Verso la soluzione finale: La conferenza di Wannsee

by Peter Longerich, Valentina Tortelli (Translator)

Il 20 gennaio 1942 alcune figure di vertice del Terzo Reich si riunirono in una lussuosa villa a Wannsee, nei dintorni di Berlino, e decisero la soluzione finale nei confronti degli ebrei. Peter Longerich fornisce un'accurata contestualizzazione del verbale della riunione perché le interpretazioni dei motivi che portarono a tenere la conferenza, la sua funzione e utilità, sono varie e contraddittorie. Tranne il verbale, non esistono altri documenti inerenti alla conferenza perché sono andati distrutti. La spiegazione di Longerich è che l'Olocausto non è stato attuato in seguito a una scelta determinata, ma fu il risultato di una politica antisemita di lunga durata, sottoposta a cambiamenti contingenti, e di un processo decisionale con cui Hitler, istanza suprema del regime, insieme ad altre figure e organi dell'apparato, diede vita a un vero e proprio programma di distruzione degli ebrei d'Europa, partendo da una generica e indefinita intenzione di distruggerli.

Il 20 gennaio 1942 quindici personaggi di primo piano del regime nazionalsocialista, della Nsdap e delle SS, si riunirono su invito di Reinhard Heydrich, capo dell'Ufficio centrale per la sicurezza del Reich, in una lussuosa villa situata sulle sponde del lago Wannsee alla periferia di Berlino. Il contrasto tra la bellezza del luogo e lo scopo della manifestazione non poteva essere piú stridente: la dimora utilizzata dalle SS come foresteria fu scelta per definire la cosiddetta «soluzione finale della questione ebraica». Oggi il verbale della conferenza di Wannsee è considerato sinonimo del genocidio degli ebrei d'Europa, di uno sterminio lucido, burocratico, basato sulla divisione del lavoro: un documento inconcepibile, il promemoria di come la follia dottrinaria e omicida del sistema nazista, per ordine della principale autorità del regime, si trasformò in azione concreta, in intervento statale, in un piano portato a termine senza pietà. In questo libro Peter Longerich presenta e approfondisce un'interpretazione della conferenza e del verbale che rielabora gli spunti offerti dalle ricerche precedenti, per costruire una spiegazione più articolata: dimostrare che l'Olocausto non fu l'esito di un'unica decisione presa a livello centrale ma il risultato di un esteso processo che vide Hitler, istanza primaria del Terzo Reich, sviluppare e avviare gradualmente, da una generica intenzione di distruggere gli ebrei, un programma di genocidio in stretta collaborazione con altri componenti dell'apparato di potere.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Holocaust, World War II, Politics, War, Audiobook

208 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 14, 2016

About the author

Peter Longerich is a German professor of history. He is currently director of the Research Centre for the Holocaust and Twentieth-Century History at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Reviews

[Beata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear and chilling account of a meeting aimed at giving bureaucratic foundations of the genocide already under way and at designing its next stages. Short and insightful, recommended for those who have already read some other books on the subject due to its succinctness.

[Gerhard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Angeregt wurde ich durch den im vorigen Jahr ausgestrahlten Fernsehfilm doch das Buch zu lesen. Die grausame Thematik ist für mich durch Peter Longerich sachlich, lesbar dargestellt. Wie der Weg der ersten Judendeportationen bis zur Endlösung ablief und organisiert wurde, kann eindrücklich nachgelesen werden.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an accurate and objective account of an almost unbelievable event, when fifteen men met at a luxury villa, by a lake, on the outskirts of Berlin to discuss the murder of millions of people. The invitations to this meeting on the 20th January, 1942, were issued by Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Reich Security Head Office. Amongst this group of party officials and civil servants included ten university graduates, nine qualified lawyers, and eight who had a doctorate. Despite the fact that, years after this event, the men tried to distance themselves from this event (and only one showed remorse), not one at the time raised objections about this project to murder the Jewish population of Europe - including women and children.

One of the most telling things about this event is that there were virtually no documents, but original minutes survive and Longerich uses them to good effect. The only issue is that, on kindle, I could not enlarge the text and so was left peering somewhat uselessly at the small print. However, despite the denials from those present, it is clear that there was definite understanding of what was being discussed.

The book is fairly short, covering the background to the conference; including previous deportations, Germany's deteriorating relations with the USA (and why that was relevant) and bizarre suggestions, including exiling the Jewish population to Madagascar. This moves onto what was agreed at the conference and the consequences. This is a very factual account - the author does not digress to consider what characters thought, or create any kind of atmosphere around the conference. However, this only makes the events seem more unbelievable. That a group of men could sit around a table and discuss something so shocking, makes you truly understand how out of touch with humanity people had become at that time. A very important book although slightly marred for me by difficulty in reading the minutes.

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very dry read, which in it's dry, bureaucratic descriptions ironically mirror the bureaucratic horror of the Wannsee conference - a group of people calmly discussing the imminent death of of millions of people as if it's just another office meeting.

[Norman Weiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Das Buch ist informativ und klar geschrieben, es nennt die Dinge beim Namen – aber eben jene Dinge, die Entrechtung, die Vertreibung und der Völkermord, die von den handelnden Personen nicht als Auswüchse ihres Rassewahns begriffen, sondern als Mittel zur Lösung eines vorgeblichen realen, sachlichen Problems angesehen wurden: Das läßt mir den Atem stocken.

[D.B. John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short work of scholarship on history's most notorious bureaucratic meeting, with the original minutes included. No matter how often I've read about this over time it's still incredibly shocking that such a meeting was routine government business in Germany in 1942 – so normalized was Jewish persecution and Jew hatred. The meeting did not trigger the final solution, which was haphazardly underway by January 42 as the war radicalized local Nazi thinking in the occupied East. The meeting was called by Heydrich to wrest 'Jewish policy' away from the civilian government into SS hands, with himself claiming the credit. The book highlights the power struggles involved, with Heydrich favoring forced labour (followed by death) over Himmler's urge to escalate the mass murders that were already happening on the ground. With Heydrich's unexpected assassination, Himmler's plan prevailed, and the reader gets a sense of the energy and determination he devoted to the task. The author's scholarly prose is restrained, but horrifying evil is what he describes.

[Spectre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many important non-fiction books are difficult to read and I found Peter Longerich's to be another. This treatment of an historical meeting of Nazi leaders to set a coherent policy of mass murder is difficult to comprehend or understand and the author provided little illumination of the subject or the meeting for me.

[David Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bleak and bald account of the political manoeuvrings that led up to and were thrashed out at the conference at the idyllic lakeside villa at Potsdam on 20th January 1942.
The banality of evil is laid bare and, while noting their ruthlessly efficient decision making, the sheer enormity of the crime already being committed - and about to be accelerated exponentially - is staggering.
The minutes of the meeting contained in this volume in original and translated form are dissected meticulously and reading them makes one’s toes curl in embarrassment at humanity’s ability to dismiss sections of the population as sub-human in an attempt to justify one’s own ambitions.
I’ve been to the villa. It’s a deceptively lovely place for a day trip from Berlin. Never forget what was finalised there.

[Monique · Rating 3 out of 5]

Het huis waar deze conferentie gehouden werd, is een van de meest duistere plekken waar ik geweest ben. Dat de omgeving waarin de villa ligt, wonderschoon is, maakt hetgeen hier besproken is alleen nog maar huiveringwekkender. Longerich geeft met dit boek een goed en leesbaar overzicht van de gebeurtenissen omtrent de Wannsee Conferentie. Het feit dat de (originele) notulen in zowel het Nederlands als in het Duits zijn weergegeven, is een zeer interessante en welkome toevoeging.

[Claus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of the Wannsee conference where the holocaust were discussed among German officials - including Heydrich and Eichmann.

[Alexander L. Belikoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not your first choice if you are looking to learn about the Wannsee conference and its role in the Holocaust. Rather, this is an extremely valuable resource if you want to move beyond the basics. The Author conducted a monumental amount of research, which resulted in a book somewhat dry and pedantic but brimming with information and analysis.

What this book excels at is letting you look "behind the curtain" and see the mechanics that brought the wheels in motion, the driving factors and the dynamics of the process. There is a page-by-page commentary to the meeting notes. The Author shows [rather convincingly] that the aforementioned Conference (which lasted no longer than 1.5 hours) was hardly a pivotal point but resulted due to a complex political and bureaucratic play between different organizations and individuals vying for a more prominent role. It discusses the power play between Himmler and Heydrich, each one promoting their own plan. By analyzing further developments, it shows how the means (war) and the end (annihilation of European Jews) have gradually exchanged their roles. Most importantly, it shows the terrifyingly pragmatic, business-like attitude of all involved toward the task of murdering millions of men, women, and children alike.

This will not be your most satisfying reading (in every sense), but if you are interested in learning more about WWII and Holocaust, this book is highly recommended.

[Abdul Alhazred · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book zooms in on the closest thing to a smoking gun the nazis didn't destroy - protocols from the Wannsee conference, where the minutiae of exactly who would count as jewish, and what was to be done with them, was decided. The discussions of if it's better to offer 'mischlings' (mixed race jews) sterilization, or just to kill them outright are macabre. The clinical nature of the discussions surrounding extermination mixes with the heated nature of the racial theories that are marking them for death and the only hesitation surrounds how this will all be covered up, and to what extent people are actually required for industrial slave labour.
It's a short book well worth reading, but for a better view of the holocaust and wider population extermination plans (the 'lebensraum' in the east) read Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. Snyder's account notes that by the time homicidal gas chambers were used, the majority of the death toll had already happened by more primitive methods. Part of the Wannsee protocols deals with making it 'easier' to do the killings by making the process more industrialized, because of the psychological damage it was doing to the soldiers shooting rows and rows of civilians.

[Scott Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise overview of the history and actions from the infamous conference/business meeting in late January 1942 which outline the processes and procedures that would underpin the “Final Solution” to the “Jewish Question”, resulting in the deaths of millions across Europe in the next 3+ years. While much of the mechanisms for the Holocaust were well underway by the time of Wannsee, this work highlights how the meeting fit into the overall architecture of the Holocaust. There was the typical bureaucratic maneuvering by men like Heydrich, but also how the various personnel brought into the meeting played their part. A key thing of note is that only one copy of the minutes from that day survived, and those minutes are not a complete transcript, so it is difficult to know exactly what was said or not said/decided. All that considered, this work is worth the read to get some insight into that meeting. The German minutes are attached for reference. This work translates the key parts, so that will help the English reader.

[Andrew Garvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clear, concise and convincing examination of the infamous Wannsee conference on the Final Solution, Longerich uses the surviving minutes, detailed knowledge and research of what was going on in the rest of Europe at the time to build his case - as any good historian should.

Wannsee is remembered as the meeting when high-ranking Nazis decided exactly how they were going to murder as many Jews as possible. But Longerich demonstrates this gathering was as much about internal politics, personal power struggles and ambitions, especially Reinhard Heydrich's. Many of the evils discussed and decided on at Wannssee were changed greatly by facts on the ground (Heydrich's inconvenient assassination being one of them and the collapse of the Nazi advance eastwards being another) and many of them were already underway on a local or regional scale in several countries under Nazi occupation.

A very good book. And a very, very grim one.

[John Vandike · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title being "Wannsee: The Road to the Final Solution" it might be assumed the book is fairly completely focused on the titular Nazi conference of the same name. In fact, the conference itself is discussed about halfway through the book in around twenty pages of neat prose out of a total textual length of 100 pages.

That being said, Longerich's discussion preceding the actual conference does an excellent job setting up the actual "road to the final solution", where the Wannsee conference really just sets in motion the pseudo-'legalistic' framework the attendees and their superiors had already determined to execute upon.

Overall, an excellent high-level overview of the sterile, "cleaner", history of the Holocaust conducted by men in tidy uniforms in fancy villas in 1942...far away from the dirtier business being carried out elsewhere in the Reich. For a more complete work consult Longerich's "Holocausst: The Nazi Murder and Persecution of the Jews."

[Paul Ataua · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wannsee Conference of January 1942 is seen as the meeting where high ranking Nazis hammered out the ‘Final Solution’ regarding the Jews and yet much that was discussed was actually already being done throughout the areas of German influence. That leads us to ask the question of what the significance of the meeting was. This is not a dramatic tale telling of the meeting. If you are looking for that, the movie ‘Conspiracy’ (2001) with Kenneth Branagh as Reinhard Heydrich is perfect. This is a ‘historical ‘ rendering in which the author puts forward a case to understand the conference. I thoroughly enjoyed the insights gained from the reading.

[Deirdre Crosse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well annotated review of one of humanities moral nadirs. Certainly a good reference book for Holocaust studies. By focusing one one meeting, one morning, who attended, who wasn't invited, and analyzing the ripple of effects through the implementation of the "final solution" is a surprisingly effective way of tackling a very complicated issue.
This probably isn't the best first book on the subject of the Holocaust. It is a worthy addition to the cannon.

[Kevin Starmans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een duidelijk overzicht van de bepalingen van de Wanneee Conferentie van 20 januari 1942 en de daarbij behorende ontwikkelingen van het “Jodenvraagstuk” in de Tweede Wereldoorlog, zowel voor als na de conferentie.
Daarbij wordt ook niet vergeten in hoeverre beide standpunten van Functionalisten en Intentionalisten onderbouwd kunnen worden.

Aanrader voor geïnteresseerden in de verschrikkelijke ontwikkeling van de Holocaust en haar facetten.

[Sem · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you want to read a short book on the Wannsee Conference you'd be much better off with Mark Roseman's The Villa, the Lake, the Meeting. This is fine as an account of dispassionate, bureaucratically-conducted, ethnic cleansing but for an up-to-date account of how it works, just watch the news.

[pallav mishra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a harrowing chronicle of the events surrounding the 1942 Conference at Wannsee that helped reveal so,e of the thinking and dynamics between the civilian administration and the SS across much of occupied Europe. The bureaucracy and the machinations of the SS and various agencies competing to get Hitler’s attention.

[Michael Linton · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting Insight into Nazi Planning for The Final Solution

A short meeting in a Berlin suburb that is run like a modern management meeting is all that is required to agree on the slaughter of millions. The sheer audacity of thought that governed Heydrich and Himmler in their plans was astounding. Read to remember.

[Sophie Allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really provides in-depth detail into perhaps one of the crucial, notorious documents recorded during World War 2 and within European history. It explores a topic that evokes incredible emotion and is essential in understanding the context of 20th century Europe! Recommend to anyone studying this area of history to read this!

[Maria Pazmino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Closer to a 3.5 read. Nothing new or groundbreaking, even when the minutes of the actual meeting came up, and despite the actual title of the book not much of it focuses on the meeting itself—all said, I enjoyed the read and would recommend it if someone isn't well informed on what Wannsee entailed and want to get some basics under their belt

[Gerry McCaffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A worth while read. Quite a bit condensed into a little over 100 pages. Will look forward to a “second reading”.

[Trevor reads history · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short yet concise retelling of the meeting that may have been the final step before the holocaust

[Rik Demeyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Van de 15 hoge ambtenaren die tijdens de Wannsee conferentie afspraken maakten over de Endlösung waren er blijkbaar negen juristen. Stemt tot nadenken!

[Agris Fakingsons · Rating 3 out of 5]

..kaut kas par to, kad tika izlemts neitralizēt ebrejus.

[UraniaEXLibris · Rating 5 out of 5]

In prossimità delle sponde del Wannsee la falce cala inesorabilmente il ventesimo giorno di gennaio dell'anno 1942. Reinhard Heydrich è stato incaricato di mettere a punto la cosiddetta "Soluzione Finale". Un breve incontro conclusosi con una "colazione di lavoro". A testimonianza di esso rimane un freddo verbale vergato con cifre spaventose, macchiate di sangue. Alla luce del problema ebraico, quindici gerarchi del Terzo Reich sono chiamati a definire chi tra gli ebrei dovrà morire o sarà graziato. Non solo gli ebrei del Reich. Longerich sottolinea come l'obiettivo della conferenza fosse anche quello di stabilire come gestire il problema nel momento in cui la Germania si sarebbe impadronita dell'intera Europa. Non pochi gli ostacoli in vista, in quanto in alcuni paesi europei era impossibile individuare gli ebrei su base razziale, bensì esclusivamente su base religiosa. Longerich guida il lettore attraverso la conferenza che determinò una svolta nell'Olocausto e lo fa in modo chiaro e preciso. Il saggio si apre con un'ampia contestualizzazione che spiega il processo attraverso cui si arrivò a quel venti gennaio 1942. Una contestualizzazione quanto mai necessaria dal momento che la Conferenza di Wannsee passò alla storia come l'evento che decise il genocidio. Tuttavia, lo sterminio degli ebrei era già in atto da anni come dimostra non solo Laurence Rees in "Auschwitz" (Mondadori 2005), il quale nella storia del complesso di Auschwitz Birkenau sottolinea come la conversione di esso da "campo di lavoro" a "campo di sterminio" fosse decisamente antecedente alla Conferenza (l'ultimo prigioniero detenuto in quel campo che riuscì ad uscirne con il permesso dei tedeschi stessi per aver finito di scontare la sua pena contribuì con il suo lavoro alla creazione di quello che poi sarà il campo di sterminio). Dunque, al momento della Conferenza di Wannsee, Auschwitz era in piena attività e non solo esso. In effetti Wannsee fu per certi versi un incontro permeato di speranza da parte dei nazisti, speranza e di una sinistra profezia per l'intera Europa (cfr. "La Svastica sul Sole" di Philip Dick, Fanucci 2019). Il verbale della conferenza è riportato qui in tedesco e spiegato compiutamente punto per punto. Mentre si legge questo saggio, non è possibile non pensare alla trasposizione cinematografica focalizzata proprio su questo incontro. Impossibile non accostare "Conspiracy" (regia di Frank Pierson 2001) a questo saggio, in particolar modo alla sezione di commento del verbale. Lettura scorrevole e completa su questo evento che consiglio di effettuare dopo la visione del film per poter avere un appoggio visuale alla lettura e per accompagnare la lettura stessa.

[Sigrid_02 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Longerich bietet einen Überblick über die Teilnehmer der Wannsee-Konferenz, ihre Motivationen und die Auswirkungen der Konferenz auf den weiteren Prozess der Judenvernichtung im nationalsozialisischen Deutschland und Europa. Dabei konzentriert er sich in besonderem Maße auf die Motivationen Heydrichs und konstruiert hier eine von anderen Forschungspublikationen abweichende Ansicht, die er mit verschiedenen Beispielen zu belegen sucht. Er fokussiert hier so sehr auf die Konstruktion seiner eigenen These, dass die Einordnung der Konferenz in den Gesamtzusammenhang des Holocaust an einigen Stellen stark in den Hintergrund gerät. Die Publikation ist daher als Einstieg in das Thema nur wenig geeignet, da der Autor hier sehr stark den Beleg seiner Forschungsthese betont. Gleichzeitig bietet das Buch aber auch den Abdruck des Protokolls der Sitzung, das von Longerich fachkundig (und leider teils auch etwas redundant) analysiert wird. Nichtsdestotrotz ist seine Analyse trotz der teilweisen Wiederholung des Protokolltextes aufschlussreich für das Verständnis des Protokolls und seine Einordnung. Insgesamt ein durchaus interessantes Buch, das aber zu stark auf die Propagierung der vom Autor vertretenen Forschungsthese abhebt.