Yesterday I was asked to do a thread about the Wannsee Conference of the 20th of January, 1942. I would hope that most of us have at least heard of it, but in case you haven’t, here’s a brief explainer. It was a critical point in the Holocaust of the Jewish people. /1 THREAD 
Prior to 1942, Nazi armies had raged east through Poland, Czechoslovakia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and into Russia. During these conquests, and in the following months, troops had targeted Jewish communities, ‘liquidating’ them via Wehrmacht & Einsatzgruppen units. /2
While individual agencies and units were largely informally directed to murder Jews in these territories, there was no coordinated, centralized plan in dealing with Jewish populations. This led to conflicts & misunderstandings between agencies during the course of 1939 - 1941. /3
There are a lot of suggested factors in deciding what was to come - the toll on troops committing atrocities, the time being taken dealing with conquered populations, food & fuel resources available to keep the Nazi machine running. The Nazi elite demanded a singular response. /4
In mid-1941, Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Reich Main Security Office, was tasked by Hermann Goering to devise a plan for a ‘Final Solution to the ‘Jewish Question’, as it was discussed, once and for all. He invited the heads of the main Reich agencies to a meeting in Berlin. /5
In January 1942, after delays, heads and other representatives of the agencies gathered at a villa on the shore of the Wannsee, a large lake near Berlin. There were 15 in attendance and the meeting that took place lasted for no longer than an hour and a half. /6
Now, to be clear - this was no discussion. While attendees could, & did raise points in the session, this was largely Heydrich’s show. He described how Jews in Germany, Austria, and the conquered territories would be ‘deported east’ to be used in labour, the survivors killed. /7
The session continued with a discussion of what constituted being a Jew - various degrees of ancestry were considered and, in some cases, refined and clarified as targets, by the attendees at the meeting. There was no major discord - only the smaller details mattered. /8
It’s important to identify some individuals who were present at the meeting in addition to Heydrich. Otto Hoffmann was the head of the SS Race & Settlement Main Office - it was responsible for clearly establishing who could stay in conquered territories, and who could go. /9
Adolf Eichmann - whose later capture & hanging by the Israelis would make world headlines - was the SS official responsible for organizing the logistics of the deportations east. He was one of the chief ‘men on the ground’, making the resulting ‘Wannsee Protocol’ a reality. /10
The notorious Nazi judge Roland Freisler - who would later condemn the Scholl siblings to death, among many others - was there on behalf of his boss, the Nazi Justice Minister, Franz Schlegelberger. He offered legal advice, as it stood, on any deportations. /11
It must be made clear that the Wannsee Conference didn’t deliver a fully-detailed plan, or much of one at all - it was more about having each of the Reich’s main agencies on board and willing to follow instructions. Coordination, more than collaboration or consultation. /12
It must also be made clear none of the resulting documentation at the highest levels made clear reference to the mass-killing of European Jews. They were very, very careful to give themselves some degree of plausible deniability. There was a lot of that in the Third Reich. /13
Following the Wannsee Conference, the SS were able to commence the ‘Final Solution’, as it was known, very quickly. Extermination camps were built in Poland, and trains commandeered to bring carloads of Jews, day and night, to them. Many died on the way, or in transit camps. /14
Most of those arriving at the death camps were gassed on arrival. The few prisoners spared were kept alive to carry out disposal tasks and other labour around the camps. They were also brutally treated, and deaths among them were common. /15
It’s estimated that of the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, over three million of them were executed in these extermination camps, as a direct result of these men meeting in the villa by a lake, given lists of figures and a belief in what they were doing. /16
Hannah Arendt, the famous writer & philosopher, would talk about the ‘banality of evil’ reporting on the trial of Adolf Eichmann, and that really does describe the outcome of the Wannsee Conference - no cackling villains, no great fuss, just a few men blindly agreeing. /17
You can read the minutes of the Wannsee Conference here . /18 holocaustresearchproject.org/holoprelude/Wa…
If you’d like to learn more about the Wannsee Conference, this from the @USHMM is a terrific resource. /18 encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/art…
Having spent the last few weeks writing about the Nazis & Holocaust, I’m considering taking a break from it - other facets of history I’d rather explore, if only to give myself a rest! However, please don’t hesitate to ask questions. It’s essential that we understand. /FIN
