Wannsee Conference Was Preceded by Meetings

High-level meetings, to be more precise – between “Holocaust Project” manager Reinhard Heydrich and heads of all key offices and ministries vital for the implementation of its second stage (“Holocaust by Gas”).

One huge misconception (alas, popular among some Holocaust historians) is that the Holocaust “just happened”. Happened almost spontaneously – without any management (or even guidance) from the top.

It was not the case. True, during the first stage of the “Holocaust Project” local SS and Police leaders (and officials of the Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories) decided when and how each ghetto (or Jewish residence area) was to be liquidated… but they were following the order from above to kill all the Jews in their responsibility areas. F;hrerprinzip in action, in other words.

The “Holocaust by Gas” was such a gargantuan undertaking and consumed such an enormous amount of scarce and highly valuable resources (fuel, transportation, food, personnel, etc.) that it had to be managed in a standard Nazi manner.

That’s how it worked. On March 31, 1941, Adolf Hitler declared to his top generals that the war against the Soviet Union would be one of annihilation and legally sanctioned the eradication of all Communist leaders and elites in the Soviet Union.

Apparently, he did not explicitly mention Jews but it appears that he asked Heinrich Himmler (SS-Reichsfuhrer) and “Himmler’s Brain” Reinhard Heydrich (head of RSHA) to figure out what to do with the Soviet Jews.

It appears that they suggested that all Jews of military age must be shot to prevent them from becoming guerillas… and Hitler agreed. At the end of July of 1941 Hitler (predictably) decided that the “final solution to the Jewish question” was in order… and asked his second in command (Hermann G;ring) to come up with one.

G;ring sent a written order to Heydrich… and the latter apparently suggested (initially) that all Soviet Jews (men, women, children and elderly) must be shot. Himmler agreed; G;ring and Hitler approved… and Himmler (officially in charge of security in occupied Soviet territories) issued the order to that affect. Commencing the full-scale “Holocaust by Bullets”.

But one existential question remained: what to do with Jews in other territories under German control (including Greater Germany proper)? Apparently, Himmler and “his brain” Heydrich decided to murder them all as well (following the Nazi dogma of an existential war of annihilation between Aryan and Jewish races) … but there was a problem. A gargantuan problem, in fact.

While it was possible to shoot one million of Soviet Jews (it was done), shooting five times as many European Jews was out of the question. There were too many Jews on a too small territory (so there’ll be too many mass graves).

It will be impossible to keep it secret – which might lead to uprisings… everywhere; too many soldiers will be needed to shoot the Jews and lots of these highly valuable soldiers will suffer breakdowns and will not be able to fight.

A radically different – and far more efficient – solution had to be found (and fast). Fortunately for H&H, at the end of August, Hitler suspended Aktion T4 – the involuntary euthanasia program.

Making its personnel – highly experienced in the art and science of mass murder (death toll exceeded 70,000) available for the next “grand project”.

Hence, it is no surprise that Himmler and Heydrich decided to kill almost five million European Jews (and more – after Wehrmacht occupies other countries) using “Holocaust by Gas” (mass murder in stationary or mobile gas chambers) in a scaled-up version of Aktion T4 system of killing centers.

H&H initially decided to build four killing centers (they were built in Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka) to which they later added two more – in Auschwitz-Birkenau and in Majdanek).

However, these genuine death factories had to be supported by physical (operational) and administrative infrastructure. As the latter would spread over the whole F;hrerstaat, H&H needed the cooperation of all branches of the Nazi system: the Party (NSDAP); the Wehrmacht; central civilian government (Reich Chancellery) Foreign Office, Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Justice and the Office of the Four-Year Plan.

But first, Himmler and Heydrich had to neutralize Pope Pius XII. Aktion T4 was essentially sunk by just one fearless Catholic bishop – “Lion of M;nster” Clemens August Graf von Galen – so the Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Roman Catholic Church could have easily stopped the Holocaust.

Most likely, sometime in September of 1941, Heydrich flew to Rome from Prague (his Bf-109 E-7had sufficient range with external fuel tank) … and somehow convinced the Vicar of Christ to keep his mouth shut.

Then he used his mandate from G;ring to secure cooperation from heads of the abovementioned offices who ordered their subordinates (who attended the Wannsee Conference on their behalf) to do whatever Heydrich tells them to do.