of the nazi elite. His authority was eroded in 1942 when he caved in to the dreaded is nazi party Wing to halt a corruption probe against him. Quot to a certain extent he was just a puppet Over there Quot the son  8 a sunday August 11. 1991