Speech

on january 20, 1942, fifteen high-ranking nazi party and german government leaders gathered for an important meeting. the wannsee conference as it was known was held in a villa owned by the ss-nordhav foundation in the attractive berlin lakeside suburb of wannsee. it was presided over by sslieutenant general reinhard heydrich, chief of the security police and security service. heydrich summoned fourteen men representing the governmental and military branches most involved in implementing the practical aspects of the final solution. reichsmarschall hermann göring had charged him with arranging all practical matters concerning the implementation of the final solution of the jewish question. heydrich was an ambitious and extremely careful officer who enjoyed the responsibility of power. one of heydrich's intentions was to make sure that all these men understood perfectly what duties and responsibilities their office was expected to fulfill. at the time of the wannsee conference, most participants were already aware that the national socialist regime had embarked on the mass murder of jews. some had learned of the actions of the einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units), which were already slaughtering tens of thousands of jews in the german-occupied soviet union. others were aware of the killing of jews in a "local solution to the jewish question" in serbia. none of the officials present at the meeting objected to the policy announced by heydrich. the years leading up to world war ii, the phrase "final solution of the jewish problem" had become a very ominous in the nazi terms. the various implications had included voluntary emigration, confinement to ghettos in cities located along rail lines, forced removal to concentration camps, and finally, extermination. heydrich however wanted to be certain there was no confusion among the group that, now, the term referred specifically to the murder of all european jews. it was also discussed at the conference, that "half jews" should be equated with jews with regard to the "final solution" or - in certain cases - be sterilized heydrich indicated that approximately 11,000,000 jews were eventually to be subjected to the "final solution," with the nuremberg laws serving as a basis for determining who was a jew. heydrich announced, that under suitable supervision, the jews shall be taken to the east and deployed in appropriate work, able-bodied jews, separated by sex, will be taken to those areas in large work details to build roads, and a large part will doubtlessly be lost through natural attrition. the surviving remnants will 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 coordination of a policy of genocide of european jews. ss-obersturmbannführer adolf eichmann recorded the session. the protocol's language camouflaged the actual content of the conference by words such as "final solution" for extermination or "evacuation" for deportation.

heydrich's assistant, ss lt-colonel adolf eichmann tells in testimony at his trial in 1961, that the meeting was relatively brief, lasting only an hour to an hour and a half, and that the atmosphere of the meeting was one of cooperation and agreement. these high-ranking members of the nazi government met at mid-day over a buffet luncheon to discuss the annihilation of an entire people.