Ernst Frenzl

Ernst Frenzel, born in Koblenz, joined the NSDAP in 1935 and served in the Wehrmacht as a first lieutenant. In March 1937, Frenzel became a member of the Reichstag (parliament). In 1940, he rose to the rank of SA Brigadeführer (brigade leader) but in autumn 1942 was furloughed from the _Wehrmacht _and assigned by the SA leadership to work at the Foreign Office, where he headed the Inland I Bureau. Frenzel’s position, which he held until the end of the war, entailed coordinating the work of outside agencies with the various departments in the Foreign Office. Frenzel belonged to the personal staff of the Reich Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, while also serving in the Dienstsstelle Bormann, where he worked as Helmut von Hummel’s assistant. On 18 May 1943, Frenzel notified the German Embassy in Paris that von Hummel, Frenzel’s superior and assistant to Martin Bormann, was planning a trip to Paris in late May to inquire about the progress of the negotiations over the Schloss Collection. Several months later, on 12 October 1943, he again informed the embassy that Hummel intended to travel to Paris, this time to clarify the financial details underpinning the acquisition of the Schloss paintings for the Sonderauftrag Linz. The Dienststelle Bormann negotiated the purchase terms, set at 2.5 million Reichsmark. U.S. Seventh Army officials arrested Frenzel on 20 May 1945. At the time of his capture, he was carrying a Wehrpass, army discharge papers, commission papers and a diplomatic passport (number 564). He died in 1978 in Norden, Germany.

Literature: M1270 – Interrogation Records Prepared for War Crimes Proceedings at Nuremberg, 1945-1947. OCCPAC Interrogation Transcripts and Related Records: Ernst Frenzel [online at: https://www.fold3.com/image/231966285?terms=ernst,frenzel] (accessed on 4 May 2021) Joachim Lilla, _Statisten in Uniform. Die Mitglieder des Reichstags 1933-1945: Ein biographisches Handbuch unter Einbeziehung der völkischen und nationalsozialistischen Reichstagsabgeordneten ab Mai 1924. _Deutscher Reichstag, 2008, p. 262.

Datenbank der deutschen Parlamentsabgeordneten. Parlamentsalmanache/Reichstagshandbücher 1867-1938) https://www.reichstag-abgeordnetendatenbank.de/select.html?pnd=130547492, original at: https://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/bsb00000146/images/index.html?nativeno=210 (accessed on 4 May 2021)