The_Holokaust_-_origins,_implementation,_aftermath

CHRISTIAN GERLACH
in March 1941 various institutions had sought to broaden the concept of
“Jewish” as it was applied within the Reich. The party chancellery, the RSHA,
the Racial Policy Office of the National Socialist Party, and the Office of the
Four-Year Plan wanted to treat the so-called part-Jews of the first degree—that
is, half Jews—the same as Jews. 80 If we can judge by the outcomes of several
meetings, the men involved apparently believed by August and September that
they were on the verge of having their view implemented throughout Europe. 81
Hermann Göring’s commission to Heydrich had been a factor. On July 31, 1941,
Göring had assigned Heydrich “to make all the necessary preparations—
organizational, technical, and material—for a total solution of the Jewish question
throughout the German sphere of influence in Europe.” 82 Earlier, on July 28,
Göring had declared “that Jews residing in regions under German rule have no
further business there.” 83 Apparently neither statement envisioned a liquidation
of the entire Jewish population. Rather, Jews were to be “expelled” to the
occupied Soviet territories after the successful conclusion of the war. It was
foreseen, admittedly, and accepted as a matter of course that there would be an
enormous loss of life among the deportees. 84 Initially, however, the phrase “Final
Solution” did not mean an immediate extermination of the Jewish people. It
acquired that meaning only later, especially after the war.
Heydrich proceeded to act on Göring’s commission on two fronts. First, he
developed plans for deporting Jews from the German Reich to areas in the east
while the war was still being fought. Hitler rejected these plans in August. 85 Second,
Heydrich’s office used the authority conferred by Göring’s commission as a basis
for justifying “in particular” its efforts to widen the defined meaning of the term
“Jew.” 86 This effort seemed to meet with some success. The chief of the Reich
chancellery, Hans-Heinrich Lammers, supported it, as did the party chancellery,
the Führer chancellery, and the Army High Command. 87 They all wanted some
new regulation that would reduce the thousands of requests and petitions for
exceptions in special cases that had to be processed and forwarded to Hitler. 88 Of
all the government ministries, only the interior ministry stood opposed. 89 We can
see this in the document prepared by State Secretary Wilhelm Stuckart’s adviser
on Jewish affairs, Lösener, for Stuckart’s use at the Wannsee Conference on its
initially scheduled date. 90 But both Hitler and Göring seem to have objected to the
proposed changes in the status of the “part-Jews of the first degree.” 91 Exactly
what Hitler thought about Jews who were married to non-Jewish Germans, in
particular on the issue of compulsory divorces, remains unclear. 92 We do know
that he wanted to limit the number of exceptions granting preferential treatment to
Jews in special cases. 93 But apparently he did not make any official decision, except
with regard to the “part-Jews of the second degree” (so-called Quarter-Jews), and
for this group he preliminarily refused to approve a reduction in citizenship status. 94
The rather vague reports of his comments on December 1 or December 2 seem to
118