Issues with the translator program seem to have left a few words untranslated but the meaning of the words should be clear regardless.
translation of Wannsee Conference minutes
30 Copy
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16.Copy
Meeting minutes
I. The following persons took part in the meeting held on January 20, 1942, in Berlin, at the Great Wannsee No. 56/58, concerning the final solution of the Jewish question:
Gauleiter Dr. Meyer and Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories
Reichsleiter Dr. Leibbrandt
State Secretary Dr. Stuckart Reich Ministry of the Interior
Secretary of State Neumann Representative for the Four-Year Plan
Secretary of State Dr. Friesler Reich Ministry of Justice
Secretary of State Dr. Buhler Office of the Governor General
Undersecretary Luther Foreign Office
SS-Oberfuhrer Klopfer Party Chancellery
Ministerial Director Krizinger Reich Chancellery
SS-Gruppenfuhrer Hofmann Race and Settlement Main Office
SS-Oberfuhrer Dr. Schongarth Security Police and SD
Commander of the Security Police and
SD in the General Government
SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Dr. Lange Security Police and SD
Commander of the Security Police and
of the SD for the general district of
Latvia,as representative of the commander
of the Security Police and SD for the
Reich Commissariat Ostland.
II. Chief of the Security Police and the SD, SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Heydrich, announced at the outset that he had been appointed by the Reich Marshal as commissioner for the preparation of the final solution of the European Jewish question and pointed out that he had been invited to this meeting in order to clarify fundamental issues. The Reich Marshal's request to send him a draft of the organizational, legal and material matters relating to the closure of the European Jewish graves required the prior joint discussion of all central authorities directly concerned with these issues with a view to the parallelization of line management.
Regardless of geographical boundaries, the Reichsfuhrer-SS and Chief of the German Police (Chief of the Security Police and the SD) were in charge of dealing with the Jewish question.
The Chief of the Security Police and the SD then gave a brief review of the fight against this enemy so far. The most important moments are
a the expulsion of the Jews from the individual areas of life of the German people,
b the expulsion of the Jews from the territory of the German people.
In the course of these efforts, the acceleration of the emigration of Jews from the territory of the Reich was stepped up and tackled in a planned manner as the only possible solution.
By order of the Reich Marshal, a Reich headquarters for Jewish emigration was set up in May 1939, headed by the Chief of the Security Police and the SD. In particular, it had the task of
a to take all measures to prepare for the forced emigration of Jews,
b to direct the flow of emigrants,
c to speed up the implementation of emigration in individual cases.
The aim was to legally cleanse the German living space of Jews.
All authorities were aware of the disadvantages that such a forced emigration entailed. However, they had to be accepted for the time being in view of the lack of other possible solutions.
In the period that followed, emigration was not only a German problem, but also a problem that had to be dealt with by the authorities of the countries of destination and immigration. The financial difficulties, such as the increase in the advance and landing allowances on the part of the various foreign governments, the lack of shipping berths and the constant increase in immigration restrictions or bans, made emigration efforts extremely difficult. Despite these difficulties, a total of around 537,000 Jews had emigrated since the assumption of power on October 31, 1941. Of these
from 30.1.1933 from the Altreich approx. 360,000
from 15.3.1938 from the Ostmark approx. 147,000
from 15.3.1939 from the Protectorate of
Bohemia and Moravia around 30,000.
The emigration was financed by the Jews and Jewish political organizations themselves. In order to prevent the proletarianized Jews from remaining in the country, the principle was that the Jews who were able to emigrate had to finance the emigration of the Jews who were not able to emigrate; a corresponding levy or emigration tax was prescribed, graduated according to wealth, which was used to cover the financial obligations in the course of the emigration of Jews who were unable to emigrate.
In addition to the Reichsmark revenue, foreign currency was required for advance and landing payments. In order to conserve the German foreign exchange bill, the Jewish financial institutions abroad were encouraged by the Jewish organizations in Germany to provide funds for the collection of the corresponding foreign exchange revenues. By October 30, 1941, these foreign Jews had provided a total of around 9,500,000 dollars by way of donations.
In the meantime, the Reichsfuhrer-SS and Chief of the German Police has forbidden the emigration of Jews in view of the dangers of emigration during the war and in view of the possibilities of the East.
III. Emigration has now been replaced by the evacuation of Jews to the East as the only possible solution, subject to prior authorization by the Führer.
However, these actions should only be seen as alternative options, but the practical experience that would be important in view of the coming final solution to the Jewish question was already being gathered here.
In the course of this final solution to the European Jewish question, around 11 million Jews came into consideration, which were distributed among the individual countries as follows.
countries as follows:
Country Number
A. Altreich 131,800
Ostmark 43,700
Eastern territories 420,000
General government 2,284,000
Bialystok 400,000
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia 74,200
Estonia - free of Jews
Latvia 3,500
Lithuania 34,000
Belgium 43,000
Denmark 5,600
France/Occupied Begiet 165,000
Unoccupied Begiet 700,000
Greece 69,600
Netherlands 160,800
Norway 1,300
B. Bulgaria 48,000
England 330,000
Finland 2,300
Ireland 4,000
Italy incl. Sardinia 58,000
Albania 200
Croatia 40,000
Portugal 3,000
Romania incl. Bessarabia 342,000
Sweden 8,000
Switzerland 18,000
Serbia 10,000
Slovakia 88,000
Spain 6,000
Turkey (European part) 55,500
Hungary 742,800
USSR 5,000,000
Ukraine 2,994,684
WeiGruBland from
Bialystok 446,484
Together: over 11,000,000
However, the figures given for the number of Jews in the various foreign states refer only to religious Jews, as the definition of Jews according to racial principles is still lacking in some cases. The treatment of the problem in the individual countries will encounter certain difficulties with regard to general attitudes and perceptions, especially in Hungary and Romania. In Romania, for example, Jews can still obtain the appropriate documents officially certifying their foreign citizenship in exchange for money.
The influence of Jews on all societies in the USSR is well known. About 5 million Jews live in the European territory, and just under 1/4 million in the Asian region.
The occupational breakdown of Jews living in the European territory of the USSR was as follows:
in agriculture 9.1%
as urban workers 14.8%
in trade 20.0%
employed as state workers 23.4%
in the private professions -
health care, dentistry, nursing, etc. 32.7 %
Under appropriate management, the Jews are to be put to work in the Oaten in the course of the final solution. In large work crews, with separation of the sexes, the Jews who are able to work will be led to these areas in a road-building manner, whereby the majority of them will fall by natural reduction.
The remaining population, since it is undoubtedly the part capable of resistance, will have to be treated accordingly, so that it, representing a natural bubble, is to be regarded as the germ of a new Jewish structure when it is released. (See the experience of history.)
In the course of the practical implementation of the Final Solution, Europe will move from west to east. The Reich territory, including the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, will have to be anticipated, if only for reasons of housing and other socio-political necessities.
The evacuated Jews were first taken one by one to so-called transit ghettos in order to be transported from there to the East.
SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Heydrich went on to say that an important prerequisite for carrying out the evacuation at all was the precise identification of the group of people in question.
The intention is not to evacuate Jews over the age of 65, but to transfer them to a ghetto for the elderly - Theresienstadt is envisaged.
In addition to these age groups - of the approximately 280,000 Jews in the Altreich and the Ostmark on October 31, 1941, around 30% were over 65 years old - the Jewish ghettos for the elderly continued to accommodate Jews with severe war injuries and Jews with Kire awards (EK I). With this two-mile solution, the many interventions are eliminated in one fell swoop.
The start of the individual major evacuation operations will largely depend on military developments. With regard to the handling of the final solution in the European territories occupied and influenced by us, it was suggested that the relevant Foreign Office officials consult with the responsible officer of the Security Police and the SD.
In Slovakia and Croatia, the matter is no longer too difficult, as the most important core issues in this respect have already been resolved there. In Romania, the government has now also appointed a commissioner for Jews. In order to settle the issue in Hungary, it is necessary to appoint an advisor for Jewish issues to the Hungarian government in the near future.
In view of the start of preparations for the settlement of the problems in Italy, SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Heydrich considers a liaison police chief to be appropriate in these matters.
In occupied and unoccupied France, the registration of Jews for evacuation will in all probability proceed without great difficulty.
Undersecretary of State Luther stated that if this problem is dealt with in depth, difficulties will arise in some countries, such as the Nordic states, and it is therefore advisable to postpone these countries for the time being. In view of the small numbers of Jews in question here, this deferral does not constitute a significant restriction.
The Foreign Office for the Southeast and West of Europe therefore sees no great difficulties.
SS-Gruppenfuhrer Hofmann intends to send a case officer from the Race and Settlement Main Office to Hungary for general orientation when the Chief of the Security Police and the SD takes up the matter there. It was decided that this officer from the Race and Settlement Main Office, who was not to become active, would be officially assigned as an assistant to the police attaché for the time being.
IV. The Nurnberg Laws were to form the basis of the plans for a final solution, whereby the prerequisite for the complete resolution of the problem was also the solution of the questions of mixed marriages and mixed blood.
With regard to a letter from the Chief of the Reich Chancellery, the Chief of the Security Police and the SD first discusses the following points in theory:
1) Treatment of 1st degree mongrels.
First-degree half-breeds are treated the same as Jews with regard to the solution of the Jewish question.
The following are exempt from this treatment:
a) First-degree half-breeds married to German-bloods whose marriage has produced children (second-degree half-breeds). These 2nd degree half-breeds are essentially equal to the German.
b) 1st degree half-breeds for whom the highest authorities of the party and the state have so far granted exemptions in any area of life.
Each individual case must be reviewed, whereby it cannot be ruled out that the decision will again be to the disadvantage of the mixed-breed.
The prerequisites for an exceptional permit must always be the fundamental merits of the mixed-blood in question. (Not the merits of the German-blooded parent or spouse).
The 1st degree mongrel to be excluded from evacuation is sterilized to prevent any offspring and to finally solve the mongrel problem. Sterilization is voluntary. However, it is a prerequisite for remaining in the Reich. The sterilized "Mischling" is subsequently freed from all the restrictive regulations to which he has hitherto been subject.
2) Treatment of 2nd degree mongrels.
The mongrels of the 2nd degree shall in principle be classified as German-bloods, with the exception of the following cases, in which the mongrels of the 2nd degree shall be treated in the same way as Jews:
a) Descent of the mongrel of the 2nd degree from a bastard marriage (both parts mongrels).
b) Particularly unfavorable racial appearance of the 2nd degree mongrel, which already classifies him as a Jew.
c) Particularly poor police and political assessment of the 2nd degree mongrel, which reveals that he feels and behaves like a Jew.
Even in these cases, however, exceptions should not be made if the 2nd degree Mischling is married with German blood.
3) Marriages between full Jews and people of German blood.
It must be decided on a case-by-case basis whether the Jewish part is evacuated or whether it is transferred to an old-age ghetto, taking into account the effects of such a measure on the German relatives of this mixed marriage.
4) Marriages between 2nd degree half-breeds and German-bloods.
a) Without children.
If no children are born of the marriage, the first-degree half-breed is evacuated or transferred to an old-age ghetto. (Same treatment as for marriages between ethnic Jews and persons of German blood. Point 3.)
b) With children.
If children are born of the marriage (second-degree half-breeds), they are evacuated or transferred to a ghetto together with the first-degree half-breed if they are equated with Jews; if these children are equated with Germans (Hegelfalle), they are excluded from the evacuation and thus also the first-degree half-breed.
5) Marriages between half-breeds of the 1st degree and half-breeds of the 1st degree or Jews.
In these marriages (including the children), all parties are treated as Jews and therefore evacuated or transferred to an old-age ghetto.
6) Marriages between half-breeds of the 1st degree and half-breeds of the 2nd degree.
Both spouses are evacuated or transferred to an old-age ghetto regardless of whether there are children or not, as any children generally have a stronger Jewish bloodline than the 2nd degree Jewish half-breeds).
SS Gruppenfuhrer Hofmann is of the opinion that sterilization must be used to a large extent; especially since the half-breed, faced with the choice of being evacuated or sterilized, preferred to undergo sterilization.
State Secretary Dr. Stuckart notes that the practical implementation of the solutions just outlined to resolve the mixed-breed and mongrel issues in this form would entail endless administrative work. On the other hand, in order to take account of the biological facts in every respect, State Secretary Dr. Stuckart proposed to proceed with compulsory sterilization.
In order to simplify the problem of mixed marriages, possibilities also had to be considered with the aim of the legislator saying something like: "These marriages are divorced".
With regard to the question of the effect of the evacuation of Jews on economic life, State Secretary Neumann explained that Jews working in companies important to the war effort could not be evacuated at present until replacements were available.
SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Heydrich pointed out that these Jews were not being evacuated anyway according to the guidelines he had approved for carrying out the current evacuation operations.
State Secretary Dr. Buhler stated that the general government was in favour of starting to resolve this issue in the general government because, on the one hand, the transport problem did not play an overriding role here, and because the course of this activity would not be hindered by work-related reasons. Jews had to be removed from the territory of the general governorate as quickly as possible, because it was precisely here that the Jew posed an eminent danger as a slave trader and, secondly, because he was constantly disrupting the economic structure of the country through continued surreptitious trade. Moreover, the majority of the approximately 2 1/2 million Jews in question were unable to work.
State Secretary Dr. Buhler also stated that the solution of the Jewish question in the General Government was the responsibility of the Chief of the Security Police and the SD and that his work was supported by the authorities of the General Government. He had only one request: to resolve the Jewish question in this area as quickly as possible.
Finally, the various possible solutions were discussed, whereby both the Gauleiter Dr. Meyer and the State Secretary Dr. Buhler took the view that certain preparatory work should be carried out in the course of the final solution in the areas concerned, but that any disturbance of the population should be avoided.
The meeting was concluded with a request from the Chief of the Security Police and the SD to the participants of the meeting to provide him with the necessary support in the implementation of the liquidation work.
Translation web site: https://www.deepl.com/
