Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee Conference took place in Berlin, Germany in January 1942 during World War II. It was called to plan the Holocaust, in which the Nazis would attempt to murder all European Jews.[1] The conference was chaired by Reinhard Heydrich, SS Reichfuhrer Heinrich Himmler's chief assistant. Heydrich had been commissioned by Reichmarshall Hermann Göring in late July 1941,[2] shortly after the commencement of Operation Barbarossa or the invasion of the Soviet Republics of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, the Baltic states and Caucuses, to formulate a "Final Solution to the Jewish Question". Minutes to the meeting were kept by Heydrich's assistant, Adolf Eichmann.
Eichmann had calculated that 11 million Jews lived in the Soviet Republics. The conference itself did not take very long, highlighting the eagerness and willingness of the Nazis to carry out the Holocaust.
See also
References
- ↑ http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-wannsee.htm
- ↑ Göring had been designated Hitler's successor after deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess's flight to England in May 1941, hence the order from Göring was interpreted to mean the Reichmarshall outranked the Reichfuhrer in the Nazi hierarchy, although the Fuhrer outranked a Field Marshall in the regular German military.
