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| Wannsee paved the way for death camps like Auschwitz |
Adolf
Hitler's Nazi government had already started its genocide before 1942, but 70
years ago, the Wannsee Conference officially marked the start of the systematic
extermination of European Jews by the Third Reich.
It was
lunchtime on January 20, 1942 when 15 high-ranking representatives of the Nazi
regime met in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee.
They had
been invited to the noble guest house then belonging to the SS by Reinhard
Heydrich, the man in charge of the feared RSHA (Reichssicherheitshauptamt -
sometimes translated as "Reich Security Head Office".
The list of
attendees included SS officers, state secretaries and Nazi party officials from
all major state institutions. All the representatives were young (half of them
under 40), well-educated (every other one had a doctorate) and ambitious.
Although obscured
by typically bureaucratic formulations and euphemistic terminology, the day's
agenda was dedicated to the genocide of European Jews.
"Final
solution"
 |
| Heydrich saw the Holocaust as a career opportunity |
Seven
decades later, the popular public conception is that the Wannsee Conference was
where Hitler's regime established its "final solution to the Jewish
question," namely to exterminate them en masse.
"But
if you consider how many hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews were murdered
before the Wannsee Conference, then this assumption starts looking shaky,"
says Humboldt University historian Michael Wildt, Germany's leading expert on
the Nazi era.
Half a
million Jewish people were shot dead in the occupied Soviet territories. Wildt
argues that SS units had already started the systematic executions in June
1941, more than six months before the Wannsee Conference.
"The
war against the Soviet Union led to a radical rethink of the previous policies
of persecution; the plan to drive Jews out, to force them into emigration, was
no longer viable," Wildt told Deutsche Welle.
"Due
to military conquest, the National Socialist regime suddenly had millions of
Jews within its sphere of influence. As a result, its plans on how to get rid
of these Jews became more monstrous, more gigantic."
No formal
agreement
The growing
momentum of the murders meant there was little to "decide" at the
Wannsee Conference. The only known copy of the meeting's minutes (number 16 of
30, discovered in 1947) makes no mention of any formal agreement. So what was
the purpose and meaning of holding a meeting at such an ostentatious villa on
Berlin's Lake Wann?
RSHA boss
Reinhard Heydrich was charged with coordinating the operations of all German
authorities participating in the Holocaust. For him, the goals were to inform
the attendees about his task, to stipulate that he intended to take the lead
and to ensure he received the support of all relevant ministries.
Historian
Michael Wildt therefore believes Heydrich wanted to make it clear to those
attending the conference that his organization was responsible for what the
regime called the "final solution to the Jewish question," and that
they had already started planning and executing this policy. Looking ahead, he
probably also wanted to secure the cooperation of key German authorities - for
instance the foreign ministry or transport ministry, whose support was needed
to arrange rail transportation of the victims.
 |
| Nazi officials discussed the 'final solution' at this villa in Wannsee |
For
Heydrich, the policy of genocide and his role coordinating it increased his
power within the Nazi hierarchy. As the first sentence of the Wannsee
Conference minutes states, the main purpose was to officially announce
Heydrich's "appointment as the authorized person for the preparation of
the final solution to the European Jewish question."
Heydrich
had probably been looking forward to this promotion for some time. Back in
1936, when Heydrich reached the top of the RHSA at the age of 36, he appeared
to have reached a dead-end in his political career. His only direct superior
was Heinrich Himmler, who was just four years older than Heydrich.
Euphemisms
for extermination
In his
introductory speech, Heydrich made the meeting's purpose - seeking a coordinated
plan for the industrial extermination of millions of Jews - very clear, albeit
without ever using words like "kill", "gas" or "shoot
dead". The 15 attendees were bright young men who no doubt knew the
meanings of terms like "resettlement", "special treatment"
and "final solution."
Referring
to an RHSA-commissioned list showing the numbers of Jews thought to be living
in various countries, Heydrich said Europe "should be combed through from
west to east."
Some
participants in the conference later said they did not know what was really
meant by the final solution terminology. Yet official records show that almost
all of the state secretaries were aware of the deportations and exterminations,
while the SS representatives themselves were already directly involved in the
crimes.
Very little
was actually discussed at this "conference," save for one question
that would prove lethal for millions: When did somebody qualify as a Jew?
Detailed discussions focused on the dividing line between being half- and quarter-Jewish,
and the best way of dealing with mixed
marriages and their offspring.
The
bureaucrats' cynicism was also shown in their open discussions about the
various technological means of mass murder. In the end, the participants agreed
on the number of potential victims, concluding that a total of 11 million Jews
would be subjected to the Nazi's final solution.
 |
| The Nazis killed six million Jews before the end of the Second World War |
Devil in
the details
Although
there were some conflicting opinions at the Wannsee Conference, disagreement
was limited to organizational details of the plan, not the fundamental issue at
hand.
Representatives
of the foreign ministry requested that deportations should begin in the
countries where they would be easiest to arrange. The state secretary for the
Third Reich's interior ministry demanded that so-called Mischlinge (a German
word for crossbreeds or mongrels) be sterilized instead of deported.
Another
leading officer spoke out in favor of keeping some Jewish forced labor at
factories crucial to the war effort, while the deputy to the Nazis' general
governor in Krakow eagerly requested that the "final solution" begin
with Polish Jews.
Heydrich
was highly satisfied with the results of the Wannsee Conference. At first, he
had expected concerns or even resistance from the ministries, but he actually
found general approval for his proposed final solution, as well as a readiness
to participate. At the end of the discussion, according to testimony from Adolf
Eichmann in Jerusalem after the war had ended, the participants were in a great
mood, having closely followed Heydrich's proposals.
The
reprehensible plan, sealed with a celebratory cognac after the meeting, went
ahead as planned. Six million Jews were either gassed, shot, hung or otherwise
killed while serving in brutal forced labor camps.
Even if the
Wannsee Conference had more to do with bureaucratic power games - namely
furthering Heydrich's career - within a Nazi regime whose position on Jews was
already crystal clear, its name will forever be connected to the murder of
millions.
These
mass-exterminations were not just committed by mastermind Heydrich or the SS
foot-soldiers, but by parts of the German police and military, by thousands of
other public servants and industrial magnates.
Today, the
"Villa on the Great Lake Wann," as its name roughly translates into
English, has been made into a national site of memorial and education, lest its
impact on the early 1940s be forgotten.
Author: Michael Marek / msh
Editor: Sam Edmonds
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