The_Holokaust_-_origins,_implementation,_aftermath

CHRISTIAN GERLACH
February, and it cannot be identical with the RSHA discussion document that Goebbels
read on March 7 (for the opposite view, see Aly and Heim, p. 460). Similarly, the suggestion
that Göring appointed Heydrich “Commissar for Jewish Affairs in Europe” (Aly
and Heim, p. 460) appears to be not correct (see Scheffler, “Wannsee-Konferenz,” p. 33,
n. 9).
182. Lammers to Heydrich, May 22, 1942 (copy), BA R 18/5519, fol. 481. A report by
Heydrich to Göring was planned but probably never delivered because Göring was able
to discuss the issues important to him with Himmler on July 2, 1942. See document from
Ministerial Counsellor Dr. Ing. Fritz Görnnert (Göring’s personal adviser) “with request
for documents for scheduled meeting with Obergruppenführer Heydrich,” May 24, 1942,
and documents from Görnnert, July 1, 1942, for the meeting with Himmler, BA 34.01
FC Nr. 376, fols. 7569, 7984 f., 7897; Himmler, appointment calendar, July 2, 1942, fol.
182. Strictly speaking, Heydrich could not possibly have presented a “comprehensive
plan” to Göring because he had not yet obtained approval from all relevant offices. Because
of a clerical error, the RSHA had neglected to send a copy of the minutes from the
follow-up meeting held on March 6, 1942, to the foreign office. It only did so on July 3,
1942, some time after Heydrich’s death. The reply from the foreign office is dated October
2, 1942. See RSHA IV B 4 (Friedrich Suhr) to the Foreign Office (Franz Rademacher),
July 3, 1942, and the reminder, August 12; and Foreign Office D III 67 gRs to RSHA,
October 2 and December 7, 1942, BA F 10531.
183. Reitlinger (n. 17 above), p. 108. See also Pätzold and Schwarz, eds., p. 51; interrogation of
Adolf Eichmann, July 5, 1960, in Trial of Adolf Eichmann, vol. 7, Band 17, fols. 56 ff. (p.
845 ff.). Eichmann admitted that the “possible solutions” mentioned in the minutes meant
methods of execution. Interrogation, July 21, 1961, in Trial of Adolf Eichmann, vol. 4, p.
1810. The “certain preparatory measures” mentioned by Bühler and Alfred Meyer, which
were “to be implemented in the relevant territories themselves, in a manner that would
not create unrest among the inhabitants” (minutes, fol. 15, in Tuchel, p. 136) were nothing
more, in my opinion, than code words for “mass shootings.”
184. See Hermann Kaienburg, “Jüdische Arbeitslager an der ‘Strasse der SS,’ ” 1999, no. 1
(1996): 13–39, esp. pp. 13 f.; Sandkühler (n. 4 above), pp. 137 ff. Heydrich is said to
have mentioned an “Arctic Ocean camp” in preliminary discussions with Bühler, interrogation
of Josef Bühler, April 23, 1946, in Pätzold and Schwarz, eds., p. 135. On the
subject generally, see Karl Heinz Roth, “ ‘Generalplan Ost’-‘Gesamtplan Ost.’
Forschungsstand, Quellenprobleme, neue Ergebnisse,” in Der “Generalplan Ost,” ed.
Mechtild Rössler and Sabine Schleiermacher (Berlin, 1993), pp. 25–117, esp. pp. 40 ff.,
62 f.; Burrin, p. 151 (conversation between Heydrich and Goebbels, September 25, 1941);
speech by Heydrich, February 4, 1942, in Kárny et al., eds., p. 229; Himmler to Heydrich
and to Wilhelm Rediess, the Higher SS- and Police Leader in Norway, February 16, 1942,
BA NS 19/2375, fols. 1 f.
185. See Himmler, report notes, February 17, 1942, BA NS 19/1447, fols. 55 f.; Henry Picker,
Hitlers Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier, 3d ed. (Stuttgart, 1977), p. 192.
186. Minutes, fol. 8 (Tuchel, p. 129); Goebbels, Tagebücher, pp. 533 f. (December 18, 1941);
Hitler, May 29, 1942, in Picker, p. 340.
156