Secret Reich Matter!
[red stamp]
30 copies
16th copy
Protocol of Meeting.
I. The following persons participated in the meeting on the final solution of the Jewish question,
held on 20 January 1942 at Am Grossen Wannsee 56-58, Berlin:
Gauleiter Dr Meyer and
Reich Department Head Dr Leibbrandt Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories
State Secretary Dr Stuckart Reich Ministry of the Interior
State Secretary Neumann Office of the Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan
State Secretary Dr Freisler Reich Ministry of Justice
State Secretary Dr Bühler Office of the Governor General
Undersecretary of State Luther Foreign Office
SS-Oberführer Klopfer Party Chancellery
Ministerial Director Kritzinger Reich Chancellery
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SS-Gruppenführer Hofmann Race and Settlement Main Office
SS-Gruppenführer Müller Reich Security Main Office
SS-Obersturmbannführer Eichmann
SS-Oberführer Dr Schöngarth Security Police and Security Service of the SS (SD)
Commander of the Security
Police and the Security Service of the SS (SD)
in the General Government
SS-Sturmbannführer Dr Lange Security Police and Security Service of the SS (SD)
Commander of the Security Police
and Security Service of the SS (SD) for the
General District Latvia, representing
the Commander of the Security Police
and the Security Service of the SS (SD)
for the Reich Commissariat Ostland.
II. SS-Obergruppenführer H e y d r i c h , Head of the Security Police and the SD, opened the
meeting with the announcement that the Reich Marshal had put him in charge of preparations for
the final solution of the Jewish question. He noted that this conference had been convened to clarify
fundamental questions.
The Reich Marshal’s request to be sent a draft regarding the organisational, technical and material
aspects of the final solution of the Jewish question requires that all of the central agencies directly
involved with these questions address them jointly in advance in order to align their activities.
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The authority for directing the final solution of the Jewish question rests with the Reichsführer SS
and Head of German Police (Office of the Head of the Security Police and the SD), regardless of
geographical boundaries.
The Head of the Security Police and the SD then gave a brief review of the struggle conducted so
far against this foe. The most important elements are:
a) forcing the Jews out of the various spheres of life [Lebensgebiete] of the German people,
b) forcing the Jews out of the living space [Lebensraum] of the German people.
In pursuit of these endeavours, an intensified and planned effort was made to accelerate the
emigration of Jews from the Reich, as the only provisional solution available.
By order of the Reich Marshal, a Reich Central Office for Jewish Emigration was established in
January 1939; its direction was entrusted to the Head of the Security Police and the SD. Its
particular tasks were
a) to take all measures for the preparation of increased emigration of the Jews;
b) to direct the flow of emigration;
c) to speed up emigration in individual cases.
The aim of this task was to cleanse German living space of Jews by legal means.
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The disadvantages of such forced emigration methods were evident to all agencies concerned. Yet in
the absence of other feasible solutions they had to put up with them for the time being.
In the period that followed, the handling of emigration was not a German problem alone, but one
that had to be addressed by the relevant authorities of the destination or immigration countries too.
Financial difficulties such as the increases ordered by the governments of various foreign countries
in the financial means emigrants had to show upon landing and in landing fees, a lack of berths on
ships, and constantly tightening restrictions and bans on immigration, all posed an extraordinary
hindrance to efforts to emigrate. Yet despite these difficulties, a total of around 537,000 Jews were
induced to emigrate between the [Nazi] assumption of power and the cutoff date of 31 October
1941. Of these,
from 30.1.1933 from the Altreich [Germany before 1938] approx. 360,000
from 15.3.1938 from the Ostmark [Austria] approx. 147,000
from 15.3.1939 from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia approx. 30,000.
Emigration was financed by the Jews or the Jewish political organisations themselves. In order to
make sure that the proletarianised Jews would not stay behind, it was determined that affluent Jews
had to finance the emigration of Jews without means; to this end, a contribution or emigration tax
based on individual wealth, was imposed, the proceeds being used to meet the financial obligations
incurred in the emigration of destitute Jews.
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In addition to this levy in Reichsmarks, foreign currency was required as evidence of means to be
presented upon arrival abroad and to pay landing fees. In order to conserve German foreign
currency reserves, Jewish financial institutions abroad were called upon by Jewish organisations in
this country to arrange for the provision of the required sums in foreign currency. Up to 30 October
1941, a total of about $ 9,500,000 all told was provided in this way by these foreign Jews as gifts.
In the meantime, the Reichsführer SS and Head of the German Police has forbidden any further
emigration of Jews in view of the dangers posed by emigration in wartime and in view of the
possibilities in the East.
III With appropriate prior authorisation from the Führer, emigration has now been replaced by
evacuation of the Jews to the East as another possible solution.
However, these operations should be regarded only as provisional options, though they are already
supplying practical experience of vital importance in view of the coming final solution of the
Jewish question.
In the course of this final solution of the Jewish question, roughly eleven million Jews will be taken
into consideration. They are distributed over the individual countries as follows:
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Country Number
A. Altreich [Germany before 1938] 131,800
Ostmark [Austria] 43,700
Eastern Territories 420,000
General Government 2,284,000
Bialystok 400,000
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia 74,200
Estonia - free of Jews -
Latvia 3,500
Lithuania 34,000
Belgium 43,000
Denmark 5,600
France / Occupied territory 165,000
Unoccupied territory 700,000
Greece 69,600
Netherlands 160,800
Norway 1,300
B. Bulgaria 48,000
England 330,000
Finland 2,300
Ireland 4,000
Italy, including Sardinia 58,000
Albania 200
Croatia 40,000
Portugal 3,000
Romania, including Bessarabia 342,000
Sweden 8,000
Switzerland 18,000
Serbia 10,000
Slovakia 88,000
Spain 6,000
Turkey (European part) 55,500
Hungary 742,800
USSR 5,000,000
Ukraine 2,994,684
Belorussia, without
Bialystok 446,484
Total: more than 11,000,000
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The figures listed here for Jews in the different countries, however, pertain only to those who are of
Jewish faith [Glaubensjuden] as definitions of Jews along racial lines are still lacking there to a
certain extent. Given the prevailing attitudes and opinions, the handling of the problem in the
individual countries will encounter certain difficulties, particularly in Hungary and Romania. For
instance, even today the Jew in Romania can still obtain for cash the appropriate documents that
certify officially that he is of foreign nationality.
The influence that Jews exert throughout the USSR is well known. Approximately five million Jews
live in the European part of Russia, barely a quarter of a million in the Asian part.
The distribution by occupation of Jews living in the European part of the USSR was roughly as
follows:
Agriculture 9.1 %
Urban workers 14.8 %
Trade 20.0 %
State employees 23.4 %
Private occupations,
medicine, press, theatre, etc. 32.7 %
In the course of the final solution, and under appropriate supervision, the Jews are to be utilised for
work in the East in a suitable manner. In large labour columns, separated by sex, the Jews capable
of working will be dispatched to these regions to build roads. In the process, a large portion will
undoubtedly drop out through natural reduction.
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Those who ultimately should possibly get by will have to be given suitable treatment because they
unquestionable represent the most resistant part and therefore constitute a natural selection that, if
released, become the germ cell of renewed Jewish revival.
(Witness the experience of history.)
In the course of the practical implementation of the final solution, Europe will be combed through
from West to East. Priority will have to be given to the territory of the Reich, including the
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, if only because of the housing issue and other socio-political
needs.
The evacuated Jews will first be taken, group by group, to so-called transit ghettos, from where
they will be transported onwards to the East.
As SS-Obergruppenführer H e y d r i c h pointed out in addition, an important prerequisite for
carrying out the evacuation at all is a precise definition of the persons under consideration.
The intention is not to evacuate Jews over the age of 65, but to transfer them to an old-people’s
ghetto – Theresienstadt has been earmarked for this purpose.
In addition to these age groups – of the 280,000 Jews living in the Altreich and the Ostmark on 31
October 1941, some 30 % are over 65 – the old-people’s ghetto will continue to receive severely
war disabled Jews and Jews with war decorations (Iron Cross First Class). This
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expedient solution will eliminate the many interventions at a stroke.
The start of the individual larger evacuation operations will depend to a great extent on military
developments. With regard to the manner in which the final solution will be carried out in those
European territories which we now either occupy or influence, it has been suggested that the
pertinent specialists in the Foreign Office should confer with the responsible official of the Security
Police and the SD.
In Slovakia and Croatia the situation is no longer all that difficult since the most essential key
questions in this respect have already been resolved there. In the meantime, the Romanian
government has likewise appointed a commissioner for Jewish affairs. In order to settle the matter
in Hungary, in the near future it will be necessary to impose an adviser for Jewish questions on the
Hungarian government.
With regard to the beginning of preparations for a settlement of this problem in Italy, SS-
Obergruppenführer H e y d r i c h considers it appropriate to establish contact with the Head of
Police regarding these matters.
In occupied and unoccupied France, the registration of Jews for evacuation will – in all likelihood –
be able to proceed without major difficulties.
Regarding this issue, Undersecretary of State L u t h e r remarked that the thorough treatment of
this problem will cause difficulties in some countries, notably the Nordic states, and that it is
therefore advisable to defer action in these countries
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for the time being. Given the insignificant number of Jews involved there, such a postponement will
in any case not amount to any substantial curtailment.
By contrast, the Foreign Office foresees no major difficulties in South-Eastern and Western Europe.
SS-Gruppenführer H o f m a n n intends to send a specialist from the Race and Settlement Main
Office to Hungary for general orientation when the Head of the Security Police and the SD begins
tackling the matter over there. It was decided that this specialist from the Race and Settlement Main
Office – who is not to become actively involved – be officially assigned as an assistant to the Police
Attaché on a temporary basis.
IV. For the implementation of the final solution, the Nuremberg Laws should form the basis to a
certain extent, though the solution to issues pertaining to mixed marriages and Mischlinge is also a
prerequisite for clearing up the problem completely.
With reference to a letter from the Head of the Reich Chancellery, the Head of the Security Police
and the SD thereupon discussed – for the moment still theoretically – the following issues:
1) Treatment of first-degree Mischlinge [persons of Jewish and Non-Jewish parents/grandparents]
First-degree Mischlinge will be treated as Jews in regard to the final solution of the Jewish question.
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The following will be exempt from this treatment:
a) First-degree Mischlinge married to persons of pure German blood, if the marriage has resulted in
children (second-degree Mischlinge). These second-degree Mischlinge will essentially be treated as
Germans.
b) First-degree Mischlinge who have up to now been granted exemptions in some selected spheres
of life by the highest authorities of Party and state. Each individual case must be reviewed, whereby
the possibility cannot be ruled out that the new decision may be again to the Mischling’s
disadvantage.
The prerequisites for granting any exemption must always be the fundamental merit of the
Mischling in question himself. (The merits of the German-blooded parent or spouse do not count).
Any first-degree Mischling to be exempted from evacuation will be sterilised in order to prevent
any progeny and to settle the Mischling problem once and for all. Sterilisation will be voluntary, but
it is the precondition for remaining in the Reich. The sterilised “Mischling” will henceforth be
exempt from all restrictive provisions to which he was previously subjected.
2) Treatment of second-degree Mischlinge
Second-degree Mischlinge will be treated in principle as persons of German blood, except in the
following instances when second-degree Mischlinge will be treated as Jews:
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a) The second-degree Mischling is the descendent of a bastard marriage (both spouses being
Mischlinge).
b) The racial appearance of a second-degree Mischling is particularly unfavourable, in which case
he will be classed with the Jews already based on his external appearance.
c) A particularly negative police and political assessment of the second-degree Mischling, indicating
that he feels and behaves like a Jew.
Even in such cases, no exceptions are to be made if the second-degree Mischling is married to a
person of German blood.
3) Marriages between full Jews and persons of German blood
Here it must be decided on a case by case basis whether the Jewish spouse should be evacuated or,
taking into account the effect of such a measure on the German relatives of these mixed marriages,
be transferred to an old-people’s ghetto.
4) Marriages between first-degree Mischlinge and persons of German blood
a) No children
If the marriage has remained childless, the first-degree Mischling will be evacuated or transferred to
an old-people’s ghetto. (The same treatment as in marriages between full Jews and persons of
German blood; point 3)
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b) With children
If children have resulted from the marriage (second-degree Mischlinge), they will, if they are to be
treated as Jews, be evacuated or sent to a ghetto along with the first-degree Mischling. If these
children are to be treated as Germans (standard cases), they are exempted from evacuation, as is
therefore the first-degree Mischling.
5) Marriages between first-degree Mischlinge and first-degree Mischlinge or Jews
In these marriages, all parties (including children) will be treated as Jews and therefore
evacuated or transferred to an old-people’s ghetto.
6) Marriages between first-degree Mischlinge and second-degree Mischlinge
Both spouses will be evacuated or transferred to an old-people’s ghetto, regardless of whether or not
they have children, because, as a rule, any offspring of such marriages will, racially speaking, have
stronger Jewish blood than second-degree Mischlinge.
SS-Gruppenführer H o f m a n n is of the view that extensive use must be made of sterilisation,
particularly because once the Mischling
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faces the choice between evacuation and sterilisation, he will prefer to undergo sterilisation.
State Secretary Dr S t u c k a r t noted that the practical implementation of the possible solutions
regarding mixed marriages and Mischling questions just discussed would, in this form, constitute
endless administrative work. In order to take into account the biological aspects as well, State
Secretary Dr S t u c k a r t suggested that forced sterilisation be embarked upon.
To simplify the problem of mixed marriages, further possibilities should be considered, with the
objective, for instance, of the legislator simply ruling: “these marriages are hereby dissolved”
With regard to the question of how the evacuation of the Jews will affect the economy, State
Secretary N e u m a n n stated that Jews currently working in industries essential to the war effort
could not be evacuated as long as there were no replacements for them.
SS-Obergruppenführer H e y d r i c h pointed out that on the basis of the guidelines approved by
him for the implementation of the evacuations currently underway, these Jews would not be
evacuated anyway.
State Secretary Dr B ü h l e r declared that the General Government would welcome it if the
final solution of this question were to begin in the General Government, because for one thing the
transportation problem was not of overriding importance there,
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and because issues related to labour deployment would not impede the course of this operation.
Jews should be removed from the territory of the General Government as rapidly as possible
because it is precisely there that the Jew constitutes an eminent danger as a carrier of epidemics and
he also constantly disrupts the economic structure of the region through his continuous illicit
trading. Moreover, the majority of the around 2 ½ million Jews in question are unfit for work.
State Secretary Dr B ü h l e r noted further that the Head of Security Police and SD is in charge of
the solution of the Jewish question in the General Government, and that the administrative
authorities of the General Government would assist him in his work. He had only one favour to ask:
that the Jewish question in this territory be solved as quickly as possible.
In conclusion the various types of possible solution were discussed. Here, Gauleiter Dr M e y e r
and State Secretary Dr B ü h l e r both took the position that in connection with the final solution
certain preparatory measures should be carried out in the occupied territories at once, but in such a
way that the population there would not become apprehensive.
The meeting was closed with the request of the Head of Security Police and the SD that all
participants in today’s deliberations give him the appropriate support in implementing the tasks
connected with the solution.
