Reich Chancellery Represented Adolf Hitler

The Third Reich was run by four powers: civilian government; NSDAP; the SS and Wehrmacht. All except the latter have been heavily involved in the “Jewish question” – and had their own “Jewish department”.

The SS was a de-facto lead agency in the “Holocaust Project” (and SS General Heydrich was its CEO); however, the other had to be involved as well to “make them happy” (normal bureaucratic practice). Hence the presence of their representatives at the Wannsee Conference.

There was one more – this time genuinely existential issue. Although officially Hitler had nothing to do with the Holocaust (and even denied knowledge of it), he had to be somehow represented in the whole project – including the Conference.

Hence, Heydrich had to get Reich Chancellery involved – the office of Chancellor (Hitler was still officially the Chancellor of German Reich). In practice, it meant that Hans Lammers – Chief of Reich Chancellery – had to be represented… somehow.

Hans Lammers joined the Nazi Party before it came to power – on March 1, 1932 and achieved rapid advancement. After Hitler was appointed Chancellor, Lammers was appointed Chief of the Reich Chancellery with the rank of Staatssekret;r (rank second only to the minister). The latter was remedied on November 26 1937, when his rank in the Hitler cabinet was elevated to Reichsminister.

Centralization of power in Nazi Germany accorded to the Reich Chancellery and therefore to its head made Lammers become “one of the most important men in Nazi Germany”. From the vantage point of most government officers, Lammers seemed to speak on behalf of Hitler, the ultimate authority within the Reich.

However, he did not want to get officially involved in the “Final Solution” – so he sent Friedrich Kritzinger – head of his “Jewish division” instead. Contrary to a widespread misconception, the latter was no friend of Jews – as is evidenced by draconian anti-Jewish legislation drafted by his department.

he 11th Regulation of the Citizenship Law (issued on November 25, 1941) stipulated that all German Jews who had emigrated retrospectively lost their German citizenship, and it provided for the confiscation of their assets.

Reich Chancellery was involved in the Final Solution only to the extent of giving its (oral) approval. However, given that in German government system it represented Adolf Hitler, it was a lot – because bureaucratically it meant the approval given by Adolf Hitler himself.