- Dr. Gerhard Klopfer: Talking about "Evacuation to the Premises of the Final Solution"... Does that mean special treatment for *all* European Jews?
- Reinhard Heydrich: Listen now, but then forget it immediately. That's exactly right.
- Martin Luther: It can be relatively easy to present a Jew-free Serbia to the Führer.
- Reinhard Heydrich: How many are we talking about?
- Martin Luther: 6,000-8,000. Only women and children.
- Reinhard Heydrich: Why no male Jews?
- Heinrich Müller: Already shot as hostages. A hundred dead for one dead German.
- Dr. Gerhard Klopfer: I consider myself an expert in the field, but I cannot overview how many Jews are we talking about.
- Reinhard Heydrich: We are talking about eleven million.
- Reinhard Heydrich: Regarding the reason for our gathering, I would like to draw your attention to the letter from Reichsmarschall Göring which is attached to my invitation. There, the Reichsmarschall tasks me to: "Make preparations in organizational, factual and material terms for a comprehensive solution to Europe's Jewish Question."
- Dr. Alfred Meyer: I was at the Führer's house a few weeks ago. Then he said clearly that he wanted the Jewish Question resolved.
- Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart: As he predicted in the Reichstag: "If international Jewry once again plunges the people into a world war, then the result will not be a Bolshevization of the world, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe."
- [this is, somewhat shortened, from a Speech by Adolf Hitler on January 30, 1939]
- [first lines]
- Narrator: Berlin, war winter 1942. The persecution and murder of Europe's Jewish population began a long time ago. On January 20, the highest representatives of the SS meet the NSDAP and the ministerial bureaucracy at a conference in a villa at Großer Wannsee. The person who invited to this breakfast meeting is Reinhard Heydrich, the head of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, Reich Security Main Office. On the agenda is "the final solution to the Jewish Question".
- Reinhard Heydrich: I state, also with regard to Reichsmarschall Göring's letter, that from now on the leadership of the final solution of the Jewish Question, regardless of geographical boundaries, lies with Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, and with his authorization with the head of the Reich Security Main Office, that is, my humble person.
- Reinhard Heydrich: This is the right time for a Final Solution to the Jewish Question. Later generations will lack the power of action and the awakened instinct. What for us is a burden becomes for our descendants an advantage and a happiness.
- Reinhard Heydrich: Some who have just enthusiastically advocated the final solution become completely silent when they actually see the Final Solution.
- Heinrich Müller: The Reichsführer-SS, if I may interject, witnessed a shooting himself and immediately gave orders to find a more humane method.
- Martin Luther: More humane? For our men, then?
- Heinrich Müller: Of course.
- Reinhard Heydrich: I promised that after our meeting you would understand that we can answer any questions associated with the Final Solution. Obersturmbannführer.
- Adolf Eichmann: Behind the front line or where rail transport would be too expensive we can't do without shooting. But for the Final Solution, the method is too ineffective and also negatively affects the effectiveness of our men. The other methods, which are more effective and less mentally taxing are based on findings from the euthanasia program at Zentraldienststelle T4.
- Adolf Eichmann: I have witnessed executions in the East and the use of the special carriages in Kulmhof, and I'm not ashamed to say that both make me sick. But the stationary facilities enable a structured division of labor. The person concerned and the person carrying out the process barely come into contact. No closeness and nothing to arouse pity. I and all the experts involved are convinced: This enables a pleasant technical, efficient and anonymous process. Our men can do it in an extremely detached manner.
- Adolf Eichmann: There are no technical obstacles to building airtight chambers for a thousand people. In Auschwitz there is room for several chambers, so that we can always manage a fully loaded train in one round. The process can of course be repeated several times a day.
- Dr. Josef Bühler: Have I understood the matter correctly? So we are no longer just talking about the national Jews? Do the new plans apply to all of Europe?
- Reinhard Heydrich: That's right. The Jewish Question can only be considered solved after a total biological cleansing of all Jewry up to the Ural Mountains.
- Martin Luther: On the whole, we must have full access to all Jews of all nationalities, provided they are within our sphere of interest. The time for international considerations is over.
- Reinhard Heydrich: So true.
- Reinhard Heydrich: A brief retrospective: Since 1933, we have waged a battle against Judaism and ruthlessly repressed the Jews from German society. The Jewish race is recognized as foreign to the body of the German people, thanks, among other things, to the actions of the Central Agency for Race and Settlement. The Jewish Laws have made the harmful influence of the Jews on our community practically impossible.
- Reinhard Heydrich: With the goal of clearing the Jews out of German social life by legal we have had a large number of Jews emigrate. Obersturmbannführer.
- Adolf Eichmann: So far it is around 537,000.
- Dr. Eberhard Schöngarth: Lots of work at your place?
- Dr. Rudolf Lange: Yes. You are hardly finished with your Jews until more arrive. 900 more yesterday, Czech.
- Dr. Eberhard Schöngarth: Where do you place them? The ghetto in Riga?
- Dr. Rudolf Lange: [derisive] Hardly. We take a walk in the forest, and that's it.
- Dr. Rudolf Lange: The commander of Task Force A, Brigadeführer Stahlecker, as well as Higher SS and Police Commander in the East, Obergruppenführer Jeckeln, has authorized me to inform you: Estonia is free of Jews. Lithuania and Latvia, apart from a few remaining working Jews, are also free.
- Reinhard Heydrich: H: What can I say? Good news.
- Eichmanns Adjutant: Magnificent! We give the Jewish controlled cruelty propaganda abroad concrete counter-evidence: the invitation to Theresienstadt. Come and see how the Germans deal with the Jews!
- Dr. Josef Bühler: Anyone who wants a healthy public body must not shy away from eradicating harmful bacteria. The Jew is the eternal parasite, spreading under favorable conditions. A rotten mold that grows on the cultures of healthy people. It is a basic imperative for ethnic, national, and social hygiene to completely eradicate the disease.
- Dr. Eberhard Schöngarth: We intend to be thorough and without exception.
- Reinhard Heydrich: And now we turn our attention to what I like to call "the opportunities in the East". In the East, thanks to the work of our task forces, we have about half a million Jews who have received special treatment. We have gained experience that will be important for the final solution.
- Reinhard Heydrich: Let's try to simplify things as much as possible.
- Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart: In that case, I suggest sterilization.
- Reinhard Heydrich: Sterilization? How should I understand it?
- Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart: Forced sterilization of all mixed-race Jews, without exception. Cheaper than deportation and absolutely sufficient from a racial hygiene point of view.
- Ingeburg Werlemann: What happened to the idea of sending all the Jews to Madagaskar?
- Eichmanns Adjutant: Shelved, as long as England has dominion over the seas.
- Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart: But the sight of all the corpses, the transport to the ovens...
- Adolf Eichmann: It is carried out by working Jews, who later also receive Special Treatment.
- Heinrich Müller: Elegant.
- closing title card: Six million Jews were killed during the National Socialist regime.
- Adolf Eichmann: According to Höss, last year's gassing of 900 Russian prisoners of war was extremely successful.
- Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart: What will it be then? Carbon monoxide or hydrocyanic acid?
- Adolf Eichmann: Höss is very convinced of his method. It is still a thought experiment, but it would be possible to transform Auschwitz, from Russians to Jews.
- Reinhard Heydrich: I intend to propose to the Reichsführer-SS that we move forward on all tracks. Competition stimulates business.
- [some laughter]
- Dr. Josef Bühler: How can we imagine these processes in detail?
- Adolf Eichmann: As I said, the Jews come to the facilities by train. They are then sorted according to work ability and hand over their possessions. Under the guise of disinfection, they are then led to airtight gas chambers. The active substance is supplied from outside. The process itself, if performed correctly, is completed in ten to fifteen minutes. This is followed by ventilation of the chamber, removal and disposal. We plan combustion in highly efficient furnaces. In Auschwitz, models are already being built by Topf & Söhne, although of course we have to expand capacity significantly.
- Dr. Josef Bühler: From train to gas? So there is no need for housing? Extremely effective!