Nazi leaders meet at the wannsee conference duration. The actual minutes of the wannsee conference can be read in their entiretyin the original german here, in reality, the wannsee meeting and its minutes do not contain a master plan to kill jews. The purpose of the conference, called by the director of the reich main security office ssobergruppenfuhrer reinhard heydrich, was to ensure the cooperation of administrative leaders of various government departments in the implementation of the final solution to the jewish question, whereby most of the jews of german. What is chilling is that it took 15 men just 90 minutes to decide the fate of over 11,000,000 people. It was used as evidence in the subsequent nuremberg trials.
Illustrated right is the title page of the memorandum circulated months later, around march 5, 1942, now sinisterly known as the wannsee protocol. Its the 16th set of minutes and the only remaining one of the complete set of 30. The minutes of the conference, which have come to be known as the wannsee protocol. The wannsee conference also made allowance for specific exceptions to jewish evacuation. The exhibition in the house of the wannsee conference gives an insight into this criminal meeting, and how. The significance of the wannsee conference has been one that historians today have left relatively uncontested. The following persons took part in the discussion about the final solution of the jewish question which took place in berlin, am grossen. Jan 21, 2012 it is 70 years since senior nazi officials met to plan the killing of european jews. Meeting minutes are essentially a written memorandum of what happened at a meeting. After that discovery, the minutes, or wannsee protocol, rapidly attained postwar notoriety.
Rather, the wannsee conference was the place where the final solution was formally revealed to nonnazi leaders who would help arrange for jews to be transported from all over german. The wannsee conference played a crucial role in the events of the second world war in europe. Hans frank on the removal of jews from the general government. The wannsee conference and the final solution book pdf, epub. The surviving remnantswill have to be treated appropriately despite the euphemisms which appeared in the protocols of the meeting, the aim of the wannsee conference was clear. The wannsee conference was held january 20, 1942, in wannsee, a suburb of berlin, to coordinate the implementation of the final solution of the jewish question or the holocaust, that is, the murder of european jewry.
The wannsee conference, the fate of german jews, and. After world war ii ended on may 8, 1945, the allied powers began a search for the nazi documents that they would need as evidence at the nuremberg international military tribunal which was set to begin in november 1945. The following took part in the conference on the final solution endloesung of the jewish question held on january 20, 1942, in berlin, am grossen wannsee no. Adolf eichmann, the nazi official who had inspired that turn of phrase, was the main organizer of the wannsee conference, a meeting of 15 senior nazi leaders in suburban berlin on january 20, 1942. The house of the wannsee conference a memorial finally. On january 20, 1942, in a grand villa on the shore of berlins lake wannsee, a conference of nazi officers produced a paper known as the wannsee protocol, which laid the groundwork for a final solution to the jewish question. The wannsee conference did not mark the beginning of the final solution. The following persons took part in the discussion about the final solution of the jewish question which took place in berlin, am grossen wannsee no. After world war ii ended on may 8, 1945, the allied powers began a search for the nazi documents that they would need as evidence at the nuremberg international military tribunal which was. Reexamining the wannsee conference, himmlers appointments book, and the jews of vichytunisia as per german documents faxed. Jan 10, 2018 the wannsee conference handout includes kwl activities and the minutes from wannsee. The wannsee conference was a meeting of senior government officials of nazi germany and schutzstaffel leaders, held in the berlin suburb of wannsee on 20 january 1942. The documentation that survives from the time is vitally important in understanding the bureaucracy of the nazi regime, no other document from the national socialist regime sets out so clearly the complete plan for the extermination of european jewry. Oct 05, 2015 the actual minutes of the wannsee conference can be read in their entiretyin the original german here, in reality, the wannsee meeting and its minutes do not contain a master plan to kill jews.
No other documentation of this conference exists other than the protocol and its. There is perhaps no better window into the banality of evil than a collection of bureaucrats gathering at a working lunch to discuss the most. The wannsee protocol and a 1944 report on auschwitz by the office of strategic services new york. According to the wannsee protocol, the written record of the meetings minutes, heydrich began the proceedings by detailing the nazis jewish policies to date. The rescheduled interministerial conference takes place in a conference room at the former interpol headquarters on the wannsee lake in berlin on january 20, 1942. Protocol of the wannsee conference, january 20, 1942. Anatomy of a fabrication stated that that a conference between high officials and party leaders took place in january 1942 in the villa am gro. The annihilation of jews was organized into a planned set of steps that could be followed and carried out by the nazi army because of the conference, and was a major reason for the increase in nazi brutality. As a result of the meeting a network of extermination camps was established in which 1. Wannsee as a code for systematic murder, for bureaucratically coordinated genocide, for the holocaust in general.
Wannsee conference encyclopedia article citizendium. The minutes of the wannsee conference do, however, make it clear that, on the one hand, the idea of a postwar solution was being firmly adhered to, while at the. The wannsee conference was a meeting of senior officials of the nazi german regime, held in the berlin suburb of wannsee in january 1942. This meeting minutes template can be used for board of directors meetings, shareholders meetings, unincorporated group or association meetings, or any other meeting that requires a formal minutes document.
Due to the war, the emigration plan has been replaced with deportation of the jews to the east, in accordance with the fuhrers will. The discussion and the sheer coldheartedness of the measures examined to exterminate jews in europe detailed at the wannsee conference on january 20, 1942. Nowhere in the meetings minutes is genocide discussed, planned, proposed, or even suggested. It was led by sd and sipo security police head reinhard. Minutes of the wannsee conference by prorevwp on june 30, 2014 john ralston saul gives a devastating example of the limits of technocracy. It took place in a villa in a prosperous suburb of berlin. The wannsee conference was a highlevel meeting of german officials to discuss and implement the socalled final solution of the jewish question mass killing. The wannsee conference, held six months later, was attended by 15 nazi senior bureaucrats led by heydrich and including adolf eichmann. Mar, 2010 the wannsee conference, held six months later, was attended by 15 nazi senior bureaucrats led by heydrich and including adolf eichmann, chief of jewish affairs for the reich central security. General reinhard heydrich, chief of the security police and the sd, was in charge of the preparation of the final solution of the european jewish question, and that his orders came from hermann goring. The room where wannsee conference to plan the final solution. Illustrated right is the title page of the memorandum circulated months later, around march 5, 1942, now.
This document is in the public domain and may be freely reproduced. The purpose of the conference was to plan the final solution to the jewish question the killing of all the 11 million jews of europe, a process now known as the holocaust. Minutes of meetings and is evidence of the planned execution of european jews and is a record of the wannsee conference that occurred january 20, 1942. The evacuated jews, he said, would first be sent to transit ghettos in the general government, from which they would be transported eastward. Revisions to the nuremberg text were made for clarification and correction. Top secret 30 copies 16th copy minutes of discussion. The house of the wannsee conference a memorial finally october 12, 2016 october 12, 2016 roomkes the house of the wannsee conference, a lakeside villa located roughly halfway between central berlin and potsdam, is a place that is important and interesting for several reasons.
The meeting or conference as it came to be known, was organized by adolf eichmann sssturmbannfyhrer, at the order of reinhard heydrich, chief of the. Villa in wannsee where final solution conference was held. Pdf on jan 6, 1999, edith shaked and others published the holocaust. The wannsee conference final solution schutzstaffel.
Ten minute history german unification and empire short documentary. At this conference, he presents plans to coordinate a europeanwide final solution of the jewish question to key. This is a template to create minutes for a formal meeting. It was only after the protocol minutes of the conference was found in. It was found by robert kempner in march 1947 among files that had been seized from the german foreign office. The minutes of the wannsee conference do, however, make it clear that, on the one hand, the idea of a postwar. To conclude, it may be said that in revisionists attempts to reframe the wannsee conference, the wannsee protocol as a historical documentary source only played a minor part. The holocaust and the extreme mistreatment of jews occurred in great part because of the wannsee conference and the final solution. The final protocol of the wannsee conference never explicitly mentioned extermination, but within a few months after the meeting, the first gas chambers were installed in some of the extermination camps in poland. The following persons took part in the discussion about the final solution of the jewish question which took place in berlin.
Reinhard heydrich, chief of the reich security main office rsha, convenes the wannsee conference in a villa outside berlin. The minutes of the wannsee conference estimated the jewish population of the soviet union. The wannsee meeting was a planning meeting on how europes jews should be deported, via transit camps, to the east. The wannsee conference where the final solution was planned. One copy of the protocol with circulated minutes of the meeting survived the war. Protocol of the wannsee conference, january 20, 1942 reich secret document 30 copies protocol of conference i. The wannsee conference handout includes kwl activities and the minutes from wannsee. Wannsee conference united states holocaust memorial museum.
The wannsee conference was a highlevel meeting of nazi officials that took place in berlin on january 20, 1942, to discuss the final solution of the jewish question called by reinhard heydrich, the head of the reich security main office which controlled both the gestapo and the sd, the conference was originally called for december 9, 1941, but fallout from the japanese invasion of pearl. While the decision to liquidate the entire jewish population of europe cannot be pinpointed to a particular location or time, it appears to have been in place by the middle of 1941. Wannsee conference and the final solution the holocaust. The wannsee conference free download as powerpoint presentation. It is 70 years since senior nazi officials met to plan the killing of european jews. The wannsee conference also made allowance for specific exceptions to jewish evacuation, such as jewish german world war one veterans. At the wannsee conference on january 20, 1942, senior nazi officials meet to determine the manner in which the socalled final solution to the jewish question can be best implemented. The minutes of the wannsee conference are available on the internet at this website. Reexamining the wannsee conference, himmlers appointments book, and the jews of. The wannsee conference, the fate of german jews, and hitlers decision in principle to exterminate all european jews pdf. The wannsee conference was a pivotal moment in the evolution of the final solution. With dietrich mattausch, gerd bockmann, friedrich g. The holocaust was the result of a perfectly rational argument given what reason had become that was selfjustifying and hermetically sealed.
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