Hans Frank was a German politician and lawyer who served as the governor-general of Poland during World War II. Frank, whose political career began when he served as the National Socialist Party's (Nazi) legal counsel and Adolph Hitler's personal attorney, was a ruthless governor. His anti-Semitic beliefs led him to enthusiastically support Hitler's policy of exterminating Jews. After the end of the war, Frank was charged with war crimes and was convicted of these acts at the Nuremberg war trials.

Frank was born on May 3, 1900, in Karlsruhe, Germany. He fought in the German army during World War I. After the war, he completed his studies in economics and law and then entered private law practice. In 1921, he made a momentous decision when he joined the German Workers' Party, the precursor to the Nazi Party. Attracted by the party's repudiation of the Treaty of Versailles and its harsh terms...