Franz Novak (10 January 1913 – 21 October 1983Berndt Rieger: ''Der Fahrdienstleiter des Todes. Franz Novak, der transportexperte Eichmanns. Eine Biographie'', Norderstedt 2001, S.127f) was an Austrian SS-'' Hauptsturmführer'' (captain). He was
concentration
In chemistry, concentration is the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: '' mass concentration'', ''molar concentration'', ''number concentration'', an ...
and
extermination camp
Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...
s.
Biography
Novak left school in 1928 and began an apprenticeship in printing in Wolfsberg. He printed the ''Unterkärntner Nachrichten'', an
anti-semitic
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
local newspaper, close to the
Greater German People's Party
The Greater German People's Party (German ''Großdeutsche Volkspartei'', abbreviated GDVP) was a German nationalist and national liberal political party during the First Republic of Austria, established in 1920.
Foundation
After World War I and ...
. In October 1929, he became a member of the
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...
. In April 1933, he joined the SA, a month after joining the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
. After the party was banned in Austria in July 1933, he joined illegally and became chief of the Wolfsberg section of the
NSBO
The National Socialist Factory Cell Organization (german: Nationalsozialistische Betriebszellenorganisation, NSBO or NSBZO) was a workers organization in Nazi Germany.
In 1927, some NSDAP workers in large factories, located mostly in the Berlin ...
and SA leader. He participated in the July Putsch against Engelbert Dollfuss in July 1934. After its failure, he fled to
and then went to Germany and joined the Austrian Legion. After the ''
Anschluss
The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938.
The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...
'' in 1938, he moved to
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Vienna
The Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Vienna () was a ''Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD-Security Service) agency established in August 1938 to accelerate the forced emigration of the Austrian Jews and (starting in October 1939) to organize and carr ...
, although he received his orders directly from
Rolf Günther
Rolf Günther (8 January 1913 – August 1945) was a German functionary who served in the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) as an ''Sturmbannführer'' and who acted as deputy to Adolf Eichmann. He first joined the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) in 1929 and became d ...
. Novak also became a member of the SS; on 1 December 1938 he was promoted to SS-''
Untersturmführer
(, ; short: ''Ustuf'') was a paramilitary rank of the German ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) first created in July 1934. The rank can trace its origins to the older SA rank of ''Sturmführer'' which had existed since the founding of the SA in 1921. ...
''.
World War II
In July 1939, he participated in the opening of the Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Prague, where his immediate superior was SS-'' Sturmbannführer'' Hans Günther. At the beginning of 1940, Eichmann brought Novak with him to the
RSHA
The Reich Security Main Office (german: Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and ''Reichsführer-SS'', the head of the Nazi ...
in Berlin and put him in his new office, the Eichmannreferat, on "Jewish matters and evacuations". His immediate superior was once again
Rolf Günther
Rolf Günther (8 January 1913 – August 1945) was a German functionary who served in the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) as an ''Sturmbannführer'' and who acted as deputy to Adolf Eichmann. He first joined the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) in 1929 and became d ...
. Novak handled the technical problems of organizing deportation trains "resettling" Poles and Jews from the incorporated territories to the
General Government
The General Government (german: Generalgouvernement, pl, Generalne Gubernatorstwo, uk, Генеральна губернія), also referred to as the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (german: Generalgouvernement für die be ...
in 1940–41; he requisitioned railcars from Deutsche Reichsbahn for deportation and coordinated with it the hours of passages of these trains in coordination with the SS, police and concentration camp officials. Novak worked closely with the ''
SiPo
The ''Sicherheitspolizei'' ( en, Security Police), often abbreviated as SiPo, was a term used in Germany for security police. In the Nazi era, it referred to the state political and criminal investigation security agencies. It was made up by the ...
'' (Security Police); it was his job to inform each regional and district office of the ''SiPo'' of the date and quota (usually 1,000 people) of the train that the ''SiPo'' was to fill with Jewish deportees.
Christopher Browning
Christopher Robert Browning (born May 22, 1944) is an American historian who is the professor emeritus of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). A specialist on the Holocaust, Browning is known for his work documenting ...
. ''The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939 – March 1942'' (With contributions by Jürgen Matthäus), Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004. pp. 381-383 Novak also worked closely with other leaders of the "Jewish question" in other countries, such as
Theodor Dannecker
Theodor Denecke (also spelled Dannecker) (27 March 1913 – 10 December 1945) was a German SS-captain (), a key aide to Adolf Eichmann in the deportation of Jews during World War II.
A trained lawyer Denecke first served at the Reich Security M ...
Dieter Wisliceny
Dieter Wisliceny (13 January 1911 – 4 May 1948) was a member of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) and one of the deputies of Adolf Eichmann, helping to organise and coordinate the wide scale deportations of the Jews across Europe during the Holocaust.
...
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
which, from 15 March to 9 July 1944, led 476,000
Hungarian Jews
The history of the Jews in Hungary dates back to at least the Kingdom of Hungary, with some records even predating the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895 CE by over 600 years. Written sources prove that Jewish communities lived i ...
to
Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
. Novak deported 6,000 to 12,000 people every day. Most of the deportees were killed immediately after their arrival at Auschwitz. By the end of the war, Novak had organized at least 260 trains from Germany, Austria and the Protectorate, at least 147 from Hungary, 87 from the Netherlands, 76 from France, 63 from Slovakia, 27 from Belgium, 23 from Greece, 11 from Italy, 7 from Bulgaria and 6 from Croatia — more than 707 from western and southern Europe.
Post-war
In 1945, Franz Novak disappeared under a false name. After the War Crimes Act and Verbotsgesetz 1947 (Prohibition Act 1947) had been repealed in 1957, Novak resumed his real name. In the course of investigations of the Adolf Eichmann case, the prosecutor of
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
issued arrest warrants in 1961 against Eichmann's former employees, including Novak. Novak was arrested on 20 January 1961 in Vienna at his place of work, managing a print shop. During interrogation, he denied responsibility for the deportation of Jews. He said at his trial in 1964: "For me, Auschwitz was just a train station." Ella Lingens-Reiner,
Hermann Langbein
Hermann Langbein (18 May 1912 – 24 October 1995) was an Austrian communist resistance fighter and historian.
He fought in the Spanish Civil War with the International Brigades for the Spanish Republicans against the Nationalists under Francis ...
and Franz Danimann testified against him. On 17 December 1964, the jury did not convict for aiding and abetting murder, but sentenced him to eight years in prison only because of Article 87 of the Austrian penal code known as the "Railroad Acts", committing the criminal offense of intentionally compromising the integrity of the passengers during transport by not providing adequate water, food and toilet facilities. The conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court of Austria due to a technicality, and a retrial was ordered. On 6 September 1966, at his second trial, the jury ruled that Novak acted under
superior orders
Superior orders, also known as the Nuremberg defense or just following orders, is a plea in a court of law that a person, whether a member of the military, law enforcement, a firefighting force, or the civilian population, should not be considere ...
, and he was acquitted. The Supreme Court again overturned this ruling and ordered a third trial. Novak was found guilty on 18 December 1969 and sentenced him to nine years of imprisonment, but the verdict was appealed, during which time Novak was allowed to live freely. On 13 April 1972, the Supreme Court sentenced him to seven years in prison under Article 87. However, Novak, who had been dismissed in 1966 after five years in custody, was told that the remainder of his sentence no longer had to be completed. He was granted a pardon by Austrian President
Rudolf Kirchschläger
Rudolf Kirchschläger, GColIH (; 20 March 1915 – 30 March 2000) was an Austrian diplomat, politician and judge. From 1974 to 1986, he served as President of Austria.
Early life and education
Born in Niederkappel, Upper Austria, Kirschläger ...
.
Simon Wiesenthal
Simon Wiesenthal (31 December 190820 September 2005) was a history of the Jews in Austria, Jewish Austrian Holocaust survivor, Nazi hunter, and writer. He studied architecture and was living in Lwów at the outbreak of World War II. He surviv ...
later calculated that Novak spent three minutes and twenty seconds in custody for each victim whom he sent to his or her death at Auschwitz.