January 20, 1942
Wannsee Conference
Historical context
On this day, January 20, 1942, Reinhard Heydrich chaired a meeting at a villa on the Wannsee in Berlin to coordinate the already-decided mass murder of European Jews.
Archive record
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- Date
- January 20, 1942
- Verified sources
- 1
- Archive threads
- 5
On this day, fifteen senior officials of the German state and Nazi Party met at a villa on the Wannsee in Berlin. Reinhard Heydrich chaired. Adolf Eichmann kept the protocol. The meeting coordinated how ministries and police agencies would implement the already-decided mass murder of European Jews, including those in countries not yet under German control. Killing by Einsatzgruppen in the occupied Soviet Union was already underway.
The protocol listed about 11 million Jews in Europe as falling under the plan. Labor exploitation and killing were discussed in bureaucratic language. The conference did not invent the “Final Solution”; it organized it. Killing centers were already operating.
Research trail
Sources and further reading
- Wannsee Conference and the 'Final Solution' · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum · Holocaust Encyclopedia View source
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