Nazi Jewish Policy Radicalized in July 1941

Holocaust perpetrators (first and foremost, Nazi leaders – Himmler, Heydrich, G;ring and Hitler) were textbook serial killers. Serial mass murderers, sure – but still serial killers. Mission-oriented serial killers, to be more precise.

Hence, it is no surprise that they did what serial killers do: they escalated, snapped – and then escalated again. First, they escalated from forced emigration to internment in Europe (Nisko plan), then to deportation to Africa (Madagascar)… and then to serial mass murder (in other words, they snapped).

They snapped sometime in early April of 1941, when the decision was made (by Himmler and Heydrich) and approved (by G;ring and Hitler) to murder all male Jews of military age. Thus, commencing the first stage of “Holocaust by Bullets”.

This stage commenced the next day after the invasion of the Soviet Union… and things quickly (and predictably) went out of hand. In other words, Einsatzgruppen, Order Police and local radical anti-Semites (first and foremost, in Baltic countries) started killing ALL Jews – men, women, children and elderly.

This “grassroots initiative” quickly made its way to the very top of Nazi hierarchy – to Himmler, Heydrich, G;ring and Hitler – and prompted radical escalation of Nazi Jewish policy.

SS-Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler (officially in charge of all security in occupied territories of the USSR) gave tacit unofficial approval to serial mass murder of all Jews – from infants to the elderly.

At the same time, another critical problem emerged: with acquisition of Jews by tens of thousands in newly occupied territories, the number of Israelites under German control (already over four million) was rapidly becoming unmanageable.

Hence, the Nazi leaders needed to find – and fast – the acceptable answer and the workable solution to the genuinely existential question: what to do with ALL Jews under German control (not just in occupied territories of the USSR).

In Germany and Austria, Bohemia and Moravia, Serbia and Greece, France and Benelux, Denmark and Norway. And with ALL Jews under control of German allies (Axis Powers): Italy and Croatia, Hungary and Slovakia, Bulgaria and Finland.

To find this “final solution to the Jewish question” in all territories under control of either Germany or other European Axis powers, G;ring and Hitler tasked Reinhard Heydrich and his RSHA.

For an obvious reason – the latter were already up to their ears in “Jewish question” (their Einsatzgruppen started to shoot Jews en masse since day two of Operation Barbarossa). Besides, they already had relevant experience in “pacifying” Poland (operations Tannenberg, Intelligenzaktion and AB-Aktion) … plus in conducting Aktion T4 (mass murder by gas) in occupied Polish territories.

Heydrich (for obvious reasons) insisted on official written order (similar to the one that started Aktion T4), so on July 31, 1941, Hermann G;ring (second-in-command in Nazi Germany) sent him the following letter (memo):

“As a supplement to the task which was entrusted to you in the decree dated January 24, 1939, to solve the Jewish question by emigration and evacuation in the most favorable way possible, given present conditions, I herewith commission you to carry out all necessary preparations with regard to organizational, substantive, and financial viewpoints for a total solution of the Jewish question in the German sphere of influence in Europe.

Insofar as other competencies of other central organizations are affected, these are to be involved. I further commission you to submit to me promptly an overall plan showing the preliminary organizational, substantive, and financial measures for the execution of the intended final solution of the Jewish question”

It was Hitler’s order (obviously); however, the latter – as usual – issued only the verbal order. The written one came from his First Deputy.

Final solution to Jewish problem on occupied territories of the USSR was simple and evident: just shoot them all. Hence, in August of 1941, Himmler ordered the extension of “Holocaust by Bullets” to all Jews – men, women, children and elderly.

Jews in German-controlled territories outside the USSR (first and foremost, in Poland) were a different matter entirely. In Poland, there were simply way too many of them to shoot – over 3.3 million – and in other nations mass shootings were impossible politically.

Hence, the “final solution had to wait” – until termination (officially suspension) of Aktion T4 (forced euthanasia program) provided Heydrich and his RSHA with the critically important resource.

Personnel.