What was the Wannsee Conference?
The Wannsee Conference (Wannseekonferenz) was a meeting that took place on the 20th January 1942, between SS and Gestapo members and Nazi ministers. Traditionally, we consider it to be an important turning point in the history of the Holocaust, as it is generally believed that in this meeting the ‘Final Solution’ (to the ‘Jewish problem’) was decided on – to exterminate all the Jews in Europe. In this way it is seen as a necessary ‘stepping-stone’ on the straight path to the Holocaust, and the mass murder of Jews.
However it is important to be critical of this narrative. More recent works have argued that the Wannsee Conference may not have been a mere continuation of Nazi Anti-Jewish policy, and have highlighted the other factors at work. The Conference might be better explained by Nazi Germanisation policy (the fantasy of creating a new ‘German East’, which would require mass-murder of the Jews), economic pressures on the occupied territories in the east, or an attempt by members of the SS to extend their control over the other members of the Nazi party at the meeting.
