| David Frankfurter | |
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David Frankfurter in Israel, 1945 |
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| Born | 9 July 1909 Daruvar, Austro-Hungarian Empire, (now Croatia) |
| Died | 19 July 1982 (aged 73) Ramat Gan, Israel |
| Nationality | Croat, Israeli |
David Frankfurter (July 9, 1909 – July 19, 1982) was a Croatian Jew known for assassinating Swiss branch leader of the German NSDAP Wilhelm Gustloff in 1936 in Davos, Switzerland.
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Frankfurter was born in Daruvar, in Croatia (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) to a Jewish family, father Mavro and mother Rebekka, (née Pagel).[1] His father was rabbi in Daruvar and later the chief rabbi in Vinkovci. The Frankfurter family moved to Vinkovci in 1914.[1] Frankfurter was a sickly child and suffered an incurable periostitis for which he underwent seven operations between the ages of six and twenty-three, but his doctors feared he would not live a normal lifespan. He graduated from elementary and later secondary school, in 1929, with good success. After completing his basic education he began a study of medicine, his father sent him to Germany to study dentistry, first in Leipzig and then in 1931 to the town of his ancestors Frankfurt.[1]
While studying in Germany, he witnessed the Nazi advent to power and the initiation of anti-semitic measures. The rise of Nazism in Germany and the banning of Jews from German universities, compelled him to relocate to Switzerland to continue his studies, and he settled in Bern in 1934. There, among the Germans and German speaking Swiss, the Nazi movement gained ground, led by Wilhelm Gustloff. 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. In 1936, unable to endure any longer, the torrent of insults, humiliations and attacks on the Jewish people, of whom he was very proud, Frankfurter bought a gun in Bern. Frankfurter found Gustloff's address easily, as it was listed in the phonebook and went to the Gustloff home; Gustloff's wife, Hedwig Gustloff, received him and showed him into the study, asking him to wait since her husband was on the telephone but would be with him presently.[1]
When Gustloff, who was in the adjoining room, entered his office where Frankfurter was sitting opposite a picture of Hitler, Frankfurter presented himself as a Jew and then shot him five times in the head, neck and chest; he left the premises (according to Heinz Schön, while hearing Hedwig Gustloff's cries), went into the next house and asked to use the telephone. He rang the police and confessed to the murder. Immediately he went to the police station and calmly told the police what had happened. The assassination of Gustloff rang out through Europe, thanks to Nazi propaganda directed by Joseph Goebbels. But Adolf Hitler prohibited retaliation against the Jews at the time, fearing an international boycott of the winter and summer Olympics that were due to be held in Germany, through which he wanted to propagandise the size and power of the Nazi movement and also its ideology, on a world stage.[1] Gustloff was made a Blutzeuge/Martyr of the Nazi cause and his assassination later became part of the propaganda serving as pretext for the 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom.
Although the assassination was well-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. When his father visited Frankfurter in prison, he is reported to have asked him "... who actually needed this?"[1]
As World War II came to a conclusion, Frankfurter applied for a pardon on February 27, 1945 which was granted on June 1, on condition that he left the country and paid restitution and court costs.
After his release from prison, he was expelled from Switzerland and traveled to the British Mandate of Palestine. Frankfurter settled in Tel Aviv. He later became an employee of the Israeli Minister of Defence and later an officer in the Israeli army. He lived and worked in several Israel cities until 1982.[1]
Frankfurter died in Israel, in the city of Ramat Gan on July 19, 1982.[1]
Several books were written about the Gustloff assassination. The Graubünden canton government rescinded the order of no-entry in September 1969.
Frankfurter published two memoirs first one in German called "Rache" ("Revange") and second one in English called "The first fighter against Nazism".[1]
Frankfurter's assassination of Gustloff is the subject of the 1975 Swiss movie Konfrontation which gives a good account of the events with much of the film devoted to the subsequent trial. The movie ends with actual footage of David Frankfurter living in Israel.
After World War II Frankfurter was elected an honorary citizen of Switzerland, in Israel he has been hailed as a hero, and after his death the streets of several cities and parks were named after him.[1]