00:00As Hans Frank's deputy, Joseph Böhler became directly involved in the systematic oppression of the Polish population and jointly responsible
00:09for the mass murder of Jews living under German rule.
00:13By 1941, the ghettos in cities such as Warsaw, Lublin, and Krakow were overflowing.
00:20In October of the same year, the death penalty was introduced for any Jew who left a ghetto without special
00:27permission.
00:27Two months later, Frank issued a decree allowing district governors to pardon such offenders.
00:34Böhler's clarification in January 1942 made its true purpose brutally clear.
00:40The decree was meant to accelerate executions, not delay them, since cases of clemency, in his words, would almost never
00:48occur.
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