The Wannsee Conference Essay

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The Wannsee Conference of January 20, 1942 was the first step in the implementation of the “Final Solution” for European Jews. It took place in a villa in a suburb of Berlin called Wannsee with fifteen Nazi and German government officials in attendance. Its aim was to inform and ask for support from key German ministries and other relevant agencies. Although the timeline is relatively short, the atrocities of the timeline were unprecedented. On November the 29th, 1941, Reinhard Heydrich, Nazi SS General, sent out fifteen invitations to a conference that would discuss the “Final Solution” for Jews. The original date of the meeting was set for December 4th in a different location. It was then moved to December 9th in the villa in Wannsee, but was cancelled due to the attack on Pearl Harbor in the US, and consequent declaration of war on Japan by the US on December 7th and 8th. On December 11th, the German government …show more content…
This included not only Jews that resided in Axis-controlled Europe, but Jews in the UK and Jews in neutral areas such as Ireland, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal and European Turkey. Most participants were conscious of the ongoing genocide in German-occupied Soviet Union and Serbia. Some knew about the actions of the Einsatzgruppen, the mobile killing squad responsible for the massacre of thousands of Jews, and other police and military units. Some other things discussed were the establishment of Theresientstadt, a camp and ghetto that was to be built especially for the elderly, disabled and decorated veterans of WWI, measures against Jews who were married to non-Jews or Jews of mixed descent as stated in the Nuremburg Laws, as well as preparations for the transportation of Jews for the ‘evacuation’ and making the Axis powers give their Jews up toward the cause. The decision to go ahead with “The Final Solution” was
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