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The Wannsee Conference, 1942 Wannsee Conference On November 29, 1941, Reinhard Heydrich from Europe and "the dangers of an emigration during sent out invitations to a "Final Solution" conference. wartime" for its current infeasibility; thus, Heydrich Although the decision to kill the Jews had already been made, Heydrich realized that there were several announced that a new solution must be implemented impediments to carrying out this policy; he hoped to against the Jews. eliminate these at this conference. The invitations that The new solution was to be the Final Solution. he sent requested the attendance of state secretaries and It was estimated at this meeting that 11 million Jews chiefs of various offices in the Third Reich to a meeting resided in Europe, including 330,000 in England on December 9, 1941 at noon with refreshments. (though England was not occupied, they were planning After these invitations went out, the conference ahead). became "the thought, if not the topic, of the day." The plan was to evacuate Jews from west to When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on east. Supposedly, Jews were to be sent to the East to December 7, 1941, the conference was rescheduled for work in forced labor, though it was understood that "in January 20, 1942. the course of which action a great part will undoubtedly January 20, 1942 be eliminated by natural causes." In a villa in Wannsee, a suburb of Berlin, The problem then remained with the remnant - fifteen men joined together to plan the implementation the Jews still alive even after such harsh treatment, for of the "Final Solution" against the Jews. In attendance they would "consist of the toughest . as it is the were product of natural selection, and would, if liberated, act • Dr. Josef Bühler (State Secretary for the as a bud cell of a Jewish reconstruction."6 This remnant, Generalgouvernement) it was decided, would be "treated accordingly."7 • Adolf Eichmann (Chief of the Jewish Office of the The discussion thus far had taken up approximately half Gestapo) of the conference - that is, thirty to forty-five minutes. • Dr. Roland Freisler (State Secretary of the Justice The conference then turned to the discussion of people Ministry) of "mixed blood" and Jews married to Germans. This • Reinhard Heydrich (Head of the Reich Main Security was to finalize who was to be included in the Final Office) Solution and who was to be excluded; most, it was • Otto Hofmann (Head of the Race and Settlement decided, would be included. Main Office) Toward the end of the conference, Dr. Bühler • Gerhard Klopfer (State Secretary of the Party spoke up and advocated for the start of the Final Chancellery) Solution to begin in the Generalgouvernement. He • Friedrich Wilhelm Kritzinger (State Secretary of the argued that transportation was not a problem and that Reich Chancellery) the Jews in the Generalgouvernement were "unfit for • Dr. Rudolf Lange (Commander of Einsatzkommando work." 2) • Dr. Georg Leibbrandt (Chief of the Political After the Conference Division) • Martin Luther (Under Secretary of the Foreign After the conference ended, several of the Office) participants mulled around discussing details of the • Dr. Alfred Meyer (State Secretary for the Occupied conference. Heydrich was quite relaxed and very Eastern Territories) pleased for the conference had been a success, far more • Heinrich Müller (Chief of the Gestapo) than he had hoped. Not only did he have the cooperation • Dr. Erich Neumann (State Secretary of the Office of of the various departments to participate in the the Four-Year Plan) implementation of the Final Solution, he had their • Dr. Karl Eberhard Schöngarth (Commander of enthusiasm. Security Police and Security Service in the Within only an hour or hour and a half, the Generalgouvernement) implementation of the Final Solution had been planned • Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart (State Secretary of the Interior and the death sentence of millions passed down. Ministry) The meeting began with a long speech by Heydrich (who chaired the meeting) in which he stated that he had been entrusted with the implementation of the Final Solution "without regard to geographic location." Heydrich then outlined the Nazis' past policy of emigration of the Jews, but blamed foreign governments for closing their doors to emigrating Jews 2.3 Wannsee Conference Page 1 Wannsee Protocol January 24, 1942 At the beginning of the discussion Chief of the Financial difficulties, such as the demand by various Security Police and of the SD, SS-Obergruppenfuehrer foreign governments for increasing sums of money to Heydrich, reported that the Reich Marshal had appointed be presented at the time of the landing, the lack of him delegate for the preparations for the final solution of shipping space, increasing restriction of entry permits, the Jewish question in Europe and pointed out that this or the cancelling of such, increased extraordinarily the discussion had been called for the purpose of clarifying difficulties of emigration. In spite of these difficulties, fundamental questions. The wish of the Reich Marshal to 537,000 Jews were sent out of the country between the have a draft sent to him concerning organizational, takeover of power and the deadline of 31 October factual and material interests in relation to the final 1941. Of these solution of the Jewish question in Europe makes approximately 360,000 were in Germany proper necessary an initial common action of all central offices on 30 January 1933 immediately concerned with these questions in order to approximately 147,000 were in Austria bring their general activities into line. (Ostmark) on 15 March 1939 The Reichsfuhrer-SS and the Chief of the German approximately 30,000 were in the Protectorate of Police (Chief of the Security Police and the SD) was Bohemia and Moravia on 15 March 1939. entrusted with the official central handling of the final The Jews themselves, or their Jewish political solution of the Jewish question without regard to organizations, financed the emigration. In order to geographic borders. avoid impoverished Jews' remaining behind, the The Chief of the Security Police and the SD then principle was followed that wealthy Jews have to gave a short report of the struggle which has been carried finance the emigration of poor Jews; this was arranged on thus far against this enemy, the essential points being by imposing a suitable tax, i.e., an emigration tax, the following: which was used for financial arrangements in a) the expulsion of the Jews from every sphere of connection with the emigration of poor Jews and was life of the German people, imposed according to income. b) the expulsion of the Jews from the living space Apart from the necessary Reichsmark exchange, of the German people. foreign currency had to presented at the time of In carrying out these efforts, an increased and landing. In order to save foreign exchange held by planned acceleration of the emigration of the Jews from Germany, the foreign Jewish financial organizations Reich territory was started, as the only possible present were - with the help of Jewish organizations in solution. Germany - made responsible for arranging an adequate By order of the Reich Marshal, a Reich Central amount of foreign currency. Up to 30 October 1941, Office for Jewish Emigration was set up in January 1939 these foreign Jews donated a total of around 9,500,000 and the Chief of the Security Police and SD was dollars. entrusted with the management. Its most important tasks In the meantime the Reichsfuehrer-SS and Chief were of the German Police had prohibited emigration of a) to make all necessary arrangements for the Jews due to the dangers of an emigration in wartime preparation for an increased emigration of the Jews, and due to the possibilities of the East. b) to direct the flow of emigration, II. Another possible solution of the problem has c) to speed the procedure of emigration in each now taken the place of emigration, i.e. the evacuation individual case. of the Jews to the East, provided that the Fuehrer gives The aim of all this was to cleanse German living the appropriate approval in advance. space of Jews in a legal manner. These actions are, however, only to be All the offices realized the drawbacks of such considered provisional, but practical experience is enforced accelerated emigration. For the time being they already being collected which is of the greatest had, however, tolerated it on account of the lack of other importance in relation to the future final solution of the possible solutions of the problem. Jewish question. The work concerned with emigration was, later on, Approximately 11 million Jews will be involved not only a German problem, but also a problem with in the final solution of the European Jewish question, which the authorities of the countries to which the flow distributed as follows among the individual countries: of emigrants was being directed would have to deal. 2.3 Wannsee Conference Page 2 Country Number A. Germany proper 131,800 Austria 43,700 Eastern territories 420,000 General Government 2,284,000 Bialystok 400,000 Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia 74,200 Estonia - free of Jews - Latvia 3,500 Lithuania 34,000 Belgium 43,000 Denmark 5,600 France / occupied territory 165,000 France / unoccupied territory 700,000 Greece 69,600 Netherlands 160,800 Norway 1,300 B. Bulgaria 48,000 England 330,000 Finland 2,300 Ireland 4,000 Italy including Sardinia 58,000 Albania 200 Croatia 40,000 Portugal 3,000 Rumania including Bessarabia 342,000 Sweden 8,000 Switzerland 18,000 Serbia 10,000 Slovakia 88,000 Spain 6,000 Turkey (European portion) 55,500 Hungary 742,800 USSR 5,000,000 Ukraine 2,994,684 White Russia excluding Bialystok 446,484 Total over 11,000,000 The number of Jews given here for foreign The influence of the Jews in all walks of life in countries includes, however, only those Jews who still the USSR is well known.
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