Villa Wannsee Conference

In the magnificent "Villa Marlier" or the "Haus der Wannseekonferenz" located on Lake Wannsee to the West of Berlin, on Jan. 20, 1942, the top of the SS and Nazi Civil Service met to discuss the final solution to the "Jewish Question."

Contrary to popular belief, this meeting did not decide on the murder of the Jews. Such a decision could not have been made by anyone else-or without Adolf Hitler's knowledge. Plans for its possible implementation had already been made, and there is a common view among historians that sometime between August and October Hitler decided not to "emigrate" the Jews as had previously been the plan, but to deal with them once and for all. In a speech to the Gauleiter, he leaves little ambiguity about this, and Joseph Goebbels also makes mention of it in his diary entries of December 13 and 18, 1941.

For the meeting that served to discuss the practical implementation of these plans and began punctually at noon, the chairman, SS Obergruppenfuhrer Richard Heydrich had invited 15 senior Nazi officials from the relevant ministries and organizations. During the meeting, which lasted only two hours, there were some critical voices or questions, but the question of moral correctness was not raised by anyone.

Afterwards, it was clear to everyone that command of the operation lay with the SS, and those present had in a sense become jointly responsible for the planned murder of about11 million people!

Because one of the total thirty minutes taken by Adolf Eichmann surfaced in 1947, we know so much about what was decided at this meeting. The other minutes were most likely destroyed and never recovered.

Since 1992, the villa has housed a documentation center and an excellent museum telling about the conference and its consequences. Copies of the minutes are also on display.

For current visiting hours, please visit the website of the museum.

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Source

• Text: Jan de Jager
• Photos: Jan de Jager
• LONGERICH, PETER, De Wannseeconferentie, Spectrum, Houten, 2018.

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