Courtesy of Stephen and Irene Parris. He had much to tell him. The long-planned conference had been a success. Students of the history of World War II are certainly familiar with high-level meetings, such as the conferences between Allied leaders at Tehran, Yalta, and Potsdam. What transpired at Am Grossen Wannsee No. There in an elegant villa used as a guest house by the nerve-center of the National Socialist terror system, the Reich Security Main Office RSHA , and close to a beautiful lake, Nazi leaders coordinated the destruction of an entire people.
A photograph of the entrance to the villa snapped and generously shared by my friends, Stephen and Irene Parris, both educators, captures the picturesque quality of the place. Beauty and absolute horror commingled on its premises. The meeting kicked off around noon on January Fourteen men sat at the table with Heydrich. They came from Nazi Party agencies, the SS and police apparatus, civilian occupation administration, and government ministries.
Eichmann, who during his trial in Jerusalem almost 20 years later downplayed his role at Wannsee, supervised the work of the stenographer keeping the minutes. Originally, Heydrich had intended to hold the conference on December 9, First, it must be emphasized what did not happen at Wannsee. Systematic mass shooting of Soviet Jews had begun in the summer of , with some , victims already murdered by the end of German Jews deported to Riga, Latvia, had been massacred in October Operations started in early December at the Chelmno extermination center where the SS asphyxiated Polish Jews in specially-modified gas vans.
Second, the representatives of party and state did not collectively plan a genocide. As a group, they enjoyed far less agency than their titles might indicate. The role of the ministries and organizations represented at the table was thus one of support. This approach, which always had its own difficulties, said Heydrich, had been definitively abandoned. He reminded the attendees that Himmler had prohibited further Jewish emigration in the fall of Even with all the advantages of hindsight, the intent behind all this talk does not cease to terrify.
The 55, Jews in European Turkey were also listed. Heydrich even had the small Jewish population of Ireland in view. This plan entailed combing Europe from West to East.
